Teacher Mary Letourneau freed

[John Tapscott]

As I said, nuts, plain and simple. Some of you guys are right - she doesn't need to be locked up in jail, but rather, confined indefintely in a psychaitric institution.

[BruceH]

Twelve is too goddamn young. The woman's a sicko.

[7/4]

If the Post article is accurate... she's nuttier than I thought...

exactly.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

... and it sounds like she caught quite a nasty Nabo-cough in the cooler.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

depends on how you treat her.

[couw]

depends on how you treat her.

obvious cross posting, no need to get all messed up

[Man with the Golden Arm]

and what's she doing messin' with just Vili... I'm figuring she'd go more for the Fauve!!! Then again reading her literacy challenged letter snips makes me wonder why she was put in a teaching position in the first place.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Wasn't at all obvious until your 2:27 edit.......now it is. B-)

[7/4]

and what's she doing messin' with just Vili... I'm figuring she'd go more for the Fauve!!!  Then again reading her literacy challenged letter snips makes me wonder why she was put in a teaching position in the first place.

um...she was good with children?

Edited August 5, 2004 by 7/4

[Claude]

What if the 12 year old boy was YOUR 12 year old daughter and her 35 year old male science teacher? Would you still be cool with it?

That's the big difference. It's hard for a woman to rape a 12 year boy. The law can't make a difference between genders, but there IS a difference.

I don't think this relationship is good, and I think she deserved to be punished for not respecting the court decision. But she does not deserve to be treated exaclty like a man who raped a 12 year old girl, using violence.

What if you were a 12 year old boy and being seduced by your teacher, a 35 year old attractive woman? Would you feel traumatized?

It's not good, but it's not a horrible crime either.

[couw]

Wasn't at all obvious until your 2:27 edit.......now it is. B-)

was for me. You had to be there I guess...

[maren]

What if the 12 year old boy was YOUR 12 year old daughter and her 35 year old male science teacher?  Would you still be cool with it?

That's the big difference. It's hard for a woman to rape a 12 year boy. The law can't make a difference between genders, but there IS a difference.

I don't think this relationship is good, and I think she deserved to be punished for not respecting the court decision. But she does not deserve to be treated exaclty like a man who raped a 12 year old girl, using violence.

What if you were a 12 year old boy and being seduced by your teacher, a 35 year old attractive woman? Would you feel traumatized?

It's not good, but it's not a horrible crime either.

This is totally analogous to the STATUTORY rape of a 12-year-old girl by a 34-year-old man. The key word is STATUTORY. The law recognizes a power imbalance, and the emotional immaturity and vulnerability of the child. Statutory rape (including incest) often involves no violence or physical force whatsoever, and feels like love to the child. It can fuck a kid up tremendously. You all know how strong a force sex is. A 12-year-old is totally in thrall to an adult who engages him or her in that kind of bond.

[Dan Gould]

Thank you, Maren.

[Johnny E]

As I said, nuts, plain and simple. Some of you guys are right - she doesn't need to be locked up in jail, but rather, confined indefintely in a psychaitric institution.

Agreed! She taught in the Highline School District, which borders my West Seattle Neighborhood. Living in Seattle I imagine I've gotten a little extra coverage of this than those outside the area. Let me tell ya’, this woman is crazy – plain and simple. She’s a repeat child molester and she’ll do it again if given the chance. I'm quite shocked that anyone would try to defend her or justify her behavior. You should see some pictures of this boy when he was 12. He looked like a pre-pubescent child. She needs psychiatric care and should stay away from children, PERIOD.

[BruceH]

Let me tell ya’, this woman is crazy – plain and simple.

Bingo!

[chris olivarez]

Supposedly he is going to sue for the right to be with her,have more children and live happily after ever in dysfunctional land.

[7/4]

MSNBC:

Letourneau's former 6th grade lover speaks

In this ‘Today’ exclusive, Vili Fualaau talks to Matt Lauer about his relationship with the woman who was convicted of raping him

Today show

Updated: 11:35 a.m. ET Aug. 5, 2004

Former school teacher Mary Kay Letourneau is a free woman now after serving seven years for child rape. Now, her victim and former lover, Vili Fualaau, breaks his silence. In an exclusive interview, Letourneau's former 6th grade student and father of two of her children, talked to “Today” host Matt Lauer about what he thinks about their relationship and her release from prison.

Vili Fualaau: “I've been waiting for a long time for this to happen – for her to come out. And now that I – now that she is out now, you know, I'm really excited to see her.”

