I plan to go to a school board meeting this coming year, to both listen and observe the Board and the audience. Newsfeeds are ramping up and I am not sure whether I will find Bible toting censors or progressive Puritans more interested in equity than eduction. I don’t take “trends” like that to heart without first person observation. I live on the West Coast however (some have called it the Soviet of Washington), so what I observe will not necessarily connect to the heartland.
The wack-jobs may not be who I think they are……for example, with school libraries and school curricula in mind, will I encounter those who worry about the socialist or racial messages in The Grapes of Wrath or To Kill a Mockingbird or will I encounter concerns that the math curriculum by its nature oppresses people of color or that advanced placement classes are in fact classist……..
Library censorship is of interest to me; the problem is a new one when compared to that which I experienced growing up—not unlike the educational system itself. The libraries of my Junior High and High School, not to mention Elementary School had very few titles that would have troubled most parents. On the other hand, when I grew up, parents did not look too closely as they had faith that the school system knew what it was doing…….That may well not be the case were I to visit such libraries now. Regardless, having the books in a school library and having them actually read by students are two very different things. I struggle with grandchildren whose lives and educations move along speedily with much less reliance on books than was my experience. I don’t like that but have to accept it, just as my parents had to accept the Doors or the Mothers of Invention as a source of entertainment for me—entertainment I made sure they heard every day.
My parents were FDR Democrats which, in my home in the mid 1960’s, meant that they did not supervise or trouble me with restrictions on my reading. My mother was aware of the books by my bedside and I stood out in middle school as one of the few kids who did not have hide James Bond novels. For many parents in those days, the sexuality in them was a source of discomfort and by virtue of that, restrictions followed so as to, “protect the children.” I have come to focus on parents who worry about subjects they believe to be bad for their children with an eye on the real problem: what makes them uncomfortable. I enjoyed being able to read what I liked and for the most part, did not get much out of the sex scenes that could not be inferred from their movie versions for which I do not recall restrictions for anyone.
There was an interesting opportunity I took in High School that tested my parent’s attitude with respect to child raising. I was never sure that they were aware of it. I was interested in art and was developing skill with pen and inks and water colors. I subscribed to an edgy art magazine called Avant-Guard.* I remember when it first arrived in the mail—-it was (appropriately) wrapped in a brown paper jacket which my parents respected, and in the privacy of my room, I discovered erotic art and fiction for the first time. One of the first editions featured John Lennon’s erotic etchings of John having sex with Yoko. It was totally cool given the culture of the time. The sex as depicted seemed unbelievable because at that point, I had no reference point other than Sean Connery’s scenes in James Bond movies.
John Lennon was not a “gentleman” as James Bond attempted to be.
Furthering my education was a monthly column that featured unusual attitudes about sex. I was forever changed by the first column I read as it reviewed a man’s obsession with obese women. I was repelled and yet, read on. He broke it down logically: obese women were grateful for the attention and as such, made for a willingness to actively please (I remember thinking, “For crying out loud, what does that actually mean?”). They typically have great hair and very soft skin. They have giant breasts and areolas (had to look that up). He moved on to the sexual act itself and asserted that he could not orgasm unless his partner was on top and weighed at least 350 pounds……
The prurient appeal was obvious—I got both laughs and unexpected street cred recounting this story but in fact, his approach in the article got me thinking about the way I appraised women as both social contacts and potential sexual partners (which was still two years in the future). I did not understand it consciously, but going forward, I tried to think through physical features as not being especially important in the context of physical interactions which as I aged, seemed not only correct, but opened doors to meeting good people that I otherwise might have dismissed. The asthenic pale violin player in a long black clingy dress I had penned and taped to the bedroom wall over my bed was no longer the penultimate sexual fantasy.
That was, with the perspective of time, a positive in my growth as a young man. And the source was a soft-porn magazine. Who knew?
Not my parents………
With regards to parenting, my experience with my children reflected a similar attitude as those of mine. No book was restricted though Kernie would read books when they got into literature at school so that if there were questions, she could add context. I wish I had had that. We did not have to restrict any movies shown on TV and the movies we rented on DVD were available to the kids if they chose to watch them. This became old-hat and more than once, Amber would freeze a DVR and call out to me, “Dad, do you want to see X Actress topless?” She would resume the movie after I replied. She kept track…….which I found amusing but clearly, this was at odds with most of my peers—not to mention their kids. My children both grew up to be well adjusted, sensitive, nice people.
