You raise a good point about owning your opinion. It can be intimidating for people to stand up in public and speak their mind. This is probably why so many who do, do it out of anger. Anger helps to overcome that fear.
The concerned citizen(s) who want the books removed from the curriculum, did not have to stand up at a public meeting and say so. But if their neighbors want to make themselves heard they must do just that.
As a child I could choose any book the library had to offer as reading, not what you read, was the emphasis in my family. But today, as I discover a north country girl had no idea what was going on in the world, I do have a suggested reading list for my 16 year old grandgirls which includes all the books that share the real story about what was actually happening when I was growing up and what was not taught in my school. The Color of Law, Ida B the Queen, the War before the War, Blood and Thunder, Empire of the Summer Moon, Four Hundred Souls and the Sum of Us are a few from this list. I am thankful these books exist for me to share with the children in my family. As a community we have a long way to go understand how important it is to know what kind of world we lived in so we do not make the same mistakes again - okay so that won't happen! But these books are exceptional.
So glad Galway stood up to those bullies who tried to ram their personal opinion down everyone’s throat without having the decency to reveal themselves. What cowards! So unfortunate that this is happening all over the country. Intelligent, fair minded, unbiased folks need to be very concerned.
Excellent article and photo! Thank you. I created and taught gifted reading in middle school in Minnesota. We read HS books as these preteens were thinking and reading at university level. I had both students and parents sign permission slips, after a conservative parent complained about “To Kill a Mockingbird” as a choice. Students read and discussed the books in small groups. I never had an issue after that.
What I don't like about the reaction to "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the lionizing of Atticus, who participates in an entirely corrupt system, helping to legitimize it. He's either criminally naive, thinking that his client can get a fair trail, or a culpable participant in a system that murders innocent Black defendants.
The Saratoga Public Library is hosting a “banned book event” on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Cafe Lena in Saratoga with local authors reading from banned books. I will be the MC for the evening with one banned book from each decade since the 1960s being read. I urge you all to check it out.
Historian Drew Gilpin Faust is best known for her writing on the Civil War, and for being the first woman president of Harvard. Her new memoir, Necessary Trouble, is about how she rejected expectations of becoming a proper Southern lady, to become an activist and academic. Faust also talked about why she finds it troubling that schools are sanitizing American history, and avoiding the truths of slavery.
FAUST: How do we have history that's not uncomfortable? How do we have any kind of education that doesn't make you in some way uncomfortable? Education asks you to change. The headmistress of my girls' school, many years ago, said to us, “Have the courage to be disturbed,” to learn about the Holocaust and see what evil can mean, to learn about slavery and think about exploitation that is empowered by an ideology of race that we haven't entirely dismantled. Understand what people did in the past so that you can, in the present, better critique your own assumptions, your own blindnesses, and make a world that's a better world. If we don't acknowledge those realities, we are disempowered as human beings.
One of the first current book bans in Florida I was aware of was initiated by a mother who did not want her son to have to read one of Toni Morrison’s novels. I later learned the assignment was for an AP (advanced placement) class. Why did mom allow him to be in the AP class in the fist place if she felt he was not mature enough to handle the assignments? Why deprive the other students who were?
Too many school board members want to micromanage. Writing as a former board member in two Midwest school districts, that is not their function, as you rightly point out.
Thanks for the beautiful reflective pic. I had trouble figuring which side was right side up.
Thank you for bringing this story to light - it's important to monitor what 's happening at the local school board level. The public showed up to contest this ban and helped sway the vote. Congratulations to the Galway superintendent for how she handled it as well.
Like the term “anti-vaxxer,” “banning books” is used as a blanket kind of dismissal. No one inquires about the politics or agendas behind the choices. Obviously certain forces are pushing for certain books over a million other books. This is essentially what the argument from the right or, in many cases in the past, from the left, is mainly about. By not addressing the most effective arguments from “the other side,” one’s own stances become rather superficial. They may look good but only to those who already agree.
What are the effective arguments against these two books? I haven't heard any. Yes, people have preferences for books and those preferences are influenced by how they feel on certain issues. What we have seen around the country recently is a blanket rejection of books that deal with gender identity and sexuality, except heterosexuality. "Banning books" is the right term, I think, when efforts are being made, often successfully, to have books removed from school classrooms and libraries. In Galway, the complaint was over assigned books, but the efforts nationally have frequently been to have the books banned from the school, making them inaccessible to some students. I have not heard any effective arguments from those who object to kids having access to books on gender identity. Perhaps you would like to make some.
