RAPID CITY, SD — Earlier this month, five books were placed on Rapid City-area schools’ list of surplus property to be destroyed.
In a statement, the district said it was because the books contained “explicit and inappropriate sexual content.” Those who oppose it say it is a group of people trying to legislate morality.
Students, teachers and parents have since spoken out, saying the books weren’t mandatory and their removal was a blatant attempt to limit diversity.
“As a senior myself, I felt really, fair, disrespected being told what I can and can’t read because maybe it’s too mature for my age,” Colton Porter said. , senior at Central High School. “I just got angry, just upset, because it became clear that the people who were advocating the destruction of these books didn’t understand what these books were being read for.”
Porter says he could see where “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” might be questionable — based on district politics — but doesn’t understand why the other four are objectionable.
Many gathered outside Mitzi’s Books in the Shops at Main Street Square on Monday evening for a community conversation. The event was standing room only. Several students spoke of the impact these books had on them, making them feel less alone and learn more about themselves at this pivotal time in human experience.
“Just in general, books tell us about the world; just teach us about different aspects of the world, about different people, about different things people go through,” says Nancy Swanson, chair of the South Dakota Library Association’s Intellectual Freedom Committee. “It’s so revealing.”
The five books marked for destruction: “The Circle”, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”, “Girl, Woman, Other”, “How Beautiful We Were” and “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic”
Others said that as young adults, about to be released into the world, it was important that they were as prepared as possible for the challenges ahead.
Some asked why people tried to legislate discomfort.
“Honestly, anyone can probably walk into a library and find something that offends them,” says Shari Theroux, president of the South Dakota Library Association. “But, you know, you have the freedom not to read it, and everyone has the freedom to read whatever they want to read.”
One of the authors whose book is withdrawn says there is nothing more un-American than the destruction of literature.
“This is a country built on freedom of thought and intellectual freedom for all,” says author Dave Eggers, whose book, “The Circle,” is on the to-destroy list. “As we stand 25 minutes from Mount Rushmore, these four stone-hewn heads would weep knowing that books were not only being pulled from shelves – depriving young adults – but destroyed.”
The school district says they are still investigating, but Porter says the books are missing from the library.
Journalist: “Do you think you would feel differently if they were banned or destroyed?”
“For me, there is no difference. Because anyway, no matter the outcome, I can’t read them,” Porter says.
Porter and many others – including Shari Theroux and Nancy Swanson – agree that the decision to read or not to read a title should be a family affair. Porter says a group of people shouldn’t come to the board to “unilaterally ban” titles just because they themselves don’t agree.
Proving that the action taken to remove these titles could have the opposite effect.
“When you challenge books, it’s usually going to get into the news and that sort of thing,” Swanson says. “Really what it does is bring more attention to these conversations that we probably should be having anyway.”
Eggers also read letters from other authors whose books are withdrawn. One wrote, “Which society has profited from the burning of books? As a student of history, I can tell you that there is none.
Eggers himself saying, “You don’t want to be in the company of book burners.”
Rapid City-area schools community relations officer Caitlin Pierson said in a statement that district attorneys are “investigating the contents of these books” to see if they could be sold or destroyed.
The item does not appear for discussion on the agenda for Tuesday evening’s school board meeting.
]]>For the first time in three years, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books will step outside the virtual limits imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The nation’s largest literary and cultural festival returns to USC’s University Park campus April 23-24. The event marks his 27th year and 12th at USC.
More than 550 attendees will be on hand with books and merchandise for sale, as well as food trucks, LA-area vendors selling sustainable and homemade goods, musical performances and more.
Among the more than 250 events are many of USC’s activities in academics, literature, performing arts, health, and civic engagement.
Ideas in Action: USC panel dialogues will include “Parenting Today: Navigating Stress, Health, and Social Upheaval”, “Rise, Resist, and Imagine: Collective and Creative Visions for Change”, “Facing Climate Change: Solutions for a World sustainable”, “Infrastructures of the future: technologies to make life public”, etc.
