Don’t Ban Books

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I rarely write about “local” events (although “local” blogs are my favorite), but circumstances provoke me tonight. According to Jacksonville’s own Citadel of Truth, First Coast News, Eddie de Oliveira’s novel Lucky is under review by Duval County Public Schools (my Esteemed Employer, I add in the interest of full disclosure). A parent has complained that the book contains “questionable” material and should be banned from the school library. Aparently even in the late oughties the theme of a sexually-confused teenager is “questionable.” According to the (short) report, the parent was particularly offended by “gay themes” and the words “swinger’s party.” The story was barely a blip in the background as the wife and I prepared fresh pesto, so I didn’t catch what particular school said parent’s spawn attends [ed. note–I found out Tuesday morning that the school is none other than LaVilla School of the Arts (emphasis mine)–Jiminy Cricket, what’s up when it’s the art school parents attacking books!] but even if it is an elementary school (which it probably isn’t, not that that matters), banning books from our public school system is regressive at best, and ultimately an abasement of knowledge and intellect. In the past, DCPS has restricted and/or banned The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men and at least a dozen more books (I haven’t been able to locate a complete list as of now). Of course, every year many books are challenged (the Harry Potter series springs immediately to mind, and Judy Blume has always caused problems for uptight parents who don’t want to talk honestly with their kids) and as an English teacher I’ve dealt with this in my own classroom, from both parents and administration (an administrator advised [i.e. told] me not to have my students read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; another time an administrator was shocked by the diction of Zora Neale Hurston’s classic Their Eyes Were Watching God). This particular mother’s concern is the “questionable” nature of the Lucky‘s themes which might cause readers to uhm, you know, question stuff. If super-mom doesn’t want her kid to read so-and-so, that’s fine with me (and what a great, attentive parent to be all up in the grill of said child’s reading material. Seriously. We (educationeers) really encourage reading with your kids. For real)–but why attempt to ban the book? Why can’t the rest of us make these decisions for ourselves? I could go and on, but I think that my readers don’t need convincing (if you need convincing that banning books is an anti-progress gesture indicative of a caveman mentality, email me at biblioklept.ed@gmail.com). Let’s not add to Jax’s reputation as a bastion of provincial attitudes (particularly in light of recent vagina-controversies): if necessary, we must fight for this book, and every other book’s, place on the library shelf.

For a list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books, go here.

Persepolis

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“It was funny to see how Marx and God looked like each other.”

Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis makes a nice introduction to the graphic novel autobiography for anyone who hasn’t read one before. Marjane’s memoir weaves the political turmoil of the Islamic Revolution with the everyday stuff of childhood experience. As the the repressive Islamic regime revokes liberal freedoms, Marjane’s folks (secular intellectuals, of course) smuggle Iron Maiden posters back from Turkey; young Marjane sneaks cigarettes and rock music to a backdrop of political assassinations and war with Iraq.

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Persepolis succeeds by engaging the reader in a personal experience of revolution and cultural alienation. It works as a history lesson and as a coming of age story. Readers who try something different (maybe suspend some prejudices?) will be rewarded with an enriched perspective on a political/cultural upheaval still effecting global politics today.

Word of the Week

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Gnoff

From the OED:

“Obs.

A churl, boor, lout.

c1386 CHAUCER Miller’s T. 2 A riche gnof, that gestes heeld to bord, And of his craft he was a Carpenter. 1566 DRANT Horace, Sat. I. i. Aib, The chubbyshe gnof that toyles and moyles and delueth in the downe. 1567 TURBERV. Epit., etc. 4 If Vulcan durst presume That was a Gnuffe to see..Dame Venus to assaile. 1575 A. NEVILLE De furor. Norf. 141 The cuntry gnooffes, Hob, Dick, & Hick, with clubs, and clouted shoon [so a1627 in Hayward Edw. VI, 76 (but spelt knuffes)]. 1581 J. STUDLEY Seneca’s Hercules {Oe}tæus 198 The covetous charle, the greedy gnoffe in deede..In plenty pines the wreatch. 1610 HEALEY St. Aug. Citie of God XIV. iv. 501 The Pagans wisdome and vertues were scorned of the ritch gnoffes [L. crassis diuitibus] that held shades for substances, and vertues for meere vanities.”

Famous gnoffs include:

—Falstaff

—Walter Sobchak

—The Thing

Make It So

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I promise to start writing about books again next week–but for now, I’ve got to share this: Patrick Stewart on Ricky Gervais’s Extras talking about the script he’s writing. I was literally on the floor laughing. (Caveat: My wife was neither on the floor with laughter, or laughing out loud; nor did she seem to think that I should be laughing at all, let alone on the floor).

