In a shocking leap into the 20th century, Turner County High School in Ashburn, Georgia just held its first integrated prom. Previously, despite the school itself being integrated, white students raised funds to hold their own private party prompting black students to do the same. This was the first year that senior class officers moved to hold one official prom and invite all students. The decision comes on the heel of the school abandoning the crowning of separate black and white homecoming queens last fall.

No, this isn’t some “this day in 1950s history” post, this just happened over the past weekend. I know in my neck of the woods, Chicago certainly still deals with the issues of race and segregation, but my god I must live in a bubble because I am shocked that this kind of blatant racism still exists in this day and age. Of course I realize there are plenty of individual racist pricks out there, I’m not completely naive, but to think an entire county would condone this is almost incomprehensible to me. The county’s school superintendent was quoted by the AP as saying, “I couldn’t be more proud of these young people. The changes needed to come from the student body.” Because it seems it sure won’t be driven by their parents or the school administration.

While this is certainly forward progress for this backwater town, it apparently is just a baby step. Only two-thirds of the upper class attended the prom, the majority being the black students. A number of white students still threw their own private party a week earlier.

Should teachers and coaches be held to higher standards in terms of their personal activities than us normal folk? Some parents in Waukegan, Illinois sure think so.

Waukegan High School pom coach Natosha [sic] Shaw, a self-described “aspiring dancer and model” (more commonly known as a “stripper”) posted some pictures of herself on MySpace.com, and surprisingly someone from the school came across her page on the obscure and unpopular site. A “shapely Shaw” was seen posing in sexy outfits that some deemed “lewd” as well as things like “a photo of a statue of a child apparently copulating with a cat and the comment ‘I’d hit it like this!’” (I have that same statue on my mantle!) Now a group of parents and students are trying to get Shaw fired:

“They’re indecent,” Albarran said. “When you’re a coach, you become a role model and you’re setting an example. She should know the kids are all over the Internet. It’s embarrassing.”

Embarrassing, sure, but harmful? The images were far from pornographic, and clearly no laws were broken. It’s not as if she’s a guidance counselor, is this really so out of line that she deserves to be fired? The case is reminiscent of Tamara Hoover’s plight, but with less boobies. What about you, if your daughter’s coach was caught doing this would you want her ousted?

Last week, Alec Baldwin had a hissy fit on his daughter’s voicemail after Ireland (apparently once again) missed their weekly scheduled phone call. Through some “mysterious” circumstances, an MP3 of the rant made its way to the press and onto the internet, spreading like wildfire.

Well, now a second voicemail recording has surfaced, and we’ve got it right here — an Imperfect Parent exclusive. You should be warned, however, this one is even more disturbing than the last and contains harsh language:

[audio:http://www.imperfectparent.com/baldwin_new.mp3]

As reported by the Associated Press, the Supreme Court today in a 5-4 decision decided that the “Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act” passed by Congress in 2003 holds muster and does not violate a woman’s right to choose an abortion. One of the main bones of contention with this act was the fact that it didn’t discriminate on a case-by-case basis — if a partial birth abortion is necessary to try and save the life of the mother, too fucking bad. Justice Kennedy wrote in his decision, “the law need not give abortion doctors unfettered choice in the course of their medical practice.” Because, you know, a judge knows better than your doctor.

Not surprisingly, besides Kennedy the other justices in the majority were John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Antonin Scalia. Justice Ginsberg offered this opinion:

“Today’s decision is alarming,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in dissent. She said the ruling “refuses to take … seriously” previous Supreme Court decisions on abortion. Ginsburg said the latest decision “tolerates, indeed applauds, federal intervention to ban nationwide a procedure found necessary and proper in certain cases by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.”

Look, I’m not a big fan of abortion — I think it’s a tragic circumstance and a serious medical procedure that should not be taken lightly. But I also realize that’s my personal opinion, and if you want to base your thoughts regarding abortion solely on an ancient religious text, then feel free to mind your own house and don’t impose your view of morality on the rest of us.

I know this has nothing to do with parenting, but I was so hit by the news I wanted to join in the mourning:

Novelist Kurt Vonnegut dies at 84

Vonnegut has always been one of my favorite authors, perhaps almost solely for emotional reasons. After slogging through Johnny Tremain, Watership Down and The Great Gatsby in junior high English class, I was starting to regret my reading level having advanced past Encyclopedia Brown. But then the teacher handed out the book that set my view of modern literature on its ear — Slaughterhouse-Five. I devoured it immediately, enthralled by the depth of character in Billy Pilgrim and the frankness of the language. I re-read it several times in a row. It turned my spark of interest in reading into a roaring inferno that has yet to be doused.

Goodbye, Mr. Vonnegut, you will be missed.