The Keck Medicine of USC Health Pavilion will offer health screenings for skin cancer, blood pressure, glucose, BMI, sleep apnea and dental health.
USC Stage highlights include a festival kickoff with the Trojan Marching Band, plus musical performances from Greta Pasqua, Jordyn Simone, Sophia Rae, SoCal VoCals, and more.
USC faculty, staff and alumni will make appearances on various LA Times programs such as ‘Feminism and the Personal Essay’, ‘LeBron James & LA’s Superstar Tradition’, ‘George Sanchez, Reading from ‘Boyle Heights ‘” and “Understanding LA’s Homelessness Crisis.”
The USC Friends and Neighbors Stage will celebrate community, local talent, art and music with family-friendly activities throughout the weekend, including author readings, book giveaways, educational activities and price.
Admission to the festival is free, although indoor conversation panels require tickets which can be obtained online. a limited number of tickets will be available at the festival.
More stories on: Events, Book Festival 2022
]]>In her 1921 biography of her brother Theodore Roosevelt, Corrine Roosevelt Robinson saw no harm in sharing “almost confidential personal memories” of the late president. “There is no sacrilege in sharing such memories, with the people who loved him, and whom he loved so much,” she wrote.
If I published “almost confidential personal memories” of my brothers in a book, they would not be amused, to say the least.
Siblings offer a perspective that is less passionate than that of a parent, less respectful than that of a child, and more thorough than that of a friend. But testimonies from the presidents’ sisters have been rare, until the last decade. And even now, said historian Douglas Brinkley, the books written by two of Barack Obama’s sisters haven’t exactly transformed the way we see the former president.
“If you’re looking for sisters as POTUS influencers, I think that’s a really thin mush,” Brinkley said, adding that Corrine Roosevelt Robinson was one of the few exceptions.
But in recent administrations, more sisters of presidents have spoken out and publicly expressed their opinions about their brothers, whether they influence or not. Part of this trend is the result of the explosion of political literature in general, combined with the easing of sexism in politics and publishing in recent decades.
A memoir by President Biden’s younger sister was released this week. In it, his sister, Valerie Biden Owens, recalls dozens of anecdotes about her brother, from when he left her alone to a picnic so he could go kiss a girl, to when he won the presidency.
“I had no problem telling any of my brothers when I thought they were jerks,” Owens wrote in “Growing Up Biden: A Memoir.”
All of these stories — Donald Trump’s older sister didn’t write a book but was a central figure in a critical book written by her niece — lead to a more personalized understanding of the historical figures who have defined the country. But they also say something broader about our appetite for intimate details behind the curtain on politicians. We don’t just want to know how the policy is made. We also want to know how the person is made.
In early American history, decorum prevented presidents from writing about their personal history. In fact, presidents wrote their autobiographies in the hope that the material would not be published until after their death.
Even in those books, personal anecdotes were rare, said Craig Fehrman, who wrote “Author in Chief,” a book about books written by presidents. Instead, the presidents of these autobiographies would justify the political decisions they had made during their tenure, naming the advisers who had guided them. That slowly changed over time, under pressure from publishers and publishers, who “really should beg them to write personal material,” Fehrman said.
“Readers love personal information,” Fehrman added. “But sometimes the writers, whether they’re the presidents themselves or their family members, need a nudge to tell us a bit more about what we want to know.”
The 1980s saw a major shift in the publishing industry, as bookstores popped up in shopping malls and celebrities wrote their own bestsellers (including “The Art of the Deal” by Trump, published in 1987). This trend coincided with the presidency of Ronald Reagan, a celebrity himself before his political career, who had written a popular book in the 1960s. The presidency became even more of a celebrity phenomenon with the advent of cable news .
This shift has led to an increase in books about presidents, even those who still sit in the White House. There are more than 20 memoirs written by members of Reagan’s family and officials who served in his administration.
