If Curtis Can't Go to Prom

Dear Mr. Pallor, Superintendent of Schools

It has come to our attention
That Curtis Campbell
May not be allowed
To attend prom
With his boyfriend

Because although the school feels
And I'm quoting from the official statement
Released by your office

Even though the school feels
That everyone should be accepted
In our schools and in our community
Such a 'display'

Interesting use of the word 'display'

Might be distracting
And/or confusing
To the rest of the student body

Well, Mr. Pallor
The student body
Having been brought into this
In a statement
By your office
Signed by you

The student body
Being of sound mind and, well, body

Would like
To respond

If Curtis can't go to prom
Then the female members of the student body
Will not be attending prom
And neither will the boys
That is, if the boys know what's good for them
We can just as easily sit at Mark Peppercorn's lake house
Around a bonfire
Eating s'mores
And singing folk songs
With Mark's Dad
A former member of the folk band 'Those Gypsy Eyes'

Of course, we might be tempted to drink
A temptation we wouldn't face
In the confines of prom
So long as we avoid the girl's bathroom
The parking lot
And Tables Six, Nine, and Twelve

And if we drank
It would certainly be
On your head, Mr. Pallor

Have you considered that?

If Curtis can't go to prom
Then we're going to have to assume
Certain things about you adults
Even as we, ourselves
Teeter on the brink
Of our own adulthood

For one thing, do you people actually think
That there is a single teenager
In this country
Who doesn't know
What sex is?

Do you actually think
Seeing two guys dancing together
At prom is going to 'confuse' us?

Have ANY of you watched television lately?
Or seen a movie?
Read a book?
Listened to music?

We have

And before you go making rules
To protect us
Maybe you should get to know us first

Are you aware that we know more about American History
Than the people who are teaching us
American History?

Are you aware that Mr. Finn, the AP English teacher
Has never actually read
Any of the books
He assigns us in class?

Are you aware that the Biology teacher
Is a raging Jesus Freak
Who refuses to teach us about stem cells
Because it goes against her religion?

Are you aware that the football coach
Regularly asks the boys on the team
Who they're quote-unquote 'hooking up with?'

Are you aware that there are a hundred things
Going on at this school right now
That confuse and upset us
And Curtis Campbell taking a boy to prom
Is not one of them?

Mr. Pallor, Superintendent of Schools
We realize that most people become educators
Because they want to make an impact on young minds

The bad news for you
Is that you have to get up
Really early
To impact our minds
These days

By the time we reached high school
Most of us had already seen or experienced

Drug abuse
Rape
Domestic abuse
Suicide
Disappointment
Molestation
Poverty
Exclusion
Harrassment
Failure

So these kids you keep talking about
These impressionable kids
Who are so fragile and gentle
And need to be coddled
And sheltered from the world?

They don't exist, Mr. Pallor

They don't exist

Sometimes it feels like
We have to scream
Just to get you to hear us
And then you give us detention
For screaming

When what we're really getting detention for
Is thinking
Expressing
Wondering
Verbalizing

Being ourselves

You're scared of what we have to say
And what we'll say about you
That you put us in little rooms
With little desks
With bells
And blackboards
And curriculum that our parents had
For fear that even the smallest change
Will cause the entire infrastructure to crumble

Well guess what?

It needs to crumble

And if you think our parents wrote this letter for us
Because we're using words like 'infrastructure' and 'coddled'
Then there's something else you don't know

We have a really good vocabulary

And we didn't get it from the AP English teacher

We got it from watching 'Gossip Girl'
And '90210'

Isn't that something?

At this point you're going to have to accept the fact
That in some areas
Television has taught us more
Than school has

You're also going to have to accept the fact
That if Curtis can't go to prom
Then there are other school events
We will not be going to

Like baseball games
Pep rallies
School plays
Honor society dinners

Oh, and graduation

We won't be going to graduation either

Because we are a class
We are a team
We are a generation

And if you mess with one of us
You mess with all of us

I wonder how it will look
When not a single senior
Shows up to graduation
To get their diploma

I can't imagine it'll look good, Mr. Pallor

Is your office designed to handle
That much bad publicity?

Or is it only designed to put statements
With words like 'display' and 'confusing'

Who knows?

We might just stop going to class altogether

Our college applications are in
Our acceptance letters have been received
At this point, we're just going through the motions

What are you going to do?

Send the truancy office after us?

Let's not kid ourselves here, Mr. Pallor

Either you let Curtis go to prom
With his date
So we can all celebrate together
As a class

Or you might as well cancel the dj
And plan to stay home that night

And if it seems like we're bullying you
That's because we are

Since bullying seems to be something
The entire American educational system
Is powerless against

So what's it going to be?

Are you going to stand behind what you said
And show that everybody should be accepted
In this community

Or are you going to have one lousy prom?

Because if Curtis can't go to prom
Ain't nobody going to prom