Doug Clark: Hey, Cheney High, it’s just a yearbook picture

Years from now – although not too many, I’ll wager – Michael Ferguson will get his sweet revenge over the yearbook grumps of Cheney High.

The panel members who rejected the photo he submitted will be exposed to the planet as unimaginative and humorless dorks.

Trust me on this. Out-of-the-box students like Ferguson are destined for big things. And when that comes, they tell their personal sagas to the world.

How embarrassing for CHS.

For the time being Ferguson is a senior at Cheney High School. I can tell from the story that appeared in this newspaper the other day that the 18-year-old is a winner.

Not just because Ferguson captains the wrestling team or is a DECA member, either.

My friend and reporter Pia Hallenberg wrote about Ferguson because of the kerfuffle that came when a committee nixed the photo he submitted for the school yearbook.

Had someone asked me earlier what it took in these mixed-up times to get a senior photo axed over content I probably would’ve guessed …

1. Consumption of red meat, 2. Brandishing a squirt gun or 3. Praying in public.

Color me shocked. Ferguson’s banned photograph shows him immersed fully clothed in a hot tub, water bubbling up to the edge of his open-necked shirt.

His brown hair is neatly combed. Oversized and lensless pink eyeglass frames adorn his square, handsome face. His index finger and thumb form a “V” around his slightly bearded chin to accentuate a thoughtful expression.

It’s an obvious parody of an ’80s glam shot, something pop star George Michael might have put on an album cover.

The photograph is good-humored and deftly executed. More to the point, there’s nothing the least bit offensive about it.

“I’m a different kind of student and my photo reflects that,” Ferguson said in the article. “It shows my humor. I feel like the photo represents me well.”

Bravo for you, Michael.

And yet the photo was deemed unworthy of running in the school’s yearbook.

Give me a break.

I never cease to be amazed at how the most innocuous departures from the so-called norm will tighten the sphincters of officious-minded people.

Yet from kindergarten through high school our young are urged to be creative, reach for the stars, follow their dreams and think outside the box – it’s the mantra of modern education.

And every so often along comes a free spirit who dares to take seriously what he’s been told.

These unorthodox souls should be encouraged, not stepped on.

I’m biased, of course.

As a senior at Ferris High School, my son Ben had to submit a photo to hang on the wall with all the other ASB leaders. (pictured, right)

The photo Ben chose for posterity showed him in a checkered Pee-wee Herman suit with a red bow tie. A single flower was clenched in his teeth the way a pirate would bite down on a dagger.

I’m confident Ferris administrators did not consider this photograph image as suitable for placement among the long line of student notables.

But you know what they did?

Nothing, which is often the hardest thing for people in power to do.

Up went the photo, and guess what?

Everybody forgot about it.

It became – GASP! – a nonissue.

Contrast that with the emotional volcano that erupted over a satirical newspaper that some clever North Central students decided to self-publish years ago.

The paper, which I wound up writing about, poked mild and silly fun at school administrators who couldn’t have been more thin-skinned. They reacted like World War III had just commenced.

But like Ferguson, the brains behind the paper were clever and good-humored – just the sort of kids who go on to becoming leaders and productive citizens with successful careers.

I’ve never met Ferguson, but one look at his playful hot tub photo and I knew I’d like him.

So Michael, as my dear departed Old Man loved to quip: “Illegitimi non carborundum!”

Look it up.

Doug Clark can be reached at (509) 459-5432 or dougc@spokesman.com.