FILLMORE : Students Challenged to Skip TV for Night

To some students, it’s an adventure into the unknown. To others, it’s an appalling intrusion into their free time. But Fillmore educators brought back TV Free Night for a second year.

Giving up “The Simpsons” and “The Cosby Show” last night was intended as a warm-up for the Author’s Faire Saturday in Fillmore’s Central Park. The event, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will include a Reader’s Theater and a display of literary works by students, coordinator Chris Villegas said.

Villegas said the TV Free Night is part of a districtwide effort to promote reading and writing. “It’s not just the kids who have the TV habit--the whole society is glued to the tube,” she said.

“If the TV is on, time just slips by and you don’t accomplish what you want,” 11th-grader Mayame Tapia said.

But as a published author, she may not be a typical student. She and a group of students put together “The Scribe,” which will be on sale at the Faire to recoup printing costs. Photographs and drawings accompany poetry and short stories by 10 students.