Got tired of posting long social media statuses...

 So here I am, reviving this blog that has been dead for...almost 10 years. 

A lot has happened over the last 10 years. A lot. 

But that is neither here nor there, I am here to talk about something that I started thinking about yesterday. As I am sure you have noticed, Russia has full scale invaded the Ukraine. While reading the news off and on yesterday, I saw that Russia had taken Pripyat. "That city sounds familiar," you think. Yeah, that's because that's the home of the Chernobyl disaster. 

In 2019 HBO released a highly acclaimed miniseries on the Chernobyl disaster that I still haven't watched in its entirety (me and my lack of ability to finish a TV series is another topic for another day). In early 2020, at the beginning of lockdown because of Covid, I watched the first episode but wasn't able to continue. Even though it's a fictionalized version of events, it's a rough watch. It's so messed up. Anyone who watches it would definitely say, "wow, that's messed up and all of that could have been prevented." 

Which is part of what I am here to talk about. About 40 minutes into the first episode of this series, there's a, for lack of a better term, board meeting. Things are going wrong. Things are actually past going wrong. A reactor exploded. The workers in the plant are told that everything is fine, a water tank blew up, no problem. Soviet made things are the best things and they don't fail. *This is a major summarization from me, just as a note.* So they call people in to this "board meeting" and this one guy says that they should probably take precautionary measures and start an evacuation of the city because, you know, the AIR IS GLOWING! So the obvious leader in this board room full of shadowy government officials stands up. He's an old man, probably seen some crazy shit because he's an old man in the Soviet Union, and gives this speech, which I went back today to watch and wrote down:

"[Passion for the people...] Is that not the sole purpose of the apparatus of the State? Sometimes we forget. Sometimes we fall prey to fear. But our faith in Soviet Socialism will always be rewarded. Now the State tells us the situation here is not dangerous. Have faith, comrades. The State tells us it wants to prevent panic. Listen well. Its true when people see the police they will be afraid. But it is my experience that when the people ask questions that are not in their own best interest they should simply be told to keep their minds on their labor and leave matters of the state to the state." 

And I've been thinking about that speech/monologue for almost 24 hours straight.

And wow does that line hit differently in 2019, and then again differently in 2020, and again yet more different in 2021, and what do you know? It also hits us again yet in a different way in 2022.

Just something to think about. 

219 times...

That's at least once on a page...
the "n-word" I mean
in the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
It is printed 219 times in that book.
I am currently reading the book since I have not read it in my life and I am finding that the purpose, the meaning of the book has absolutely nothing to do with the use of the "n-word" and everything to do with crossing the boundaries of friendship and not doing necessarily what is easy at the time, but what is right. And quite honestly, if everyone is going to get all huffy over this book, if you put it into today's perspective, how creepy is it for a young boy to be going off with a grown man not of his relation?
It's not meant to be taken in modern perspective. It is meant to be taken into the deep south perspective of the time of slavery, which in some places, I won't mention where, the thirteenth amendment wasn't ratified til around 1995 (way to go, MS).
Now, I like to believe that we, as a country and as human beings, have come a long way since then (then being from 1865, not 1995...ok, maybe 1995 if you're in MS) and can perhaps read a book of FICTION about the deep south and the way people were treated.
Good ole Samuel Clemens was a staunch supporter of abolition and emancipation. He was also known to be a humorist. Could it be that his writing of Huck Finn was a political satire of sorts? Could he be pointing out the obvious atrocities and the obvious violation of human rights to prove a point? Does anyone teach satire anymore? I think it is undervalued and under appreciated as an art form, but I digress...
Reading this book I am quite aware of the language. Does it offend me? Sometimes, yes it does. Do I get angry about it? No, I just keep reading. I want to know what's going to happen next, what story is Huck going to tell? Will Jim get his freedom?
It's a book that definitely gets you thinking, especially if you live in the South as I do, about the language, about the history, about the heritage.
As I write this I am literally walking distance away from the "White House of the South" Jefferson Davis' home when he was president of the Confederacy. Is it important to know about this? Yes. Will the South rise again? Probably not. But reading Huck Finn and being around this history inspires me and causes me to pause and think. It also makes me realize that not everyone had it easy in the quest for the American Dream and it makes me want to work a little harder to make it possible for myself and others.

