Banned Books Week 2009

September 26−October 3, 2009 is banned books week in the US. This week you should be celebrating the freedom you have as an American to be able to read any literature that you so choose. It is to teach and celebrate First Amendment rights, the power of literature and free society. I'm sometimes unsure of how to write about this, I'm not officially an American Citizen as of yet, but my son is. So excuse me if I say "you" instead of "we" at some points.

This is something very close to my heart, not just because my husband is one of the many who serve in the army and fight for freedom, but also because I believe in the First Amendment, freedom of intellect - the freedom to access information and express ideas, I am looking toward training to be a librarian and finally of course, the fact that I love to read.

I do not believe that anyone else has the right to restrict books or information that I, or others, would like to access, or to have books removed from schools and libraries because they do not personally agree with them. We are a diverse people, we all have different standards, morals, ideas. That is the beauty of a free society and it is something that must be preserved.

The Color Purple, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, A Clockwork Orange, Catcher in the Rye,The Great Gatsby,To Kill a Mockingbird and Ulysses, wonderful examples of amazing and teachable literature (and books that I have both read and studied extensively in school at some point, be it highschool level or degree level) that have been challenged, restricted, censored or banned in the US at some point since their publication. I would not like my son to grow up in a world where he is not permitted to read books such as these, and other pieces of classic literature.

Yet I do understand why some people would want certain books restricted from libraries. They worry for their children, books such as Harry Potter or And Tango Makes Three do not line up with their views or what they would like to expose their children to. That is ok, I do not personally agree, but as a mother myself I understand wanting to protect your children from what you do not think is appropriate for their age or for your personal family values. Removing those books from schools and libraries does not solve anything. You should monitor what your own children are reading and censor within your own household as you see fit, but you do not have the right to tell me what my child can and cannot read, regardless of seemingly good intentions.

“While not every book is right for each reader, every reader has the right to choose reading materials for themselves and their families and should be able to find those materials in libraries, classrooms, and bookstores. Our goal is to protect one of our most precious fundamental rights—our freedom to read." Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF)

Censorship is dangerous, it is our diversity that is what makes America the country that it is today.

Most frequently challenged books of 2008

National Coalition Against Censorship

American Booksellers foundation for free expression

The Kids' right to read project

Top 50 banned books that everyone should read

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Drill, Drill, Drill

Eve Ensler (author of the vagina monolgues) on Sarah Palin and feminism.

Palin bothers me, moreso than McCain. I simply disagree with McCain's policies but Palin's disregard for select parts of the constitution and basic womens rights stemming from her personal religious beliefs really gets to me. It gets to me because she is a woman. It makes me sad and angry all at once. She has every right to believe what she would like, but when that encroaches on my rights she's gone too far.

But what can I do? I can't vote this year because I don't yet have my citizenship. For now I have absolutely no say in the country that my son and future children will no doubt grow up in.

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Bloody Politics

I always used to say that I never wanted to get into politics.

I used to say the same thing about never wanting to smoke cigarettes and now here I am...smoking a pack a day.

Today I argued the fact that someone who can shoot bad guys with deadly efficiency while also being able to solve complex theoretical math equations must be spot on. Of course it was said as a joke to make the lovely lady wife smile it's still definitely very true. I mean come on.



So yes Matt, thank you, of all people, for de-sensationalizing all of this ridiculous news media hype over how great Sarah Palin is. Because to be honest I can't find anything interesting or exciting about the lady. Watching her speech during the coverage of the RNC was like listening to that one teacher we all had in college. You know the one, the teacher who was 'overly-excited' about his/her class and very enthusiastic but looked and sounded completely empty-headed while saying it.

Or maybe it's just her accent that kills me.

Maybe it's how when she talks she has to keep up with her teleprompter...

Or maybe it's how she's a right wing God fearing conservative christian good 'ol girl...who's just as crooked as everyone else. Don't get me talking about the bridge money stealing debacle or the bloody book banning.

Ok, well really quick about the book banning thing.

Asking a librarian a rhetorical question (actually hypothetical but whatever) along the lines of 'what would you say if I wanted to ban books from our library' is roughly equivalent to asking a Soldier 'what if i asked you to kill off some of your squad members.'

Or maybe 'what would you say to me wanting to take away some of your children' to a family.

Seriously. I don't care if she didn't ban them, simply bringing up the subject should eliminate any kind of plausibility the woman has as to upholding the constitution - which by the way has things like freedom of speech in it.

But we don't care about freedom of speech, nah, we care more about lipstick and lying. Lots of lying.



But thank you Palin. Thank you for being another person in the public scene that makes people who believe in God look like assholes.

It's very very irritating.

And thanks republicans for being lying bastards.

To be honest when I woke up this morning to go on Drudge I felt ill at the sight of the headline going something about Top Democrats feel that Obama is 'slipping.' And more stuff about pigs and lipstick and the republicans (who are so nice, and conservative) launching attack ads and demands for apologies.

Then i saw this video and felt alot better.



So I'll tell you right now that I'm not a registered Democrat. I registered under independent because I don't care about parties, I care about people. I know how much charisma is actually worth in the real world because I lived off of it for about a year or so.

A person becomes the president.

And seriously, the best person for this thing is Obama. Why? Because he's real, and if I was a foreign leader talking to him about why I shouldn't invade American I'm pretty
sure that he could talk me out of it. McCain would send in the entire Department of Defense, Palin would shoot you with a rifle and then grab earmarks, but Obama would talk you out of it.

Besides all that, it'd be nice to have a president that I'd clamor to see when he came to visit where I'm stationed instead of trying to avoid the task of media escorts, Media Ops Center setup, and photo support.

To clarify. As a Soldier I serve the Army and the Commander and Chief who is the president. When Bush said "Let's go to Iraq" everyone went to Iraq. When I joined and the Army said, "We're not sending you to Iraq, you're going to Kosovo!" There i went.

Soldiers follow orders. That doesn't mean we like them or the people who give them.

In anycase, I've tried hard not to turn this into a rant.

My Apologies. The Republican party has been rubbing off on me.

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