Help I'm being oppressed!

In my procrastination routine during finals week, I like to read the news. I have dozens of headlines on my homepage that I usually ignore in favor of comics and facebook, but when one is procrastinating in earnest, the affairs of the world are of great interest. Unfortunately the news today pissed me off.

1. A crossdressing, gay high school senior was not allowed to attend his prom because he showed up in a dress. He looked lovely, his dress, hair and manicure were similar to any girl's. School reps pulled out a dress code rule about guys in skirts and made him miss a big milestone of high school life. A girl in a tux was allowed to attend. Good videos on cbs2chicago
   


2. Arlington Heights school district is trying to ban books for the first time in 20 years. The books are:
• "Beloved" by Toni Morrison,
  
• "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut,
  
• "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien,
  
• "The Awakening" by Kate Chopin,
  
• "Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner,
  
• "The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World" by Michael Pollan,
  
• "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" by Stephen Chbosky,
  
• "Fallen Angels" by Walter Dean Myers and
  
• "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez.
The school board member, Leslie Pinney, rallying to ban these books admittedly hasn't read them all. The district has an 'opt-out' policy that allows students to be excused from reading material their parents find inappropriate. Pinney says "The opt-out clause is flawed because unless you're digging around the student's backpack, looking at the books and reading them, how exactly will you know what your student is reading?" HELLO?!?!?! Parents are supposed to be involved in their kids' lives. They should all know what their students are reading! They shouldn't be depending on a team of strangers to ensure their kids are getting a good education. If you don't even know the names of the literature your kids are reading in class, how do you even know if they are attending class? Take a tiny bit of responsibility for goodness sake. Story


3. Chicago passed new legislation that puts fines on noisy parties and dogs. Noise levels are now judged solely by police officers, and noisy dogs are given 15 minutes to shut up before their owners are fined. Because people of all ages are children. If you can't walk across the street and come to some sort of agreement with your neighbors about noise, one of you is being unreasonable. If an 80-yr-old man has to tattle to mom--er, to the cops-- to get some peace and quiet, there is something wrong with society. Similarly, if you haven't the common courtesy to try not to disturb your neighbors without the threat of a fine, you are a bad person. Of course, I'm a problem solver, like my granddaddy. If you can't handle your animals, I'll just slip them some antifreeze and relieve you of the responsibility. Story
   

Ugh. People. America. Honestly.