#Get the bans in public schools then go after the libraries

[bitstitchbitch]

I shall be writing letters to my state representatives this weekend because Moms for Liberty basically just told my public library system that they are the next book ban target, so uh wish me luck with that I guess

[sistertotheknowitall]

Some guy gets arrested

Inspired by @medium-sized-ghost addition to the Original Post.

Masterpost

“So sorry about this, Mr. Wayne.”

“No, I understand. I’m just glad to see the law doing their job so well.” Bruce continues pleasantly through the police station with Commissioner Gordon leading the way.

“We’ll get this sorted out as soon as possible, but in the meantime you will need to unfortunately be placed in holding.”

“Of course. It’s really no problem, it was my mistake missing my court date like that. Time just gets away from me sometimes, you know?” Nevermind the fact that Bruce hadn’t even known about said court date or the speeding ticket it was for. He couldn’t prove which child had taken his car for a joy ride, but his prime suspects were Jason or Dick. (He would later find out that it was Stephanie upon a dare from Duke. He already attempted to banned them from playing Truth or Dare after Tim convinced Dick to do a handstand on Jason’s bike going 95 down the freeway. Not that Dick really needed any convincing.)

“Well you’re in luck, one cell is mostly empty.” It was a small cell closer to the front. Bruce could see a teenager laying on the bench to the right. Gordon opened the door and stood to the side so Bruce could enter and locked the door behind him. “Would you like anything to drink? Water? Coffee?”

Bruce smiled, “No, thank you.” Gordon nodded and looked past Bruce at the only other occupant in the cell, “What about you kid? Anything?”

Bruce watched as the kid, one he unfortunately recognized, lifted his arm from where it was thrown over his eyes and waved it in the air at the commissioner, “I’m good.” The arm went back down. Gordon grunted, “alright Officer Mitchell is keeping watch, call out if either of you need anything.”

With that Bruce was left alone with the boy who had befuddled and befriended his many children. He sat on the opposite bench and thought about how best to approach the young man. Danny had never responded well to Batman and there was no telling how he would respond to Bruce. According to Tim, Danny actually had some respect for Bruce and the money he dumped into bettering Gotham. (When it was announced that the public library was being renovated Danny had interrogated Tim about it and then offered his own opinions on how to involve more of the general population.)

Bruce didn’t think the time called for his “Brucie” persona and he couldn’t be Batman at the moment. He could approach the boy in a “fatherly” manner but that approach rarely worked on his own kids, he didn’t think it would work on this one.

“Have you called anyone?”

Danny looked out from under his arm and stared at Bruce suspiciously. In hindsight it was a creepy question.

Bruce brought his hands up and breathed a laugh, “I’m sorry, I meant have you been given your one phone call?” Danny didn’t move. “Why? You a lawyer?” He eyed Bruce in his nice suit and watch.

Bruce smiled at the boy, “goodness no, I don’t have the attention span for law school. I actually did pre-med before dropping out.”

Danny seemed too curl a little more into himself. It was the most cautious Bruce had ever seen him. He was locked in a Gotham police cell with a man in an expensive suit who seemed completely unconcerned about being arrested, it was wise on Danny’s part to be wary.

Bruce stuck out his hand, “Bruce Wayne.” Slowly, Danny sat up and crossed his arm scoffing, “why would Bruce Wayne be in a holding cell?” Bruce continued to smile at the kid and shrugged, his hand still in the air, “speeding ticket I’m afraid, missed my court date. I do have to say, though, the updated traffic cameras are a good investment by the police department.” “Wayne Enterprises payed for them.” “We did?” Bruce asked, knowing full well it was to give Oracle better camera footage. “You were at the press release.” “Huh.” Bruce looked thoughtful for a minute, “mm no, not ringing any bells. I go to so many of those press conferences, they just bleed together after a while.” “Mhm.” Danny still didn’t take the offered hand. Bruce sighed and let it drop back to his lap, “I’d offer to show you my ID but I don’t exactly have it on me.”

They sat and watched each other for a minute. Danny shifted and seemed to make a decision, “I work at a coffee shop and one of your sons is a regular.” Bruce slapped his thigh as if a light bulb suddenly went off, “You’re Danny! Tim’s mentioned you! You know he’s the only one with a weakness for caffeine, the others like to tease him but I don’t think he has an addiction. However, he does seem to spend a lot of time at that shop.” Bruce leaned forward as if confiding a secret, “to be honest, I think he has a bit of a crush on you.”

Dropping his own arms, Danny sighed. “Yeah, he’s not really that subtle.”

“No, I’m afraid he’s never been good at that. At least not when he’s interested in someone.” Tim was great at subtlety when it came to the mission but never in his personal life. The funny part was he didn’t even draw that distinction on purpose.

“I called a family friend. To answer your question. He should be here soon.” Bruce nodded, “so you do have people you can rely on in town?” “I could have a whole family I can rely on in this city.” Danny said, catching the older man's slip. He shifts further in his seat and stared hard at Bruce.

Bruce knew Danny had no one in town. He did the background check, Danny's whole family lived in Ohio with the exception of his older sister who was in one of the top psychology programs in the country. They seemed to visit each other often but rarely their parents.

The older man dawned an apologetic expression. “I’m sorry, I assumed when you said ‘a family friend’.” Bruce leaned back against the wall behind him, “are you from Gotham?”

“No,” Danny shifted further back in his seat and didn’t take his eyes off Bruce.

It was different from how the boy interacted with Batman. To the billionaires alter ego Danny was defiant and outspoken. He always seemed to say what was on his mind, completely uncaring of the audience he had.

——-

“Mr. Fenton, your god-father is here for you.”

Danny never thought he’d feel this relieved to know Vlad was picking him up. While Mr. Wayne had been nothing but polite, something about the man felt off. Danny also didn’t appreciate the questions. What was it to this man if Danny had family near by or not?

One of the cops opens the door with Vlad in his nice suit and overly polished shoes right behind him.

“Daniel, let’s not make this a habit.”

“I was just feeding the homeless dogs!”

“Strays.” Vlad corrected, “while trespassing?”

Danny rolled his eyes and continued pass his “uncle”.

“How am I supposed to know an abandoned building is considered ‘private property’?”

Vlad just sighed.

——

Bonus:

Stephanie would continue to stick to her story, thank you very much. She had every right to punch the creep and she wasn’t backing down. Not even if “the creep” was apparently the son of a very influential prosecutor. A corrupt one, but he was influential nonetheless. Such is the justice system in Gotham.

Even if it landed her in a police station, handcuffed to a desk while said creep cried about the bloody nose she gave him.

Letting out a frustrated sigh, she crossed her legs and continued to glare at the door way that led to the holding cells. It was her night off and she still had to deal with this godforsaken city’s degenerate citizens. God forbid she have a day off.

It was while glaring at said door that Steph noticed a familiar boy walking out with a gentleman she wasn’t familiar with. He was a little behind Danny but reached out and grabbed his shoulder, stopping him just before leaving the hallway. Steph slid her gaze away but kept her ears open, grateful she was close enough to hear.

“You need to be more careful, Daniel.”

Danny didn’t respond and Steph looked over to see him pull his shoulder away and start walking again.

“You didn’t have to come all this way to bail me out. I could have called Jazz or Sam.”

“Nonsense, it’s good to get out of Wisconsin.”

