There are a lot of positive aspects to what's been going on in Lower Manhattan courtesy of the Occupy Wall Street movement but there is one part in particular that brings me plenty of joy. It is the makeshift library that has sprung up to provide protestors with some reading material.Quite a few people have been camping out, some since it all began on September 17, so it is great to see that they have the ability to feed their mind while they participate in the occupation.Titles include, from what I can make out, Orwell's Animal Farm, a biography of...
Obama on Poetry
Here are the President's opening remarks for the celebration of poetry and prose hosted by the President, the first lady and the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities that took place at the White House on Wednesday night. Clearly, the President understands the cultural importance and value of poetry and it is a partisan shame that it is all overshadowed by the ridiculous controversy stirred up by his opponents.Gerri Willis, a host on the FOX Business Network had this to say of the event "Of all the pressing issues right now, I don't think poetry should be one of...
Everything Checked Out: Protesters Empty Library Shelves as Economy Continues to Fizzle
All 16,000 books from a library in the UK have been checked out in protest of a plan to shut the library for good.When news broke of the plan to close the library residents who patronize the Stony Stratford library in Milton Keynes banded together, primarily using social media, and came up with a plan to pool their library cards an begin checking out the maximum amount of material. At the rate of close to 400 items an hour books, DVD's and CD's began flying off the shelves until everything was gone.Clever for sure and the story's reach can do...
Used books deemed unsanitary by the Turkish government
Image via LOCResponding to complaints by parents the Turkish government has pulled all used books from their Free Class Books Project. From Education Minister Nimet Çubukçu:The course books distributed within the scope of the Free Class Books Project cannot be used, as the schools lack the infrastructure to control and protect the books. As the parents do not find the used books hygienic, giving a group of students new books and others used books does not serve our educational needsThis is one wacky story and I have to wonder if something got lost in the translation. If indeed used books are unsanitary and need to...
The Ex-Gay Cry Censorship: No One Wants Their Books
The headline of the story on FOX News is a doozy: "Gay Reversal Advocates Say School Libraries Banning Their 'Ex-Gay' Books."A Chicago-based group, Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX), is suing the Montgomery County, MD school district for their purported "exclusion of "ex-gay" information in its sexual orientation health curriculum."PFOX (I am assuming no relation to FOX) says "there's an entire community of people across the world who say that their sexual orientation changed from gay to straight. But they're not getting their message out, the group says, because libraries across the country refuse to carry literature that...