It’s National Library Week, so I’ve been thinking a lot about knowledge and the idea that knowledge should be readily available – for all. An informed populace is crucial to the health of the nation and a bulwark of democracy. The ability to think, to reason, to avoid being fooled, all these notions are tied to reading and easy access to the wisdom of the ages.
And this is exactly why libraries – and their contents – are under siege these days.
HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery recently told readers:
“Librarians are living in constant fear. They have become the targets
of Republican politicians and far-right groups like Moms for Liberty
Liberty that are hellbent on burning books about LGBTQ+ people,
people of color and racism. Some librarians are quitting their jobs
because of constant harassment; others are getting fired for
refusing to clear shelves of books that conservatives don’t like.”
If that’s not bad enough – and it is – Bendery informs us there’s another evil twist in the tale: “The GOP’s censorship campaign has shifted from book bans to legislation threatening librarians with jail time.” Idaho’s tried several times to enact such legislation; this February, West Virginia passed a bill “making librarians criminally liable if a minor comes across content that some might consider obscene.” Idaho, Iowa, Alabama, and Georgia are also considering various means of keeping books they don’t like off the shelves...and they’re not alone.
The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom shared some frightening statistics: “The number of titles targeted for censorship at public libraries increased by 92% over the previous year, accounting for about 46% of all book challenges in 2023; school libraries saw an 11% increase over 2022 numbers.”
Given these ever-more-frequent, ever-more-strident attacks, what can a concerned reader do to stem the tide of book-banning?
PEN America, an organization whose mission “is to unite writers and their allies to celebrate creative expression and defend the liberties that make it possible,” offers a number of ways to make one’s voice heard. Whether you’re a student, a parent, an author, or a librarian, PEN America provides advice, assistance, and resources to keep you informed and ready to push back.
The need to support the nation’s libraries is more urgent than ever. In Bendery’s HuffPost piece, American Library Association President Emily Drabinski draws a chilling conclusion: “What gets lost in conversations about book banning is that it’s really about eliminating the institution of the library, period. It’s not about the books. Well, it is about the books, but the books are the way in to gut one of the last public institutions that serves everyone.”
“You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture,” Ray Bradbury once said. “Just get people to stop reading them.”
Bradbury was one of the 20th century’s finest fabulists, the author of The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and the worldwide blockbuster Fahrenheit 451. Published in 1952, the novel Fahrenheit 451 is set in a future where books are illegal and firemen don’t put out fires – they start them. Printed matter is what they burn.
Bradbury was writing in the tense, paranoid early years of the McCarthy era. But he might as well have penned those words last Thursday.
Support your local library. Speak up for the voices the hate-mongers would shut down. Before – as history’s proven again and again – they try to shut down yours.
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Students fight a book ban by giving away free banned bookswww.youtube.com
The New York Public Library has also weighed in on the matter, you can find its suggestions here.
Spring Cleaning: Why Do Americans Have So Much Stuff?
Rather than viewing those objects as "mine," think of them as "me."
If there's one thing Americans know how to do, it's buy stuff.
According to the LA Times, the average American household contains over 300,000 items. But we also know how to hold onto all this stuff we buy. A 2013 article inPopular Science cites a statistic that seventy percent of Americans cannot park cars in their garages because it's packed with too much stuff. I guess that's why offsite storage facilities are one of the fastest-growing segments of the commercial real estate market.
There are differing views on why people like to buy and keep so much stuff they don't need. According to an article in Inc., there is a direct link between the stuff you hold on to and how you feel about yourself. "The objects you struggle to get rid of are likely tied to your self-worth," according to a 2011 study published in the Journal of Consumer Psychology. Rather than viewing those objects as "mine," you may think of them as "me."
Just like most everyone else in America, I have too much stuff. So, this summer, I'm embracing a utilitarian approach to spring cleaning: If I hadn't used it in the past two years, it's time to lose it. This means ridding my closets and drawers of all unworn clothing and shoes, no matter how much I think I love them. Looking through the growing pile of throw-away/give-away items, it's clear to me how aspirational so many of my purchases were. And, the extent to which, as June Saruwatari, author of Behind the Clutter points out, I wanted to buy an emotion as much as an object. That size 2 Diane Von Furstenberg dress never fit me, but I pictured myself looking smashing when I wore it. Those glam Jimmy Choo silver strappy sandals never did work with anything I ever wore. But I still believed I'd look sexy in them.