Steph wrinkled her nose, Wisconsin? The pair continued out of ear shot and shortly out of the station.

When Bruce was released a few minutes later, Stephanie smiled and took great joy in his obvious (to any member of his family) despair and exasperation at seeing her.

Part 8

[xmalereader]

I don’t like bringing politics into my vlog in order to keep things peaceful, but after Trumps victory I can’t help but bring it up. MANY people are disappointed and afraid of what’s to come, I’ve read project 2025 and the things our future can go through is insane. I’ve studied history so many times and the years between 1920-1950 will always hold my attention the most. Fascism is slow rising in America, many may not see it and that’s because our government is starting in small steps.

The biggest ones that can affect many people is the department of education. Which will affect thousands of people who won’t be able to get access to proper education and one of the biggest things they want to start with is book banning. ALL the books we read growing up are possible to be banned not just from schools and libraries but stores as well.

It is possible that A03 could also be banned which is the biggest website for fanfic writers. It is also possible that other platforms could be attacked such as; wattpad, tumblr, fanfiction.net, etc.

I am giving EVERYONE permission to download my work. If you wish to book bind it as well feel free to do it, I won’t be deleting anything in order to allow everyone to download what they like. Now will this stop me from writing? NO. Will I stop using tumblr? NO! I am not the only writer out there who is giving up so easily to express their work to the public.

PREPARE yourself! And please, PLEASE unfollow me if you voted for trump or decided to take his side. I will not hear you out on why I should even take his side when he is a felon, racist, sexist, facist, piece of shit.

[ashbelero]

Did you guys know that you really can just, like… show up at your local library’s board meetings every month

That’s where conservatives try to get books banned so I decided to start going to mine.

Funny story though, uh. They didn’t know what to do with me when I showed up. I just had eight people looking at me like “yes can I help you” and I just sat down and I’m like oh, I’m just here to attend the meeting (as a member of the public) and they had to go find an actual chair for me and I just sat there in the middle of the room like I was waiting for my trial or something.

The meetings are boring but important. For instance, there was a presentation on the entire history of the town’s founding which ended in discussion of the city’s decision to spend $8 mil on Astroturf for the high school’s fields instead of paying librarians more. I was able to contribute by pointing out that Astroturf is dangerous to play on and would likely result in lawsuits from parents of soccer players anyway. That might have made a huge difference and the organizer asked me to email him sources immediately.

After this presentation, one of them was like “Okay, at this time we will discuss the library’s budget and need to ask all members of the public to step out for a bit” and they all look at me and they’re like “so we’ve literally never done this before but can you step out” and I’m like sure, I’ll head out now, see you guys later

And one dude is like wait wait wait did you actually need to bring something up for public comment or anything? And I’m like naw, I’m just here to make sure no one fucks with the library and support how I can and this started a round of snapping fingers like I’d just done slam poetry and one guy was like “yeah so I’ve worked here for five years and we’ve never had someone attend these”

So I’m going back next month. And you can too. Look into it.

[momkat]

If you are in the USA today, go VOTE!!!

So many people only vote in presidential elections when it is the smaller more local elections that have so much control over your lives!!! The president is not a king and can effect NOTHING if they have a hostile congress!! Congresspeople come from smaller local government offices! VOTE! VOTE! VOTE!

If you don't show up to vote against, then you are voting for. A mediocre candidate who votes FOR you in office most of the time is still better than a hostile candidate who will vote against you while in office. If you can't vote for, then at least vote against!

Vote LOCAL!

School Board – Your local School Board is responsible for:

Content of your sex education including gay sex & safety, and all the sexual variants that real people have.

whether gay marriage can be talked about in school

whether a child gets called their chosen name vs their dead name in class.

all policies about trans kids, including anti-bullying policies

whether or not your school has to tell parents that you are identifying as queer. (If a kid is not telling their parents that they are some form of alt/queer/non-b THERE IS A REASON FOR IT. Schools telling these parents can result in abuse, shaming, being kicked out of the house, being 'beaten straight' etc.)

Access to gender affirming care in the clinic or counselor's office

Book bans – school book bans are often used as a step/justification for book bans at the local library.

The content of your history class. Whitewashing slavery. Whitewashing Nazi Germany. Whitewashing colonialism.

And much, much more. In addition, School Boards are often a stepping stone to larger offices. The progression is: School Board, City/County board, State office, National office. If you want state and national officials to support you, you have to grow them at the LOCAL LEVEL!!!

City/County Government:

How much money schools get. (And therefore can effect/dictate policies.)

How much money cops get. (And therefore can effect/dictate policies.)

How much money public services (firemen, local health services, libraries etc) get.

Local government regulations & laws (i.e. being arrested for 'indecency' because you are in drag.)

And again, don't forget that these are the 'feeder' offices that lead to government offices. These people go on to state offices!!

Your STATE Legislature is responsible for:

All abortion policies. Since Roe v. Wade has been tossed there is no federal prevention against any abortion policies.

All sexual health policies. From birth control to sex changes. Their laws can range from sensible to inhumane.

All CIVIL RIGHTS policies that are not explicitly guarded and monitored by the federal government are left up to the states. Take a look at Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, etc. if you want examples.

And, of course, they can dictate policies to smaller municipalities (see City/County).

The most likely State office that leads to the presidency is Governor or a state. If you want better presidents, you need better governors!

Gerrymandering:

“But...but, but... I am gerrymandered so it doesn't make a difference if I vote!!” It DOES! If you are in a gerrymandered district and the crazy left wing crusader wins with a landslide because you DID NOT VOTE, then their party will keep putting in crazy right wing crusaders! If the vote is closer, EVEN IF YOU LOSE, their party is more likely to put in a more centrist candidate because they don't want to risk losing the seat. In addition, voting records are used to determine 1) the NEXT time areas are redistricted and 2) To show severe gerrymandering to courts to OVERTURN gerrymandered districts and force a redistricting. Right now there are people who are wining court case after court case to force redistricting of gerrymandered states and they are using voting data to do so!!! VOTE!!!

Please re-post this. Please blaze this. Please pass it on. PLEASE VOTE!

[thelastharbinger]

Did not have the U.S. government holding hearings on previously classified information and lying making confirmations under oath that they are in possession of alien bodies and ufos in order to distract from the fact that covid-19 is still the leading cause of death in children, the cost of living is astronomical, cop city is well underway despite Atlanta residents overwhelmingly crying out against it, we are experiencing the hottest & deadliest temperatures on record, the state of Florida trying to rewrite history to say that slavery was just a mutually beneficial unpaid internship, trans lives and rights are under attack, anti drag laws, FLINT MICHIGAN STILL DOES NOT HAVE CLEAN DRINKING WATER, anti-discrimination laws being reversed, Supreme Court ruling against affirmative action, Roe v. Wade undone, universal free school lunches are on the ballot, ongoing mass shootings, climate change, big pharma killing off people by withholding live saving drugs at ungodly market prices, the erasure of separation of church and state, AI surveillance being implemented to detect fare evasion for increasingly costly public transport services, the rise of fascim, proud boys showing up with military grade weapons at libraries and day care centers, the permitted attempted coup of the capital, labor union strikes happening all over the country, people dying of heat in Texas because evil landlords want to cut off cooling over an unpaid $51 utility bill, train derailments causing toxic waste spills, corruption within the highest court in the land, homelessness rates the highest its ever been, migrants and asylum seekers being kicked out of temporary housing, the cost of food, book bans, Miranda Rights no longer being stated, mayors deciding to no longer publicly disclose how many people are dying pre-trial in detention facilities, federal minimum wage still $7.25, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, oil pipeline constructions on native lands, something like 30-50% of the nation's drinking water contaminated with forever chemicals, the rich remaining untaxed, biden going back on his campaign promises to forgive all student debt, still no free universal healthcare, ICE deportations increasing under biden admin, the u.s. yet maintaining colonies, teens and women getting jail time for miscarriages and abortions, 100 companies globally responsible for 70 or 80-something percent of all CO2 emissions, we are living in a police state, diseases resurfacing after years with no cases due to rising temps, death penalty, public services being defunded to increase military and police spending budgets, and abusers suing victims for defamation cases in court so that they legally cannot talk about it, and setting a dangerous precedent in the process in my 2023 bingo card but here we god damn are.