Matt Lauer: “There's a no contact order in effect. A lawyer on your behalf took actions to initiate, which you had to do, to remove that no contact order. So is that for the ease of Mary visiting the kids so that it won't be awkward? You won't have to leave the house when she comes over or is that because you want to now say, ‘Let's see if we can make it?’”

Fualaau: “That's it. I want to see … who she is and if she's still the same person that I fell in love with. And I want to see if she feels the same way for me.”

Lauer: “Do you want your children to be there for the first meeting? Is that maybe a little buffer zone?”

Fualaau: “Well, I kind of want to … do it alone. And then, later we'll bring the kids in the picture.”

Will there be a relationship?

Lauer: “How long do you think it'll take, once you do get to see her, how long do you think it'll take for you to decide whether this has a chance to work or not?”

Fualaau: “I'm hoping by the end of this month.”

Lauer: “So in other words if you see her at the end of this month, you're going to give it two weeks? You're going to give it … two months? I mean do you think you'll know kind of quickly if you two have grown apart and there's no chance for getting back together?”

Fualaau: “I mean we left on awkward terms. So…”

Lauer: “That's a…”

Fualaau: “I mean I can still remember that … night. You know that we were spotted at in front of her friend's house and taken and separated. I can still remember that night like [the] back of my hand.”

Lauer: “And that was the last time you saw her?”

Fualaau: “Yeah. In fact I can remember word for word and – what we did and what we were doing.”

Lauer: “What were the last words you said to her?”

Fualaau: “What was the last word that I said to her? ‘I love you.’”

Lauer: “And she said?”

Fualaau: “And she said ‘shut up,’ I'm not leaving.”

What Mary Kay saw in Vili

Lauer: “When this started you were 12, she was 32. What your memories of Mary Kay Letourneau back when you were 12 or 13-years-old? What was she like?”

'What was she like? She was beautiful. I thought she was really gorgeous. I mean that was all I thought about her before anything happened.'

Fualaau: “What was she like? She was beautiful. I thought she was really gorgeous. I mean that was all I thought about her before anything happened. And it things just turned out [that] we fell in love.”

Lauer: “You know, Vili, that some people say, ‘He was 12-years-old, she was 32, how could they fall in love? What did they have in common?’ How do you answer that?’”

Fualaau: “I ask myself that at the same time – the same thing all the time. You know, I was 12, she was 32. When I look back at the situation, I'm just like, what did she see in me? She's older than I am. She's a teacher and she's married – has a good life.”

Lauer: “Four kids.”

Fualaau: “And she has four kids of her own. And I’m 12. I barely even know what my future is.”

Lauer: “Or who I am?”

Fualaau: “Or, yeah, or who I am. And I ask myself that all the time. And I always just think, I’m not really that good looking – what's the deal here? Why does she love me or why does she say she's in love with me? And things like that.”

Lauer: “She said basically you were old beyond your years, wise beyond your years – very strong, very smart and that there was an instant attraction. Is that the way you remember? That kind of instant attraction?”

Fualaau: “I wouldn't say it was like that.”

Lauer: “What did you two talk about? I mean when you were alone together, which was hard.”

Fualaau: “Right.”

Lauer: “It was hard for you two to be alone together. She was your teacher.”

Fualaau: “She was my teacher.”

Lauer: “What kinds of things did you talk about?”

• Fualaau on being a father

Aug 5: Vili Fualaau, the father of two children with his former teacher Mary Kay Letourneau, talks with "Today" host Matt Lauer about being a father of two young girls.

Fualaau: “Basically we talked about anything and everything. I'm not the only person that's ever felt the feeling I felt. I mean there are a lot of people that's been in love before [and] knows what it feels like. And the people that are still in love, you know, for a long time, [like] the people that are married their whole life. And love is very strong in their marriage. It's that feeling where [you] just know. It's not like you have to work at it.”

Lauer: “There was just the chemistry?”

Fualaau: “It's just there and it belongs to you.”

Lauer: “She went to jail for the relationship [and] she got out. And then, of course, you two got back together again. What was the hardest part for you when she went off to prison?”

Fualaau: “Hardest part was being separated without choice.”

Lauer: “I think you’ve described it some ways as a conspiracy against love?”

Fualaau: “Yeah.”

Lauer: “Was it ever?”

Fualaau: “I believe sometimes, maybe it was like a punishment from God – the whole adultery thing. And also a test to see, you know, if we still love each other after seven years.”

Adjusting to being a father

Lauer: “Some people have told me, Vili, that over the last seven years, if it hadn't been for your kids, things might have turned out very differently for you? That you went through some very difficult times. And that your daughters were kind of what got you through it. What have they meant to you over these past seven years?”