"Feed" your ignorance

The family of a freshman at William Monroe High School in Greene County want the book "Feed" by M.T. Anderson to be taken out of the school system. Ther reasoning is that it is profane and sexually explicit, because we all know that high school kids know nothing about either one of those things. The mother stated, and I quote: “I want the book removed from the school,” she said. “My child shouldn’t have to read it, nor should any other child have to read this book.”
OK, hold on a second. Let's break that sentence down. "My child shouldn't have to read it". Ok. You have every right as a parent to say that. "Nor should any other child have to read this book" BAM! Gotcha. You have no right to tell me whether my child should or should not read this book, and trust me, in causing this uproar, every kid in the tricounty area is going to go and pick up this book. In my head I'm screaming "What gives you the right?!" I want to read it now and probably will pick it up at the library when I go this weekend. Thanks for putting this book on the radar, and for being as ignorant as you are. You can read the article here.

Adventures of Banned Books

I started a book club. Not just any book club. A virtual (through Facebook) Banned Books Club. 
I got the idea after reading this book:



I don't remember what it was that got me reading that book, but I felt obligated. I read it. I loved it. I knew that it was on "The List" (meaning the banned/challenged books list) and thought that, especially today with all the media bullying is getting, and just how awful the bullying problem is, that middle schoolers and high schoolers should read this book. The book gave such a great lesson and was written with such conviction and reality that I thought it would do people good to read it. I wonder what other books people may be afraid of that are actually fantastic and poignant and can teach me a lesson about life and how to live it?
I know! 
I'll read down the list of the most challenged books of the last decade! Brilliant!
But I don't want to do it alone. Who will I talk to in order to discuss how wonderful or awful the books are and talk about why they were banned and perhaps get a good debate going? Also, how can i drum up support for local libraries?
Ah Ha! Shout out on Facebook! Now I have a great group that discusses books in an intelligent and very cool manner and checks them out at their various libraries. Win and win. Best part is, they don't have to live by me. Some of them do, but some of them don't. It is completely virtual. Another tip of the hat to technology. 
Our first book was Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck. I was excited to read the book. I had heard about it, it has been on the list since it was published and people just generally get nervous and upset when the book is around. Perfect. I want to know what it is that gets their knickers in a wad.

A cursory glance at why it has been challenged (I always give the members of the group a heads up, so if they feel they don't want to read it, guess what? I make them. *Just kidding. They don't have to if that don't want to* Just wanted to put a little irony in there) lists that the book was reviled for racial slurs, vulgar and offensive language and sacrilegious reasons. That's a good start for me. It's got everything but homosexuals (which really gets people riled up, but we'll get to the gay agenda later). 

So we read the book. It is quite a short book. I read it in a span of a couple of days. The consensus of the group?.......it was depressing. HA! No mention of the language, no mention of racial slurs, no mention of sac-religiousness. Just "wow, those characters were sad, lonely and that book was depressing". Love it. Interestingly enough, the bulk of the conversation centered around Curley's wife and how insignificant she was and felt and how badly she wanted to be someone else and somewhere else and how she loved to create drama and how naive and misunderstood her character was. It was a great start. 

Now, the gay agenda:

Oh, don't let those cute, cuddly penguins fool you. 
This book has more controversy surrounding it than...well...I don't know. It's pretty controversial. And Tango Makes Three is Undesirable #1. 
See those two penguins? Yeah, they are both males. See that adorable little fuzzy baby penguin? That is their adopted baby. The two males raised that penguin as their own. 
Some of the controversy surrounding the book:

Candi Cushman from Focus on the Family Action swears that the book is pushing a gay political agenda on to small children. (I'll let you think about that for a minute...kinda hurts your head, doesn't it?)

