This week Nic and James take a different approach to the issues and bring things a bit closer to home. The two use the segment "Failing Better," to share their small wins and victories as junior faculty and acknowledge how far they've come. Nic confesses his love of spreadsheets (send him your tips and tricks!) and James hits his stride with administrative work. Truly, they're learning and learning good! (Don't burst their bubble, please.)
Then, in an absolutely sobering fashion, the duo discusses the massive coordinated effort across the U.S. to ban books at every level. The children's books first, then the young adult fiction, and finally the adult romance novel you've tucked away under your bed out of fear of being found out that you do, in fact, love a trashy scene. Who doesn't?! But, seriously, we should all be concerned. Ideas are dangerous, but banning books is even more dangerous.
We recommend you urge your local library to not ban books or, if possible, buy a banned book. Need recommendations? The links below should help you out.
Further Reading:
Schools have become the latest culture war battleground. Are public libraries next?, Deseret News
The librarians uniting to battle school book ban laws, ABC News
LGBTQ Books Removed from Target.com, Publisher’s Weekly
Black Authors Are Being Pulled From School Libraries Over Critical Race Theory Fears, Newsweek
Division over Critical Race Theory's Meaning Has Spurred A Rise in Book Bans, The Takeaway
Ashley Hope Pérez, Out of Darkness
What We're Reading:
Alvin J. Henry, Black Queer Flesh: Rejecting Subjectivity in the African American Novel
Robb Hernández, Archiving an Epidemic: Art, AIDS, and the Queer Chicanx Avant-Garde
Other Things:
