University of Mississippi Theatre Play Disrupted..............and, a cell phone is not to blame

In case you are wondering, the image above is apparently of a quilt to stop homophobia.

It was homophobia, rather than a cell phone, which disrupted a since-concluded production at the University of Mississippi of "The Laramie Project," a play being performed in Washington, DC http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com by Ford's Theatre at an alternative venue due to the federal government shutdown.

According to various students, the disruptive students, which consisted of some 20 Ole Miss football players who were taking a freshman introduction to theatre class, heckled the actors on stage which various hateful, homophobic profanities.

Garrison Gibbons, the only gay student in the production of a play about the murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard who was gay, said the incident reminded him of how much intolerance remained in the Magnolia State.

"The Laramie Project" was also protested by the radical, fringe Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan. Members of the cult held up homophobic hate signs up in front of a venue that was performing the play in Durham, NC, in 2005.

The play was written in 2000; Shepard's murder occurred in 1998.

SIDEBAR: The federal government shutdown which has closed many national parks, including tours of the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, did not stop the Air Force-Navy game which was played in Annapolis, Maryland, on Saturday. Navy won the game 28-10 thanks in large part to quarterback Keenan Reynolds who ran for 126 yards and scored three touchdowns.

http://www.nohomophobes.com

http://theatre.olemiss.edu/

http://www.fordstheatre.org/

http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-footbl/

High School of the Week- Oxford High School (Mississippi)

Since Oxford High School in Oxford, Ms., goes by the nickname of The Chargers, we thought we'd post an entry with an image of Captain Marvel (aka 'Shaazam!') to be cheeky (nothing new for us!).

The school, which is located in the same town as the University of Mississippi where author John Grisham hails from, plays Gentry High School at home tonight.

Michael Martin is the principal of Oxford High School, and on the school's web site he quotes Ralph Waldo Emerson: "The secret of education is in respecting the pupil."

We are also featuring an entry devouted to Ithaca High School in Ithaca, NY, on our other blog (it is also in a collegetown as Cornell University is located there).

I came up with the idea to post entries for schools from Mississipi and New York because I recently quoted playwrights Tennessee Williams and Neil Simon on the same day. (Williams is deceased, Simon is alive and well in his eighties). They are from those two states respectively.