“Editors like to find hits and formulas that work,” Fehrman said. “And so if a president can write a good book, let’s see a presidential brother.”
Sibling stories can flirt with irreverence at times, but they always tend to protect their brothers’ legacy.
Corrine Roosevelt Robinson certainly looked up to her brother Theodore, even if she had a way of reversing his unyielding force projection. She would tell biographers, for example, that Roosevelt never got over his asthma, although Roosevelt boasted of beating the disease through exercise.
This kind of beating might have gone against the “Victorian sense of manhood,” said Kathleen Dalton, the author of “Theodore Roosevelt: A Strenuous Life,” but it probably only made Roosevelt more handsome. .
“She loved telling these stories because she thought they were endearing,” Dalton said. “And you know, they are. They probably added to his following.
David Welky is a professor at the University of Central Arkansas who is writing a book about Roosevelt’s other sister, Anna. Corrine was the family writer, but Roosevelt’s wife and Anna also protected him, with more behind-the-scenes roles. There was little risk that Corrine would write anything that might harm her brother, whom she idolized.
“The women in his family were very protective of his legacy, wanted him to be remembered in glowing terms,” Welky said, adding, “But I don’t think that’s dishonest. They really saw their brother in terms so I think it came from a genuine place.
On Politics regularly features work by photographers from The Times. Here’s what Cheriss May told us about capturing the above image on Tuesday:
When the White House warned members of the media to wear “flat, closed-toed shoes that can get a little dusty” during President Biden’s visit to POET Bioprocessing in Menlo, Iowa, we knew we were expecting an adventure.
The president delivered a speech in a barn-like structure surrounded by hay, tractors and a huge mound of cornmeal. When I first saw the mound reaching up to the ceiling, I thought of the sci-fi movie “Dune” and half expected a sandworm to emerge. All the while, there was a fine mist of cornmeal blowing through my hair. Once home, I also found it under my clothes.
As Biden spoke, I could see more grit falling from an opening in the ceiling onto the already sizable heap. I knew I wanted to show how imposing cornmeal was in this space – how it consumed the room and everything in it. During remarks, I crossed to the other side of the room to place Biden in front of the cornmeal, showing how huge the mound was.
As the grain fell from the ceiling on the inner mountain, I thought of an hourglass, marking this difficult and consequential time.
— Leah (Blake is on vacation)
Is there anything you think we’re missing? Something you want to see more? We would love to hear from you. Email us at [email protected].
CADOTT, Wis. (WEAU) — Earlier this year, a parent submitted a request to have 12 books removed from the Cadott School District’s K-6 library.
At a special school board meeting Tuesday night, the district held a listening session on six of those books.
After receiving this proposal, a committee made up of community members and students met to discuss these books.
So far, they have decided to keep six of these books in the library.
The parent then appealed this decision.
During the special meeting, Casey Yeager, a parent of two children who attend Cadott Elementary School, had the chance to explain why she said six books should be removed from the library.
These six books include:
The topics of these books range from gender identity to sex education to some non-fiction books.
She said that some of these books have content that is not suitable for elementary school students.
Yeager said his request was more important than simply removing books.
“It’s not about picking individual books and saying these 12 books have to go,” Yeager said. “It’s just about bringing that to the fore, so parents in the community can start having that conversation. What’s going on at school? In the library? What can we do about it? How can we work together?”
One of the committee members who weighed in on whether to keep the books also spoke.
“I don’t want to be the guy who says you can’t read this,” said committee member Corey Smith. “It’s not something we put into the curriculum to force people to read, but people have to have free choice or we’re taking away their freedom to make that choice, and we’re taking away the freedom of parents to allow their children to make that choice.
Yeager said she was open to creating some sort of rating system like the movies.
Smith said he would be willing to work on creating some kind of parental opt-out.
The full school board will vote between three options: keep each book or move it to the 7-12 library or remove the book altogether.
This meeting is scheduled for March 28 at 6 p.m.
