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Butt painter sues his school
Posted by Fired Fred on October 4, 2007 4:25 PM
I'm going to give you a lesson in creating an Internet pseudonym. Here's an example of the right way: real name - Fred; online fake name - Valentine McLury. I just made that up, so don't bother Googling it. The point is, they aren't very much alike.
Then we have the case of art genius Stephen Murmer. He was a high school art teacher, until his anonymous art career turned up on YouTube...
Stephen Murmer was fired in January after Chesterfield County Public Schools officials saw a YouTube video of Murmer wearing a swim thong and a Groucho Marx mask, demonstrating how he applies paint to his backside, then presses it onto a canvas.I'm all for freedom of expression, consenting adults, no one's business, one love, etc etc. Not everyone feels that way.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Richmond by the American Civil Liberties Union, said Murmer's firing violates his First Amendment rights.
I'm not in favor of stupidity, which I'll show you in the example of how not to create your puncture-proof online pseudonym...
Murmer paints under the pseudonym "Stan Murmur," and displays some of his work on his Web siteStephen Murmer to Stan Murmur. He swapped 'ephe' for 'a' and a 'u' for an 'e'. Here's the brilliant reasoning...
Rebecca K. Glenberg, an ACLU lawyer who is one of Murmer's attorneys, said the school board fired Murmer for art created on his own time that he "scrupulously kept private from his students." He adopted the pen name to ensure that his students didn't discover his private work by using Internet search engines such as Google or Yahoo, she said.I went to high school. High schoolers can pick out Stephen Murmer from Stan Murmur. It's automatic. Takes a split second of deduction for even the most disconnected stoner to make. "Scrupulously kept private?" Bull-scrupulous-pucky. He wanted to be found.