In Shiloh, Illinois, some parents of students at Shiloh Elementary School requested in November 2006 that the book be placed in a restricted section of the library and for the school to require parental permission prior to checking the book out. The school's superintendent resolved instead to keep the book freely available.

In Charlotte, North Carolina, Peter Gorman, the superintendent of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, ordered the book removed from school libraries on December 20, 2006. Gorman agreed to let a committee review the decision due to concerns that the policy on challenging books was not followed.

In Calvert County, Maryland near Washington, D.C. a mother requested that the book be removed from the children's section and placed in an area specifically for books about "alternative or non-traditional families." The library board of trustees denied the request, concluding that libraries should disseminate information fairly and without bias or judgment. Shortly thereafter, in November 2008, the Calvert County Library Board of Trustees heard another challenge to the book. A parent, describing the book as presenting issues of sexuality to children too young to understand them, asked that the book be removed from the library, shelved with adult books on sexuality, or marked with a "red dot" to alert parents to its controversial nature. The parent charged that the book's statement that penguins Roy and Silo "slept together" is a reference to sexual behavior between the birds.

After the case in Calvert County, Maryland ACLU got involved. So this book was PERFECT! What Of Mice and Men lacked in controversy, And Tango Makes Three definitely made up for. 

And the conversation did not disappoint. We had an intelligent and divided conversation about the book. There are people of different lifestyles and religions in the group and I was totally impressed with what everyone had to say. The members talked about as being mothers what they would want for their children regarding the book, but as for telling other people, what right did that have? Yeah, they think it is inappropriate, BUT know that they don't have a right to tell someone else that it is. It was great! Faith in humanity restored (that may be an overstatement). 
I may be updating from time to time on conversations we have, the books we read or just basic intellectual freedom news. 
I know I'm not consistent, but I'll try to humor you a little more often, if you'll humor me. 
Peace out!

SOPA, PIPA, and an angry librarian's rant.

It's a little late to the ball as it were, but SOPA and PIPA were rampant in the news lately. The most visible of the protests against these bills was the blackout of Wikipedia (which wasn't really a blackout, you could get around it). The thing that irked me the most about this was not really the bills themselves (I'll get to that later) but the comments made both online and on the news about Wikipedia's blackout. "Oh wherever will people get information today? The library? Ha!"

Umm, yes, people can get information about things at the library. That is what a library is for, in fact. I was appalled at the negative vibe that was being sent out about libraries. No, people weren't saying that libraries were bad, it was more along the lines of libraries are jokes.
How did this get put into our culture? And how does the way we see libraries change so damn quickly?
Just recently, with the economy being in the crapper and people losing jobs and cutting costs every way they can, libraries were heralded for being there for the community. For free, libraries let you check out books, movies, games, and you can use the computer to update your resume, check your email and apply for jobs. People got rid of their Internet at home to save money and used the library as a way to stay connected. They stopped spending money on Netflix and Blockbuster and Red Box and Barnes and Noble and started using the library.
Libraries are being cut when we need them the most--they all cried.
I did see fellow librarians, me included, post that if someone needed some information that they thought they could only get through certain websites that were participating in the SOPA/PIPA blackout that you can get that information from the library (call, email, text or chat, people!). But was there a story about that? Was there a surge in people seeking out their local library to find information? Probably not.
More has to be done to show people that libraries are important in communities and you can't believe everything you read online.
Example: SOPA is dead!!
No, it's not. It's on the shelf. It will be revised and brought back probably under a different name, but the dangers of censorship will be there, and all because that movie executive and that music executive won't get to buy their 5th car and their 3rd home this year.
Try living on a librarian's salary and see how far you go.