Copyright 2022 WEAU. All rights reserved.
]]>Brandon Sanderson has proven he’s the most prolific genre writer working today with the surprise reveal that he wrote five secret novels during quarantine. Four of them are “adult sci-fi/fantasy” titles and three of those novels will tie into Sanderson’s connected universe known as Cosmere. The fifth is a mid-level novel that Sanderson wrote for his children, which will become a graphic novel. It is unknown when the graphic novel will be released. But we’re still getting four new Brandon Sanderson novels in 2023. We don’t yet know the titles or summaries of those stories, because Sanderson likes to keep a mystery alive. But we do know that they will be available through a special subscription box that Brandon Sanderson has set up via Kickstarter.
Sanderson wants to surprise his fans even more when they read the stories. In that vein, he releases them in an unusual way. Fans will be able to sign up for a subscription box from Brandon Sanderson, on Kickstarter, and have all four secret novels delivered quarterly in 2023. Along with these new titles, the author is promising merchandise and other related goodies. at Cosmere in the subscription. wrap.
In a video posted on his YouTube channel, Brandon Sanderson initially took on a dark tone. He began by apologizing and admitted that he lied to his fans. But this bait and switch was only to reveal the first secret novel he wrote during quarantine. Sanderson says the project started when he decided to write a story for his wife Emily. It was supposed to be a secret story, just for her. But then she read it and told him he needed to share it with the world. Of course, that snowballed, and Sanderson wrote four more novels. As Sanderson himself said, “If you leave me alone long enough, I’ll start telling stories.” It is a mathematical constant.
Image via author’s website
The author turned on professor mode to explain how quarantine gave him time to work on all these projects. Using pie charts, he showed how many trips he took in 2019. Sanderson is extremely involved with his fans and has a hard time turning down invitations to fan conventions and events. Much of his time throughout 2019 was spent traveling and he was starting to burn out. Then the pandemic hit and his travel days were drastically reduced. So, with so much free time, what else can prolific author Brandon Sanderson do but write five secret novels?
Brandon Sanderson also says he was rejuvenated by the writing process, since he wasn’t locked into a big series like The Stormlight Archive. The author always planned to write standalone stories throughout his career, exploring the depths of Cosmere. Indeed, he has already done this with novels like dawnshard and The Emperor’s Soul. But this is the first time he has had the time and freedom to write full novels, while working on the next installments of his ongoing series.
Cover of The Way of Kings (Book #1 of The Stormlight Archive) by Michael Whelan | Image via Tor/Forge
Fans can sign up for the subscription box by backing the Kickstarter that Brandon Sanderson started. He envisions the books coming to fans every few months, much like a book club. And he wants readers to go blind, knowing nothing about each book except the fact that they were written by Brandon Sanderson, and he thinks they’re “awesome.”
Throughout 2023, Sanderson will be talking about the books on social media as they’re released, answering fan Q&As and revealing the secrets of his process. All four adult novels by Brandon Sanderson will be released on Kickstarter. However, fans will have to wait a little longer for the graphic novel. In the meantime, Sanderson is hard at work revising these top-secret novels. And yes, he is still working on the next book of The Stormlight Archive. as well as another Born of the Mists book, and the next episode of his YA series Toward the sky. I suspect the man never sleeps.
Cover of Words of Radiance (Stormlight Archive #2) by Michael Whelan | Image via Tor/Forge
Cosmere’s three secret novels will be set “on new worlds” in Brandon’s Connected Universe. Though he promises one of them is about a character readers already know, but never had his own standalone story told. The non-Cosmere title will be “something completely different” from what fans have come to expect from the fantasy author. Throughout March, Sanderson will preview these secret novels on his Youtube page. He will reveal titles and do readings from the first chapters of each book while trying to keep the mystery alive.
