Parents: English Teacher Writes Racy Novels
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A series of racy romance novels by an author named Judy Mays are a little too racy for some parents in our area, especially now that they have discovered the woman known as Judy Mays is teaching their children.
Many parents might admire a high school English teacher who is also a published author, but some parents in Snyder County said what their children's teacher is writing about in her spare time might be a little too hot to handle.
Parents said Judy Buranich has been an English teacher at Midd West High School for nearly 25 years, but recently they found out she is a published author and writes under the pen name Judy Mays.
Her book is an erotic romance novel and some parents said they are not happy with the book's content.
Parent Wendy Apple has a son in 10th grade at Midd West High School in Middleburg. His English teacher's name is Judy Buranich. Apple said she recently found out that after school Buranich has a second job; she writes erotic romance novels.
"Now my son knows so how is he thinking when he's sitting in her class knowing what she does on the side," Apple said. She added she found all of the information on the internet. Apple said Buranich writes under the pen name Judy Mays.
If you go to Judy May's website she said she's disguised as a mild-mannered tenth grade English teacher in a small public high school. If you want to get in contact with her you are asked to write to a post office box in Selinsgrove.
A photograph of Buranich matches a YouTube interview in which she talks about her novels.
Parent Deanna Stepp said the evidence is clear. "She is teaching children that are under the age of 18 and definitely the books that she is writing are adult books. I think she needs to make a decision as to what she wants to do. Either be a school teacher or author," Stepp said.
"I was shocked. If you are a teacher you shouldn't be doing that," said former student Shanette Apple.
"I was sort of shocked.Sitting in her class I had no idea. She is a good teacher but I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes," said former student Drew Hollenbach.
Newswatch 16 tried to contact the Midd West superintendent about the novels, he said, "I can not discuss personnel matters or employees. At this point I have no comment."
Newswatch 16 also tried to contact Judy Buranich about the novels but was unable to reach her for comment.
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Okay, so I HAD to repost this article. I first heard about it on Twitter this morning. (Yes...I'm on twitter. Don't make fun of me. It's for my career, dang it. And if you tease me, I will tweet something embarrassing about you. :) But if you'd like to follow me via Twitter...I am at BrookeMoss4.)
Ok, enough with the infomercial.
So anyway....this article TICKED ME OFF.
Why, you ask. Well, here is why...writers of romance (whether it be erotica, middle of the road, or flippin' Amish romance) get such a bad rap. Because our books involve *GASP* sex. Yes, I said it. I'll say it again, even!
SEX
You heard me correctly. I even said it in bold print WITH underlines. I know. I'm a rebel.
So here's the dealio: This woman wrote novels under a pen name. Which is what many of us writers do, in order to keep our personal and proffessional lives seperate. I chose a pen name because of two reasons. #1: My given name is to biblical, and I've never felt like it was "me" at all. My middle name always seemed to have more personality. And it is easier to remember my middle name than some random name I picked out of a baby name book.
(Here is a link to my blog post about my pen name: http://brookemosswriter.blogspot.com/2010/08/pen-name.html )
And #2: I am a faithful person. I go to church every week, and I am raising my kids in a fairly religious home. Not to say that religious people don't have sex, or even discuss sex. But....I have found, over the course of the last 35 years, that if people have a "reason" to pass judgement, they will. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised, but other times...not so much. When people hear that I write romance, they instantly assume that I am cranking out literary porn, and shouldn't be allowed to grace the halls of my church building ever again.
And....frankly put: that ticks me off. A lot.
Because an author's job is to create a new world, a new life, a new persona, and essentially...escapism for the reader. If that reader wants to read something sexy, then so be it. If they want to read something chaste, then so be it. It is all up to the reader, and then the author is responsible for providing it for the reader. Period. This is a job. We do it because we are skilled at the art of weaving words together, and we thrive on creating a story that will entertain a reader, and transport him/her somewhere else. We do not do it because we are any of the following:
Sexual deviants
Perverts
Sickos
Over sexed freaks
Satan's workers
Freaks
Hussies
Tramps
Immoral
Whores
Porn addicts
I loathe the fact that Wally Lamb can write a book about the Columbine shootings and not be accused of being PRO-school-shootings. And I get angry that Stephen King can write about psychotic clowns, and not be accused of being PRO-Murder. But.......if I, or any of my writer friends, write romance--whether it be erotica or fade to black bedroom scenes--we are accused of being one, or more, of the aforementioned labels.
