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L.A.C.K. & Censoround
March 17, 2005
Censoround vacation
I'm going to be taking some time off from publishing Censoround. There are a few reasons for this; the main one will be obvious when I come back. Until then, check out SpeakSpeak News, Blog of a Bookslut, and LISNews.com. Talk to you in a little while!
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:13:00 PM
Technically speaking, they were distributed
Remember the article about teen sexuality that appeared in the Wellington (FL) High newspaper student newspaper, prompting principal Cheryl Alligood to ban an issue? The article's author Amanda Escamilla reports that because the paper accepts ads from local businesses, the paper had to be re-run to pay for the advertising, only this time without Escamilla's op/ed. However, copies of the paper with the op/ed still in it were distributed along with the cleaned-up copies. In response, the school rounded up all the copies and had the janitor throw them all away:
 [TT] Out2 News via email
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:55:00 PM
UA students speak out against Allen bill
A group of University of Alabama students will be demonstrating today from 2-4 PM in front the school's Gorgas Library to protest Gerald Allen's anti-gay literature bill.
[TT] Crimson White via Blog of a Bookslut
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:11:00 AM
March 16, 2005
Bush to nominate Martin as FCC chair
You're going to long for the days of Michael Powell: President Bush plans to nominate PTC toady Kevin Martin as the new chair of the FCC this week.
[TT] Wall Street Journal
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:38:00 AM
March 15, 2005
Giver retained in Blue Springs
The Blue Springs, MO school board voted 6-0 to keep Lois Lowry's The Giver on the eighth grade reading list.
[TT] Kansas City Star via Blog of a Bookslut
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
3:57:00 PM
Site update
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:39:00 AM
March 11, 2005
I haven't bitched about Blogger for awhile
If you see this post, then Blogger finally decided to post it. It's been messed up for a good 24 hours now. Once it feels like it's back to normal, I'll post more.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:58:00 AM
The blind screwing over the blind
Buffalo's Channel 7 (WKBW) cut off a SAP feed that provides audio versions of books for the blind after a listener complained about a curse word uttered during a reading of Tom Wolfe's I Am Charlotte Simmons .
The station later restored the feed, but not during the hours of 10 PM and 5 AM. Channel 7 GM Bill Ransom said the move was to avoid an FCC fine for broadcasting indecent material. However, as Ronald Collins of the First Amendment Center points out, the FCC allows the broadcast of adult material after the hour of 10 PM, so the station was not in violation of FCC regulation.
In its report on the story, MobyLives links to a post by Phil Sheehan on his weblog Some Old Guy about his work on a similar project, as well as his past work with Channel 7:
"WKBW began about eighty years ago as a radio outlet for the theological fulminations of Doctor Clinton Churchill. The letters W-K-B-W, according to station history, stood for Well Known Bible Witness."
[TT] Buffalo News via MobyLives
[TT] Some Old Guy via MobyLives
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:38:00 AM
March 9, 2005
Color Purple too blue for school
The Little Axe School District of Norman, OK ordered a high school English class to stop reading Alice Walker's The Color Purple after roughly a dozen parents complained about their kids feeling "uncomfortable" with sections that dealt with a sexual relationship between a stepfather and a stepdaughter.
Superintendent Barry Damrill said the book was pulled due to district policy. "If a number of students' parents complain, we're required to do so." He added that the book is still available in a "secure area" of the library.
[TT] The Oklahoman via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:47:00 PM
A case of the she saids, it seems
Summer of My German Soldier author Bette Greene claims that Newton (MA) North high school cancelled a talk she was to give because of pressure from religious conservatives. Principal Jennifer Huntington denied the charge, saying that the talk was cancelled due to a scheduling conflict and that Greene had been given alternate dates for the engagement. Greene responded that she only got invited back after she visited Newton mayor David Cohen.
[TT] Newton TAB via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:38:00 PM
"What you let your mind dwell on, you become."
Midwest Voices columnist and kidlit writer Kate Barsotti is perplexed by the challenge to Lois Lowry's The Giver in Blue Springs, MO:
"Blue Springs parents' proposed banning of The Giver is ludicrous. It's one of the most affirmative books in children's literature today. How? By making use of the negative, the shadow that shows the light."
[TT] Kansas City Star via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:14:00 PM
"That book's got a lot of bad, bad words in it."
The new excuse to ban books: "We can't allow students go down our halls and say those words, and we shouldn't let them read it." That's the reason James Shannon of the Limestone County school board in Alabama gave for why he voted to remove Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk from the Ardmore High School library. The board passed the ban by a vote of 4-3, even though school superintendent Barry Carroll had asked for the book to remain in the stacks.
Here's Chris Crutcher's response.
[TT] Columbus Ledger-Enquirer via LISNews.com
[TT] Chris Crutcher
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:57:00 AM
March 8, 2005
And What You Sought to Do Will Undo You
The new issue of Bookslut is out, featuring the latest Banned Bookslut column about the Bless Me, Ultima controversy in Colorado.
