The O-town Scene - Oneonta, NY
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/25332
R.o.B.S. WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. _ Students at Hartford High School recently staged a “hug-in” to protest the school’s restrictive policy on student contact. Wearing T-shirts with slogans such as “Would you prefer drugs?” and “It’s just a hug,” as many as 150 of the school’s 600-plus students spent their lunch period Monday hug- ging one another in defiance of a schoolwide ban on the practice. The school’s ban on hugging went into effect at the beginning of the 2010-11 school year. A statement in the school handbook says the policy is in response to “increased physical contact between students of both sexes.” A similar policy was also placed on the books at Hartford Memorial Middle School. Student Council president Joe Laughler, a senior, was among the participants in Monday’s “hug-in.” “The students, we really feel this policy is too restrictive,” Laughler said Monday. “Hugging isn’t this taboo thing. It’s normal. It’s just saying, ‘Hey, good to see you,’ or ‘How (are) you doing?’” Principal Mary Pereira called the protest “disappointing,” say- ing that there are “less disruptive” ways for students to voice their opinions on school policy. “We solicit feedback from our students regularly on a variety of issues,” Pereira wrote in an e-mail. “This type of action is unlikely to influence the adminis- tration.” Pereira declined to comment on what disciplinary action the students who participated in Monday’s protest might face. 26 O-Town Scene Feb. 17, 2011 It’s hard to tell what’s true these days. Take a gander below, and guess if A. and B. are Real or B.S. (Answers at the bottom of the page.) Students can’t just ‘hug A. it out’ — it’s banned B. Longest kiss in history: 46-hour smoochfest PATTAYA, Thailand _ It was one long kiss for a couple _ one record-breaking embrace for mankind. A determined Thai couple locked lips for 46 hours, 24 minutes and nine seconds to celebrate Valentine’s Day in this southern beach resort town, emerging victorious af- ter a “kissathon” organizers claim marked the longest recorded smooch in history. The previous record of just over 32 hours was set in 2009 by a couple in Germany, according to Guinness World Records, whose officials will have to verify the latest milestone for it to become official. Fourteen couples kicked off the contest at 6 a.m. Sunday. By Monday afternoon, half had already beaten the record and were still puckering up on the white- marble corridor of an oceanside shopping mall in Pattaya. Passing tourists gawked, smiled and snapped pictures with glowing mobile phones behind a red rope. “We didn’t think we would find anybody that could break the record,” Som- porn Naksuetrong said. That seven couples did, he said, “is amazing.” The winner was announced before dawn Tuesday: a Bangkok couple, Ekkachai and Laksana Tiranarat. They won a diamond ring and a cash prize. According to the rules, the love- birds’ lips could not part at any time. Any drinks could only be con- sumed through straws while continu- ing the kiss, and the couples had to remain embraced during bathroom breaks possible every three hours _ accompanied by contest monitors. The harshest rule: no sitting or sleeping. One woman participating with her boyfriend fainted just half an hour after it began Sunday. Despite its reputation for having one of the biggest sex industries in the world, Thailand is still a conser- vative nation where kissing in public is frowned upon. Participants had to prove they were either married or truly a couple _ a letter from both parents or a marriage certificate was acceptable. “We want to show that love is meaning- ful and powerful,” Somporn said. “It’s not easy to stand there and kiss for that long. They really have to help each other and support each other.” A Thai and international soundtrack that included tunes kept couples swaying two nights straight, some barefoot or striking yoga-like poses to keep awake. About 35 hours into the marathon, 37-year-old Preedi Singhajan scribbled a note on a paper tablet to his 51-year-old partner, Rungnapa Rojananawin. “Can you go on?” he asked. She soon answered by ending their embrace. Attendants sat the couple down and a nurse took Rojananawin’s pulse. “The competition is fierce,” she said, slumped in a metal chair as five other couples shimmied in a bizarre scene akin to a high-school dance tempered by bright floodlights. “These people aren’t giving up easily.” A. is B.S, by Emily Popek; B. is real.