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I had the unique experience of attending Department of Defense schools almost my whole life. They were not specifically private or public as terms denote; they were for military brats on military bases. But one of the advantages of attending a DOD school was that everything was pretty straightforward. Kids were always shuffling out and showing up mid-year as their parents took on the duties assigned to them. So there wasn't enough time or room for political maneuvering to allow for favoritism because of a student's last name. There was no allowance for the personal agenda of the principal or school board (however that manifested). So maybe I was blessed, despite being shipped around like a lost piece of luggage because I was never affected by the ill judgment of the East Baton Rouge School Board.

I don't know when the school board was given the authority to debate the merit of public art based on personal taste or vendetta. From my understanding it is their job to manage the education of our youth and the resources put forth to that end. Their decision to destroy the Westdale Monument unless the public finds a way to transport the sculpture by July 1 directly goes against the mission of the school board:

"…East Baton Rouge Parish School System will achieve this excellence in education by ensuring that all schools have teachers who are highly trained in curriculum content, skilled in the art of teaching, and effective in classroom management with a high level of cultural sensitivity…"

I like to know how this mission is being upheld when a teacher tried to utilize the "art of teaching" by involving 250 students to help construct the Westdale Monument, as they were educated on community service, mythology, science and history. I'd also be interested to hear their defense when the board is justly accused of cultural insensitivity by ignoring the impact of the monument on those children, art activists and artists who strive to contribute more public art.

The decision to destroy the Westdale Monument, and it is a decision to destroy despite the board's rebuttal that they voted to give the structure time to relocate. In fact, by lending concerning parties 70 days to move a brick sculpture that has no predetermined foster home and will cost near to $100,000 to transport is a death sentence shrouded in sleazy, false benevolence.

The school board's insensitivity affects all those individuals and organizations that are trying to fund and implement public art. It goes against the numerous talking points spouted by the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism, the Arts Council, the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, the Baton Rouge Area Chamber. They have volumes of literature propagating a citywide movement to elevate the arts in order to create a desirable place to bring business and employees. What kind of message is the school board sending, in reference to that mission, by tearing down this monument?

This is all without mentioning that the sculpture is listed in the Smithsonian Registry of American Sculpture. It is listed next to public art by Emerson Bell, Michael Daugherty and Frank Hayden, who are longer able to defend the importance of their work. Would these sculptures' existence be subject to the personal taste of a few individuals?

I don't care about who doesn't like who, I don't know Ted Demuro, the grand architect of the Westdale Monument, I don't know school board member Jerry Arbour, who refers the sculpture as "a pile of bricks." I'm sure they are great people to their wives or whomever. What I do know is all the hard-working artists and art advocates who run around in circles trying to make this place more than just a football field and a cocktail party. I'm sure politics are involved, but you can strip those away very easily and see that something is fundamentally wrong here.

I see interest in what I do. I see other people, young and old, wanting to be a part of it for various reasons. I validate all that hype with the idea that I am truly working toward building a place where sculptures like these are commonplace and the thought of tearing it down is widely contested. And when those monuments to an art community are subject to the tastes of a handful of poorly illuminated individuals, I don't want to do it anymore. I feel defeated. I question why I care, me the young professional, the generation Baton Rouge wants to keep from flying away. It doesn't make any sense.

Tell me what this says to Portland, Austin and Houston.

You know, I wasn't raised here and I have no family ties. I have no connections I was born into to guarantee me some sort of "in," I've no reason to stay here other than the fact that I believe in the people and the potential, and right now the belief that I can utilize those to create a better place being torn down along with the Westdale Monument.