11: No Shit, There I Was - Political Edition
I've been told by a lot of people that I have a lot of "no shit there I was" stories. Not all of my encounters with politicians, famous people, or weird situations were accidental. I sought out a few of them and here are a few of those stories.
I mean, I did intentionally show up and throw rotten fruit at President George H. W. Bush when I was in high school. ActUp was having an AIDS protest at an event he was having local to me and asked folks to show. So, I did. This was before the world of Patriot Acts and extreme paranoia. Hell, there wasn't even a legal structure for dealing with domestic terrorism. That didn't happen until the Oklahoma City bombing. We were considered rude, but within our legal rights. Our rotten fruit wasn't considered a security threat, just a hygiene issue. I don't think I hit him, but I'm pretty sure that a few Secret Service guys had a hell of a dry cleaning bill.
Also in high school, I'd made personal enemies with a sitting U.S. Senator. I was a writer and later editor on my high school's newspaper. The year that I was the Features Editor, I decided to use the paper to explore some personal interests. I figured it would be educational to the readers, too. Each issue, I'd write a short intro to a different religion and/or culture. I always wrote that if anyone wanted to learn more, I'd be happy to direct them to more resource. Most of my articles elicited no interest from the student body. I was a bit more academic than my schoolmates. One issue, I decided to do a piece on Neo-Paganism and Wicca. Of course, that was the one that elicited interest. A younger student came and asked for more information. Like I promised in the paper, I provided her with a list of resources. She quickly dove head first into Wicca. Unbeknownst to me, her grandfather was a Senator... a very conservative Senator.
The Senator went after me directly. He pursued me through the school administration and school board. According to him, I was an insane Satanist and should be kicked out of school and/or institutionalized. The district couldn't blow him off because he was a Senator. So, they called in a specialist social worker to investigate the situation. Unfortunately for our erstwhile Senator; the social worker was from New York, I had the full support of my family, a top tier lawyer had volunteered to represent me if I needed it, and I wasn't an shrinking violet. A hearing was held and he showed up to it. My argument against his assertions won my case, but earned even more personal enmity from him. "Neo-paganism and Wicca are not Satanism. They originate out of Western Mystery Traditions, Spiritualism, and Freemasonry... all of which pre-date his own religion, Mormonism. Lastly, Satanism was (and still is) a legally recognized religion. Should the district wish to remove me from public school for my percieved Satanism, they would be in violation of Freedom of Religion. I informed them all that I would be happy to sue them. The Senator's house was pretty nice and I'd like to live there." Case was dropped.
The granddaughter went on to join a Wiccan community. I'm not listing the Senator's name to avoid causing her any additional anguish. I ran into him years later at one of those charity dinner events. He clearly remembered me and I took great pleasure in forcing him to have a polite conversation with me.
I mean, I did intentionally show up and throw rotten fruit at President George H. W. Bush when I was in high school. ActUp was having an AIDS protest at an event he was having local to me and asked folks to show. So, I did. This was before the world of Patriot Acts and extreme paranoia. Hell, there wasn't even a legal structure for dealing with domestic terrorism. That didn't happen until the Oklahoma City bombing. We were considered rude, but within our legal rights. Our rotten fruit wasn't considered a security threat, just a hygiene issue. I don't think I hit him, but I'm pretty sure that a few Secret Service guys had a hell of a dry cleaning bill.
Also in high school, I'd made personal enemies with a sitting U.S. Senator. I was a writer and later editor on my high school's newspaper. The year that I was the Features Editor, I decided to use the paper to explore some personal interests. I figured it would be educational to the readers, too. Each issue, I'd write a short intro to a different religion and/or culture. I always wrote that if anyone wanted to learn more, I'd be happy to direct them to more resource. Most of my articles elicited no interest from the student body. I was a bit more academic than my schoolmates. One issue, I decided to do a piece on Neo-Paganism and Wicca. Of course, that was the one that elicited interest. A younger student came and asked for more information. Like I promised in the paper, I provided her with a list of resources. She quickly dove head first into Wicca. Unbeknownst to me, her grandfather was a Senator... a very conservative Senator.
The Senator went after me directly. He pursued me through the school administration and school board. According to him, I was an insane Satanist and should be kicked out of school and/or institutionalized. The district couldn't blow him off because he was a Senator. So, they called in a specialist social worker to investigate the situation. Unfortunately for our erstwhile Senator; the social worker was from New York, I had the full support of my family, a top tier lawyer had volunteered to represent me if I needed it, and I wasn't an shrinking violet. A hearing was held and he showed up to it. My argument against his assertions won my case, but earned even more personal enmity from him. "Neo-paganism and Wicca are not Satanism. They originate out of Western Mystery Traditions, Spiritualism, and Freemasonry... all of which pre-date his own religion, Mormonism. Lastly, Satanism was (and still is) a legally recognized religion. Should the district wish to remove me from public school for my percieved Satanism, they would be in violation of Freedom of Religion. I informed them all that I would be happy to sue them. The Senator's house was pretty nice and I'd like to live there." Case was dropped.
The granddaughter went on to join a Wiccan community. I'm not listing the Senator's name to avoid causing her any additional anguish. I ran into him years later at one of those charity dinner events. He clearly remembered me and I took great pleasure in forcing him to have a polite conversation with me.
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