[oldguardleatherdog]

OLD MACDONALD BOUGHT THE FARM: "Barking and meowing" by students is being banned in a hysterical panic by another ignorant Florida school board. How long are we gonna put up with this insidious nonsense?

I've had it. These nutcases are about to regulate onomatopoeia in elementary school. Don't laugh - it's hiding something ominous, and it's deliberate.

First: If you're in the furry fandom - as I've been for 26 years (longer than the average fur has been alive these days) - TAKE THIS SHIT SERIOUSLY.

If they're actually banning K-12 school age kids from wearing anything animal-themed (yeah, it's that broad) and restricting the sounds they can utter for Christ's sake, you can be sure that the wild-eyed crazeballs chick who runs LibsOfTikTok and singlehandedly caused the wave of library closings over the mere existence of LGBTQ+ characters in books - to the extent that the State of Missouri legislature has defunded the entire statewide public library system! - already has her sights trained on Midwest FurFest, and the lunatics who closed down Boston Children's Hospital with bomb threats are already booking flights to bring the Nazis-with-guns to every furry convention in America by the end of this year, AND IF YOU DON'T GET WITH THE PROGRAM THEY'RE GOING TO BLOW YOUR oWo uWu ASSES OFF!

Enough dicking around, my fellow furballs. You know what to do.

Here's what I posted to Reddit last night - piss-poor metrics for my posts about the Wile E. Coyote anvils over our heads, but my groaners in the r/3amjokes and r/dadjokes subs get 35,000 views. Go figure.

In the meantime, read, heed, and reblog like your life depends on it, because it does:

---

You may laugh at first glance, or shake your head at "Florida again" - but it's a stalking horse for their next milestone: banning student behavior and appearance that to the MAGAs and right-wing nut jobs carries even a *hint* of LGBTQ+, and then - say it with me -

Identifying students who are mature enough to have come out as LGBTQ+ fully or in part (friends, family); those who are known to be "questioning" and on their way to coming out; those who are beginning to identify as other than heterosexual or show "tendencies" or "predelictions", and students too young to be self-aware in those ways but are seen as suspect by teachers and administrators - and then, gradually at first, then quickly and deliberately separating, isolating, and ultimately barring them from access to public education.

Kentucky has said it out loud just this week, clearly, plainly, with no room for ambiguity: "It's time to eliminate 'transes' from our schools."

If you're still on the fence about getting involved with activism and protests to put this movement down for good before it becomes too big to stop - and we still have time to stop it and crush it - do you think they'll stop after just banning kids?

You don't need to have psychic powers or a crystal ball to see what's heading our way. Soon.

You can choose to do nothing - or you can choose to act. One or the other. Simple, plain, clear.

Joni Mitchell once sang, "it all comes down to you," and she was right, of course, but if you listened closely, her meaning was clear then, and applies now - one choice will save you, the other will not.

Only one of these choices has the potential to turn the tide, the clearly visible, quickening, rising tide that's got crazy Jesus in its eyes and a list with your name on it.

I cannot choose for you, of course. No one can.

Last time I looked, this was still a free country.

But if you do not make the right choice - *you*, Constant Stranger, she sang - no one will be able to save you, or us. And the choice is upon us, sooner than we thought, and now.

Time to choose.

[thenightling]

Book bannings and schools mishandling books rant:

Book bannings, particulary school book bannings are weird and arbitrary and that's how they look to kids too.

I went to a number of different schools in Nassau County Long Island as a child. One school banned Goosebumps books as "too scary." And the teacher didn't consider them "Real reading" anyway.

That same school had banned Where's Waldo? (Wally to you UK readers). And "I spy" / "Eye Spy" books (where you search for the objects in cluttered picture, similar to Where's Waldo. They claimed it wasn't really reading.

Well, here's something the "clever" people running that school didn't realize. I'm visually impaired. Optic nerve damage since birth. And "Eye Spy" books were a good form of exercise in helping me focus my eyes. I can't control my own eye movements and those books helped a little but SOMEONE deemed them "not educational."

And my family was pretty poor. And didn't have a car. Trips to the public library weren't as often as I liked and my mother had a bit habit of not returning things to the library so that was also a factor on if we could take anything out.

In another school I went to comic books and graphic novels (Novels in comic book format) were not allowed. I strongly suspect there were parents who thought "graphic" meant sexual content as that's what I came across when asking people who were pro-banning Maus (the graphic novel about a mouse in the holocaust). The English teacher claimed comics are "not really reading." One kid made a great argument about how Shakespeare and classic literature has been adapted in graphic novel form but she argued that it is like a very abridged version since they put pictures instead of written descriptions. I had the impression she hadn't physically seen these graphic novels but assumed.

When I entered Junior High school the school library had a great book on Hebrew folklore that I liked and another book about beliefs in the occult. I tried to take them out and got a lecture from the librarian that those are "reference books only" and cannot be borrowed from the library. umm... Why? And what's the point of a Junior high school "reference only" book? How often do Junior High school kids get to sit down in the library for long stretches at a time.

In seventh grade a teacher from BOCES assessed my reading level. (I was skipped around a lot so I was only eleven). She determined that I had a third or fourth grade reading level at the time. I said "Well, that can improve, right?" (because I loved to read). She replied with "Usually at this age your reading level becomes stationary." I was ELEVEN! Who does that? It was like a deliberate effort to sabotage and discourage my love of books. And ironically, somehow, in English class we were reading The White Mountains, which was a great Scifi novel. And I was not struggling, I was enjoying it.

In my nineth grade English literature class we were handed text books. I always loved these because they were essentially anthology collections of great short stories. The teacher NEVER used the text book. She never assigned any story in it. I saw Harrison Bergeron listed and I had just seen the TV movie version so I wanted to read the original story. I asked the teacher about it and her "words of encouragement" were "That's not going to be assigned. You don't have to read that. Don't bother." I read it on my own.

This same teacher had ordered me to stop reading ahead when we were assigned chapters of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. I loved that book. When I asked why she said "Because you'll forget what you've read."

Well, here it is, almost thirty-years-later and I haven't forgotten at all. Thanks for "Encouraging" me to read.

Another "Encouragement" was when I was in a programming for visually impaired students and the teacher had a book case full of the classics. And "You can read them but only if you write a book report for me after each one."

