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Not Really Naked Superhero Costumes Problematic
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 26, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 26, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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We cannot resist stories that involve superheroes wearing briefs or high school antics, even if they take place in Long Island. So: Three Long Beach High School seniors caught the ire of principal Nicholas Restivo yesterday when they celebrated "Superhero Day." In the tradition of many a high school, there's a Senior Week where seniors have dress up and do silly things, and Long Beach has a "Superhero Day," in addition to "Nerd Day" and "Pirate Day." (It's called a senior slump for a reason!) Newsday reports:
At the root of the clash was Captain Underpants, chubby superhero star of popular children's books in which he battles talking toilets and foes such as Professor Poopypants.
Chelsea Horowitz, Ashley Imhof and Eliana Levin, all 17, arrived at school Wednesday as the captain: They wore beige leotards and nude stockings under white briefs. Red capes flared from their backs.
Definitely check out the photographs on Newsday, because the outfits are brilliant in the vein of George Costanza's flesh-colored body suit. Restivo felt that even though the girls were not naked, they really looked naked, so he asked them to put clothes on or leave. And so the three "felt forced to leave school," because "they didn't want to wear 'someone else's hand-me-downs' and their parents weren't available to bring clothes to the school." Oh, please, those red capes could have easily become togas or something. Where is the imagination in today's youth? But still, we think Principal Restivo is being a stick-in-the-mud (Principal Poopypants?). Has he seen how short some girls hike their skirts up?
You can acquaint yourself with Captain Underpants online or at the Scholastic Store. And Captain Underpants author Dav Pilkey is awesome - we love his books Dogzilla and Kat Kong.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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