Cookie Party

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The Sarah Silverman Program debuted on Comedy Central last night and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I like Silverman’s comedy, but I didn’t really think much of Jesus is Magic, her concert movie from a year or two ago–it felt stretched out, and her best bits, while still vicious and incisively stupid, felt somehow neutered and flat.

The Sarah Silverman Program is a big improvement. It’s a half-hour comedy based on the life of a fictional, orphaned Sarah Silverman, who is cared for by her younger sister. In the first episode Sarah goes nuts on cough syrup, inspiring a psychedelic spree reminiscent (and worthy of) Pee-wee’s Playhouse. In the mayhem that ensues, Sarah’s sister meets a police officer played by Jay Johnston (of Mr. Show fame); Sarah’s sis then blows off Cookie Party night to go on a date with said cop. Cookie Party was my favorite part of the show. It’s a contest show where people call in and vote for cookies. After Sarah’s sis skips their weekly standing date, Sarah gets into the cough syrup again; more mayhem.

There’s something in the tone and pacing of TSSP that’s a little bit deviant from the standard ironic tropes of satire; Sarah’s vision of a sitcom is a corroded mimesis of “hip,” “ironic” comedy–willfully stupid, infantile, scatological, zany, crushingly narcissistic, truly antisocial, coming off like an egotistical in-joke between Sarah and herself. Sarah’s songs, jokes, gestures, and non-jokes all add up to a truly bizarre, fun, and funny show.

A clip of the show (not last night’s, but all I could find on Youtube):

And here’s Sarah telling a famous joke in The Aristorcrats: 

Rorschach Cow

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“Rorshach Cow” by dpenguin. What do you see?

Early 2007

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If you come to this blog regularly, chances are you’re killing a few minutes from what may or may not be a dreary day. So sorry if Biblioklept hasn’t been posting regularly enough to satisfy your cubicle boredom. Early 2007 has been very busy around here, what with bathroom renovations (books, even Time-Life books, will not lay new tile or replumb your corroded pipes), a new school year, and a baby on the way. Between philosophical treatises in graduate school, AP essays to grade, and the self-induced Ontology 101 reading list (“Week 4” begins…uhm…later this week?), I’ve had little time to read anything, let alone get anything decent written.

So well and hence, before January is officially over, The Biblioklept will attempt an assessment of 2007 so far. With one-twelfth of the year already gone, where do we stand?

Books: Okay, I still haven’t made it through David Foster Wallace’s Oblivion, which was published waaaaay back in 2004.  Actually, in the interest of full disclosure, I’ve been attempting the same story repeatedly. My mistake is that I start reading right before I go to sleep–and then I go to sleep immediately. At this rate, I will probably finish anything published in 2007 in late 2011.

Magazines: TodayI got the February issue of The Believer. I still haven’t finished the Dec/Jan issue. A sorry state of affairs for someone who claims to love to read.

Movies: Why have you still not gone to see Children of Men? Go see it in the theater while you still have the chance. This weekend, if time permits, Pan’s Labyrinth. Has anyone seen this one yet?

Music: Lots of great stuff has dropped in 2007. Current favorites–Panda Bear’s Person Pitch, Bobby Conn’s King for a Day, Apostle of Hustle’s National Anthem of Nowhere, Menomena’s Friend or Foe. All of these are great listening and deserve more in-depth reviews, possibly at a later time. Also, Deerhoof’s Friend Opportunity dropped legal style.

TV: I must admit that I love the American Idol auditions (after the schadenfreude of watching losers have their illusions painfully revoked in front of millions, the show turns into pure drivel of course). It was also nice to see Jewel join the judges (do you remember when Jewel was like, alternative?)

Politics: My rage-fatigue has mellowed into a nice warm apathy. Does it matter that the Democrats are “in control”?  

Furniture: I regret passing up an ottoman offered by my uncle.

Wine: I still advocate boxed wines, screwtops will be all the rage in 07.

Pets: As of now, our cat is still alive.

Shining

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Last week we caught Children of Men at the lovely San Marco Theater. You should go see this movie posthaste. One of the best movies I’ve seen in a long, long time. Babies are special.

Before the movie, SMT ran a trailer for The Shining, their midnight movie that night. This trailer is brilliant–check it out!

Ontology 101

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1939

 

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Word of the Week

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Thaumaturge

From the OED:

“A worker of marvels or miracles; a wonder-worker.

1715 M. DAVIES Athen. Brit. I. 125 Petavius..attainted..Origen’s wonder-working Scholar Gregory the Thaumaturg, with Præarianisme. 1760 WESLEY Jrnl. 20 Dec., You throw out a hard word,..Thaumaturg. 1826 SOUTHEY Vind. Eccl. Angl. 479 The Thaumaturge..knelt before the Image to intercede for them. 1860 Sat. Rev. X. 269/2 The half-maudlin, half-cheating thaumaturg. 1881 Athenæum 12 Mar. 363/2 Pious mythologists have made out that she [St. Frideswide] was a thaumaturge of the first order.”