In between researching and researching

I am of that lovely age of remembering what it was like before computers were in every home (I was 8 when my family got one) and the Internet was not accessible (or not easily accessible). What did I ever do in order to research? Old school- went to the library and pulled out that card catalog and searched for what I was looking for. For those of you who do not know or remember what a card catalog is, let me refresh your memory:

That is an actual card catalog that I used over the summer. There was no way to electronically to look up books in this library, it was all in that cabinet, and that monstrous piece of furniture taught me how to research. As I said, when I was in grade school, in order to do any kind of research I had 2 options. 1. Go to the outdated encyclopedia I had at my house and look up the subject and hope there was at least a small paragraph about it, or 2. Go to the library and look it up in the card catalog and find a plethora of information on the subject. More often than not I went to the library.
Now, this taught me how to phrase search strategies in my mind. I had to narrow down what I was looking for, think of alternate terms in case there was more out there to be found. I learned how to differentiate between a good, let's say "scholarly" source, and a not so good source.
I hear the phrase "Well, just Google it" quite a bit. I like Google. I don't really have a problem using the word "Google" as a verb, except for one thing. There is a difference between "Googling" something and "searching" for something. Using Google is great for phone numbers, directions, reviews...however, if you are trying to find good, reliable information, Google is good for that, too, you just have to know how to use it. Herein lies the difference between my generation and the generation that has come after me (and some of my generation have become complacent and have forgotten what it was like to actually search for something). Searching now takes little to no time. You want to know something, type it and hit enter and BAM there you go. However, how good is that information? Is it as good as going to the library of 10-15 years ago and looking it up in the card catalog? I'm going to guess, no. Did typing and hitting that enter button get you the information quickly? Yes. Would looking for that information in the library of time gone by be quick? No, but it's fast.
When I was working in a library, when someone would ask me a reference question, more times than not, if i didn't rattle the answer off the top of my head as soon as they asked the question, they would walk away. Yes, I could have given you the quick answer, but would it have been right? Same thing with the Internet. Yeah, it can give you a quick answer, but is it a right answer? If you spent a little more time looking around and digging into the material, would you have found a better answer? Probably.
I recently finished my comprehensive exam for my MLIS degree. I had to answer several questions about librarianship, one of which was about the reference interview. I see both sides to the reference interview. Yes, it is necessary in getting information out of the library user in order to properly ask the question, but most of the time, at least when I conducted reference interviews, it was like pulling teeth to get the actual question out of the user. For example, a question I got a lot of was "Do you have any books about nursing?" Now, I had to ask the first question: The profession or the act of breast feeding?" Most of the time it was the profession. Then, "What are you looking for, text books, overview, career guides...." then "What type of nursing are you interested in, pediatric, practical, registered, specialist...." Most of the time you know what the answers were? "I just want a book on nursing". Yes, that is all well and good, but I can't get you what you need until you tell me what it is you want. I usually end up handing them about a dozen books and then ask them what it is they're looking for. That usually startles and answer out of them. People think in generalizations, not in specifics. Librarians need specifics so we are trained to get them out of the user, but if the user isn't knowledgeable or doesn't know how to express themselves beyond the generalities, then perhaps Google is a good place for them to start. We can all work together to find good, reliable information, and we may be able to use Google to find it.

The 10 Most Wanted (off the shelf) for 2010

And it's here! The list is here! And Undesirable #1 is...that gay penguin!
Yes, folks, the list of the top ten challenged books is here for last year and once again And Tango Makes Three is at the top.
Rounding off the list is a title (or two) you may find familiar from previous posts on this very blog.
2. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian
3. Brave New World
4. Crank
5. The Hunger Games
6. Lush
7. What My Mother Doesn't Know
8. Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America
9. Revolutionary Voices
10. Twilight

The reasons go from violence to homosexuality to sexually explicit back to violence and homosexuality. Occasionally there is some racism and offensive language.

I bet you remember my post on Sherman Alexie's book? Yes, we have gone to the clip show.

I haven't seen too much on the radar for the other books. In fact, aside from the gay penguins, the only other books I have read on the list are Brave New World, The Hunger Games, and...Twilight. I kind of hate myself for reading the last one, but it wasn't because of the violence or religious viewpoints...it was just a bad story (IMO, don't hate).

And if you are going to hate on vampires, why is this not on the list?


They look so happy. Too bad the vampire is trying to suck out their intellectual freedom.

So go forth and check these titles out at your library...you can look for the Dick and Jane book, too. It's there...lurking.