There's no place where I have more unused, aspirational stuff than in the kitchen. Peelers, corers, slicers, molds, bundt pans, quesadilla makers, outdoor dining sets, basket sets, napkins, and placemat sets: enough for a one-woman garage sale.
Most of my useless items broke down into one of seven "belief systems":
"If I buy it, pain-in-the-butt tasks will be so much easier"
The mushroom brush, kiwi peeler, avocado peeler, mango peeler, pineapple corer (I used each of these items once), mayonnaise jar spoon (I could never find when I needed it), vegetable scrubbing gloves (these worked, but felt disgusting).
"If I buy it, I'll save a ton of money"
Sushi Bazooka (I never got past step three in the instructions), vegetable juicer (I used it like crazy for about two weeks and then got sooo tired of cleaning it).
"If I buy it, I'll become Martha Stewart"
Candy thermometer (you need this to determine if your boiling sugar has reached the hard or soft ball stage for desserts that require caramel, think: crème caramel, caramel buttercream --- gazillion-calorie desserts I never eat), 6 sets of placemats, napkins, and napkin rings and three sets of outdoor dishes and wine glasses (I hate eating outside because of the bugs), baggies full of cookie cutters (letting the dough rest in the fridge for an hour and then having to roll it out was always a bridge too far), a set of 24 personal soufflé sized ramekins – I don't make regular-sized soufflés so I'm certainly not making individual-sized soufflés. And 24? What was I thinking?
"If I buy it, my marriage will work"
Pasta roller (the family that makes pasta together, stays together, was my hope here), fondue pot, and forks (same idea; just gather round the fondue pot and you'll both be smiling again).
"Homemade is so much better"
Yogurt maker (if you like runny, lumpy yogurt, this is the way to go), ice cream machine (given all the flavors and variety of delicious store-bought ice cream, nothing I made could justify the hours of preparation and waiting), bread maker (not sure what I was doing wrong, but every loaf that came out of this thing was as heavy as a doorstop).
"If I buy it, I won't eat carbs"
Spiralizer (great idea, spiralized vegetables --- I'll never eat pasta again! --- unfortunately this thing does NOT work).
"If I buy it, I'll be super organized"
Multiple sets of plastic and glass storage containers and multiple wire racks on which to stack pantry items (some of these items are useful, but when you have more storage stuff than space to store it, you have a problem). Multiple sets of "nesting bowls" (why did I think I needed eight different-sized bowls in plastic and glass?)
"If I buy it, my daughter will have the best birthday party ever = I'm the best mom ever"
Taco Proppers – That's right, u-shaped plastic holders that "prop" up your tacos so you can assemble them without spilling the contents, (they never made it out of their packaging). Cupcake tower (I used this once, about six years ago, and it was a success but it's sat in the back of a hard-to-reach cupboard ever since).
In addition to all the aspirational unused cooking-related items, there's also quite a collection of general stuff that has somehow migrated into the kitchen --- stress balls, boxes of thumbtacks, half-used spools of twine, travel sewing kits, extra sets of supplies from old parties, boxes (and boxes!) of nails, ashtrays, piles of take-out menus and trail maps, Mandala stress relief adult coloring books, and various earth-friendly cleaning products that don't work.
"Then there is the stuff that I've taken with me from place to place over the years"
Cookbooks I've never used, fancy serving dishes I've never served from, extra salad servers I never really liked, candle stick holders that have never seen a candle, my grandmother's crystal wine glasses that I never use because they don't go with any of my dishes, decorative paperweights (why do people still make these things? They serve absolutely no purpose).
It's liberating to say goodbye to the unnecessary junk that took up space in my kitchen drawers and cabinets, and my imagination. Not to mention those things that were tying me to the past. What are you ready to clear out?
- Why Americans Spend Too Much, Save Too Little : NPR ›
- Americans Have Too Many Things and Not Enough Money, Study ... ›
- Why is it so hard to stop buying more stuff? - The Boston Globe ›
- Online Shopping Is Making Us Accumulate More Garbage - The ... ›
- If American households have so much stuff, why do Americans feel ... ›
- 19 things you should throw away immediately | The Independent ›
- The Scientific Reason You Won't Throw Your Stuff Away ›
- The Psychology Behind All That Clutter You Can't Get Rid Of ›