I'm so over it.
The parents are essentially saying that this teacher (who was in service for 25 years, people!!) should be fired because she writes Erotica and shouldn't be leading youth, because it is an "adult profession". Um....okay, let's explore this:
(This point was posted on Twitter, by author Tessa Dare) If a teacher had a micro-brewery in his garage, which many people do, should he be fired since he is creating an "adult drink"?
Should teachers be allowed to have sex at all? Should teachers be banned from wearing sexy underwear for their spouse, or from reading romance novels at all during their spare time? Should we expect teachers to remain completely A-sexual and chaste, simply because they are leading youth?
And if that is the case, then shouldn't that theory spill over to cub scout leaders, girl scout leaders, baby sitters, nannies, pediatricians, and the dude who makes your kid a milkshake at McDonalds? Hey, they're all dealing with the youth of our country, so they should refrain from anything sexual, so as to not corrupt America's youth, right??
And if this is so, then why in the H*LL are we allowing performers like Ke$ha, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and all of those Disney skanks whose nude pictures keep winding up on the internet run free? Shouldn't they be banned as well?? I mean, our youth pays attention to them, too, right?
In a day and age when teachers are actually having sexual relationships with their students, don't you think that coming down hard on a teacher of 25 years who writes Erotica IN HER SPARE TIME and UNDER A PEN NAME seems a bit excessive? If our president can get a BJ in the oval office, and a Disney star can have not one, but TWO nude photo's leaked and STILL star in a kids movie, then why can't a teacher supplement her shamefully meager income with writing romance under a pen name if she so chooses too?
I'm just asking you all to look at this realistically.
Back off of Judy Mays. She's a good teacher, and her good name is being ruined, and its all because she wrote a book that was about what all of her students were already thinking (obsessing) about. Come on.....she didn't try to hump a 15 year old student or anything. That was happening down the hall in the history classroom.......sheesh.
Brooke Moss.
Many parents might admire a high school English teacher who is also a published author, but some parents in Snyder County said what their children's teacher is writing about in her spare time might be a little too hot to handle.
Parents said Judy Buranich has been an English teacher at Midd West High School for nearly 25 years, but recently they found out she is a published author and writes under the pen name Judy Mays.
Her book is an erotic romance novel and some parents said they are not happy with the book's content.
Parent Wendy Apple has a son in 10th grade at Midd West High School in Middleburg. His English teacher's name is Judy Buranich. Apple said she recently found out that after school Buranich has a second job; she writes erotic romance novels.
"Now my son knows so how is he thinking when he's sitting in her class knowing what she does on the side," Apple said. She added she found all of the information on the internet. Apple said Buranich writes under the pen name Judy Mays.
If you go to Judy May's website she said she's disguised as a mild-mannered tenth grade English teacher in a small public high school. If you want to get in contact with her you are asked to write to a post office box in Selinsgrove.
A photograph of Buranich matches a YouTube interview in which she talks about her novels.
Parent Deanna Stepp said the evidence is clear. "She is teaching children that are under the age of 18 and definitely the books that she is writing are adult books. I think she needs to make a decision as to what she wants to do. Either be a school teacher or author," Stepp said.
"I was shocked. If you are a teacher you shouldn't be doing that," said former student Shanette Apple.
"I was sort of shocked.Sitting in her class I had no idea. She is a good teacher but I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes," said former student Drew Hollenbach.
Newswatch 16 tried to contact the Midd West superintendent about the novels, he said, "I can not discuss personnel matters or employees. At this point I have no comment."
Newswatch 16 also tried to contact Judy Buranich about the novels but was unable to reach her for comment.
*******************************************
Okay, so I HAD to repost this article. I first heard about it on Twitter this morning. (Yes...I'm on twitter. Don't make fun of me. It's for my career, dang it. And if you tease me, I will tweet something embarrassing about you. :) But if you'd like to follow me via Twitter...I am at BrookeMoss4.)
