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Upstate Teen Demands Portrait With Cat & Lasers Be His Yearbook Photo
By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 11, 2014
Modified Sep 14, 2014
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By
Jen Chung
Published Sep 11, 2014
Modified Sep 14, 2014
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A 16-year-old Schenectady High School student has preemptively started an online petition so he can have his yearbook portrait be this fanciful photograph of himself with his cat Mr. Bigglesworth and lots of laser beams. Draven Rodriguez explained to The Daily Gazette, "I don’t want to go in the yearbook with the generic ‘I-look-like-everyone-else’ photo. I wanted a ‘He looks great. Only he would try that’ photo."
School district spokeswoman Karen Corona told the Gazette, "That will not appear in the portrait section," because it'd obviously be very different from the others, but added that there "are other places in the yearbook where those photos can be placed... It doesn’t mean the photo won’t be in the yearbook. It just means it won’t be in the section where the more professional photos are.”
But it's clearly a professional photograph! Still, a spokesman for the neighboring Niskayuna Central School District gave this statement, "There are no specific guidelines, but 99.9 percent of the time there are professional-type head shots. You do need to consider the consistency and decorum of the section." Niskayuna Central School District—raising sheeple!
Jezebel is pro-cat photo, while Daily Intel is worried he'll regret the photo later in his life. Perhaps Draven should submit the picture sans lasers:
He was hoping for 500 signatures, but there are currently over 1,000. Draven told the Gazette, "I’m not trying to make any statement other than my photo is ridiculous and this is how I am."
Here's the alternate:
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Mr Bigglesworth
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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