Tuesday, October 29, 2013

"Pa. boy dresses as vagrant for class, is suspended"

(AP) -- A high school student who dressed as a homeless man for a drama assignment was so convincing that he fooled school officials -- and ended up getting suspended.

It began with an assignment last month, senior Michael Bodomov, 17, said: Create a character and be that person for an entire day at Mount Lebanon High School, just outside Pittsburgh.

"I wore like a couple layers of coats and some sweatpants," Bodomov said. He added a pair of fingerless gloves, mismatched shoes and plastic bags for socks. He also smeared ink on his face to make it look dirty.

"I had to kind of think on my feet," Bodomov said, since he didn't want to break character before the school day even began.

"I kind of mumbled" and "said I need to talk to some people," Bodomov recalled, adding that in retrospect that might have made officials think he was mentally unbalanced.

"At one point, I think I said, 'I might be a student here,'" and a school official responded, "No, you can't be. You look like you're 30 and you haven't showered in 10 days."

He also tried showing them the garbage bag he was carrying, since it contained his school backpack. But his attention to character detail thwarted that, too. The bag was also filled with empty plastic bottles, and that's apparently all the officials saw.

"It's not like this entire time I wasn't trying to let them know I was a student," Bodomov said. "It was pretty funny to me."

Then the police showed up.

After staying in character for a little longer, Bodomov explained the whole situation. The police left, and an administrator said he was suspended for insubordination and for breaking a rule that students must identify themselves to an administrator when asked.

KEVIN BEGOS Associated Press

12 comments:

Calypso Facto said...

Thou shall not mock school authority

bagoh20 said...

I'm originally from that area, and I'm sure it's not unique to there that as a kid a "bum" was the go-to costume for Halloween. The other one was to dress up as a girl. I think I was one or the other about 90% of all Halloweens. It's easy because everyone already has around the house what it takes to make the look. My family was not going to spend money just to get a bag of free candy.

ricpic said...

There are still homeless? Under a Democrat regime? Well I'll be gobsmacked!

Synova said...

Someone thought this was a good idea and made it an assignment (to dress up like a different character and stay in character all day). There was some kid in the news that got in trouble for "bullying" because he wrote a poem, that was an *assignment* to write about something that made you mad. And then he was made to read it in class.

Someone in authority always seems to think that these are good ideas.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Unquestionably one of the great Mad Men moments:

"The Gypsy and the Hobo."

Oops! I meant say "The Roma and the Homeless Person."

bagoh20 said...

I see this zero tolerance crap as a violation of student and parent's rights. And the worst part is that it's teaching the next generation that this is how you deal with differences of opinion and non-conformist behavior. It's teaching that authority is absolute, and that's a pretty un-American idea.

KCFleming said...

L'état est un âne.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It's as if many of the people who are running the government schools are losing their minds.

William said...

I'd dress up as a bully and spend the day slapping the smaller kids around. It' would be not just fun, but a learning experience.

KCFleming said...

@April

I've been thinking that same thing. It really does seem like lefties have completely lost their marbles.

Irrational and punitive at the same time, a terrible combination.

Chip Ahoy said...

He says that as if being suspended from school is a bad thing.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

It's as if many of the people who are running the government schools are losing their minds.

Or....maybe they are now being allowed to express what has really been in their hearts and minds all along. They are intolerant, bigoted, control freaks, mind controlling fascists at heart. They were just suppressing their tendencies, but NOW have been given free rein.