| Author |
Message |
Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 10:32 am 
I was reading that this year the book schools wanted to ban is "The Kite Runner". It has a same sex rape scene. I do not think it should be banned. It's not a "rape book".
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 4:58 pm
Naja, it is a pretty intense book. One thing I don't like about some books is putting pictures in my mind that are so very disturbing.
Several years ago a British tv show called MI 5 had a scene of someone pushing a woman's head into a hot french fryer. That has stayed in my mind all these years. And although I know it was just a movie doesn't seem to matter on the way it still disturbs me whenever it crosses my mind.
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Kitt
Member
09-05-2000
| Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 5:05 pm
OG, I stopped watching MI5 with that very episode, and it's stayed with me too. It was just too much.
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 6:38 pm
As a teacher who spent 6 months listening to people tell me what a horrible teacher I was for teaching Toni Morrison to an AP English class, I would want to know 3 very important things before saying a word:
1. What is the name of the book?
2. How is it being taught? What themes/connections, etc. are the foundation for the disccusions?
3. What is the alternative offered for parents who disagree?
I will say, reading a book is MUCH different than watching a movie or TV....and we even had a discussion somewhere on TVCH about people who do NOT visualize when reading (which floors me - thought that everyone did! LOL). For example, I DO see a movie in my head when reading. I have read Outlander at least 15 times. However, when I SAW the TV show and saw the flogging of the main character, it was different. The NEXT time I listened to the book, I literally cried. I hadn't done that since reading it the first time. But having a visual - with a human being connected to it - had a much different, more visceral effect than just reading it did.
Anyway - I'm generally against banning a book IF the foundation is strong, the reading and discussion are sensitive and connected to curriculum, and the students/parents are offered alternatives for a book that might be considered offensive.
For the record - I DID have an alternative for the Morrison book; I just had parents go off who did NOT choose the alternative...and it turned into a horrible situation becuase of a split school board.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 10:19 pm
I remember that, Teach..
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Wargod
Moderator
07-16-2001
| Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 11:50 pm
Teach what you went through was pure bs. You offered an alternative, parents should have accepted that...its on them to pay attention to what their kids do in school. And your board should have backed you up.
I don't think books should be banned or censored because they make people uncomfortable or discuss disturbing things. But, I do know a couple kids, my niece who is a senior this year included, who would not be able to read a graphic and violent scene like rape and mutilation. She would need (and my sister would ask for) an alternative book. For her, it'd be a matter od how graphicly it was described.
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 5:41 am
Just as not everything on the internet isn't true, just because it's a book doesn't mean it's worth reading.
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 6:21 am
Well sure. However, I think the point some people are trying to make is that if a book includes sex or violence that does not in itself necessarily make it a bad book that’s not worth reading. There are many books that include sex or violence that are well worth reading.
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 8:22 am
Heh, like the Bible? 
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 8:27 am
Teachmichigan, is the Morrison book the one that I said I didn't like because it described a woman going over to the corpse in a coffin at a funeral home and sucking on his fingers.
I cannot get that image out of my mind. It is now joined with two breasts and a nose placed on a table.
I can't see banning the books, but I am not sure a school should advocate such writing.
Words about necromancy and violence are words that stay with you.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 8:35 am
One of the main reasons I like coming to TVCH is because it is a moderated forum. 
Couldn't school curriculums be moderated too?
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 8:36 am
Psalm 137: "Happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us / He who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks."
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Karuuna
Board Administrator
08-30-2000
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 8:37 am
Doc, they are moderated, but life is not. Our young people need to know how to deal with the real world.
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Naja
Member
06-28-2003
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 8:40 am
Schools are already moderated. You can't bring in things like Penthouse magazine or racist hate propaganda. To say they aren't moderated isn't true.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 11:01 am
Kids now have access to the internet and can read much more disturbing prose with no literary value, no parent or teacher to discuss or moderate (or censor).
My high school had a great little paperback book store, which was run by students to help fund AFS, which helped find out exchange student program.
I remember when they were told not to stock A Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger.
My beloved sophomore English teacher, Mr. Sims, just smiled and told the class that we were smart enough to find the book on our own. And we certainly were.. No internet involved.
Back when students were hopefully smart and phones were black, corded and even party lines!
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Teachmichigan
Member
07-22-2001
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 5:19 pm
Dogdoc- no, I think that one was Beloved. My kids read Song of Solomon.
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Wednesday, November 01, 2017 - 6:19 pm
Thank you Teachmichigan.
Seamonkey, I remember party lines too!
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Dogdoc
Member
09-29-2001
| Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 4:27 pm
I have to share my friends Facebook post.
She told her daughter, age 3, that she was going home to put on makeup before picking up the boys.
Her daughter said "Yeah, because you look homeless and gram always says you look tired and sick if you don't wear makeup. Yuck!"
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 6:03 pm
hahahahahahaha, kids are always so honest.
I have never forgotten one of my neices or nephews talking to their Uncle and telling him that her mother said he was a drunk....I don't she knew what it meant, very awkward.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Wednesday, November 15, 2017 - 10:38 pm
I have to admit that we actually had a white Princess phone in the hall with a cord so it could go in my room, or my brother's room.
But we did have a party line.
...
You have to be careful what you say in front of kids, but e end if you are, they hear things anyway.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Saturday, November 18, 2017 - 1:42 pm
You know I am just curious, how do kids end up going to St. Jude's, do their doctors have to refer them or can the parents simply ask for their help.
I don't really know anyone who has had to utilize their services (except BB Brittany) but have always wondered and it's not exactly something you would ask someone with a sick child.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Saturday, November 18, 2017 - 9:07 pm
Don't know about St. Jude's, but have my own question.
Bigdog just got prescribed Symbicort for seasonal allergies (we spent three weeks in spring in South America before coming to south Texas). He got prescribed Symbicort inhaler, apparently an asthma medication, and had all four of the most common side effects emerge, so he quit using it.
Symbicort is very expensive, although we only had to pay about 12% of its retail price. Bigdog will NOT be using the rest of it, which is likely several hundreds of dollars worth retail. It might be quasi- if not outright illegal to give/sell it to anybody else. And yet, being early baby boomers, children of depression and post-depression parents, we are having a hard time just chucking the remainder out, when it probably could be a great benefit to somebody.
If YOU know of anybody who could use it, e-mail me at Juju2bigdog at yahoo.
If anybody here knows of a legal means to get this expensive medicine to a charity or anybody who can use it, post here.
We are in Texas for the next few months.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Sunday, November 19, 2017 - 1:52 am
You might find a group that would take it to Mexico.
When my mom died the had two different inhalers and I had two friends who used them and had prescriptions, so I passed along the unopened ones. She had emphysema, so she had a pretty large supply.
I would feel the same way about someone getting use out of it.
Heck, I was happy that one of my patients was able to use a new toothbrush I had in the car. My hygienist always gives me a new one, plus close every six months, but I use a Sonicare, so I just replace the brush head every six months.
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Juju2bigdog
Member
10-27-2000
| Sunday, November 19, 2017 - 11:37 am
Oh! Excellent idea, Seamonkey! I am pretty sure there are groups here that take things to Mexico all the time. Thanks.
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Dipo
Member
04-23-2002
| Sunday, November 19, 2017 - 12:09 pm
I hate there isn't a way to donate unused medicines, it is such a waste.
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