In case you haven’t heard, an assistant principal was recently fired because he chose to read the children’s book “I Need a New Butt” to a group of students.
Toby has shared his thoughts on this announcement in a thread of Tweets, posted here for your enjoyment.
On April 28th I had a chance to speak in front of the Hinds County School District Board. The following thread contains a story that sums up what happened. Thank you – Toby Price 1 of 22 pic.twitter.com/VOHtxVIK8k
I’ll just say this right now: with the content of most children’s books out there, to fire someone over a book about butts requires a special kind of an asshole.
There is a spot reserved in hell for administrators, parents, and members of the general public who think it’s ok to fire a teacher over reading a wildly popular children’s book that is available everywhere books are sold.
I would rant more on this but I can’t. It’s just dumb.
Public education is facing an unprecedented level of hatred from conservative Americans right now. New laws are being crafted to punish teachers for teaching content that is not “approved” by parent groups or might be offensive and entire curricula and books are being banned.
Now, some schools are banning access to digital books from repositories like Overdrive and Epic, removing thousands of resources from the hands of students and families.
Thousands of schools and public libraries use these services to provide a much wider array of books than they could within the limits of the physical space in their buildings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, families easily accessed books from home comfort to keep their kids engaged and learning while sheltering.
Enter the fear mongers.
With new laws in place requiring that any book used in a school be reviewed and chosen by a faculty member, the number of books available will drastically decrease.
With over two million titles, trying to get someone to review every book in Overdrive is not only an impossible request, it’s downright foolish.
No one could review all that content and approve it for student usage.
How much longer will we abide by such unsubstantiated fear and hatred?
“That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also”
Heinrich Heine
Colophon
Latine non loquor
Currently writing:
Volume 1: The Heretic Chronicles – a fantasy story about a girl, her sword, and extreme fundamentalist religion (WC: 15,457)
Untitled Sci-Fi novel – a group of students race across the stars, avoiding an evil empire (WC: 275)
Sci-fi short story – earth as a farm for aliens (WC: 492)
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Cory Doctorow’s work at Pluralistic inspired the layout, focus, and work displayed here. Hat tip to Cory for all his fine work.
OK, this is a total brain dump post as I just need to get some thoughts down. My mind is racing with ideas and I just need to write. But I’m going to share this with you because… reasons…
I love reading. However, I’ve not always been the most dedicated reader. Far too often I have relied on moving pictures in one form or another to keep me entertained and/or intellectually engaged. I love movies and tv shows. I love documentaries.
But I really love the worlds I can transport to within the pages of a book. Fiction, non-fiction, I don’t care.
As I said, I haven’t always been the best reader. It was far easier to just sit on my computer, watch the TV, or stare at my smartphone.
Then, about two years ago, I committed to reading more. I felt that I had missed so many opportunities to read great books that I couldn’t waste any more time. After all, I’m 45 as I’m writing this and, statistically, I’m about halfway done with my time on this pale blue dot.
So I started reading more. Consequently, I started buying more books.
Like, a ton of books. Seriously. I just had six show up at my house today.
And not just little books. Big books. BIG f’n books.
Here’s the list that showed up today (all Amazon links):
Last month, I ordered ten physical books (most in the fantasy genre) and 10-12 ebooks (I have a Kindle Unlimited account, too).
Yes, I have a problem. I’m trying to play catch up for years of not really reading books. And I’ll never reach my goal.
My Goodreads “to be read” list is almost 1,500 books long. And growing.
Why do I have a problem? Because I have become insatiably curious and full of fanciful dreams. I didn’t explore my passions for too long because I was concerned about what other people thought about me.
I’ll write that off as having spent my time in a fundamentalist, controlling, right-wing, bible-thumping church from the ages of 11 to 25. Oh, well.
Now, I’m running after learning about the things that excite me. And enjoying the things I love.