Famous thaumaturges (alternate orthographies: thaumaturgist, thaumaturgus) include:

— Aleister Crowley

— Anne Sullivan

— David Copperfield (the magician, not the book)

— Dr. Strange

— Albus Dumbledore

— Jesus Christ

Mythologies–Roland Barthes

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“Myth is a language”–Roland Barthes

Everyone should own a copy of Roland Barthes‘ Mythologies. Published over 50 years ago, the book seems more relevant than ever. Barthes wields his sense of ironic humor like a scalpel, dissecting the ideological abuse of the post-war spectacle society. In this collection of short essays, Barthes examines the ways in which societies create, use and mediate myths–particularly the way that the “elite,” monied crust of society create new myths–whole systems of myths, really–to control cultural perceptions of “reality.” Barthes uses the language and tools of linguistics in his meditations to examine the malleable space between the signifier and the signified.  Barthes analyzes a range of disparate topics: amateur wrestling, plastic, advertisements for milk and wine, the face of Greta Garbo, children’s toys, and modern film’s conception of the ancient Roman haircut are all considered in relation to how these “everyday” things support the dominant cultural/economic ideology. The methods put forth in  Mythologies are certainly a precursor to what we now call popular culture studies; Barthes is certainly one of the first writers I can think of to dissect mass-mediated, popular culture. And even though it was published half a century ago, Barthes’ keenly ironic style and short-essay format comes across as thoroughly contemporary.

In the final essay of the collection, “Myth Today,” Barthes warns us that the myths we uphold to protect our culture can ultimately destroy the culture. What are the contemporary myth-systems of the United States? What ideology do these myths uphold? Do these myths hold the potential to harm the culture of our great country?

Ontology 101

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Ways of Seeing

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In Ways of Seeing, John Berger riffs off of Walter Benjamin’s famous essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” calling into question how and why images are used and disseminated; in particular, Berger discusses capitalism, the female body, and “fine art.” The internet is clearly the next step in a series of progressions of how information is transmitted, and has been held up as a bastion of information democracy. The personal computer has revolutionized how we view, read, and create images and documents.

Look at the following images. What authority, if any, is present in each image? Who authors the picture? How do history, original context, and cultural paradigms play into how the viewer “reads” the image? What questions do these images provoke?

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Ontology 101: Ways of Seeing

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“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled.”

This quote from the cover/first page of John Berger’s Ways of Seeing addresses one of the problems that ontology seeks to solve. If you were an art major, art history major, or English major, chances are high that you’ve encountered this book before. Berger’s collection of essays–some are completely made of images–questions the way that we see–and consequently name–things (I’m happy with this oh-so vague term). I think that this book is an essential starting point in freeing up one’s ideological framework such that one can question why one values what one thinks one values. Berger’s work has seemingly unlimited applications, from gender studies to economics to linguistics, but I’m primarily interested in how Ways of Seeing–originally published in the early 70s to compliment a BBC series–can be read against a media that didn’t exist when the book was published, namely, the internet.

I suggest diving into Ways of Seeing in any order that strikes your fancy (or for extra fun, abandon order completely). Later in the week I’ll post a few specific questions for discussion, but for now, try to keep in mind the dramatic ways that media–and the ways that we interface with media–have changed since the book’s publication over 30 years ago.

Every Book Art Garfunkel Has Read over the Past 38 Years

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Because you demanded it! We’ve all been dying to know what Art Garfunkel’s been reading over the past 38 years: luckily, when he wasn’t busy starring in Nic Roeg films or walking across America, Art was thoughtful enough to record a list of every book he’s ever read. Link via the AVClub Blog, who always do such a great job digging up such treasure.

Ontology 101: Today’s Class is Cancelled

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Today’s class is cancelled. Celebrate!

Ontology 101: So What and Who Cares?

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Hopefully you’ve had time to sift through and absorb some of the primer. So and well so now you’re probably saying to yourself: “Okay sure, Aristotle, fabulous, Occam’s razor, I’m down, cogito ergo sum, fine, I get it, but so what?”

“So what?” and “Who cares?” are the most fundamental questions in any intellectual pursuit. Asking difficult questions doesn’t necessarily put food on the table or make us more attractive to the opposite sex or give us ten extra years of life.

So what do we gain when we ask: “What is?” and “What is it to exist?” and “What is real?”

Watch the following clip of Deepak Chopra on The Colbert Report. What is Chopra’s ontological position? What applications (political, social, cultural, etc) might his position entail?