[TT] Bookslut
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:27:00 AM
March 7, 2005
And the bail money is coming out of his inheritance
I previously joked that William Poole's grandparents, who had turned him into the police after they read a story he wrote about zombies, would not be paying his bail, which had been set at $1000 and raised to $5000. According to Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me, his grandparents were the ones who asked for the cost of bail to be raised.
[TT] Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
5:25:00 PM
March 6, 2005
Challenge to Whale Talk to be addressed
The Limestone County Board of Education will address a challenge to Chris Crutcher's Whale Talk on March 7.
[TT] Chris Crutcher
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:45:00 AM
DC Church airs Buster when PBS affiliate won't
The Church of the Pilgrims Presbyterian in Washington, DC decided to hold a public showing of the infamous "Sugartime!" episode of Postcards from Buster after local PBS station WETA decided not to air it. An official for the station said, "We agreed with PBS that the program issues should be addressed at a time and place of the parents' choosing."
On that note, congregation member Diana Bruce said, "We decided what is best for our community and that is to give parents the choice to have their children view this episode." The sister of another congregation member who lives in San Francisco TiVoed the episode when it aired on KQED and burned it onto a DVD for the church.
[TT] Washington Post via TV Barn
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:02:00 AM
Herren appearance ixnayed in Virginia
Rebecca Larocque emailed me a link to Poppy Z. Brite's weblog about how Greg Herren was banned from speaking to the Gay-Straight Alliance at Manchester High School in Chesterton, VA after concerned parents circulated an email about the fact that Herren had written gay erotica. What's worse, Herren was never told by the school that his appearance had been cancelled: He found out from Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Julian Walker.
After hearing the news, the Metropolitan Community Church of Richmond invited Herren, whose new book Jackson Square Jazz comes out this month, to speak there instead. His talk will be on March 11 at 7 PM.
[TT] Queer and Loathing in America via Dispatches from Tanganyika and Richmond Times-Dispatch, all via email from Rebecca Larocque
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
8:24:00 AM
March 5, 2005
Hows about quitting while you're ahead?
Kristi Hardee, who successfully petitioned the Polk School District to ban Lois Lowry's Anastasia Again from Spook Hill Elementary School in Lake Wales, FL, will appeal the decision to let the other books in the Anastasia series remain in the school.
[TT] Orlando Sentinel via LISNews.com
[EDITOR'S NOTE] Fixed grammatical error in headline.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:47:00 PM
When all else fails, blame the librarian
Merced (CA) City School District Assistant Superintendent RoseMary Duran ordered E.R. Frank's Life Is Funny from the city's two middle schools after the parent of a seventh grade complained about a sexually explicit passage in the book. She told the Merced Sun-Star, "It's a book that I believe isn't even appropriate for high school." Library media head Nanette Rahilly blamed the book's presence on a librarian who read the good reviews of the book without reviewing the content.
[TT] Merced Sun-Star via LISNews.com
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:31:00 PM
March 3, 2005
Kids these days, with their threats of unleashing zombies!
A student in Winchester, KY was arrested for making terrorist threats against George Rogers Clark High School. William Poole said was writing a short story in his journal about zombies taking over a high school. However, his grandparents misinterpreted it as a threat being made to his high school, so they turned him in. Not only does he face a felony charge, but procescutors successfully got his bond raised from $1000 to $5000. Which I'm assuming his grandparents aren't paying.
[TT] LEX 18 via Bookshelves of Doom
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:07:00 PM
Tribune editor defends decision to pull Boondocks
Don Wycliff, the Chicago Tribune's public editor, covers his paper's decision to pull two Boondocks strips dealing with President Bush's alleged marijuna use. It's not a good sign that he starts off his column by saying, "I haven't had much personal use for the comics pages since they got rid of Alley Oop sometime back in the Stone Age." (They haven't, by the way.)
Anyway, Wycliff talked to Geoff Brown, the associate managing editor for features/lifestyles, about his decision. He said that because Boondocks, Prickly City, and Doonesbury (see [EDITOR'S NOTE]) are political satires, he holds them to the same standards of accuracy that journalists and commentators must uphold. Thus, as he wrote in a memo on his decision, "Even in a satirical comic strip, you can't present as fact something that isn't fact just to make a joke work." This is why he pulled Prickly City: Sen. Ted Kennedy never said what Scott Stantis wrote that he said.
Wycliff's response: "I'm not sure how, on reflection, I feel about applying strict standards of journalistic accuracy to comic strips." He later adds, "It has allowed me to think about a comics issue other than how to keep sophomoric cartoonists from smuggling scatological humor into the newspaper." (Holy sheet!)
[TT] Chicago Tribune via Romenesko
[EDITOR'S NOTE] Just to make it clear, Brown was not one of the editors who pulled the controversial Doonesbury in which BD says, "Son of a bitch!" He did, however, once ask for and was granted permission by King Features to replace "sucks" with "stinks" in a Zits strip.
[TT] St. Petersburg Times via Google
[EDITOR'S NOTE] Grammatical error corrected
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:51:00 PM
"Trust our children's capabilities."