Image via Kickstarter from the author
So far, Brandon Sanderson has only released the (provisional) cover of these four secret novels due out in 2023. Based on this image, we can only wildly speculate what these books will contain. One looks like a mermaid, another looks like a steampunk wizard. Number 3 looks like someone getting lost in portals between worlds (Hoid?). And the fourth looks extremely disturbing and looks like a nuclear war. That’s my first impression, of course, we’ll have to wait and see what each book is actually about. As Brandon Sanderson reminds us, he just loves a good plot. And this one was certainly unexpected for his fans (albeit extremely unsurprising).
Fans can sign up for a subscription box via Kickstarter for early access to Brandon Sanderson’s four secret novels. Titles will be released to fans in January, April, July, and October 2023. They will then be available from traditional publishers as print and e-books. Of course, we’ll be keeping an eye out for the details of these secret Brandon Sanderson novels as we learn more.
Cover of Oathbringer (Stormlight Archive #3) by Michael Whelan | Image via Tor/Forge
Stay tuned to Comic Years on Facebook and Twitter today for all the latest genre news and reviews!
(Featured image is a Cosmere map via Tor/Forge)
Emily O’Donnell is a writer and photographer with roots in some of the earliest online fandoms. She cut her teeth in the Wizard of Oz books when she was 6 and was reading epic adult fantasy novels by 10. Decades later, she’s still consuming genre fiction like there’s no tomorrow. She is thrilled to be living in the golden age of science fiction and fantasy popularity. She’s not ashamed of the amount of fanfiction that still lingers online under her name.
I have always been fascinated by human memory – its capacity, its sharpness, its connection to emotions and our basic senses. Somehow the drop of gray grime in my head manages to remind everything from the fraud statute I memorized in law school to the lyrics of virtually every new wave singles released in years. 1980. That’s why a whiff of Ralph Lauren Polo cologne brings me back to a gropey nightmare in the cab of a pickup truck with the high school quarterback.
But despite the remarkable breadth and depth of memory, we also know that it is fallible. Brittle. Even manipulable. Cognitive research has proven, for example, that eyewitness memory is much more secure and much less accurate than we instinctively think. If we can’t believe our own memories, how can we trust ourselves? Memory is also reversible, and what we forget is often as revealing as what we remember.
In my new book, The Girl She Was (titled Find Me in the US), Hope Miller lost not only some of her memories, but all of them after being found thrown from an overturned SUV. Doctors initially believed that she would regain her memories in a matter of days or weeks, but 15 years later, she made her way in the small town where she was found, under any name of her choice. But what if the foundation on which his new life was built was a fraud? When Hope suddenly disappears, the search for her involves a hunt for memories she may have been running from.
Failing memory provides endless stories, both fictional and factual, classic and new. Here are some of my favorites.
1. Before going to sleep by SJ Watson
It’s no surprise that Watson’s first thriller took the book world by storm when it was released in 2011. We all covet sleep, but what if every time you slept your memory faded? Christine is in this unenviable position. Worse yet, the person she relies on to reorient her daily routine might not be trustworthy.
2. Under my skin by Lisa Unger
A year after the unsolved murder of her husband Jack, a grieving Poppy plays with a serious cocktail of sleep deprivation, pills and alcohol abuse. Between nightmares and blackouts, she cannot remember entire blocks of time, and what she can remember may be real or entirely imaginary. As she gets closer to the truth about her husband, her grip on reality grows more and more tenuous, and now there is a stranger lingering on the periphery of her life. Where is there?
3. What Alice forgot about Liane Moriarty
From what Alice Love remembers, she is not yet 30, married to the love of her life, expecting her first child … until she wakes up on the floor of a gym and lands at the hospital to learn that she is 39 years old. mother of three on the verge of divorce. As she tries to rebuild her life over the past decade, she wonders if amnesia might not just be a blessing in disguise.
4. The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks
Do you remember the character of Guy Pearce in the movie Memento, who woke up every day unable to form new memories? Renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks has also proven to be a gifted storyteller in this collection which explores this neurological condition (called anterograde amnesia) and others. Sacks presents patient case stories with extraordinary compassion.