Ok, enough with the infomercial.
So anyway....this article TICKED ME OFF.
Why, you ask. Well, here is why...writers of romance (whether it be erotica, middle of the road, or flippin' Amish romance) get such a bad rap. Because our books involve *GASP* sex. Yes, I said it. I'll say it again, even!
SEX
You heard me correctly. I even said it in bold print WITH underlines. I know. I'm a rebel.
So here's the dealio: This woman wrote novels under a pen name. Which is what many of us writers do, in order to keep our personal and proffessional lives seperate. I chose a pen name because of two reasons. #1: My given name is to biblical, and I've never felt like it was "me" at all. My middle name always seemed to have more personality. And it is easier to remember my middle name than some random name I picked out of a baby name book.
(Here is a link to my blog post about my pen name: http://brookemosswriter.blogspot.com/2010/08/pen-name.html )
And #2: I am a faithful person. I go to church every week, and I am raising my kids in a fairly religious home. Not to say that religious people don't have sex, or even discuss sex. But....I have found, over the course of the last 35 years, that if people have a "reason" to pass judgement, they will. Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised, but other times...not so much. When people hear that I write romance, they instantly assume that I am cranking out literary porn, and shouldn't be allowed to grace the halls of my church building ever again.
And....frankly put: that ticks me off. A lot.
Because an author's job is to create a new world, a new life, a new persona, and essentially...escapism for the reader. If that reader wants to read something sexy, then so be it. If they want to read something chaste, then so be it. It is all up to the reader, and then the author is responsible for providing it for the reader. Period. This is a job. We do it because we are skilled at the art of weaving words together, and we thrive on creating a story that will entertain a reader, and transport him/her somewhere else. We do not do it because we are any of the following:
Sexual deviants
Perverts
Sickos
Over sexed freaks
Satan's workers
Freaks
Hussies
Tramps
Immoral
Whores
Porn addicts
I loathe the fact that Wally Lamb can write a book about the Columbine shootings and not be accused of being PRO-school-shootings. And I get angry that Stephen King can write about psychotic clowns, and not be accused of being PRO-Murder. But.......if I, or any of my writer friends, write romance--whether it be erotica or fade to black bedroom scenes--we are accused of being one, or more, of the aforementioned labels.
I'm so over it.
The parents are essentially saying that this teacher (who was in service for 25 years, people!!) should be fired because she writes Erotica and shouldn't be leading youth, because it is an "adult profession". Um....okay, let's explore this:
(This point was posted on Twitter, by author Tessa Dare) If a teacher had a micro-brewery in his garage, which many people do, should he be fired since he is creating an "adult drink"?
Should teachers be allowed to have sex at all? Should teachers be banned from wearing sexy underwear for their spouse, or from reading romance novels at all during their spare time? Should we expect teachers to remain completely A-sexual and chaste, simply because they are leading youth?
And if that is the case, then shouldn't that theory spill over to cub scout leaders, girl scout leaders, baby sitters, nannies, pediatricians, and the dude who makes your kid a milkshake at McDonalds? Hey, they're all dealing with the youth of our country, so they should refrain from anything sexual, so as to not corrupt America's youth, right??
And if this is so, then why in the H*LL are we allowing performers like Ke$ha, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, and all of those Disney skanks whose nude pictures keep winding up on the internet run free? Shouldn't they be banned as well?? I mean, our youth pays attention to them, too, right?
In a day and age when teachers are actually having sexual relationships with their students, don't you think that coming down hard on a teacher of 25 years who writes Erotica IN HER SPARE TIME and UNDER A PEN NAME seems a bit excessive? If our president can get a BJ in the oval office, and a Disney star can have not one, but TWO nude photo's leaked and STILL star in a kids movie, then why can't a teacher supplement her shamefully meager income with writing romance under a pen name if she so chooses too?
I'm just asking you all to look at this realistically.
Back off of Judy Mays. She's a good teacher, and her good name is being ruined, and its all because she wrote a book that was about what all of her students were already thinking (obsessing) about. Come on.....she didn't try to hump a 15 year old student or anything. That was happening down the hall in the history classroom.......sheesh.
Brooke Moss.
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