Censorship
September 27, 2009
- It's Banned Book Week!!! *does anti-censorship dance* Here are some links to get you started.The Banned Book Week website A list of authors who have been censored, banned or challenged, including Anne Frank, J.D. Salinger, Maya Angelou and William Shakespeare. Another list of censored books put together by YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association)This one includes A Wrinkle in ...
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September 26, 2009
- Happy Banned Book Week. My favorite notorious novel is Brave New World. It's a little annoying how the phrase "brave new world" is thrown around these days. When I taught high school in the southwest the book was considered a classic. When I taught high school in California it was considered an old book by a dead white male (the words of my department head) and was not even on ...
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September 22, 2009
- (Yes, I know this is a long post. With no pictures. It's important. Please read through to the end. And then pass it on.)While I was out of town last week, I received word of three attempts to remove two of my books from high school classrooms, Twisted and Speak.The challenge I have the least information on is apparently taking place at Downingtown West High School in Downingtown, PA. Twisted is ...
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August 17, 2009
- I'm starting to believe all the adverse comments about Canadian health care: the story below, from the Toronto Star, is what happens when one must wait six months to see a mental health expert...Complaint prompts school to kill 'Mockingbird' The classic literary novel To Kill ...
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August 11, 2009
- I’m on vacation/in post-TED Global recovery this August. Taking social networking easy as well, I posted a chocolate cake recipe on Facebook. You can whip up the quickie soufflé-like treat in a coffee mug with the help of a microwave.The indulgent little formula emailed by my Sacramento sister comes from a world I haven’t lived in for years. Microwave cooking. White sugar and vegetable oil. ...
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August 9, 2009
- Have you ever had one of your books banned?Me neither. But, every year, usually late in September, an organization known as the ALA (I'll guess it means the American Libary Association) observes "Banned Books Week." I was invited to take part this year in San Francisco, at the Main Library on October 1st. I could read from a banned book, or a banned anything: book, short story, ...
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July 30, 2009
- When I published my first book,''The Sunday of Things Real''(poetry), in 1984, Junimea Publishing House, Iasi, my country Romania had a totalitarian regime, ruled by the well-known dictator Ceausescu.I was a young intelectual and I tried with all my efforts to remain free at least by my selection of the books I read (I always loved the anglo-saxon authors) and sure by my writing. Between ...
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June 19, 2009
- Dear Reader, Responses to my most recent post have me feeling like a whiner, even though my intention was to talk about how reading can inspire a writer. Lest I be accused of ingratitude, let me pass along the remarkable, fabulous highlights of my life since the controversy over THE JEWEL OF MEDINA catapulted me to fame, or infamy, depending on your point of view. In August, the story of my ...
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June 15, 2009
- While I was cruising on the Amazon website, I checked to see if my book has a pre-publication listing: it does. I had to suppress a shiver of excitement when I called up the page and saw the cover pictured (I love the design!) along with all of the other bells and whistles that draw viewers to a book's listing. After basking in the glow for a moment, I scrolled down the page to see what else ...
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June 9, 2009
- Yesterday, instead of working on the new novel, I spent a great deal of time reading the comments on my friend Michael Rowe's Huffington Post piece regarding the Sacramento, California radio jocks (Rob Williams and Arnie States of KRXQ's Rob, Arnie & Dawn in the Morning) who recently thought it would be entertaining to discuss the issue of transgendered people by referring to them as ...
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