I rarely look at the local newspaper, Atlanta Journal Constitution. But today, when I did so, an article on a federal civil rights lawsuit against "speech codes" at Georgia Tech (the university I attend) caught by attention. The lawsuit was filed by Alliance Defense Fund on the behalf of two "conservative" (i.e., College Republican) students, and claims that "Tech actively censors disfavored expression on campus and that the Tech environment squelches First Amendment freedoms through policies outlined in the Student Code of Conduct and the Housing Community Guide"*.

In other words, these noble crusaders for free speech want to express, freely without censure, their contempt for gays, feminists, and other ideological enemies. And this week a Federal judge ruled that Tech has to get rid of these pesky housing codes, which prevent these "Godly" students from, for example, outlining in graphic detail the horrors their imagined version of Hell that await "sodomites". I for one think the judge is right; any kind of speech should be allowed even if it is driven by prejudice and malice**. Let the mudslinging games begin. These folks (by the way, I wonder, why are they hiding out at Tech battling "sodomites" instead of fighting in the Chosen One's Mess-o-potamian "Crusade"? Do they want me point them to the Tech ROTC?) should be made welcome, so that they can bring their "crosses" to burn in the university. And to counter this, I would suggest to their opponents that they screen or enact scenes from Monty Python's "Life of Brian".

*Ref: Technique’s article **I am an Edward Abbey type libertarian when it comes to free speech issues; no pussyfooting for me. Meanwhile will you upright citizens on the behalf of an alien (yours truely) let FCC know that it shouldn't regulate/ fine wardrobe malfunctions, and bleeped words like "fuck" over as illogical Flawell-ian rants?!

We meet by the river, your hair dripping wet Because of the rain which has been falling all day.

The river’s rippled skin splits Your face when you lean over And shake your head to and fro, A happy puppy with your easy smile.

How have you arrived here? Is it because of gravity that propels Everything fluid to a river? You flow ceaselessly now.

Half submerged in the water, You are the river Carving its name on the rocks. And I am one of the edged pebbles You gently smoothen.

The grass on the bank bends Towards your body in the rain. My head has woven a nest Out of that grass which laps Your curved lap. It is raining, As you bend over my head Obliterating the world.

I wonder: Where do you end? Where does the river begin?

Note The music playing in my head as I was scribbiling the lines above was the lovely Vishwa Mohan Bhatt & Ry Cooder's album, with the same title as this poem.