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[southerntransplant]

I posted this link to my FB page, and one of my FB friends pointed out another winner of a bill that was voted on in the New Mexico legislature...

[egilson]

Lord, I wish Arizona would just go ahead and secede. They are acting like madmen over there. 

I can't think of anything to add but +1.

[aandsdean]

I probably couldn't talk about schist.

No schist, Sherlock.

[onthefringe]

I posted this link to my FB page, and one of my FB friends pointed out another winner of a bill that was voted on in the New Mexico legislature...

Yeah, but spending huge amounts of time discussing and voting on things with no possible real impact is what the NM legislature does. I think it mostly keeps them out of trouble.

See, for example, legislative time spent discussing the proper spelling of the state cookie (biScochito vs biZcochito http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Food/Bizcochitos-Biscochitos)

Or the discussion about whether the state fossil should be Coelophysis or State Representative William O'Donnell (D-Dona Ana) (http://newspaperarchive.com/santa-fe-new-mexican/1981-02-25/page-54/)

[dr_alcott]

I shared this with a friend of mine who is a lawyer and former law prof.  His response?

Him:

It's worse than the article suggests. The bill covers speech or conduct and isn't limited to the classroom. So, e.g., taking a shower, defecating or changing underwear (not to mention, say, having sex with one's spouse) would all be grounds for penalties, as you can't do them on network tv.

Me:

Is the text of the bill (as quoted on Huff Post) so loosely worded that it applies to the speech or conduct of "a person who provides classroom instruction in a public school" no matter where that speech or conduct is done?

Him:

Yes.

He did add that there's no way that (in his opinion) that could hold up in court.

The first two words of the bill are "public classrooms," but the rest of the language is vague. It does seem that the bill wouldn't just regulate behavior and speech in class or on campus--it would attempt to do so everywhere. So accordingly, it would be against the law for teachers and faculty to procreate or poop.

[ex_mo]

I shared this with a friend of mine who is a lawyer and former law prof.  His response?

Him:

It's worse than the article suggests. The bill covers speech or conduct and isn't limited to the classroom. So, e.g., taking a shower, defecating or changing underwear (not to mention, say, having sex with one's spouse) would all be grounds for penalties, as you can't do them on network tv.

Me:

Is the text of the bill (as quoted on Huff Post) so loosely worded that it applies to the speech or conduct of "a person who provides classroom instruction in a public school" no matter where that speech or conduct is done?

Him:

Yes.

He did add that there's no way that (in his opinion) that could hold up in court.

The first two words of the bill are "public classrooms," but the rest of the language is vague. It does seem that the bill wouldn't just regulate behavior and speech in class or on campus--it would attempt to do so everywhere. So accordingly, it would be against the law for teachers and faculty to procreate or poop.

I'm pretty sure that if I'm not allowed to boink or poop, my cussing quotient will increase by at least a billion. 

[amlithist]

I'm thinking we all ought to be packing up to move to Arizona.  I mean, since they don't have crime, or unemployment, or debt, or anything else to do in their legislature, and they have the time to dream up stuff like this, it must be a really nice place to live.

Oh.  Wait.


AmLitHist, who lives in IL (where we're broke as hell) and works in MO (where they're getting there)--but where both legislatures are too busy to give a fvck what I say in the classroom, at least for now.

[oldadjunct]

Interestingly I may soon be able to carry-concealed on campus so long as i don't say "s***".  Right now, the basic plan is for all of the schools to hang back and let ASU's Sandra Day O'Conner College of Law eviscerate this nonsense as part of various student projects.  We all are unconcerned, but embarrassed. 

As a relative newcomer to the state, I do pay some attention to state politics.  The bill's sponsors, to me at least, are non-entities (I don't even vaguely recognize their names from other news stories), which raises the question of how the bill even got to the floor.

[oldfullprof]

I actually favor open carry (not concealed, which should be illegal.)  I'm not sure about on-campus, however.

[rowan1]

Well oldadjunct,

At least you have both beautiful desserts, gorgeous mountains, and some great art centers!  Sorry you have to deal with the people though.

Just remember, when teaching in Arizona; don't cuss, get naked (except sideways,) procreate, poop, or teach about ethnic leaders who may or may not have taken a stance against white establishment types, wrote beautiful poetry celebrating the indigenous culture, in fact don't even mention the indigenous culture or the influence of the hispanic culture for that matter, better avoid mention of the African culture too; really all cultures save the white protestant culture.  Hell I hope you just teach math.  Wait, that was invented by the Arabs.

s***, what can you teach in Arizona?

Guns, teach about guns.

;-)

[aandsdean]

SNIP

s***, what can you teach in Arizona?

Guns, teach about guns.

;-)

Gunpowder.  Invented by the Chinese.  This is out too.

[mountainguy]

I nearly applied for a job in Arizona a few months ago. I decided to pass in part because I suspected the useless government there might have more tricks up its sleeve. This is even worse than I feared.

This legislation doesn't even qualify as "conservative." It's big government mind control.

[oldadjunct]

I nearly applied for a job in Arizona a few months ago. I decided to pass in part because I suspected the useless government there might have more tricks up its sleeve. This is even worse than I feared.

This legislation doesn't even qualify as "conservative." It's big government mind control.

ACK, there is much to like here, beyond just the weather (so long as you are not debilitated by heat two months a year). Without doubt this is the friendliest, most open department that I have been in since my return to teaching.  The students are a bit sheltered and unworldly, even among my daughter's flagship classmates, but almost uniformally pleasant and unentitled and I teach at the most entitled school in my large CC system.

Yes, the state government is often embarrassing recently (and then there was Meacham years ago and Arapio now), but who doesn't have a bag of crazy in the Statehouse?  I find this state wonderful to live and teach in.

I think that unless you really could not deal with heat and living in a sprawling ahistorical city, anyone is missing somthing to simply write off AZ because of "the crazy".