Fualaau: “At first it was really hard for me to believe I was a father – I still wanted to live out my childhood, which I've tried. But I still couldn't because it just couldn't happen.”

Lauer: “You were 14 when Audrey was born, right?”

Fualaau: “Right.”

Lauer: “And then 15 and a half, 16 when Alexis was born?”

Fualaau: “Yes.”

Lauer: “That's a tough adjustment. I mean how did you deal with it?”

Fualaau: “At home I write little poems about my life and how I lived it out, what gave me that strive just to keep pushing forward and every time I fall how to pick myself up. And what I did to do those kind of things.”

Lauer: “Tell me about a couple of times when you fell. I mean did you have tough times when you thought, "I'm not going to make it through this."

Fualaau: “Yes. I've been there more than I can count. It's just been crazy. I mean just seven years of being alone.”

Dating other girls

Lauer: “What do you say to people, Vili, who think it's hard to believe this is a love story? You know that there's something built into some people that say it can't work. You know I think there are probably some people who want to grab you by the coat and shake you and say, ‘Vili, it can't work, you were 12-years-old.’”

Fualaau: “I've heard that so many times. There [are] people like telling me all, ‘Vili, you're very young. You're a handsome guy. There are a lot of other girls out there. Don't dwell in this relationship because it's making you sad. I hate to see you sad like this. "So, try other relationships. And try to make yourself happy.’ And I have and other relationships haven't made me happy.”

Lauer: “Has it affected the way you view other women?”

Fualaau: “Yes, it has.”

Lauer: “In what way?”

Fualaau: “Every girl or woman that I've gone out with, I've always compared Mary to them. Can they stand up to who Mary was?”

Lauer: “And if they're teenagers, that's like comparing a girl to a woman which has got to be a little difficult for you. Although some people would say that's what you should be after. You should go after a girl.”

Fualaau: “Right. Well, I wanted to be in love on many different levels. You know I wanted to bond with them on many different levels. And I couldn't do that with any other girl, because I constantly thought about Mary or they would constantly remind me about Mary. They would bring up the subject, ‘So how did it all start?’”

Lauer: “You'd be on like the second date and they'd say, "Tell me about Mary Kay?"

Fualaau: “Yeah. It [would] be like that. And sometimes it would like irritate me because I wanted to start something new. I want to see if it could work. But I guess, you know, it's just inevitable not to work.”

Lauer: “You have no doubt, even as a 12 and 13-year-old, you had no doubt that this was the relationship that for you, was forever.”

Fualaau: “I didn't think it would. I never really thought I could ever fall in love that young. I didn't know what the feeling was. But I could explain the feeling from [an] adrenaline rush, to the feeling that flow through my body, and the words that come out of my mouth, sometimes they sound kind of corny. But [at] same time, I didn't really care, because it was from my heart, and it's what was true. Or, what is still true.”

Lauer: “You are 21-years-old now. You have two daughters, seven and five. And you've been through a lot. Was it worth it?”

Fualaau: “Was it worth it? I don't know yet. There's still more to come. We have to hear her side, and whether she still loves me. So, there's still a lot more to come.”

[Brownian Motion]

Although the media loves this story, they really play down the fact that Letourneau is the daughter of a former ultra-rightwing congressman. Must be that since ultras are family value folks, Mary Kay Letourneau is a forgivable aberration. I doubt a Democrat's daughter would be cut the same slack.

[7/4]

Wow. He ran for president!

John Schmitz became the 1972 Presidential candidate of the extremely right-wing American Independent Party. No one expected him to win or even to garner as many votes as its previous standard bearer, the far better known Governor George Wallace. However, about one million Americans voted for him, adding up to about 1% of the popular vote.

LINK

[7/4]

Ah...I'm reading more, she had a screwed up family (her dad).

[7/4]

...and her husband cheated on her too.

[couw]

will this provide the FBI with a new data-mask in their search for latent criminals?

[7/4]

Her greatest gift was her ability with children. She liked them and they liked her. She had patience with them. She loved being a mother and wanted to instruct other people's youngsters. According to Gregg Olsen, she seemed to relish the experience of pregnancy itself, such as the maternity outfits and the comments about her big stomach.

[Dan Gould]

Oops-Jazzypaul is here ... I'm wondering what a Libertarian will say about this.

And I say that sincerely, Paul.

[7/4]

Oops-Jazzypaul is here ... I'm wondering what a Libertarian will say about this.

And I say that sincerely, Paul.