(Wrote this one a while back but never posted it for some reason. Still not coming up with much to inspire me to write.)
Hostess: "Welcome back to Wake Up Television, and today we have an interesting twist on a story we first reported to you last week. Debbie Hanson, a forty-seven-year old substitute teacher in Michigan, was recently fired for taping the mouth of a sixth-grade student at the elementary school she was teaching at. Parents of other students at the school demanded Mrs. Hanson be fired for the incident. Now, to many people's surprise, especially mine, the student whose mouth was taped has actually spoken up, defending Mrs. Hanson and her discipline. The girl, Lisa Blackbird, along with her mother, Donna, join us via satellite from our affiliate in Detroit. Thank you both for coming on this morning."
Lisa: "Thank you."
Hostess: "Lisa, I have to ask you first, why come to Ms. Hanson's defense? Wasn't it difficult for you to sit there in class all day with all that tape on your mouth?"
Lisa: "It was, but it was a punishment, you know? "
Hostess: "Well yes, but from the reports of other students, the teacher didn't just put tape over your lips, but covered your entire face in tape. Doesn't that seem excessive to you?"
Lisa: "No. She put a strip across my mouth, and then two others on my cheeks, making an X. I could breathe through my nose."
Hostess: "But what if you had a stuffy nose? How could you breathe?"
Lisa: "Mrs. Hanson wouldn't have taped my mouth then. She loves her students. She wouldn't have put me in danger."
Hostess: "I'm just having a hard time understanding this. Donna, you're her mother, and you've spoken out to defend Mrs. Hanson as well?"
Donna: "I have, yes."
Hostess: "Doesn't it bother you that a teacher would just put tape over your daughter's mouth like that? Doesn't that worry you?"
Donna: "Why should it? I had my mouth taped shut when I was in school, and it helped me learn manners. Lisa was talking too much, and Mrs. Hanson did what she needed to in order to quiet her. I support her decision."
Hostess: "You say you had your mouth taped in school, but, forgive me for saying so, that was a long time ago. I thought that sort of thing went out with paddling."
Donna: "Paddling? I'd never spank my kids, and I'd never let anyone else do so, either. Striking children just makes them more resentful."
Hostess: "So you're saying mouth taping is different?"
Donna: "Certainly. For one thing, it stops the bad behavior. She can't talk too much if she can't talk at all, right?"
Hostess: "Yes, but isn't it humiliating to be punished like that in front of all the other students?"
Donna: "Of course it is. How is that any different from being sent to a corner, or a time-out chair?"
Hostess: "Let me go back to Lisa here. Lisa, didn't you feel humiliated having to sit there with that tape on your mouth?"
Lisa: "I did, but it helped me realize how badly I'd behaved."
Hostess: "Didn't the students give you a hard time, didn't they make fun of you?"
Lisa: "Yes. Some of them snickered and called me names."
Hostess: "And that didn't bother you?"
Lisa: "Yes, but ... I was being punished, you know?"
Hostess: "And didn't it hurt when the teacher took the tape off at the end of the day?"
Lisa: "Mrs. Hanson let me take it off."
Hostess: "Oh."
Lisa: "And it didn't hurt."
Donna: "Mrs. Hanson used a tape called microfoam tape. She showed it to me later. It's made to adhere to human skin and doesn't hurt coming off."
Hostess: "I see."
Donna: "Back in the day my teachers used a different tape. It was medical tape, but it burned when it came off. One of my teachers used duct tape on me once, and that really hurt."
Hostess: "I understand, but this is your daughter, Mrs. Blackbird, and her teacher made her a laughingstock in front of her whole class. That doesn't bother you at all?"
Donna: "It does bother me, but only because Lisa misbehaved. If she'd kept her mouth shut then Mrs. Hanson wouldn't have had to shut it for her."
Hostess: "Lisa, doesn't it bother you to have your mother talk this way about you and say you deserved to have your mouth taped shut?"
Lisa: "But I did deserve it."
Hostess: "You really believe that?"
Lisa: "Yes."
Hostess: "You haven't been told by your mother or Mrs. Hanson or anyone else to say that?"
Lisa: "No. I broke the rules, and I got punished for it. That's what happens to grown-ups, isn't it?"
Hostess: "Yes, but I don't see why you thought this was appropriate. Wasn't there some other punishment you would have rather had instead, like detention or a scolding?"
Lisa: "No."
Hostess: "Having your mouth taped was really the punishment you preferred?"
Lisa: "Yes."
Hostess: "And Donna, you support this punishment?"
Donna: "Of course. If Lisa talks too much at school again I hope she gets her mouth taped shut again."
Hostess: "Really?"
Donna: "Yes. Teachers these days are too timid to discipline students. Having my mouth taped when I was younger taught me there were times when I needed to be quiet. More children could benefit from a lesson like that."
Hostess: "So you actually think more teachers should tape their students' mouths shut?"
Donna: "Teachers, parents, yes."
Hostess: "Parents? Have you taped Lisa's mouth shut before?"
Donna: "A few times. She's well-behaved enough that I don't have to do it very often. I might do it more often now that Mrs. Hanson showed me that microfoam tape, how painless it is coming off."
Hostess: "I'm ... at a loss for words. Lisa, you're okay with your teacher and your mother taping your mouth shut?"
Lisa: "Yes."
Hostess: "If you talk too much again, you're okay with having your mouth taped?"
Lisa: "Yes."
Hostess: "One last question, Lisa. Do you plan on talking too much again?"
Lisa: "I ... I ..."
Hostess: "Lisa?"
Lisa: "Maybe?"
Hostess: "I see. Donna and Lisa Blackburn, thank you for your time."
Donna: "Thank you."
Lisa: "Thank you."