Well, I just wanted to read them. She wasn't my English teacher. Why should I write her a report? It wasn't going to impact my grade, just slow down my ability to read the next one. So I started to pretend I hadn't finished one book and would discretely move on to another. I did this several times.

One teacher's assistant didn't believe me when I came back from summer break having discovered a love of Anne Rice novels. She started to quiz me on The Queen of the damned to prove to her I read it. (This was before there was even a movie version, mind you). Why do these things? You're going to discourage kids from reading.

In yet another school I went to I was surprised that not only were all of these things allowed and encouraged but the school library even had a coffin shaped book case full of Goosebumps books.

To me this was surreal as I had it engrained into me that Goosebumps was "Not real reading." And "didn't belong in school." I guess that particular school was being reactionary to the books being fashionable among kids (the way Harry Potter would later be). And since kids liked them "Something must be wrong."

But thirteen-year-old me still had the mentality of "Wow, I can't believe this. I wonder how long before they decide they made a mistake and that these should be banned." The below image is similar to the book case the school had.

Combine all this with schools obnoxiously always assigning grim and depressing stories about "coming to terms with loss and death" and it's a wonder any kid likes to read.

I've met grown adults who think all books are about coming to terms with death because that was literally ALL They were assigned as kids. Old Yeller, Charlotte's Web, On my Honor, Bridge to Terabithia... "But kids should learn about death and loss." Yes, but not when it's literally EVERY book they've ever been assigned! It's a wonder anyone grew up loving books.

[wutbju]

The State reported this weekend that Ellen Weaver's Department of education "retained a private attorney" to help it limit schools from choosing their own books for their own libraries.

The attorney? Class of 2005 Miles Coleman.

The State did a good job of covering Miles' deep ties with the "intellectual" side of Klandamentalism:

Miles Coleman, an attorney with the prominent Nelson Mullins law firm and president of the Columbia chapter of the Federalist Society, a conservative national legal group, was contracted by the Department of Education to represent it regarding the new regulation. Coleman, who the Education Department described as a nationally recognized expert in First Amendment law, was retained at a rate of $225 an hour, according to a request to employ outside counsel that state Superintendent Ellen Weaver filed with the state Attorney General’s Office.

They continued:

Coleman, a partner at Nelson Mullins in Greenville, also specializes in appeals, business litigation and complex civil and criminal litigation, according to his bio. Among other clients, he represented the Pickens County school district in a lawsuit brought by the NAACP concerning the district’s decision to ban the book “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You,” by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi. He also represented the Christian Learning Centers of Greenville, a private religious education provider, in their fight to obtain a $1.5 million state earmark. A 2009 graduate of the University of South Carolina School of Law, Coleman has been heavily involved in conservative organizations. In addition to being a member of the executive committee of the Federalist Society’s Religious Liberties Practice Group, Coleman was a fellow at the National Review and is currently the secretary of the board of directors at School Ministries, an organization that provides support for public school students to go off campus during school hours to study the bible. While in law school, Coleman also received a 2007 Blackstone Legal Fellowship. The fellowship is a summer legal training program run by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal advocacy group, which was designated an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. The ADF has strongly denied this characterization and describes itself as a leading Christian law firm “committed to protecting religious freedom, free speech, marriage and family, parental rights, and the sanctity of life.” “Mr. Coleman is a nationally recognized First Amendment expert whose work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Coleman was engaged by the SCDE regarding the State Board of Education’s instructional materials regulation to help ensure it protected students’ and teachers’ First Amendment rights,” Raven said. While the Department of Education has a general counsel, it’s not unusual for state agencies to work with outside counsel when special expertise is needed, Raven told The State. Coleman also appeared to take a leading role in pitching the new rule to legislators. In April, Coleman appeared at least twice before legislators to explain the need for the new rule, saying that it aimed to fix a “patchwork quilt of 80 or more different policies,” according to the South Carolina Daily Gazette. He also defended the regulation’s sweeping prohibition on “sexual content” in library books and classroom materials. By keeping the definition broad, Coleman told lawmakers that the Department of Education was trying to avoid lengthy debates about what did or did not meet standards, according to the Daily Gazette. “It’s simple enough that it’s not going to get bogged down,” he told lawmakers.

We all know Miles. We know his parents:

And remember his grandfather too.

And do you remember what his grandfather said about Chuck Phelps after we alumni were up-in-arms about his defense of a violent rapist?

This is "justice" in Klandamentalism. It's all connected. Tightly connected.

[noahsbookhoard]

📚January 2024 Book Review📚

I'm trying to come back to all the books I've read this year but going individually through the 80+ book is daunting so let's start with month by month!

January hasn't been very productive : I had just moved to a new city and didn't know where the public library was. I also was just setting up my e-reader so I was reading Farenheit 451 on pdf on my phone, it wasn't comfortable. Nonetheless my new year resolution of reading more consistently was holding so I was thrilled!

Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #1) by Tamsyn Muir

Gideon Nav is bored of the Ninth House, an almost dead planet in which she lives with some skeletons, some people so old as to almost be skeleton themselves and Harrowark Nonagesimus, Reverent Daughter and future leader of the Ninth. She was ready to escape when came the order: Gideon has to accompany Harrow as her Cavalier to the First House and help her to take up the challenges to become a Lictor, God's right hand. There's one problem, Harrow hates Gideon's guts and the feeling is mutual.

The Locked Tomb saga was everywhere on Tumblr so I caved and started it. Boy am I glad I did! Gideon the Ninth was an instant favorite that kept on confirming its status.

The plot swept me away, I was so engrossed in the tasks and tests I saw nothing coming! The end had everything I love in novels (epic battles, badass speeches, maybe a bit of romance and more than a bit of angst) and it took all my strength not to open Harrow the Ninth straight after finishing Gideon.

The wolrdbuilding is confusing at first but the confusion is a feature not a bug and quickly I was shrugging with Gideon every time a necromancer said something that made sense for them only. But what we get to see is original and full of details. I loved that in this universe bone magic is the norm instead of being Bad Guy MagicTM as is often is in fantasy.

Gideon is such a good character, funny, quick witted, horny as hell. Harrow too is endearing in her very very different way, mainly to me because we see her through Gideon's eye as the cavalier warms up to her necromancer (enemies to lover done right!) Her duo with Harrow is my second favorite only because nothing will ever top CamPal in my heart.

No need to say I fell hard for that saga and had since read the two following books, I'll come back to them in due time.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

In this dystopic future of America, the firefighters don't extinguish fires anymore: they start them, especially when it comes to burning books. Guy Montag is one of them and never doubted the institution until ome day, during an intervention he meets a woman hiding books and "accidentally" steals one. From there starts a chain of events in which Montag will question what he really does, but it's dangerous game.

Having been to school in France mean I haven't read a lot of american classics and I wanted to remedy this in 2024. I'll be honest my choice fell on this one specifically because of one MDZS fanfiction which is peperred with quotes from Fahrenheit 451 among others, so Bradbury it is!

This is fascinating to see both how far and how close science fiction and dystopic novels can fall to reality:

Books are not banned at a global level but book banning in the US is a frightening reality, expecially book by authors of color or lgbtq+ authors or anything that is a bit too critical of the government. I think Fahrenheit 451 is actually on the US banned book list which could be hilarious if it wasn't so sad.

And turning an institution that should be dedicated to public service in a tool for the government to maintain status quo, completely reversing its original purpose if necessary sounds rather familiar...

