Harper Lee’s immortal classic, To Kill a Mockingbird, was first published in 1960 to instant acclaim- despite her editors’ warnings that it probably wouldn’t sell all that well. In its first year of release it would garner rave reviews by The New Yorker and Time magazines, as well as...
Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, in summary judgment for Texas vs. Johnson, said, “If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.” Anyone is free...
If you grew up in the ’80s like me, many of you probably spent Saturday mornings watching the WWF and Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling. You knew every line of Hulk’s trademark theme song and sang along before he pummeled the latest WWF heel. Come on, sing it with...
Literature dealing with hot-button topics such as AIDS and child abuse are okay for classroom use- so long as those works have happy endings, at least according to the administrative board of the Fremont Unified School District in California. The board has approved other books with sensitive topics in...
One normally doesn’t find fast food to be synonymous with philosophy, or the source of creative inspiration, but a recent visit to a local Jimmy John’s sub shop was just that. The shop was decorated with signs scattered along the walls, positioned in just about every direction. Some were...
Over these many months this column has shed light on some very real current events around the world in which the freedom to read has been challenged by individuals, or groups, armed with torches lit by the flames of ignorance. This week offers updates on some of those stories....
In a whimsical, engaging way, the daily lives of all kinds of families are depicted, celebrating their differences and their similarities; and supporting acceptance of them all. The joyful art features both human and animal characters- such as pigs portraying both clean and dirty families. Some families include stepmoms,...
The Tennessee legislature recently passed a bill stating that teachers cannot encourage “gateway sexual activity,” as part of the state’s abstinence-based sexual education movement. Seizing the opportunity implied by the new law, officials in Sumner County last week banned John Green’s Young Adult novel “Looking for Alaska” from the...
Hello and a Blessed Beltaine to everyone! Well, here it is, the first day of a new month, and that means another issue of pagan Pages magazine and your favorite paranormal research column, Across the Great Divide, by R. Wolf Baldassarro! What’s on tap for this month? Last time...
For the third time in recent weeks the Banned Books Awareness series once again focuses on some rather disturbing trends from Canada. Incidents of censorship by the border patrol, negative reactions to fiction based on historical documents, and now it seems Dr. Seuss has been branded too political for the classroom....