Watercooler Stories

Vagina in school paper sparks uproar

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Students at a Los Angeles high school have protested after school officials confiscated an issue of the school newspaper that featured a diagram of a vagina.

The special Valentine's Day issue of Grover Cleveland High School's Le Sabre newspaper featured an article on the front page about "The Vagina Monologues," a play by Eve Ensler, that was accompanied by a labeled diagram of a vagina and a hot-pink headline reading: "Happy Vagina Day," the Los Angles Times reported Monday.

The issue caused an instant uproar, and Principal Bob Marks had many of the copies intercepted and confiscated before they could reach classrooms.

"My phone's been ringing off the hook," Marks said. He said he has received numerous complaints from parents offended by the issue -- and one call from a parent upset that the papers had been taken away.

Richard Edmond, 15, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said the vagina themed issue was aimed at raising awareness about violence against women.

"I didn't think it was going to be that big a deal," Edmond said. "But they are really upset."

Edmond and two other students were sent home from school Friday when they refused to change out of homemade white, black and pink T-shirts reading: "My vagina is obscene."

Church poses sexy challenge

TAMPA, Fla., Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A Tampa, Fla., pastor has posed an unusual challenge to members of his church -- 30 days of sex for married couples and 30 days of abstaining for singles.

Head Pastor Paul Wirth of Relevant Church said Sunday the challenge is aimed at bringing couples closer together, the Carrollwood (Fla.) News & Tribune reported Monday. He told his congregation that half of all marriages end in divorce.

"And that's no different for people who attend church," he said. "Sometimes life gets in the way. Our jobs get in the way."

Engaged couple Sarah Bassil and Tim Jones said they have decided to accept the challenge of abstaining from sex for 30 days.

"We're going to take the challenge," Bassil said. "We talked about it, and we both realize the importance of doing things the right way."

Jones said it would be difficult, but worth the effort.

"I think it's worth trying to find out other things about each other," he said.

The church has set up a blog, www.30daysexchallenge.com, for congregants to share their thoughts about the challenge.

Seized Elvis memorabilia returned

EDINBURGH, Scotland, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Scottish police have returned almost $7,800 worth of Elvis memorabilia mistakenly seized during a drug raid on an Edinburgh home.

The confiscated items included a poster advertising a gig in February 1956, a signed photograph and a gold plated RCA disc from March 1956, although no drugs were found, the Edinburgh Evening News reported Monday.

The memorabilia has been returned to Ralph Miller, 28, who had left the memorabilia at his friend's flat in the Old Town.

"The police raided (a friend's) flat looking for drugs. They didn't find any but they did find the Elvis stuff and decided to seize it on the assumption it had been stolen," he said, adding that he had been unaware how much the collection was worth. "Now it's going up for sale. We've just arranged to get it valued and then we're going to put it up for auction."

Poll weighs worth of British housewives

LONDON, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A poll of 4,000 housewives in Britain found they do work that should bring in between $56,000 and $58,000 a year.

The poll, conducted by www.alljoinon.com, a social networking site for housewives, found that most housewives work nine hours a day, seven days a week and found that if the average housewife went out to work she would be paid $11,689.73 more than the national average per year,

It revealed the average housewife spends 4.55 hours each day looking after the children, for which a Nanny would earn around $70, based on an average hourly wage of $15.50.

The summary went on to tally the amounts others would be paid to do a mothers' work to get the total of roughly $56,000 a year and more.

"This clearly demonstrates that not only do housewives deserve a wage for their efforts, they also need a break from the daily grind," said Carolyn Morris, spokeswoman for www.alljoinon.com.