Rooms with full screen walls are not here but it hits really close to Virtual Reality and ever bigger flatscreen that we have today, virtual meetings too, especially since Covid. Could it escalate to everyone staying home and communicating with frieds and family exclusively through screens? Maybe! I don't know!

And police robot dog are very much here, although they can't euthanize people (yet).

It is also unsettling to compare it with the decline of literacy and critical thinking skills in both adults and school level children. Also maybe of our memory capacity: the omnipresence of video as a news and information format and devices that can remind us of everything everywhere all the time means we rarely have to remember anything by heart today, no phone numbers, adresses, schedules, let alone entire books! If tomorrow it was all we could do to preserve knowledge would we be able to learn it by heart? I had to learn one every weeks in primary school, do kids still do this today?

Doesn't sounds like it from this review but I really enjoyed this book! Montag is deeply interesting and I was really hoping he escapes both the system and the manhunt. It's one of those book that never ages.

La cicatrice by Bruce Lowery

Jeff, 13, and his family just moved in a new place. Jeff would like nothing more but to make friends and blend in but he has a scar "a small cleft lip" which makes him a laughing-stock. By trying to blend in and swallowing up the pain Jeff slowly becomes sadder and more withdrawn, suffering and making those he loves suffer in turn.

Fun fact : Bruce Lowery is American but he writes in French! Yes I needed to put a fun fact here because that summary is bleak and so is the book.

I remember reading La cicatrice (the Scar in french) when I was around 7 or 8 and really liking it (there is one scene in a church which stayed with me even as a teen and I pretty much copied it in a story I wrote at 15). In the years since I had forgotten how sad it was. It wasn't a really fun rereading but it still shook me so that's how good the book is.

Jeff is so 13 year old it physically hurt : the awkwardness, the need to blend in, the pain of not getting the jokes or not being picked up for games, the secrecy with his parents, the closeness with his little brother Bobby. You want to appear bigger than you are and not play with your 7 year old brother, even though you love him so much, because that's for babies. But at the same time you want your mother to hug you and tell you that everything will be alright so hard!

And he does. Everything. Wrong. Or so it seems to 25-year-old-me gritting my teeth through the second hand embarrassment and saying "no Jeff please don't do that" every 5 pages. Everything he does is stupid-kid-who-wants-to-have-friends-so-bad stuff but it's also some stuff I remember doing when I too was the lonely kid trying to make friends. It just turned out very very bad for him.

I still recommend it (I'm not sure if an English translation is available somewhere) with TW for school bullying and child death. It left its mark on me when I was young and still today it hits close to home. Just be warned that's it's a sad story.

Us by Sara Soler

Us is a comic book memoir which tells the love story of Diana and Sara as well as the story of Diana's transition and their exploration of both their sexual orientation.

A teeny tiny bit of levity and a change in color palette! I love the use of blue and pink almost exclusively in this book.

Well, not all of this memoir is levity but this is a really heartwarming story and I really loved it.

It is both funny, tender, hard also sometimes because there are transphobic and biphobic jerks everywhere. Nonetheless as a trans person it is so nice to have someone sharing her story and telling people that it exists, it's possible and if you want it, it can be yours too.

It's also interesting to see how the dynamic shift in the couple with all the changes a trans coming out brings. There's enough story of couple breaking up after a coming out as it is, it's important to see that some people will change for you too.

I admit I haven't read many trans memoir so I have very few reference to compare it with but go and read it, all trans voices matter and it's always nice to have a hopeful queer story at the ready!

[readychilledwine]

Incoming extra long post 💜

Pushing something a little different today-

Let's talk banned and challenged books

Warnings- this post is going to mention racial and gender issues, violence, and use some foul language. I do not graphically discuss anything, but I want that warning out there right away.

I've gone through 5 different banned/challenged books lists, and I wanted to share with you my favorite books on these lists and why I think everyone should read them.

I want to start with WHO creates the banned book lists and what it is. The banned or challenged book list is a list of books that are not allowed within a school district, and sometimes, when pushed hard enough, public libraries. It is meant to limit access to materials deemed "explicit in nature." It's not made by the government. It's parents and average people create these lists and typically threaten schools if they teach from them or offer these books to kids in libraries. I fully believe and support parents having the right to ease their kids into adult topics, but challenging your kid is the point of school.

I did notice there's common themes in the books on these lists

Race and race theory is discussed in the books

Mental health is discussed in the books

Body autonomy is discussed

The women's rights movement, LGBTQ+ movement, BLM, or any other minority movement it discussed

The book is critical of the government or religion

The book discusses war and the toll it plays

Slavery is ACTUALLY discussed

The book contains sexual content (consensual or nonconsensual)

The book questions society norms

Magic (Yes. Magic)

This list is updated almost weekly in some school districts, and 99% of the time, it is not to remove a book. It is to add one.

A few of these I won't discuss in as much detail in fear I will risk a community guidelines report, but I wanted to discuss some of them and why I love them.

Always keep in mind that you alone are responsible for your reading intake, and check your triggers on all the books mentioned. I will be posting my personal feelings on which age I feel the books are appropriate for as well. I also have not read a few of these in a bit, so hopefully, I have everything as accurate as possible!

If the ✨�� emoji is by the book, it's one of my personal favorites. Like, I may have multiple covers and editions favorite, or it is a book I frequently think about, or it holds a special place in my heart. Without further ado, I present to you Elizabeth's 21 favorite banned books in no particular order:

Maus by Art Spiegelman - banned for discussions of violence, torture, and death- This is a comic book/graphic novel series based on the author's father, who was a Polish Jew and is a survivor of the Holocaust. It is gut-wrenching. It is disgusting. It is heartbreaking. I do not recommend it for anyone under 16, but I personally think it's okay to be uncomfortable and learn from the past.

✨️Animal Farm by George Orwell - banned for open criticism of the government - I LOVE Animal Farm. Animal Farm is based on the Russian government/monarchy being overthrown (which is why it surprises me that it is banned in so many districts in the US.) In summary, animals over throw their human masters and create a society of their own. It is meant to challenge and discuss the fact that no matter how small a person is, the revolutionary mindset is a powerful one. I highly recommend Animal Farm to 16+.

✨️Beloved by Toni Morrison (get used to her name. You'll see it one more time. I could make a post solely on her.) -banned for violence, SA, realisitic depictions of segregation and slavery - Beloved is about the treatment of black women in the south during and after slavery, and how things circled for them. This book has haunted me since I read it at 15. I'm 27 now. Toni is a superb writer who truly pulls at your heart with her stories. I do not feel this book should be banned. What happened in the United States needs to be discussed openly to work on the racial divide. Please consider reading this if you haven't, and if you have siblings 16+, let them read it as well and have an open discussion with them on how it made them feel. This is one I also recommend checking triggers for.

Burned by Ellen Hopkins (you'll see this name several times, too. I'm shocked her name isn't plastered as the first thing on every list honestly) - banned for questioning religion and parental figures - I also love Ellen Hopkins. I have paid to listen to her lecture several times. I love the way she writes. I love her willingness to challenge society. I love her openly discussing hard topics. This book is one of those topics. It is about a young group of kids sent to what my brain thinks is a religious reformation camp in Nevada. They are supposed to be finding salvation and redemption in Christ, but instead find love and acceptance in each other. There's a few heavy topics (the whole book is heavy. Her books, in general, can be heavy). I'd recommend it to anyone 14+.

