Vampires, vampires everywhere but not a drop of blood

I just came across this little web gem of an article on boston.com: Vampire rumors spur alert at Boston Latin School.

"The headmaster believes that the outrageous rumors had reached a point where she had to say something to families to ensure that all students felt safe and respected," said Chris Horan, School Department spokesman.

While the episode sounds like something out of "Twilight," last year's hit film about a high school girl who falls in love with a vampire, it may be closer to the movie "Mean Girls."

Two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the incident said a group of girls at the school had been bullying at least one other student who likes to dress in Goth-style, a vampirish look popularized by musician Marilyn Manson. The officials said the girls began spreading a rumor that the student was a vampire who had cut someone's neck and sucked the blood.

As a Goth—and oft mistaken or asked if I’m a vampire—I’d like to assure everyone that this is actually a rare event. I haven’t met any vampires in the supernatural sense, even if I do write about them; but I have met sanginarians. It’s a fetish where couples drink each other’s blood. Certainly this girl could have been exploring being a sanguinarian, but I find it highly doubtful.

High school, like most other venues, is full of blatant stupid. There are multiple power struggles and total disconnects happening within the student body itself and even moreso the rift between the students and the faculty. High schools are a sociologist’s nightmare. We’ve become a society of overactive cowards who don’t spend a moment to examine the hysteria over high-damage, extremely-low occurrence events.

OMG vampires! So much less likely than Oh My Goth.

So cheers to all us black-clads out there, don’t forget to smile in the rain. I hope the girl in question bears her reputation as the vampire-rumor-center as a blood red badge of courage.

Sanguis est vim!