Ben Beversluis sees a bit of irony in the decision by two Michigan schools to cancel visits by Chris Crutcher due to the "controversy" over Athletic Shorts and Whale Talk:
"Well, Crutcher's books deal with handling controversy. They deal with the real, gritty, sometimes dirty and troublesome lives of young people. They are terribly well-written. They grip and teach -- even an old adolescent like myself.
"They teach about facing life's very real complexities.
"They also deal with things parents don't like to think their children deal with."
[TT] Grand Rapids Press via Chris Crutcher
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:00:00 PM
Bad for society when the kids start to get into it!
Spaghetti Book Club is a website of book reviews for kids by kids started by former New York City first grade teacher Julie Rosemarin. School English classes can sign up to receive a reading curriculum and a web page to display the students' reviews.
[TT] via Metafilter
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:13:00 AM
Isn't indecency the reason people get Cinemax?
Dan Gillmor's comment on Sen. Ted Stevens' plan to force cable networks and satellite radio stations to abide by the same indecency standards as broadcast networks:
"Why not books, guys? Bookstores and libraries are full of material that children can see if they're motivated."
[TT] Dan Gillmor
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:06:00 AM
March 2, 2005
What is the Greek word for dingus?
According to an editorial by the University News, some students are concerned that Lysistrata is too pornographic to be staged at the University of Dallas. Well, it depends on how good a translation of it you get...
[TT] University News via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:38:00 PM
"If people don't want to read it they don't have to."
The San Gabriel Valley Tribune covers the ALA's list of most challenged books in 2004 by talking with area public library officials about their acquisition policies. (The budget has a lot to do with it, of course.) Covina City Librarian Roger Possner notes, "We've never had a challenge here in the 10 years since I've been here."
[TT] San Gabriel Valley Tribune via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:28:00 PM
Red herrings: product of evolution or built by God?
A group of parents are suing to get a book on intelligent design out of the Dover Area (PA) School District science classes. The 60 copies of Of Pandas & People were donated to the district. The plaintiffs say using the books in biology classes endorses religion, while school officials say they would teach students alternatives to to evolution. Judge John E. Jones III plans to rule on the case soon.
[TT] York Daily Record via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:14:00 PM
One way to choose a book to teach in class
Teachers at Phillips Middle School in Chapel Hill, NC have formed a reading club to decide what books they should teach the students. Their most recent selection was Lois Lowry's The Giver, which they acknowledged is a controversial choice.
[TT] The Herald-Sun via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:05:00 PM
Plainsong challenge temporarily tabled
The Bemidji (MN) School Board has tabled a proposal by board member Mona Carter to ban Kent Haruf's Plainsong until next month. A parent of a ninth-grade issued a complaint about the book due to its language and sexual situations. A review committee recommended keeping the book, but support for a ban has grown since the challenge was issued. Superintendent Jim Hess said the book should stay in school libraries, but dropped from classrooms.
[TT] Pioneer Press via Google News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:53:00 PM
Category tags... so delicious!
I've added category tags to Censoround. Blogger doesn't have them, so I signed up with del.icio.us. I've listed the main categories in the right hand column, but there are lots more than that. Each tag has its own RSS feed as well, which is cool if you're just interested in a few topics like, say, Jenna Jameson.
Keep in mind, though, that some of the tags may never get touched again now that I've added the entire site to del.icio.us. For example, I don't really cover filtering any more. Also, John Ashcroft is out of power, so I really hope to ever use the "ashcroft" tag ever again. The "gonzales" tag, on the other hand...
[EDITOR'S NOTE] Fixed typo.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
7:20:00 PM
March 1, 2005
Damn, was Dennis Hastert right?
As expected, Ricardo Cortes' It's Just a Plant has raised a bit of controversy. He's publishing and distributing the initial 3000 copy run of his children's book about marijuana by himself (due to a lack of interest from commercial publishers), and even then, he's having trouble getting bookstores and libraries to buy it. No surprise there, really.
But that didn't stop Rep. Mark Souder of Indiana from decrying the book during a February 15 meeting of the House Drug Policy Subcommittee. The reason, however, had less to do with It's Just a Plant and more to do with the Drug Policy Alliance's support of the book. George Soros (of MoveOn.org donation fame) is the drug law reform group's chief financier, which Souder mentioned frequently during his denunciation.
I'm oversimplifying this story a bit, so to get all the details, check out Jamie Pietras' article.
[TT] Village Voice via Blog of a Bookslut
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:48:00 PM
Other scaredy-cat newspapers
A quick follow-up about yesterday's Boondocks. The Detroit News and Minneapolis' Star Tribune also pulled the offending strip.
[TT] Editor & Publisher via Blog of a Bookslut
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:56:00 AM
The crack editorial board at the Tribune
Brian Smith is reporting that the Chicago Tribune killed Boondocks for the second day in a row. Yesterday's reason was the strip's presentation of "inaccurate information as fact." Today... well, maybe they fact-checked the comic strip and discovered there's no such person as "Joe Blow."
[TT] Brian Smith via Library Underground Mailing List
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:29:00 AM
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