Call of the Wild by Jack London - if you're my age and grew up in the American School system, take all the time you need to process the fact that this book is on all 5 of the lists I looked at- banned for animal cruelty and violence - this was required reading when I was in school. I was 12. It is focused on the Klondike Gold Rush, and arguments could be made that it is more based on the treatment of animals at that time. I do not feel I should have been exposed to this at the tender age of 12, but I tend to carry more sympathy towards animals than I do people. I feel safe saying 15+ with discussions being had regularly.

✨️ Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury - banned for challenging the government and violence - I have chills as I am getting ready to write about this book, tears are welling up, this is my coming of age novel. It is one of the books I read by choice in high school that actually began my question everything and look at all angles mindset. I can not recommend this book enough. It is about book and media censorship and a dystopia based society where common practice is to burn books, a real thing that has happened in so many countries, on government orders in order to keep the general population conformed and uneducated. It discusses the consequences of that on society and humanity, it discusses the dangers of rebellion against that mind set, and I could not put it down. 15+. Please please please read this book if you never have. Especially as an adult who can recognize the behaviors discussed in the book and how it parallels modern society

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernst Hemmingway - banned for discussions of war - this book graphically discusses the consequences of war. I am not overly comfortable getting too far into it. I will say, this one will shatter you if you are an immeserive reader who gets so into a book it becomes your surroundings and reality instead of just a pleasure reader. Please read with caution. 17+

Lord of the Flies by William Golding - banned for violence and language (I personally think there's more reasons and those two are the scapegoats) - again, if you are my age, take the time to process your shock. This book centers around children who survive a plane crash on an island and are forced to create their own society and government, and it quickly goes to hell in a hand basket. Everything from sex, to racism, to discrimination against disabilities (does it sound familiar yet) is discussed and challenged by the groups formed in this book. 15+ with supportive discussions

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck - another one for people my age to go "wait what" to - banned for "depressing themes" and "antibusiness" - this book discusses the tragic lives of two migrant works and the conditions they were forced to endure. It's main lesson is about humanity and compassion. This is a really educational book that I feel should be in classrooms. 14+

Tricks by Ellen Hopkins - banned for SA and sexual nature - this one I would not recommend to anyone under 17. It is about teens trapped in sex work. Please check your own triggers before reading this.

✨️The Crank Triology by Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Glass, and Fallout) - banned for open discussion of drug use and addiction - these novels are actually based on the life of the author's daughter and her downwards spiral into m3th addiction. They are heartbreaking (fallout will hit you HARD if you have friends who are the kids of an addict or you are a child of a parent who is an addict). They were the first books I read by her, and I am sad to say I live in a community where they were banned hard enough that it passed to all three school districts and the public library. 16+ and please check triggers

Hold your breath, my loves. ✨️A Court Of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas -banned for sexual content, violence (domestic and situational), and ✨️magic use✨️ - if someone can explain to me why this is the only book from this series I've found on a banned/challenged list and why NONE of the Throne of Glass books are on them, I'm all ears. Do I think your 13 year old should be reading this? F no. A 16 year old, though? Yes. Let them have that Rhys Crease in those paperbacks. I'd rather my kid read smut than watch it. Also, kudos and congrats to SJM for being a banned author in 12 school districts, thus making her one of the top bans for the 2022-2024 school years. There's some great authors and novels on this list. It was pretty cool to get to include her.

✨️The Bluest Eyes by Toni Morrison - banned for race theory, racism, abuse - oof. This one is hard. Be ready to cry if you read it. It takes place after the Great Depression in the US and is mainly about a young black girl. It centers a created inferiority complex she developed because, due to societal norms regarding beauty, She does not see beauty in herself and her skin. Definitely 14+. Definitely should be read in classrooms as it is one of the most powerful books I've read that centered on black women and their voices that need to be heard.

✨️ Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur - banned for sexuality and representing the feminist movement - this one is quite frankly insulting. This is a poetry novella about healing and finding power inside of yourself as a female and finding your self-worth. It's banned in 10 districts, making it part of the top 10 bans. I might actually cry over this one being banned. My daughter will read it 14, and we're going to discuss it. I think it is that worthy and powerful. I will leave you with my favorite quote from this one "I am not a hotel room. I am home. I am not the whiskey you want. I am the water you need. Don't come here with expectations and try to make a vacation out of me."

✨️ The Catcher in The Rye by JD Salinger - banned for teen rebellion - this is the first book I gave to my younger brother that I thought would resonate with him, he still has that torn up, creased, and notated copy that was passed from my mother to our big brother, then to me, and now to him. He told our parents once he's pretty sure it saved his life. This book centers around 16 year old Holden after he is expelled from school. He begins to challenge adults and societal norms regarding children. It critiques a superficial society and brings to light the consequences of some choices we make. Teens can relate to this book. My siblings and I all did. This book has sat on a pretty much national ban list for far too long. It needs to be brought into classrooms, especially classrooms in schools with behaviorally challenged teens who've never found a book that speaks to their soul and feelings. 16+ with guidance and open discussion.

✨️I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing by Maya Angelou - banned for "bitterness and hatred toward white people" in the majority of the state Texas - break my heart harder, Maya. This is the only autobiography on I have on my tops list at the moment. It focuses on young Maya Angelou and the discrimination and racism she faced. There is so much symbolism and history to dive into with this book. Have tissues ready if you read this. 16+

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - banned for open discussion of war and violence - another oof. This is another book I handed to my little brother and said, "Read this and get back to me." It was not one of my personal favorites until he sat me down and told me how the book made him feel. I genuinely wish I could have him typing this one out, but he's off doing his adventures and seeing the world. It is a beautiful coming of age novel set in the Middle East during the invasion of Soviet Russia to the United States and the downfall of the Taliban. It centers around the importance of paternal figures, friendship, and key relationships. 15+ there is a SA scene that is rarely mentioned on the banned books list so keep that in mind.

✨️The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - banned for discussions of childhood SA, pedophilia, and murder - one of my top 10 favorite books of all time. If you've watched the movie, please read the book. It is about a family struggling after their daughter is SA'd and killed by a serial predator, and it is told from the daughter's perspective in the afterlife and from the eyes of her family. You will go on a roller-coaster of emotions. Anger, sadness, joy. I really do love this book. I have a hardcopy for display purposes, and a paperback with a separate note book filled with notes, quotes, etc. 16+ just due to the heavy nature of it, but for a mature reader and personality 14+

✨️I want to scream from the rooftops on how bullshit this one is. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee - banned for open discussion of segregation, racism, violence, and "general hatred towards white people - this book should be required reading. This book openly discusses consequences of false accusations based on race, it discusses the mistreatment of minorities, and it discusses a white superiority complex. It needs to be read and discussed, and I will die on that hill. 14+

This one also makes me want to scream✨️The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - banned for violence, alcohol promotion, anti business beliefs- this book is a classic and it brings to question a lot regarding income levels, old and new money, and financial segregation. It has beautiful symbolism that you have to be paying attention to catch, and is so much more than a Leonardo Dicaprio movie. 14+

It is with a heavy sigh and heart I introduce the next author: ✨️JRR Tolkien✨️ if I would have just listed his books, it'd be this whole list - banned for violence and ✨️magic use✨️ - these novels and short stories are the back bone of the modern day fantasy writer and have even created countless table top RP games. The fact that so many Middle Earth based novels are banned is almost a stab in the back to the idea that schools are supposed to push and celebrate growth, individuality, and knowledge. I have the Lord of the Rings and the books that prequel it on a pedestal. They are my comfort novels and go tos when I'm feeling down and truly want to lose myself into a well-done and built world. I recommend them to anyone who already loves Fantasy or wants to get into fantasy 15+

EDITED TO ADD ✨️Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut - there's a lot of reasons this book is now banned, and I was just informed by my best friend she saw it had hit an official list - If you want science fiction mixed with anti war look no further. This book addresses a very deadly and tragic bombing in ww2 using a narrative from a character who is "stuck there" over and over again. Please really check triggers for this one. It's easily another 16+ book.

