 ATHLETIC SHORTS -- Fiction Fights Back, The Anchorage Daily News -- C. Barillas, Editor Copyright © 1999 All rights reserved. Adult Published Read an Excerpt Parent Sue Frances didn't like ATHLETIC SHORTS, especially the "gay subject matter" in "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune," so she filled a challenge. The school board and review committees courageously stood up to the censor and retained the book. This article offers details. Excerpt Related Article: Fiction Fights Back, Feb 24, 1999 ANCHORAGE, Ak. -- The Anchorage Daily News reports the Anchorage School Board on Thursday will decide whether to restrict student access to a short story about an overweight teen with four gay parents and stepparents. "Athletic Shorts," a collection of short stories aimed at young adults, prompted a complaint from a Goldenview Middle School parent who thinks it should be available only through the principal's office. A committee of parents, students, educators and citizens has voted 14-0 earlier this week to allow the book to circulate freely at middle schools until the School Board decides the issue. Written by Chris Crutcher, the short story collection features characters involved in sports who are also struggling with tough issues that face adolescents, such as homosexuality and racism. Sue Frances, the parent who complained, told the Daily News she doesn't like the book and especially dislikes the gay subject matter in, "A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune." She said the story "has a lot of foul language in it, it's disrespectful to parents and to authority" and it handles homosexuality in an unacceptable way. "It makes it sound like a normal thing," Frances said. "This kids' parents are both homosexuals. And not only that, they both have partners." In the story, Angus, who describes himself as "the fat kid with perverted parents," is elected Senior Winter Ball king as a joke. The girl of his dreams, who dates a malicious football player, is elected queen as an added humiliation. But Angus rises to the challenge, confronts his enemies and detractors, and is triumphant. School District curriculum director Fred Stofflet defended the book, saying it has won numerous awards from library associations and has been especially successful in drawing in young people who don't like to read. The middle school's social studies teacher Chad Sant read the Angus Bethune story aloud to his eighth-grade class during a psychology unit. The class was discussing empathy, defense mechanisms and human emotions in general, Sant said. "The story is really about how Angus triumphs over prejudice and stereotyping," he said. The Controversial Issues Review Committee took up the issue of requiring teachers to notify parents before using the stories in class. The motion was defeated 12-2. The group then voted unanimously to leave it on library shelves. Committee member Herb Berkowitz said decisions on the appropriateness of the material should be left to teachers and principals. "There is room for differences between teachers as to whether it should be used in a ninth-grade class or a seventh-grade class," Berkowitz said, but that is no reason to place unnecessary restrictions on its access. -- C. Barillas, Editor |
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