When I was a straight-laced Board of Education President I would hear the Superintendant and Department Chairs talk at our monthly meetings about “authentic learning.” Everyone in the room seemed to get it, so I would put on a smile and nod my head and wonder what they were talking about. What makes something “authentic”? I finally figured it out with my previous blog.

That blog, if you missed it, dealt with pedophilia in music. Yuck, right? I admit that although I began with a disclaimer, the column was written in a tone that may have seemed too light-hearted for the topic, and I apologize for that. But I needed a change of venue; there are only so many times I can commiserate about COVID-19, tell my family story, or rip President Trump a new @#$%^&*. And part of the point of the posting, the most authentic part, was pulling back the curtain on how my blog ideas are born and nurtured. As I pointed out in the blog, much of it was lifted from an email thread with friends that arose from a comment about an earlier blog. I excerpted and paraphrased, added an introduction and a closing, and voilà, a 500-word posting appeared. It was as natural and authentic as I can get.

Not everyone gave plaudits to the blog. Some were displeased with the topic. Others were worried that I would either attract pedophiles (not so far) or wind up on an FBI watchlist (maybe I have) or both.

One interesting message to me was that I shouldn’t have characterized this as a phenomenon in music since movies such as Pretty Baby deal with similar situations, and often in a more lurid manner. I concede that older men chasing girls is present in all the arts–that’s why my illustration for the blog was a movie poster from Lolita, the novel and film whose title character has become synonymous with the old man/young girl scenario. But music is always first on my mind.

I did, at one Facebook page owner’s request, delete the posting from one page where my blog usually runs. No problem with that, it is their site and only by their courtesy that I am allowed to post there. And no, that isn’t censorship. I have plenty of other places to post.

I guess I wrote an authentic post and got some authentic replies. If the blog offended you, I hope you give us a few more tries. If you liked the post, rest assured that I will still sometimes push the envelope. I’m not that straight-laced anymore!

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photo credit: Vicki’s Nature windmill over the fishing hole via photopin (license)