No harm, no foul.
Working in the hospital, a high point was chatting it up with fellow doctors who I might not otherwise see for weeks. One was very upset to learn that his kid’s friends had been caught at a party drinking alcohol. His kid was a Junior in High School. I asked what his personal experience in High School had been and he readily reflected on the experience many of us had—He drank alcohol at parties when he was a Junior. His message to his child? He never drank in High School and his world (as their world) would have ended if he had.
Interesting likely fact: most sixteen year olds today, in both red and blue states, have likely seen more pornography than their parents have in their whole lifetimes. The tools for a accessing this porn is handed to them (computers and cell phones) as a rite (and right) of passage. Their culture, isolated from the concerns of their parents, eggs them on and provides the context for how to interpret what they are watching. Do they ask their parents?
And we worry about what they can access in a school library?
I assume teenagers are quite capable of making the same decisions we did at that age. I can’t think of a reason for them to do otherwise. We can influence those decisions though.
Kernie has convinced many a father to consent to his 11 year old daughter’s HPV vaccination (which prevents a viral infection that causes cervical cancer) with the following reassurance: “Yes, your daughter will be a virgin when she gets married, but what about the groom? You don’t really expect him to be a virgin, do you? That’s why your daughter needs the vaccination now, to prevent the cervical cancer her future husband may innocently pass on to her, through this virus, not even knowing he has it.”
To fear an adolescent’s decision making is realistic and appropriate but to deny them the help of what you might have learned when you were in their shoes is foolish, embarrassing or not. How does one get home if at a party and drinking? How do you avoid being cornered or intimidated by a boy who wants sex, and so on. We have experience and tools to help kids and how often do we miss the mark with practical advice whether from personal experience or just life lessons? Why is a creative way to have that conversation so hard? I find it very hard! Why do we expect our kids to obey their parents any better than we did?
My interest in that school board meeting/library content controversy is secular: I think there is a practical side to what should and should not be in the library and I really don’t think books are as harmful as the current publicity suggests. I think that books that pack a wallop emotionally speaking, educate. For kids interested in reading, the attempted censorship reliably will increase the value of finding and reading that material. I would work on the budget and the offerings for purchase, and coming at it with a “what is the problem we are trying to solve with the purchase of books for this library?” My prejudice and concerns are clear. My reading of The Grapes of Wrath did not convince me to be a socialist any more than Atlas Shrugged turned me into a selfish monster. James Bond did not make me cool. Religious texts did not find me attending Church.
What I do know and this is hard for me—the students populating modern public schools do not reflect the skill sets and assumptions I saw when young. In our current times, their attitudes and role models are very different. That requires younger eyes than mine to sort through all those titles as my attitudes and love of books and preferred authors no longer resonate—and judging by my very bright grandchildren, it isn’t clear how library books at school attain special relevance in their lives in the first place. I still have hope that that will change. Cole told me this week his class is reading about the KKK!
*Avant-Garde (magazine)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Avant Garde logogram featuring typeface of the same name. Designed by Herb Lubalin.
Avant Garde was a magazine notable for graphic and logogram design by Herb Lubalin. The magazine had 14[1] issues and was published from January 1968 to July 1971.[2] The magazine was based in New York City.[3]
The editor was Ralph Ginzburg and this was the third collaboration with Lubalin.[2] Previously they worked on Eros and Fact.[2]
Avant Garde 3, published in May 1968, lists in the masthead:
From January 1968 through July 1971, Ginzburg published Avant Garde. While it could not be termed obscene, it was filled with creative imagery often caustically critical of American society and government, sexual themes, and (for the time) crude language. One cover featured a naked pregnant woman; another had a parody of Willard's famous patriotic painting, "The Spirit of '76", with a woman and a black man.
Avant Garde had a modest circulation but was extremely popular in certain circles, including New York's advertising and editorial art directors. Herbert F. Lubalin (1918–1981), a post-modern design guru, was Ginzburg's collaborator on his four best-known magazines, including Avant Garde, which gave birth to a well-known typeface of the same name. It was originally intended primarily for use in logos: the first version consisted solely of 26 capital letters. It was inspired by Ginzburg and his wife, designed by Lubalin, and realized by Lubalin's assistants and Tom Carnase, one of Lubalin's partners. It is characterized by geometrically perfect round strokes; short, straight lines; and an extremely large number of kerned ligatures. The International Typeface Corporation (ITC) (of which Lubalin was a founder) released a full version in 1970.
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