I’ve been for the abolition of the term “gender” ever since it was used as a way to undermine “Women’s Studies” courses in colleges and universities. It immediately had the effect of diluting the content of these courses, and very quickly liberalized all their radical content, which is what made them Women’s courses. In other words, the idea of women-as-women, as an oppressed class, was terminated. And soon, men often made up half or more than half of the “Gender Studies” courses. And worst of all, women were no longer viewed as women, but just people, just another gender. (women professors were fired all over the country)
Back in the 1970s there were endless radical feminist papers critiquing and opposing trans-sexualism as a means of infiltrating and taking over the women’s movement.... much easier to do when women are a borderless gender and not a distinct category. And with the concept of men and women no longer on the table, men could no longer be viewed as an oppressive class, and women as an oppressed class. Thus today, violent crimes being committed by men who self-identify as women, are counted as female crimes. They rape women in female prisons, take over women’s sports, women’s online forums.... and the beat goes on and on because trans is backed by billionaires, big pharma, almost all men, and most liberal women.
I just received this in my inbox from a very conservative women's group... I cite the first few paragraphs:
"Affectionately called the “hippie love coach” by her athletes, Kim Russell once thought she’d fit in perfectly as Oberlin College’s head women’s lacrosse coach. That’s why she was shocked when one of her players flagged a personal Instagram post she made in support of women’s sports to Oberlin’s athletic director. That action triggered a series of lengthy disciplinary meetings and a full-fledged character assassination campaign against her.
During these meetings, Russell was gaslit, chastised into silence, and pressured to express remorse for her beliefs that women’s sports are for female athletes.
Russell secretly recorded every one of these meetings and is revealing Oberlin’s attempt to silence her in an exclusive documentary with Independent Women’s Forum.
“Unfortunately, you fall into a category of people that are filled with hate in the world,” said one administrator. ....
So trans women aren't expressing what they feel and believe is their gender, they are attempting to infiltrate and undermine the women's movement. Amazing! And trans men? Are they attempting to infiltrate and undermine the women's movement?
You raise a good point about owning your opinion. It can be intimidating for people to stand up in public and speak their mind. This is probably why so many who do, do it out of anger. Anger helps to overcome that fear.
The concerned citizen(s) who want the books removed from the curriculum, did not have to stand up at a public meeting and say so. But if their neighbors want to make themselves heard they must do just that.
It is a treat to see a heron and then a hummingbird. The big and small wonders right in our own backyard!
Diane Collins
It was pretty great, like your photo of the scarlet tanager.
As a child I could choose any book the library had to offer as reading, not what you read, was the emphasis in my family. But today, as I discover a north country girl had no idea what was going on in the world, I do have a suggested reading list for my 16 year old grandgirls which includes all the books that share the real story about what was actually happening when I was growing up and what was not taught in my school. The Color of Law, Ida B the Queen, the War before the War, Blood and Thunder, Empire of the Summer Moon, Four Hundred Souls and the Sum of Us are a few from this list. I am thankful these books exist for me to share with the children in my family. As a community we have a long way to go understand how important it is to know what kind of world we lived in so we do not make the same mistakes again - okay so that won't happen! But these books are exceptional.
So glad Galway stood up to those bullies who tried to ram their personal opinion down everyone’s throat without having the decency to reveal themselves. What cowards! So unfortunate that this is happening all over the country. Intelligent, fair minded, unbiased folks need to be very concerned.
Excellent article and photo! Thank you. I created and taught gifted reading in middle school in Minnesota. We read HS books as these preteens were thinking and reading at university level. I had both students and parents sign permission slips, after a conservative parent complained about “To Kill a Mockingbird” as a choice. Students read and discussed the books in small groups. I never had an issue after that.
What I don't like about the reaction to "To Kill a Mockingbird" is the lionizing of Atticus, who participates in an entirely corrupt system, helping to legitimize it. He's either criminally naive, thinking that his client can get a fair trail, or a culpable participant in a system that murders innocent Black defendants.
The Saratoga Public Library is hosting a “banned book event” on Thursday, Oct. 5 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Cafe Lena in Saratoga with local authors reading from banned books. I will be the MC for the evening with one banned book from each decade since the 1960s being read. I urge you all to check it out.
CORRECTION - The event is actually at Saratoga library and reservations are recommended.
I too have often wondered why so many people who say they love freedom above all else are so quick to want to limit it for others.
From Fresh Air, hosted by Terry Gross:
Historian Drew Gilpin Faust is best known for her writing on the Civil War, and for being the first woman president of Harvard. Her new memoir, Necessary Trouble, is about how she rejected expectations of becoming a proper Southern lady, to become an activist and academic. Faust also talked about why she finds it troubling that schools are sanitizing American history, and avoiding the truths of slavery.
FAUST: How do we have history that's not uncomfortable? How do we have any kind of education that doesn't make you in some way uncomfortable? Education asks you to change. The headmistress of my girls' school, many years ago, said to us, “Have the courage to be disturbed,” to learn about the Holocaust and see what evil can mean, to learn about slavery and think about exploitation that is empowered by an ideology of race that we haven't entirely dismantled. Understand what people did in the past so that you can, in the present, better critique your own assumptions, your own blindnesses, and make a world that's a better world. If we don't acknowledge those realities, we are disempowered as human beings.
