Socail Networking and Censorship

I actually found some very interesting things that I had no idea were still out there, when I searched my name in Google and Pipl.com. I guess I should have known about them, I put them out there, but it has been two years and I forgot. As an undergraduate, I was making some edgy, and explicit artwork. I submitted parts of this body of work to both my University program as materiel for them to post on their website as examples of student work and I submitted similar images to a well-known, well-respected photography magazine, for a collaborative show with a highly respected art gallery in California. These images are almost the first thing you will see when you Google my name and they are the first thing anyone will find when looking for me specifically. I also found my Myspace page, but it is set to private, and there isn’t anything on there that will get me into trouble, anyway. I am concerned about what the Google search brought to my attention.

http://www.jpgmag.com/photos/109739
http://www.eou.edu/art/SeniorExhibition0607/Caitlin%20Mack/CaitlinMack.html
http://www.jpgmag.com/people/cLouise
http://www.lagrandeobserver.com/Features/GO-Magazine/EXPPOINTS
www.spock.com/Caitlin-Mack-ImTCP1vY
http://www.myspace.com/131903388

I think that my artwork could be seen as unbecoming of a teacher. I do not think that it is appropriate for me to be expected to change my creativity or hide my artistic expression. I am both an artist and a teacher. I am happy to discuss the ideas and the emotions elicited by my work with others, that’s why I made them available. I was not intending to become a teacher at the time I made parts of this body of work available on the internet, but I wouldn’t do it any differently now that I am becoming a teacher. This body of work contributed to who I am as a person, and who I am as an artist.

I do understand that my work will be misinterpreted and possibly looked down on and non-artists might judge me, but others have and will continue to celebrate it. I believe that this paradox between dislike/fear/uneasiness and intrigue/excitement/acceptance is the exact place I wanted my work to explore. I believe that challenging the expectations of our society and pushing the norms of our culture is a role of the artist. I am an artist and this is my work. These are the bigger ideas I hope to teach to my art classes, or at least to those who are interested in growing as artists.

I understand that holding our teachers to a higher standard is a condition of our culture. Society trusts a teacher with the future of young minds and with the future of the society itself. We are expected to not only teach our subjects, but also teach morality, values and character. Even though, there are bigger influences on our children, like the media and celebrities; we as teachers have direct contact with youth, every day--this alone is a big enough reason to hold teachers to a high standard. At some point, it can go too far. This is the fine line of censorship, which has been forever fought against and debated across cultures.
As for me, there are things a teacher should not make public where a child will easily and intentionally discover the teacher’s private life. Things like sexually explicit images, drinking, drug use, partying, inappropriate partners, etc, should never appear in places where students will readily and reasonably be expected to interact with their teachers. At the same time, I believe that my artwork, while containing elements which are inappropriate for younger viewers, has the right to be submitted to artistic forums and competitions. Both of these areas are not the same as posting inappropriate material on a Myspace page where there are student are friends with the teachers and where students frequently explore.

When it comes to written online responses I ask, would the same speech be held against another person in a public office? If the mayor said that phrase, or made that comment where children could be exposed to it, would he or she be asked to step down or reprimanded and made to make amends? We are role models. We are also human and capable of mistakes. I think it is more prudent to ask whether the speech was made with malicious intent, or just in a moment of bad judgment. Our students need to know we do our best and make mistakes and are human too. It is more important to see how a teacher handles something he or she said in haste or anger after the fact. A teacher who apologizes, makes amends, receives the reprimand for acting in a way that we would reprimand our students if they acted like that or said that thing, this teacher is teaching the students a valuable lesson that no matter how old you are, there are still consequences for poor choices and you should accept the thing you did wrong, and move on. So, I say again, what is it we want to teach our students? Through our mistakes we can teach them how to accept a reprimand with dignity and respect, but the reprimand must be given with respect and be appropriate for the wrong doing, in order to set this example.

In reading the article Have You Googled Your Teacher Lately by Heather Carter, Teresa Folulger, and Ann Dutton Ewbank, there is a interesting discussion of censorship and technology which is summed up with this quote:

“In a world where social connections and friendships are newly defined by user-generated content on the Web, it is unclear where privacy ends and professional life begins. Based on media reports of teachers using MySpace, it is clear that many educators are learning to define this line for themselves. It might be best to view these situations as significant ethical dilemmas posed by a technology-dependent, 21st-century world.”

I think that the debate of free speech and censorship will always be a grey area. With the development of technology, we as a culture again have to draw our own boundary lines of acceptable communication between our teachers and their students. I feel strongly in my right as a female artist to create interesting and thought provoking work. I will fight to keep my right to make and share such work. I will also teach my students to do the same. At the same time, I am going to keep all my social networking set to private. I am going to maintain my personal and professional boundaries. There isn’t a lot I can do about the art that is already out there, but I can handle any situations which arise from my work with compassion, understanding, and respect (the same way I want my work to be treated).