Be The Rainbow

“Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud.”
-Maya Angelou

For those of you who don’t know, LeVar Burton started a Kickstarter campaign to relaunch Reading Rainbow for the kids of today and help cash-strapped schools get free access to it. In their first day, they exceeded their primary goal of a million dollars, as seen in the above video. (Do watch it. Your feels will thank you.)

Here Ye, Fear Ye #2

If you missed the last “Here Ye, Fear Ye”, it is a new feature on the bog where I’ll share stories and articles about censorship, intellectual freedom, or other related issues. Sometimes I stumble across awesome stories or cool info but don’t necessarily have the time to make a full post of each one, or don’t have enough to say beyond just “Read the article! It’s interesting and can say it all better!” This is a place for those stories. All caught up now? Good. Here’s the second installment.

When You Give the Name of Thrones…

The most popular baby names of 2013 are out and Arya made the list. Awesome. Not only is Arya a kickass character in Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire, a generically competent character in Eragon, and reminiscent of Arwen, it’s also an actual, historical name meaning “Noble”. That’s where the Aryan Nomads got their name.

Of course, a name need not have historical precedence. The names Jessica and Olivia were made up by Shakespeare and both have graced the top five lists. Belladonna was first used as a woman’s name by J. R. R. Tolkien in The Hobbit. Still, in an age of Jaymzes, Irelynds, and Apples, a little validity never hurt anyone.

Hear Ye, Fear Ye #1

I frequently set aside articles or topics that relate to banned books or other censorship issues that I find or am sent by friends, but a lot of the time I never get around to writing a post about them or can’t think of enough to say (or worry I’ll sound all preachy and alarmist if I do). Then I see all of these interesting stories abandoned in e-mails or FB messages and feel guilty. Thus, I have decided to add a recurring feature to this blog. It’ll be a bit of a censorship round-up, though by no means exhaustive, so please don’t get upset if I don’t mention a censorship issue that seems more important. These are just the stories, big or small, that I encounter and want to share. Without further ado, here are a few censorship stories to kick us off.

Captain Underpants Sent to Principal’s Office

 

THE DEFENDANT: Captain Underpants (series), Dav Pilkey

THE VERDICT: Captain Underpants topped the ALA’s Top Ten Most Frequently Challenged Books List for two years running, claiming the title in 2012 and 2013. The series also came in at #8 in 2005, #4 in 2004, and #6 in 2002.

THE CHARGES: According to the ALA, Captain Underpants has been challenged for “offensive language”, “violence”, and being “unsuited to age group“, as well as “sexually explicit” and “anti-family content”.

The Welcome

I could come up with a reason why this is totes related to intellectual freedom issues, but I’m not going to bother because it’s just too adorable not to share. Enjoy, my good readers! I’ll have a review of infamous banned children’s book Captain Underpants up this weekend. Until then, happy May Day and happy Beltaine!