Theres a few books I came across on these lists I haven't read yet, but currently have in my cart to purchase. Do any of you have a favorite banned book? Are you interested in any of these books? If you are and have questions, please shoot me a message or comment. I'm always happy to discuss banned books. They're my favorites. 💜

[tomorrowusa]

The "secret shelf" of banned books at a Texas high school. Texas is like a communist country where citizens need to find covert ways to read books which the state doesn't want them to see.

In the far, far suburbs of Houston, Texas, three teenagers are talking at a coffee shop about a clandestine bookshelf in their public school classroom. It's filled with books that have been challenged or banned. "Some of the books that I've read are books like Hood Feminism, The Poet X, Gabi, A Girl in Pieces," says one of the girls. She's a 17-year-old senior with round glasses and long braids. The books, she says, sparked her feminist consciousness. "I just see, especially in my community, a lot of women being talked down upon and those books [were] really nice to read." These students live in a state that has banned more books than nearly any other, according to PEN America. The Texas State Board of Education passed a policy in late 2023 prohibiting what it calls "sexually explicit, pervasively vulgar or educationally unsuitable books in public schools." Over the past two years, Texas teachers have lost jobs or been pressured to resign after making challenged books available to students. The teacher who created this bookshelf could become a target for far right-wing groups. That's why NPR is not naming her, nor her students.

Yeah, gotta watch out for Texas brownshirts in cowboy hats who yell and threaten people at school board meetings.

"We don't want to jeopardize our teacher in any way, or the bookshelf," another teenager explains. Until recently, he says, he was not naturally inclined toward reading. But the secret bookshelf opened a world of characters and situations he immediately related to. "Just to see Latinos, like LGBTQ," he says. "That's not something you really see in our community, or it's not very well represented at all." The secret bookshelf began in late 2021, when then-state Rep. Matt Krause sent public schools a list of 850 books he wanted banned from schools. They might, he said, "make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex." That made this teacher furious. "The books that make you uncomfortable are the books that make you think," she told NPR. "Isn't that what school is supposed to do? It's supposed to make you think?" She swung into action, calling friends to support a bookshelf that would include all of the books Krause wanted banned. Then she enlisted a student to put it together. "I went through the list and found the ones that I thought were cool," he recalled to NPR over a London Fog latte. "And then she gave me her [credit] card and I bought them. It was a lot of gay books, I remember that."

That same student came out as trans to his family while in high school. "I wouldn't call them supportive, so I had to do a lot of sneaking around," he said quietly. Now 19, he's graduated and works as a host in a restaurant while deciding on his next move. "Having these books, having these stories out there meant a lot to me, because I felt seen," he said. Especially meaningful, he added, during a fraught time when Texas lawmakers banned transition-related care for teenagers. "Because of the way the laws are going for trans people especially," he said, "it could be assumed that [my teacher is] grooming kids. And that would be terrible because that's not what she's doing at all."

Kudos to the teacher and students who are maintaining this mini-library!

Because most of the HS seniors will be turning 18 this year, I hope the secret shelf adds information on voter registration. A minimum of 99% of the book banners are Republicans. And the only way to get rid of Republicans is to vote Democratic. Contrast Republican Texas with Democratic Illinois which has banned book banning.

Law prohibiting book bans in Illinois now in effect

Illinois is known as the Land of Lincoln. Abe Lincoln had less than two years of formal education but he became a voracious reader. He would be shocked and disappointed that his old party has degenerated into a mob of book banners and book burners.

[bythenineshards]

I find it so asinine when the Fandom for Maas gets all in a tizzy when another school bans Acotar from their libraries. They call it censorship and get all angry. It's a middle school or high school. Get over it. It's not censorship. Well it is... but not in the way you mean. Smut books don't belong in school libraries for underage children. The school has to make sure the selection of books it has is appropriate for the students. In the case of Acotar and CC, those books were always meant for adults. Maas never wrote either for YA and her publisher should've doctored the books if they were going to be sold to children. They have no place in a library for children. If this was a case where a public library is being forced to ban the books because some religious organizations are hassling them because it offends their fragile senses then no. That's not okay. But a library for children not stocking smut books?

Small side note in case anyone is new to my blog. I am all for authors writing what they want. But I also see signing a contract as being a binding thing. If you decide to go the Trad Publishing route and you pitch an NA book and they say no, make it YA. That is your job. She should've edited the books at present and going forward with the series. Also, her publisher should've made sure that each book was appropriate for the demographic it was being sold to. Plain and simple.

ToG is another story that falls in the idea that each book needs to be appropriate for the demographic. The first two books are fine. It's after Rowan becomes a love interest that she stopped writing YA and began to shove NA in the series. This shouldn't have happened. There's quite a few angry reviews for the ToG audiobooks because of this shift.

I don't know why this is such a huge concept for them to grasp. I wouldn't go into my sister's school library (she's in High School) and get mad that I can't find Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians or Beyond the Highland Mist by Karen Marie Moning. They aren't for children.

I don't give a shit if you found fanfic when you were that age blah blah blah. Your school didn't offer it among the selection in the library. You went out looking for it. Parents will rail against the school and the school could get in trouble if inappropriate material is found.

Fun fact, while I was in high school, we did Little Shop of Horrors. We were flooded with emails from angry parents over two swear words. If I recall, the words were "Titty" and "Shit". When I was senior, we joked that we wanted to do "Repo! The Genetic Opera" or "Rocky Horror Picture Show". The theater director just looked at us with dead eyes and said no. She was almost fired over Titties and Shit.

My real question is, why do you want children to read these books?

[momkat]

If you are in the USA today, go VOTE!!!

Every single one of Trump's racist, homophobic, hate-filled, crazy crusaders will be at the polls today voting for their personal Hitler. We need to MASSIVELY outvote them to prevent all the after-election shenanigans they will be using to throw out your vote.

For anyone still listening to the propaganda that Harris is anti-Gaza (when she wants a ceasefire, etc.) Trump will bomb Gaza and put in condos. He has stated outright that he will order arrests of people in the US that are demonstrating in support of Palestine.

And while you're there, you need to vote for your local elections. Without local support, national change fails. It isn't only the presidential candidates that can change our future.

Vote LOCAL!

