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The True Citizen, Wednesday, November 24, 2021 — Page 5
Michael N. Searles
BANNING BOOKS
Book banning, a form of cen
sorship, occurs when private
individuals, government offi
cials, or organizations remove
books from libraries, school
reading lists or bookstore
shelves because of their con
tent, ideas, or themes. Concern
and fear that reading or seeing
certain materials will corrupt
children and young people is
often the outcry.
Those familiar with the story
of Socrates might remember
that he was a controversial and
confrontational philosopher in
Ancient Greece. Some of those
who heard his lectures accused
him of refusing to recognize
the gods of the state and cor
rupting the youth. As a result
of his diatribes, he was tried,
found guilty and sentenced to
death. Socrates selected the
drinking of hemlock as the
manner by which he would
die. While Socrates did not
write books, the words he
spoke were enough to get him
“banned.”
Corrupting youth still re
mains a central feature for the
banning of books. Any book
that contains graphic violence,
offensive language, expresses
disrespect for parents and
family, or is sexually explicit
can be subject to banning.
In America, book banning is
the most widespread form of
censorship. Often ideas and
questions found in these books
challenge parents to address
embarrassing or uncomfort
able issues.
It is interesting to see the
books that at some point were
banned in America. The 14th
Century collection of short sto
ries, The Canterbury Tales by
Geoffrey Chaucer chronicled
a group of pilgrims as they
traveled through England from
London to Canterbury during
the Black Plague. The book
was banned in the U.S. mainly
due to it sexual anecdotes
and frequent swearing. If
those who laid out the streets
for the Waynesboro Pilgrim
Way Housing Apartments had
known the sordidness of The
Canterbury Tales, they might
not have named them ’’Chau
cer Road,” “Pilgrim Way” and
“Canterbury Circle.”
Another banned book was
Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet
Beecher Stowe. The book was
banned in the South because
of its anti-slavery content and
was banned in Russia for pro
moting ideas of equality. The
Grapes of Wrath by John Stein
beck, considered an American
classic, also was banned in
several states for the portrayal
of its characters in an un
pleasant light. Sinclair Lewis’
Elmer Gantry was banned in
several cities and denounced
from many pulpits.
Other books have been
added to the banned list for
reasons that now appear either
unreasonable or absurd. There
were some novels that had a
more sexual content such as
Lanny Hill by John Cleland.
Lanny Hill’s great offense was
not to follow the rules assigned
to her gender. The book is
highly recognized as the first
pornographic novel, although
it has no dirty words and uses
euphemism to tell the story.
One comic strip-styled nov
el, Persepolis by Marjane
Satrapi tells stories from the
author’s life in Iran after the
Islamic Revolution. The ban
ning of this graphic book in
Chicago classrooms produced
a loud outcry from students that
pressured the school system to
reinstate it. If a
novel where two SEE
young daughters SEARLES,
slept with their
father and be- ®
Ronda Rich
THANKFUL IT'S NOT THANKSGIVING LAST YEAR
Thanksgiving last year. It
stills feels like a piece of dry
turkey stuck somewhere near
my heart.
Upfront, know it isn’t all
THAT bad. No one dies. A dog
doesn’t get sick and a beautiful
century-old tree doesn’t uproot
for no reason at all.
But it added enormous wor
ry, follow-up, and work to my
Thanksgiving and it could have
all been avoided.
Weeks before the holiday
meal that I have hosted for 27
years for two dozen people, it
became obvious that it would
be a Thanksgiving like no
other. I even began to imagine
peanut butter and jelly sand
wiches shared by just Tink and
me at the kitchen table.
My precious aunt, Kathleen,
had open heart surgery (when
the signs of the moon were
perfectly aligned for a quick
healing) so she wasn’t coming.
In addition to being one of my
favorite people, she always
calls and asks “What can I
bring?”
“Orange salad and sweet
potato casserole.”
“Oh,” she’ll say in a tone
indicating the silliness of my
answer. “I can bring much
more than THAT.”
And she does. It takes three
trips for her and Richard to tote
in the food. I used to protest
that she shouldn’t do so much.
Linally, years ago, I quit and
just enjoyed it.
With Aunt Kathleen down
for the count, two joyous faces
and lots of dishes would be
missing. Another happy spirit,
my brother-in-law, Rodney,
had been in the hospital criti
cally ill. A few days from the
holiday, he came home but
he’d be recovering for a few
more weeks.
Not wishing to spread as
much as a sneeze, we halted
a Thanksgiving tradition that
I thought would last until the
good Lord calls me home.
The Bible, though, warns:
do not boast of what you will
do tomorrow for no man (or
Thanksgiving host) knows.
We canceled.
When I realized that those
two households would be
without Thanksgiving - my
sister was sick, too -1 decided
it was time to do the Christian
thing. What the Baptists are
renowned for: carrying food to
the ill and the bereaved.
I made a list that included all
the necessities: turkey breast
for each household, dress
ing, gravy, creamed potatoes,
macaroni and cheese, green
peas, sweet potato casserole,
homemade biscuits, and pump
kin pie.
When an ad from the chain
store, Williams Sonoma,
popped up in my in-box with
photos of scrumptious food and
begging me to let them help, I
decided to do just that.
“You’re not going to believe
what I did,” I said to Tink over
coffee the next morning. “I
ordered pies and sausage dress
ing from Williams Sonoma.”
“Good.”
He doesn’t understand that I
was raised in a “from scratch”
family. We don’t use store
bought pies for big occasions
and we would never trust our
turkey dressing (yes, I know
that the sophisticates call it
“stuffing” but that’s not us) to
outside sources. Lor both pride
and cost. It was ridiculously
expensive.
Over the next
three weeks, I kept RICH,
getting updates as 6
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