Lazy Saturday nirvana

[cleolinda]

Not much going on today, except that I think I'm coming down with my mother's snerfy cold, so am resting up with Allegra-D today in hopes of not being too wiped out tomorrow to blog the Oscars.

(Something interesting I noticed: there's a commercial that's been airing for Amazing Grace, a movie I had not even heard of, but yet involves a number of

Comments

Phantom of the Rec Room, and linkspam

[lauramcvey]

I really wish FBOFW would die already. It stopped being funny a looong time ago. And my dad would never talk like that anyway- he's just fold his arms and glare at whatever guy came to the door, and that'd be the last I saw of them. At least, ntil I found them under the porch next spring, still cowering.
Here's some linkspam for you: a bunch of librarians, teacher, parents, etc, are doing the megaflip over this year's Newbery Award choice. Apparently, the book mentions male genitalia. These people are pretty deep in denial- don't they realize that most kids know all this stuff as soon as they go into school? Yeesh.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/18/books/18newb.html?_r=1&em&ex=1171947600&en=1b95b92b41074cc1&ei=5087&oref=slogin

Re: Phantom of the Rec Room, and linkspam

[lyricalnights]

As a librarian and someone who's been following this story quite closely, I feel compelled to mention that it is not by any means a bunch of librarians or anybody else getting upset over the book, and that particular NYT article is about the most biased piece of junk reporting I've seen in a long time. They took a handful of the most inflamatory statements on an informal listserv and created about a million times more hubbub than originally existed.

And at least one of the quoted librarians has come forward to say that her mildly cautious reply to the reporter's questions were completely twisted for publication. Nearly all of the librarians quoted, foolish or in denial though they may be, are elementary school librarians, and when parents get their knickers in a twist over book selection, they're likely to get fired.

Sorry to unload but I hate how widely this tiny pebble in the water is rippling, and how ignorantly many of the articles I've seen are dogpiling on librarians in general over the over-reaction of the few.

Re: Phantom of the Rec Room, and linkspam

[lyricalnights]

Thought I'd chip in some more diverse articles and editorials re: "The Higher Power of Lucky":

International Herald Tribune These people actually solicited and properly attributed quotes from a variety of sources. The mainstay of the NYT article is one librarian and the famous "dozens of people support me in email" gambit.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Re: Phantom of the Rec Room, and linkspam

[lotusbiosm]

I enjoy how LiveJournal and mailing lists are somehow now usable sources. There was a discussion online, and people were weighing different arguments and opinions, which is good and wonderful and important, because yes, the Internet is important and those fora are ways that we communicate today. But just because one person writes something on a listserv doesn't mean that there's an uproar.

Also, librarians are inherently awesome, and fought (and fight) to protect our rights from the PATRIOT Act, so you know, the NYT ought not to be hatin' on them.

Re: Phantom of the Rec Room, and linkspam

[lauramcvey]

I know all librarians aren't this . . . how do I say this . . . uptight (unless you count my middle school librarian). It's riduculous that the word should be an issue at all. This book is aimed towards, what- eight-year-olds? Shpff. I seem to remember a bunch of ten-year-old boys singing obscene songs (some containing the very word from the book) while on a school trip up north. I can't really speak for the patriot act, but I don't have anything against librarians. I mean, they provide me with BOOKS for FREE. That's a point for them right there.

Re: Phantom of the Rec Room, and linkspam

[lyricalnights]

Heh, you had one of those librarians too? *g* That's why I'm on a mission to be a cool librarian. Then I trip over something and all my hard work is ruined.

I would venture to say that most librarians are not going to care about the book or "the word" at all. Some will, and some of those will just be fruit loops with no sense of reality. But most of them will probably just be trying to decide if they have the time and energy to go through another big fight to keep a book on the shelf (esp. now that's it's a big honking deal). Cause believe me, some parents are not going to want a book with the word "scrotum" available to their precious innocent, farty-gross 10 yr olds. My first month on the job, I had a parents who wanted me to move an elmentary school book on reproduction because she sent her four year old to the library with his grandmother and she let him pick the book up, checked out for him, and took it home. This is not the book's fault, and certainly not MY fault, but there you go. People are crazy.

Re: Phantom of the Rec Room, and linkspam

[lyricalnights]

Well exactly. I mean, sure, if you say it in public, it can be used against you, but we all know that tempers run high when it comes to internets discussion. I belong to a bunch of different library-related listservs and we have blowouts with people taking up extreme positions every week. And someone says "y'all, I'm sick of this subject, new topic." And the world moves on.

I'm just overly cranked up because this one's turned into such a media frenzy and all these reporters and celebs and bookstore people are like "i'd never censor the book" and probably 95% of the librarians feel the same way but no one wants to hear that because what would they have to shout about then? =)