"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. The ALA video, above, highlights student activism in the face of censorship and book-banning attempts. Here’s one activist student’s story, and it’s an inspiring one. Long as I’m throwing lists at you, here are the top 40 censored movies. Decades of […]
From a New York Times op-ed titled “I Wanted to Be a Good Mom. So I Got a Gun“: A few months after my father left our family home for good, my mother heard me screaming in the middle of the night. It was the kind of scream that made her grab her rifle in […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic column featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. YCRT! News Roundup This news roundup leads off with prison book banning: The draconian New York state prison book ban I described in the previous YCRT! turns out to have been a limited test program, shut down the minute controversy erupted. […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie will stay part of the ninth-grade English curriculum in Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin. Schlump: The tragic story behind a forgotten masterpiece, a fascinating bit of history about one of many […]
An upper molar is bothering me, the same tooth that drove me to endure endodontic torture in June. It’s acting up again and I’m going to have to call the dentist to see if he can work me in. As a metaphor for tonight’s debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, an aching tooth seems […]
Gosh, how long’s it been since I last suggested cops should stop tasing, beating, and killing people for no reason? Feels like months. Actually it’s been weeks, which is a long time for me. It’s not that I’ve given up; it’s more like everyone knows what I think anyway, and nothing I say is going to change the […]
You Can’t Read That! is a periodic post featuring banned book reviews and news roundups. Well, two steps forward, one step back: in spite of the SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage, books with LGBT themes and characters are still widely challenged. Here’s an interesting article about ongoing parental challenges and “vigilante censorship” in Vermont schools. It’s not just […]
A visitor from outer space would describe Congress as a place where bribery is both legal and encouraged. I guess it’s always been that way; maybe I am naive. Still, you have to try. We can’t say we’re a representative democracy if we quit believing our voices and votes mean something.