by B. R. GOWANI
Michelangelo (1475-1564), a Florentine, was a painter/architect/sculptor
he was an artist of the “High Renaissance,” a period between 1495 – 1530
in 1508, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to do the painting
it took him almost four years (1508-1512) to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling
the ceiling includes 9 scenes from the Bible, including The Creation of Adam
(the other fresco he did was The Last Judgment on the chapel’s alter wall
it took Michelangelo over four years to complete, from 1536 to 1541)
the Sistine Chapel is in the Vatican City State, the seat of the Catholic Pope
it was built between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV (1414-1484)
between 1901-1904, Michelangelo had worked to finish David’s statue
David is considered one of Michelangelo’s greatest works – its height is 17ft
Tallahassee Classical School’s principal Hope Carrasquilla lost her job
Carrasquilla was the third principal in less than three years
School board president Barney Bishop forced her to resign — i.e., fired her
reason: 3 parents complained about their children seeing images of David
2 parents said they weren’t notified early; one said it was “pornographic“
they claimed their children were “upset” due to the images
the images were part of the 6th grade art history lesson for students
“Parental rights trump everything else.”
parental rights are good and should be exercised when it’s really necessary
but here the parents are not right; the Bishop is absolutely wrong
David’s statue is nude but is not pornographic from any angle
the question is: where does this nonsense stop?
more than the parents, it is the Bishop who is the main culprit — his ideas:
“We don’t use pronouns.” “We don’t teach CRT [critical race theory] and we don’t ever mention 1619 — those are not appropriate subjects for our kids.”
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com