5. The Meaning of an End by Julian Barnes
Winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize, Barnes’ acclaimed novel examines how memories dictate our perception of our place in the world and what happens when we forget something intrinsic to it. If you don’t think about your past often, you will after reading this gripping tale.
6. Yesterday by Felicia Yap
Imagine an alternate reality in which social distinctions are not made by wealth, race, or class, but by the ability to remember. In Felicia Yap’s inventive beginnings, the masses are the “monos” who only retain memories for a day; elite “duos” can choose two; and all should trust their written journals, which may or may not be accurate. When a woman is murdered, how can you determine the truth when memories are constantly erased and altered?
7. The flight attendant by Chris Bohjalian
Memory loss resulting from black drunkenness leaves Cassandra Bowden flying without a proverbial net when she wakes up in a hotel room in Dubai next to a dead man, not knowing if she killed him. What should a professional single woman do? Lying to colleagues and the FBI may not be the best choice. But after doing that, finding out who the murderer is might be his only way out.
8. Into the woods by Tana French
Childhood trauma is hard to overcome, and neither is the murder of a childhood friend. This is what Detective Garda Rob Ryan faces when a child is found murdered in the same woods where he survived a vicious attack he has few memories of. Can Ryan rely on his fragments of memories to solve the current case and that of his childhood?
9. Petina Gappah’s Memory Book
“Memory” plays a double role here. Memory is the name of the narrator of the novel, an albino woman writing her story from a maximum security prison in Zimbabwe where she is being held for the murder of a white man. As Memory struggles to recount the events that brought her to a jail cell, she must sort through a tangle of sometimes hazy memories of her complicated past.
10. Final words from Michael Koryta
It’s not often that a suspect in an unsolved murder is the one asking for an unsolved case to be reopened. Ten years ago, Sarah Martin vanished into an elaborate, uncharted cave system in a small town in southern Indiana. Days later, Ridley Barnes emerged from the caves carrying the teenager’s lifeless body. Barnes was the natural suspect, but insisted he had no recollection of how or where he found Sarah, or even whether she was dead or alive. Now he’s the one who asks private investigator Mark Novak to take a second look and help him find out if he’s a murderer.
The Girl She Was by Alafair Burke is published by Faber. To help the Guardian and Observer, order your copy from the Guardian Bookstore. Delivery charges may apply.
]]>Forty years after satanic panic first gripped the United States, witchcraft is one of the fastest growing spiritual practices in the country. If you’re looking to get into witchcraft or just want to dig deeper into your budding practice, let this list of spell books guide you.
Once dubbed “the perfect religion for liberal millennials,” witchcraft is not a monolith. The term covers everything from Wicca and New Age movements to closed practices – such as Hoodoo and brujería – so there is a parcel of ground to cover here. We have put together a list of books below that are mostly not specific to tradition, but there are a few titles, such as that by Lorraine Monteagut Brujas and Abiola Abrams’ Initiation to the African goddess, chosen specifically for practitioners of magic from marginalized communities.
Whether you’re coming to magic via WitchTok or the recent Witch Book Harvest, there’s something for you listed below. Here, the best spell books to buy at your local bookstore.
We only include products that have been independently selected by the Bustle editorial team. However, we may receive a portion of the sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Newcomers to witchcraft would do well to take a look at Ambrosia Hawthorn The spellbook for new witches. Featuring spells of trust, wealth, romance, and more, Hawthorn’s Little Tome is a great entry point.
A door stopper of nearly 700 pages, Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft is a complete classic of Wiccan literature, celebrating its 35th anniversary in 2021.
In Brujas, Cuban-Colombian author Lorraine Monteagut explores the life and experiences of BIPOC witches who reclaim ancestral traditions from their modern practices.
A Spiritual Guide for Women in the African Diaspora, Abiola Abrams’ Initiation to the African goddess contains intimate self-care rituals from across the continent.