It's very discouraging to see part of society moving backwards. It certainly sends a negative message to the children of the future.
One of the first current book bans in Florida I was aware of was initiated by a mother who did not want her son to have to read one of Toni Morrison’s novels. I later learned the assignment was for an AP (advanced placement) class. Why did mom allow him to be in the AP class in the fist place if she felt he was not mature enough to handle the assignments? Why deprive the other students who were?
Too many school board members want to micromanage. Writing as a former board member in two Midwest school districts, that is not their function, as you rightly point out.
Thanks for the beautiful reflective pic. I had trouble figuring which side was right side up.
Excellent!
Good article!
Thank you for bringing this story to light - it's important to monitor what 's happening at the local school board level. The public showed up to contest this ban and helped sway the vote. Congratulations to the Galway superintendent for how she handled it as well.
The Hate You Give, 2018ish it was to be read by my son and daughter in school.
10th or 11th grade. No objection here.
Before I knew it itwas removed as it was vulgar and had anti police messages in it.
My daughter didn't read it my son did.
I was glad and am proud of both my children's choice. My daughter chose not to at the time. My son chose to read it.
Censor what why???
Critical thought is important.
Even if you don't agree it's better to educate your self of the facts.
Or you end up with anti police folks storming the Capitol of the USA ...
You know law and order people who guard us from bad foreigners...offering to have others pay for our border...
Hell ask the native Americans...
In all fairness the moral rot started long before...Nixon,Clinton, now Trump.
Truth is just that, three sides look at it all and be careful who you vote for.
So tired of hearing about protecting the 2nd amendment. The first amendment is just as sacred.
Like the term “anti-vaxxer,” “banning books” is used as a blanket kind of dismissal. No one inquires about the politics or agendas behind the choices. Obviously certain forces are pushing for certain books over a million other books. This is essentially what the argument from the right or, in many cases in the past, from the left, is mainly about. By not addressing the most effective arguments from “the other side,” one’s own stances become rather superficial. They may look good but only to those who already agree.
What are the effective arguments against these two books? I haven't heard any. Yes, people have preferences for books and those preferences are influenced by how they feel on certain issues. What we have seen around the country recently is a blanket rejection of books that deal with gender identity and sexuality, except heterosexuality. "Banning books" is the right term, I think, when efforts are being made, often successfully, to have books removed from school classrooms and libraries. In Galway, the complaint was over assigned books, but the efforts nationally have frequently been to have the books banned from the school, making them inaccessible to some students. I have not heard any effective arguments from those who object to kids having access to books on gender identity. Perhaps you would like to make some.
I’ve been for the abolition of the term “gender” ever since it was used as a way to undermine “Women’s Studies” courses in colleges and universities. It immediately had the effect of diluting the content of these courses, and very quickly liberalized all their radical content, which is what made them Women’s courses. In other words, the idea of women-as-women, as an oppressed class, was terminated. And soon, men often made up half or more than half of the “Gender Studies” courses. And worst of all, women were no longer viewed as women, but just people, just another gender. (women professors were fired all over the country)
Back in the 1970s there were endless radical feminist papers critiquing and opposing trans-sexualism as a means of infiltrating and taking over the women’s movement.... much easier to do when women are a borderless gender and not a distinct category. And with the concept of men and women no longer on the table, men could no longer be viewed as an oppressive class, and women as an oppressed class. Thus today, violent crimes being committed by men who self-identify as women, are counted as female crimes. They rape women in female prisons, take over women’s sports, women’s online forums.... and the beat goes on and on because trans is backed by billionaires, big pharma, almost all men, and most liberal women.
I just received this in my inbox from a very conservative women's group... I cite the first few paragraphs:
"Affectionately called the “hippie love coach” by her athletes, Kim Russell once thought she’d fit in perfectly as Oberlin College’s head women’s lacrosse coach. That’s why she was shocked when one of her players flagged a personal Instagram post she made in support of women’s sports to Oberlin’s athletic director. That action triggered a series of lengthy disciplinary meetings and a full-fledged character assassination campaign against her.
During these meetings, Russell was gaslit, chastised into silence, and pressured to express remorse for her beliefs that women’s sports are for female athletes.
Russell secretly recorded every one of these meetings and is revealing Oberlin’s attempt to silence her in an exclusive documentary with Independent Women’s Forum.
“Unfortunately, you fall into a category of people that are filled with hate in the world,” said one administrator. ....
So trans women aren't expressing what they feel and believe is their gender, they are attempting to infiltrate and undermine the women's movement. Amazing! And trans men? Are they attempting to infiltrate and undermine the women's movement?