Nothing to blush about

PETER BUFFA

It’s a pink thing. It is at Ensign Intermediate School anyway. And

boy do they wish it were another color, any color at this point, just

not pink. It all started innocently enough, during a class photo

session, when some 12 students, all of the male variety, not only

lined up by height, but by color -- pink, to be exact, and lots of

it.

Newport- Mesa School District spokesperson Jane Garland said,

“This was not just pink shirts. They came wearing pink armbands, pink

shoelaces and black shoes.”

Ensign Principal Ed Wong asked the boys to either de-pink

themselves or forego the photo. Dr. Wong’s concern was that certain

colors could be associated with gangs and “party crews,” neither of

which have any place in a class photo.

Do you know what a party crew is? Neither did I.

It took a little digging. There is no substitute for being

thirteen when it comes to these things and I was thrown out of Club

13 long, long ago. Party crews are groups of kids who show up at

parties and dances -- especially organized parties called “raves” --

with a particular color or “look” as their trademark. Not only do

they dance their hearts out and their patoots off, but they get very

competitive with other “crews” in the process.

Think of Tony Manero and his buds in “Saturday Night Fever.”

Fast-forward 30 years, make the leisure suits hot pink or purple

or whatever and wham -- a “party crew.” The problem is, also not

unlike Tony Manero and company, when the dance-off gets a little too

hot, party crews can develop a decidedly dark side.

According to Costa Mesa Police Sgt. Tim Schennum, some gang

members start their walk along the road to perdition on a party crew.

Dr. Wong wasn’t saying these particular boys were involved in any

malevolence. He was just being cautious.

Of the 12 pinksters, six agreed to lose the hue, but six refused

and were un-invited from the class photo. In a show of solidarity

with their pink mates, some nonpink students also walked out of the

photo session.

The next day, in a quickly but surprisingly well-organized

protest, hundreds of Ensign students showed up for class in pink, all

sorts of pink, including hair. The dial on the weirdness meter was

climbing, slowly at first, then faster -- much faster.

That’s usually the way it is with these things. You may recall the

infamous Cheerleader Riots of 2002 at Newport Harbor High -- alleged

voting irregularities during cheerleader tryouts, protests, marauding

bands of cheerleaders, SWAT teams, the National Guard -- it wasn’t

pretty.

“Back at Ensign,” a story in the Orange County Register quoted one

student as saying that “American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest “ ... is

into pink,” which is what sent the weirdness dial into the red zone.

Ryan Seacrest, you ask? So did I.

It also took a little digging, but much less than party crews. In

addition to his duties as host of “American Idol” -- the show that

proves that no talent may be enough after all -- Seacrest has a

morning radio show on KIIS-FM called, logically enough, “On Air with

Ryan Seacrest.”

When he got wind of the story and his serendipitous involvement in

it, Seacrest started to talk it up and called for a “Think Pink Week”

in support of both the kids at Ensign and pink things everywhere. And

thus, Ensign and the pink kids went supernova. Within hours, it was a

full-tilt-boogie media circus.

Seacrest’s cry of “No Pink, No Justice” struck a nerve with people

from all over Radio Land -- people who, for reasons unexplained and

unexplainable, really, really care about pink.

One of the show’s producers, Martin Wagmaister said, “It’s crazy

how it’s spread. We’re just really surprised because we didn’t expect

it to go as far as it went.”

Faster than you can say “antidisestablishmentarianism,” Ensign and

the pink thing became national news -- right alongside Richard

Clarke’s book and whatever Courtney Love was arrested for this week.

The school was quickly surrounded by media vans, microwave

antennae fully extended, and was besieged with reporters and

interview requests from newspapers, TV and radio outlets around the

country, from Europe and Canada.

A number of chapters of Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority, one of whose

official colors is pink, organized demonstrations of support for the

pink kids. According to Beatriz Banuelos, president of the UCI

chapter of Sigma Lambda Gamma, “It was a chance for us not only to

support a cause but for us to reaffirm what our color means to us.”

I’m not entirely sure what the “cause” being supported is, but like

all media circuses, the pink tornado will be gone, thankfully, as

quickly as it appeared. In fact, there is already a pretty stiff

backlash from a few Ensign students, much to their credit if you ask

me, which no one would but that’s never stopped me before. Kristen

Cahn and Alex Barton sported homemade shirts that said “Pink is So

Last Week” and “Green and Yellow is the New Pink,” and with

Seacrest’s name crossed out. Kristen and Alex, you rule.

As for Ensign School and Dr. Wong, I say don’t let it get you

down.

Never try to figure out a media circus. It can’t be done.

District spokesperson Jane Garland summed it up quite well: “If we

become proactive, we’re questioned. If we don’t become proactive,

we’re questioned.”

In fact, here’s a challenge for Ryan and the “On Air with Ryan

Seacrest” show.

As the author and beneficiary of this nonsense -- which completely

distracted the kids and staff at Ensign from a full week or more of

class -- how about a modest contribution of, say, $150,000 to the

school to make up for both time and learning lost?

Hello?

Anyone?

Maybe not. I gotta go.

* PETER BUFFA is a former Costa Mesa mayor. His column runs

Sundays. He may be reached by e-mail at [email protected].