Free Speech?/Auden in Reno/Emptiness

(P1) Political

"Hell" and "Damn" and "Reno"

Reno Gazette-Journal (April 13, 2006)

"A 14-year-old boy seeking a restraining order that would allow him to recite a poem with the words "hell" and "damn" during a state competition must wait for a judge's decision.

U.S. District Judge Brian Sandoval, the former Nevada attorney general, said Wednesday he would study the case before making judgment.

Sandoval, sworn into office Oct. 31, said "time is of the essence," because the state Poetry Out Loud competition is scheduled April 22 at the Governor's Mansion in Carson City.

The Coral Academy of Science, a charter school in Washoe County, is trying to bar freshman Jacob Behymer-Smith from reciting the W.H. Auden classic, "The More Loving One," at the competition because the school does not allow students to use profanity."

Here a link to the full article. Do you believe this?

Flash...Upddate

Judge says student can recite poem at state competition

April 13, 2006 07:40 PM

A federal judge Thursday gave a Reno ninth-grader permission to recite a poem at a state competition that administrators at his charter school sought to block because they said it contained profanity.

In his ruling, US District Judge Brian Sandoval said "hell" and "damn" in W.H. Auden's, "The More Loving One," does not constitute vulgar, lewd or offensive language that could disrupt the Coral Academy of Science's educational priorities.

(P2) Poetical

Here is the "controversial" ? W.H. Auden Poem referenced above

The More Loving by W.H. Auden

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total darkness sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

1957

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(P3) Philosophical