One high school kid’s courageous fight to use a laser-and-cat-filled photo as his senior portrait found a new supporter Friday (September 19): The human rainbow herself, Kesha. Draven Rodriguez was unaware of this state of affairs, however — until MTV News told him — because he was pretty busy learning things and prepping for crew practice, as a H.S. student does.
“I’ll have to get back to that in the next week or so,” Rodriguez told MTV News as he ambled toward all the boats and paddles and things we imagine they use whilst crewing (doing crew? playing crew?). “Next time I have a chance I should log on. That’s awesome.”
Awesome, indeed. The “Timber” singer took to Twitter today to stand in solidarity with the high school senior, posting the below tweet to the microblogging site — one that pretty much sums up how we all feel.
For those of you who hate the Internet and fun, Rodriguez preemptively started a petition that went viral last week, asking Schenectady High School to let him use as Awkward Family Photo-esque snap of him and his cat Mr. Bigglesworth as his yearbook snap.
He had previously taken the photo with photographer Vincent Giodano as a joke, choosing to highlight the cat that the family had acquired the year before. “He literally walked into our lives early last year when my other cat died,” the Everyman of Cats told News. “He looked like a carbon copy of her.”
Perhaps Mr. B was a reincarnation of the previous feline? Who knows. All that matters is that Rodriguez will not be allowed to use the snap as his senior portrait. However, a compromise has thankfully been made.
“The way it’s going to work is the photo I originally took is going to be somewhere in the yearbook — I’m not entirely sure where yet,” he said. “[Then] the principal and I are taking a picture together holding our rescues. She’ll probably have her dog or her cat and I’ll have my cat [and the photo will be] in the same style that we took the original photo — and that will be her photo.”
Although Rodriguez — and clearly Kesha — is disappointed with the final verdict, he’s generally placated. “If that’s how it has to be, that’s how it has to be,” he said. “I really don’t want to cause any conflict with the school or anything. They’re all really good people. I’m sure they have very good reasons.”
Tell ‘em to the Rainbow One, Schenectady High School.
Brenna Ehrlich
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