Riding the Bike with One Pedal.

Day: January 11, 2005

Paper Cuts

I realized several years ago, after giving myself a paper cut, that I had gotten old(er). Because instead of thinking, “DAMMIT! I’m NEVER doing that again!” – I found myself thinking, “MAN that sucks and the worst part of it all: it’s going to happen to me again someday.”

I’d like to think part of growing wiser is one’s acceptance of the inevitable. And today, it happened again (the manila folder paper cuts, seriously, are the WORST) and I did think DAMMIT. But I know, like so many other things in life, there’s another paper cut out there, just waiting, with my name on it.

wound UP!

And not with yarn. Apparently, the Blue Valley School District is on a mission to ban books. Books like “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”, by Maya Angelou, and “Song of Solomon”, by Toni Morrison. Now, I actually called The Buzz this morning because it got me so wound up. I didn’t get a chance to say much (and I didn’t get on the air), BUT, what I did say is this: Schools do not exist to legislate morality. That is the job of the parent. When parents step in and start telling schools to behave like parents, I go crazy. Of course schools should be safe. Schools are a public institution, open to everyone, regardless of class, religion or politics. I understand that these parents care, they care about their children, and they care about society, from their standpoint. But we are not talking about a school being able to furnish “Hustler” or “Playboy” to students. We are talking about literature that has stood the test of time! “Catcher in the Rye” for pete’s sake. I just keep thinking, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Because these students, in this school district, are not going to get subversive or sexual ideas about life from these books. They’ve already gotten that from MTV, Hollywood, and even The Buzz. Hell, Abercrombie & Fitch. And if you’ve raised your children “right”, then they’re not going to fall prey to “subversive literature”. Stop being AFRAID of books & be responsible, instead. Here’s a wacked-out concept: read one of these “subversive” books WITH your child, and discuss it. You might find out a lot more about your kid, and yourself.

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