Parents of children at a California school were upset to learn that a former adult film star had read to their kids as part of a "Read Across America" program, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Sasha Grey, who retired from the porn industry earlier this year, also played herself in "Entourage" in 2010, the piece notes. According to her Twitter feed, Grey spent a morning reading to "the sweetest 1st & 3rd grade students" at Emerson Elementary in Compton, Calif., the piece notes.
Parents were unhappy about her involvement in the program, which was created by the National Education Association to spur reading across the U.S.
Grey responded to the furor on Friday, saying via Twitter that she "committed to this program with the understanding that people would have their own opinions about what I have done, who I am and what I represent," the story says. She added, "I have a past that some people may not agree with, but it does not define who I am. I will not live in fear of it."
The Log is heartened to learn that the good people of Compton have their priorities in order. The achievement levels of American students in math, science and reading comprehension have fallen to the middle of the international pack; the percentage of high school students who graduate–77%–is lower than most other developed countries; recent statistics put the unemployment rate among college graduates at half the rate for people without a college degree. And yet, some Americans–with straight faces–are publicly asking whether this country sends too many people to college.
So what comes roaring straight outta Compton this week? Word thst some parents are shocked–SHOCKED!–to discover that their school district is participating in a nationwide program designed to encourage reading. The program does that by furnishing volunteers to elementary classrooms; the volunteers promote reading using a method that’s both time-tested and impervious to technological change: they sit in one of those too-small-for-an-adult’s-butt chairs, surrounded by young faces with big, bright eyes–and read a story out loud.
The Comptonites have their undies in a knot because one of the volunteers is a former porn star. “Former,” as in, “no, she doesn’t make dirty movies anymore, and no, The Log doesn’t know the titles of any she may have starred in, and no, you may not peruse The Log’s [completely legitimate] video collection on the off-chance you might find one of her cinematic achievements, for educational purposes, of course.”
Never mind that even if she had driven directly from Pornoversal City Studios to a classroom in Compton, which she did not; even if she had introduced herself to students using her nom du smut, which she did not; even if she had been accompanied during her school visit by Ron (“The Hedgehog”) Jeremy himself, which she was not–
Even if all of that had been true, which it was not, it would not have interfered with the message about reading she delivered to “the sweetest first and third grade students” at Emerson Elementary. The kids, most likely, didn’t know the nice story lady was a former adult entertainment industry contractor; had they known, they probably wouldn’t have let it distract them from the story reading (that is a uniquely “adult” kind of distraction; the distractions that kids allow to lead them astray are, frankly, far more sensible. For proof, pull The Log’s finger).
And not to put too fine a point on it, but the story lady’s previous career was not just legal, but protected by the First Amendment.
Those Compton parents are alert when aroused: they can apparently spot a former porn starlet at 100 paces. But they are not alert enough to recognize the danger of mindless witch-hunts in an era of declining school budgets, increasing critical-thinking skills requirements for people entering the workforce, and crumbling school infrastructures that magnify the impact of both. The danger is that their half-cocked crusade against a school volunteer because she once worked in X-rated pictures will discourage volunteers of all stripes; it might also discredit or eliminate programs that supply cash-poor school districts (read: “all school districts”) services they could not afford on their own.
The road the Compton parents are paving with their good intentions leads to–not Hell, exactly, but more pictures. The picture of a cheeseburger on a cash register key, for example, instead of the word “cheeseburger”–easier for the clerk to identify.
Wonder what the picture of a credit default swap is going to look like on the cash registers on Wall Street.
Well said!
The feigned outrage quotient in Compton runs high!