This is a special level of awesomeness.
Dec062015
Society
Dec062015
Khalifa Declares 2016 ‘Reading Year’
If you asked me what was my favorite quotable line from his speech I would have to say it was the entire speech! http://www.emirates247.com/news/government/khalifa-declares-2016-reading-year-2015-12-05-1.612857
May312015
Banned Books Awareness: Crossing the Free Speech Line
Spend enough time online and you’ll discover that trolls lurk outside of fairy tales and Lower Michigan. There comes a time, though, when some of these internet trolls don’t just cross the line of appropriateness or maturity, they jump it waving a middle finger at the world. For anyone...
May252015
Banned Books Awareness: “Index Librorum Prohibitorum”
The Angelica Library, in Rome, is a public library located next to the church of Sant’Agostino. Among its numerous shelves of original and fragile manuscripts dating back centuries exists a very important collection that the Catholic Church hid from public view since 1559- the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, or List...
Jan252015
Banned Books Awareness: “The Working Poor”
Banned Books Week, which coincides with the new school year each autumn, is usually a time when scholars, book lovers, and legal analysts discuss how censorship impacts society and education. One would expect those in charge of our schools to hold all aspects of education- especially books- most dear....
Jan182015
Banned Books Awareness: “Harriet the Spy”
In 1960s America there weren’t many mysteries solved by powerful female detectives. The choice was between Nancy Drew (who was often overshadowed by the Hardy Boys) and Harriet M. Welsch, better known as Harriet the Spy. Looking back, those stories were read with childhood fascination and an attention span...
Nov092014
Banned Books Awareness: “Naked Lunch”
Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs, was originally published in 1959 and is included in Time magazine’s “100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005”. Burroughs stated that the chapters, or “routines” as he calls them- are a collection of loosely-connected vignettes and intended to be read in any...
Oct052014
Banned Books Awareness: “Their Eyes Were Watching God”
Written in 1937 by Zora Neale Hurston, “Their Eyes Were Watching God” tells the story of Janie Crawford, a 16-year-old whose grandmother decides to marry her off to a well-respected man in the community. Fellow censored author, Alice Walker, had this to say about the book: “There is no...
Sep252014
Celebrating Freedom: Banned Books Week 2014
I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the power of Banned Books Week than to share something wonderful and deeply touching. In the last several months leading up to this year’s Banned Books Week I have been humbled and honored to read and share comments and letters...
Sep042014
Lighting a Fire One Match at a Time
September marks a return to regular classes here in the United States. With the cultural focus on all things scholastic, it is also the time of year when our freedom to read is celebrated by the America Library Association’s Banned Books Week, which will be September 21-27, 2014. Libraries,...