Green Witchcraft focuses on nature and its blessings, incorporating herbs, crystals, and more into a holistic practice that celebrates life and living things. by Arin Murphy-Hiscock The green witch is the perfect starting point for anyone interested in green witchcraft.
If you want to focus uniquely on Spellcraft, there is Cassandra Eason 1001 spells, which contains practical instructions for every possible scenario, in all possible aspects of your life.
Caught up in the hustle and bustle of city life? Discover Lisa Marie Basile City witchcraft, which will help you forge your own path to spiritual satisfaction, even in the midst of a concrete jungle.
Are you looking for a little magic spark to help your love life? Lilith dorsey Love Magic contains 250 spells that address all aspects of romance, including fun, seduction and harmony.
If you’re not sure where to start with spell-making, check out Maggie Haseman Practical magic for beginners, which includes information about chakras, auras, spirit guides, divination rituals, and more.
Professional medium and Witches & Pagans Magazine columnist Mat Auryn is coming Psychic witch, a beginner’s guide to energy manipulation.
Another track from Murphy-Hiscock, The witch of the house helps you bring magic to every corner of your home. If you are passionate about hygge, you will be passionate about this book.
Crystals – they’re everywhere! Whether you want to learn how to use crystals in your practice or just want to know which shiny stones to keep around the house, Karen Frazier Crystals for beginners is a great place to start.
Last, but not least, there is Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. If your witchcraft book collection needs a comprehensive guide to plant life, get this one ASAP.
Debbie Strouse, who is gay, is a graduate of the Pennridge School District. Now, she has a child and grandchild in a district school and has seen many instances of discrimination and anti-LGBTQ sentiment unchallenged by the administration.
She feels that this bias has now become official policy.
“There was always a question, what does this person think? They would smile. But you were never quite sure what was behind the smile, ”she said. “When it’s in writing. So you know.
Erin Eagles, from Perkasie, is the gay mother of a two-year-old and a local therapist for LGBTQ youth. She hung a rainbow flag on the window of her family’s house. Neighbors then tore up the flag several times.
“We will not send our child to the school district. We don’t feel safe, ”Eagles said. “I’m terrified that she’ll feel ashamed or that she can’t just talk about the most normal things, like her immediate family.”
But Eagles plans to stay home and fight the District.
“We’re trying to have another child and I’m afraid I’m doing the wrong thing. But if we leave this community it’s one less [family] here to normalize LGBTQ and other minority people, ”Eagles said.
Pennridge, like schools across the state and nation, has a habit of removing literature and various initiatives from its schools.
Over the summer, the district quietly removed two black authors from the English curriculum.
A local group called “Penridge for Education Liberty” posted on Facebook a description of the curriculum changes they requested that were made by the district, including removing authors of color and changing the wording of the title of the school. ‘unity. A section, for example, instead of being titled with words like “oppression” or “inequality”, is now titled “Dreams and challenges”.
“Someone judges these to be bad, dangerous, that we don’t like these,” Walczak said of program changes and library book removals.
He sees it as censorship and sees it as potentially vulnerable to a First Amendment challenge. The law says there must be a “substantial and reasonable basis” to interfere with educational decisions, but the book “Heather has two Mommies” contains no sex or violence, he notes.
“So the only reason you would do that is because you don’t approve of same-sex couples,” Walczak said. “Whether it is homophobia or racism, these are not substantial and reasonable educational interests. “
The ACLU attorney said he expects the matter to unfold in a courtroom next year.
“I guess we’re going to litigate at least one of these cases in 2022 somewhere,” Walczak said.
Aimee Emerson, president-elect and co-chair of the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association Local and National Advocacy Committee, said librarians will be ready to fight.
“I won’t stop,” Emerson said, “This will be the hill I die on. “
The PSLA is hosting a conference in January and is organizing a document to orient librarians in Pennsylvania to resources on censorship issues, which will likely be released to the public in early January.