School Board – Your local School Board is responsible for:

Content of your sex education including gay sex & safety, and all the sexual variants that real people have.

whether gay marriage can be talked about in school

whether a child gets called their chosen name vs their dead name in class.

all policies about trans kids, including anti-bullying policies

whether or not your school has to tell parents that you are identifying as queer. (If a kid is not telling their parents that they are some form of alt/queer/non-b THERE IS A REASON FOR IT. Schools telling these parents can result in abuse, shaming, being kicked out of the house, being 'beaten straight' etc.

Access to gender affirming care in the clinic or counselor's office

Book bans – school book bans are often used as a step/justification for book bans at the local library.

The content of your history class. Whitewashing slavery. Whitewashing Nazi Germany. Whitewashing colonialism.

And much, much more. In addition, School Boards are often a stepping stone to larger offices. The progression is: School Board, City/County board, State office, National office. If you want state and national officials to support you, you have to grow them at the LOCAL LEVEL!!!

City/County Government:

How much money schools get. (And therefore can effect/dictate policies.)

How much money cops get. (And therefore can effect/dictate policies.)

How much money public services (firemen, local health services, libraries etc) get.

Local government regulations & laws (i.e. being arrested for 'indecency' because you are in drag.)

And again, don't forget that these are the 'feeder' offices that lead to government offices. These people go on to state offices!!

Your STATE Legislature is responsible for:

All abortion policies. Since Roe v. Wade has been tossed there is no federal prevention against any abortion policies.

All sexual health policies. From birth control to sex changes. Their laws can range from sensible to inhumane.

All CIVIL RIGHTS policies that are not explicitly guarded and monitored by the federal government are left up to the states. Take a look at Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, Arizona, etc. if you want examples.

And, of course, they can dictate policies to smaller municipalities (see City/County).

The most likely State office that leads to the presidency is Governor of a state. If you want better Presidents, you need better Governors!

Gerrymandering:

“But...but, but... I am gerrymandered so it doesn't make a difference if I vote!!” It DOES! If you are in a gerrymandered district and the crazy right wing crusader wins with a landslide because you DID NOT VOTE, then their party will keep putting in crazy right wing crusaders! If the vote is closer, EVEN IF YOU LOSE, their party is more likely to put in a more centrist candidate because they don't want to risk losing the seat. In addition, voting records are used to determine 1) the NEXT time areas are redistricted and 2) To show severe gerrymandering to courts to OVERTURN gerrymandered districts and force a redistricting. Right now there are people who are wining court case after court case to force redistricting of gerrymandered states and they are using voting data to do so!!! VOTE!!!

Please repost this. Please blaze this. Please pass it on. PLEASE VOTE!

[foreverlogical]

TAKE THIS IN:

Just in time for Banned Books Week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law banning book bans under certain circumstances. But that’s not going to stop the very dedicated forces of censorship, one of whom The Washington Post profiled this week.

Last spring, a Post analysis found that 11 people in the entire United States account for 60% of the formal requests filed to remove specific books from schools. Jennifer Petersen is one of them. She’s a Virginia woman who has, over the past year, challenged 71 books in the Spotsylvania County Public Schools.

All of Petersen’s challenges are based on sexual content, which she painstakingly documents in books she reads for the purposes of getting them banned. She follows lists of books facing banning efforts, reads them, virtually always concludes they are offensive—those 71 books she’s challenged are out of 73 total she’s read for this purpose—and goes to the school board to complain. Since the Spotsylvania school board made news in 2021 when two members called for book-burning, she has a sympathetic audience.

The Post reports:

Most of all, she just doesn’t understand why schools need to stock books with graphic sex scenes, which she defines as anything beyond the “fade-to-black” moment in movies. She never found any such scenes in her school books growing up. She doesn’t think steamy or violent sex acts are educational. She has always kept her children from reading books with material like that.

She kept her children from reading books with material like that—and now she’s dedicated to keeping everyone else’s children from having access as well. Petersen has an astonishing level of commitment to this project, specifically flagging 1,335 pages in those 71 books as problematic and submitting 434 pages of objections to the books. A team of 11 librarians has been working extra hours without pay to respond to Petersen’s challenges.

That level of individual dedication dovetails with the censorship campaigns of high-profile right-wing figures like Christopher Rufo and Corey DeAngelis, who use their considerable social media followings to defend incidents of book-banning and spread the word about the latest targets. In a different political environment, someone like Petersen showing up month after month with more demands for books to be banned would be seen as the problem and shut down. In the United States in 2023, with political leaders like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis imposing book bans from the top down, the people emboldened to push such efforts at the local level have more leverage.

In California, effective immediately after its signing:

AB 1078 provides the Superintendent of Public Instruction the authority to buy textbooks for students in a school district, recoup costs, and assess a financial penalty if a school board willfully chooses to not provide sufficient standards-aligned instructional materials for students. The law also prohibits school boards from banning instructional materials or library books on the basis that they provide inclusive and diverse perspectives in compliance with state law.

That’s not a full prohibition on banning any book—some censors, like DeSantis, are upfront that they are banning books with LGBTQ+ content, for instance, but others hide behind claims that sexual content makes books “pornographic,” even when they come nowhere close to meeting the standards for pornography. Nonetheless, it’s a strong move from California.

Banned Books Week runs from Oct. 1 to Oct. 7.

Sign the petition: Stop book bans!

[hannahsliteraryhaven]

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee

by Dee Brown ★★★★☆

I feel as though the genocide of the Native Americans has been massively glossed over, in comparison to other mass genocides. Even this book was once banned in a US school because they didn't want to cause controversy! This gradual genocide began not too long after European settlers were originally welcomed and shown hospitality by the Native Americans when they first arrived on American soil.

I can't name a movie (other than the one made after this book, which I found only after I finished the book) that focuses exclusively on the experiences of the Native Americans. Every cowboy movie I've seen, the Native Americans are always a background nuisance; savages that will kill any white man they see. Brown gives you a much clearer picture of what happened, and why they behaved the way they did, often copying the atrocities committed against them by white soldiers, but that is, of course, wiped out in the white men's narrative. He shares how the whites created false narratives in order to gain support so that they could continue stealing land and sending the Native Americans to reservations.

This book is a good introduction to the main tribes and most notable chiefs during the period of 1860-1890, and what each tribe experienced. I found the book hard to read at times because there is a lot of information and names; quite a lot of names seemed thrown in and I felt like I was expected to know them from the get go, but over time, I got used to how Brown had laid out the chapters - each chapter is essentially a new tribe/massacre/fight and you have to accept that you might not remember all of the white army men's names and their positions, and that's okay because this is definitely a book to come back to, not least because of the many real photographs of the Chiefs and other notable Native Americans. It really helped to bring a face to the people you're reading about; a reminder that you're not reading fiction, but the lives of real people. I read this through my library but I'm tempted to buy my own copy in the future to look back on.

This book has encouraged me to learn even more about the true history of what these incredible people endured, and still endure. It blew me away when I learned that there are still Native American reservations and they experience horrendous poverty. What kind of a world do we live in? I hope for the day when the US government finally put their egos aside, accept their wrongdoings and give back to the Native Americans so that they can lead good lives in their own country. It took until 1978 for Native Americans just to be allowed to practice harmless ceremonies in public! I now see Mount Rushmore as nothing but a huge insult to Native Americans; calving 4 white men into their sacred mountains that they fought so hard to protect. I only recently learned that Native Americans were holding protests against it.

I hope that all of the Native American tribes still around today can continue to share their history, revel in their culture and be unapologetically proud of their heritage.