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Years ago, IVC's School of Humanities and Languages acquired the painting--from the artist, I believe, who taught for us for some time. So we hung it on the wall.
For many years, that seemed to be fine with everybody. And why not?
Then, about five years ago, during Dean Gensler's Reign of Error, the painting was suddenly taken down and put away. Why? Some of us made inquiries. It turns out that no one had complained about the painting. No instructor. No student. Nobody.
What was the deal then?
Well, all by himself, Howard--one of Raghu's hires--had decided that the painting was "harassing" female students who saw it.
--CORRECTION: the Reb tells me that I got this wrong, which is entirely possible, because I've tried to forget everything Gensler, and Reb has a perfect memory for Genslerian folly. (She could write volumes.) According to the Reb, Gensler took down the painting because it was harassing HIM.
The mind reels.
As soon as that asshole left (well, he didn't exactly "leave"), we stuck the painting right back up there on the wall.
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Or maybe I remembered that wrong: my mind plays tricks with these crazy plant and flower names. Hell, I still call every flower a "posy," just 'cause I heard that word as a kid, with my immigrant's ears, and I thought, what a wonderfully ridiculous word.
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