]]>Where would we be without the Thursday quiz? One of the other days of the week, I guess. All of your favorites are here as you face 15 topical or general knowledge questions. Can you spot the hidden Doctor Who reference? Can you avoid the allure of answering Kate Bush’s music question? And will Ron of Sparks end up disappointed in you – again? It’s not entirely serious, but let us know how you fared in the comments.
The Thursday quiz, n ° 33
If you think there has been a glaring error in any of the questions or answers, please feel free to send an email to [email protected], but remember that a word from the master of the quiz is always final and you would not want it to warn you. Santa that you should be put on the naughty list
Pittsburgh writers have taken the literary world by storm in the past two years since Deesha Philyaw’s hit The Secret Life of the Ladies of the Church to Brian Broome who won the Kirkus Prize. But the year is not over yet, which means others may still make waves. Now NPR has recognized another local writer.
Certain and impossible events, the first book by Candace Jane Opper, was added to NPR’s 2021 Books We Love list. It was highlighted by literary critic Ilana Masad, who called it a “beautiful and tender memory” that spanned the years of Opper’s obsession with a boy she knew who committed suicide at age. 13 years old.
The book was published in January by the Kore Press Institute, an organization that describes its mission as “publishing contemporary literature written by transgender women and writers for 27 years, with a focus on minority and marginalized voices.”
Kore is calling Certain and impossible events a “kaleidoscopic lens of the cultural history of suicide in America”.
“By merging personal narrative with history and science, Opper unearths the invisible web between all suicides – well known or barely documented,” a statement provided. “By inviting us into her decades-long obsession with the suicide of a boy she barely knew, Opper creates space for herself and her readers to embrace a radical form of oblivion.”
Opper says she started writing this book about 10 years ago, but it really started in 1994 in her hometown of Connecticut, when the boy she knew in college committed suicide.
“I had a crush on him and naturally felt a lot of grief – but I was also very disappointed with the way my school and my community handled his death – basically not at all,” says Opper. “There has always been a lot of stigma and shame around suicide, and this was especially true where I grew up. My small town had no idea how to react, so they basically thought, “He would have wanted us to move on” and went on as usual. I thought it was disrespectful and honestly kind of bullshit. His actions were so extreme, violent and final; it didn’t sound like an event that could or should be simply ignored. ”
The fact that the death occurred just a week after Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain also died by suicide, made it all the more resonant.
Opper says she used writing as a way to deal with tragedy and as a way to reflect on the kind of obsession that can arise after a suicide – what she describes as “the perpetual act of scrutinizing details, in the hope of making sense of what led a person to their own end. She sums it up as being about the boy’s final months, his obsession with his death, and “all the ways we try (and fail) for the most part) to make sense of suicide – personally and culturally.
Early drafts of the book became her master’s thesis, and she continued to research, write, and edit the manuscript until 2018, when it was selected as the winner of the Kore Press Memoir Award.
“So overall it took about 25 years,” says Opper.
She says the reception of the book has been “really encouraging” so far.
“I had to overcome a lot of shame in posting this to the world, especially the shame of feeling like I don’t have a ‘right’ to grieve,” Opper said. “Grieving can be so hierarchical, and I felt like I really needed to earn the right to tell this story. But the response made me feel incredibly seen.”
She adds that many readers reached out to her to similarly share their own experiences of being touched by the suicide death of someone they were not very close to and that they found solace in his book.
“Honestly, that’s all I wanted, to be kind of a spokesperson for people who have a story to share but no place to put it,” Opper said. “Grieving can take so many different forms, I’m just trying to make more space for that diversity.”
She says being selected for NPR’s 2021 list of books we love is “fucking amazing,” especially given the way the book was published.
“It’s a very difficult year to release a book, obviously. Plus, I’m with a small press that has been so supportive but doesn’t have the same advertising and marketing resources available to the big presses,” Opper explains. . “Small newspaper writers and, frankly, most writers have to scramble to get books into people’s hands these days, so that kind of recognition is huge.”