Newspaper Page Text
Page 12
Flagpole Magazine
October 2, 1991
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Banned Books Week
“All censorships exist to prevent anyone from
challenging current conceptions and existing insti
tutions. All progress is initiated by challenging
current conceptions, and executed by supplanting
existing institutions. Consequently the first condi
tion of progress is the removal of censorships. ’
So said writer George Bernard Shaw nearly a
century ago, but even in today's high tech 20th
century world the spectre of censorship is with us
still. In an effort to battle the benighted bluenoses
who would censor what we read, the American
Library association and the American Booksellers
Association have declared Sept. 23 to Oct. 5,1991
to be Banned Books Week around the nation.
Libraries, bookstores and newsstands will be ob
serving the week by trying to inform Americans of
the many dangerous potholes in the road to read
ing. According to the American Library Associa
tion, over a thousand attempts were make to censor
school and library books in this country last year.
Among the many books that have been the
targets of would-be censors are such titles as: The
Grapes of wrath by John Steinbeck, Bury My Heart
at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown, The Color Purple
by Alice Walker, Slaughterhouse Five by KurtVon-
negut Jr., To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee and
The Catcher in the Rye byJ.D. Salinger. Most of the
opposition to the freedom to read has come from
right-wing groups and religious fundamentalists,
but some calls for censorship of books and maga
zines also have emanated from feminists and anti
racism groups
According to the Washington based liberal civil
liberties group People for the American Way, brand
ing books, periodicals or films as "anti-Christian,
Satanic, occult, or even New Age" is a favorite ploy
used by those who would circumscribe our right to
the free flow of ideas and information. In its ninth
annual report on censorship in America, People for
the American Way said there were 229 attempts at
censorship in American public schools in 1990- '91
compared with 191 censorship campaigns the
previous year. “The 1990-'91 school year was the
worst year for school censorship in the history of our
research," said Arthur J. Kropp, president of People
for the American Way. He added that 95% of the
censorship battles studied by his group began
as book banning attempts by loose on the politi
cal right.
Censorship and book-banning has a long
and shameful history in this country. During a
paranoid Red Scare after World War I, radical
periodicals were denied mailing privileges by
the U.S. Post Office and "subversive" literature
was put to the torch by howling mobs of "good
Americans" who predated German Nazi book
burners by more than a decade. During the
1920's outright bans were placed on the sales of
books by fiery author Sinclair Lewis in cities large
and small around America. For decades the
James Joyce classic Ulysses was literary con
traband here in the land of the free. The FBI is
known to have kept dossiers on famous literary
lions including Lewis, Robert Benchley, Pearl
Buck, Truman Capote, William Faulkner, Ernie
Pyle, Jack London, Dorothy Parker, Allen
Ginsberg and James Thurber, to name quite a
few. Today, in a time of breast-beating patriotism
in a New World Order that has a Third Reich odor,
the demon of censorship is still very much alive.
Reporters have been fired from newspapers and
children have been suspended from school for
supporting the Persian Gulf oil war. In the name
of a war on drugs, the Constitution is being used
as a doormat even as we prepare to celebrate
the Bill of rights bicentennial. In the era when
Americans should be aware and informed, this
nation leads all other industrialized countries in
the rate of functional illiteracy among its adult
population. Banned Books Week is an effort to
stay the hands of those who would black out the
truth and censor history while imposing their
hidebound morality upon us all. Here in Athens,
book displays at the Book Center and Talking
Leaves Bookstore downtown and at the Book
Warehouse in Beechwood Shopping Center will
commemorate Banned Books Week.
As former Supreme Court Justice William O.
Douglas said, "Literature should not be sup
pressed merely because it offends the moral
code of the censor." j an t
Art Patrol
Art and cuisine:
Downstairs — Paintings and drawings by
Maggie Dallmeyer until Oct. 6. Call 549-
4416 for info.
Grit — “Post-Modern Back-Lite Free
Forms", works by Cal Clemens in plastic,
tin and lights. The opening will be on
Wed Oct. 2. at 9:30 p m. with music by
the Opal Foxx quartet. Call 542-1640
Art and retail:
Crystal Garden — Pretty crystals and
shop celebrity pussycat "Baby."
Fantasy Futons — Greg Benson's
“Townscapes."
Spectrum 412—Tom Hancock to Oct 12
— acrylic paintings and wood carvings
Art and hair:
Rage — Peter Loose's artworks on exhibit
until Oct. 30. There will be a reception at
the gallery on Oct. 6 from 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Strand— Kathy Russo's photographs of
Africa and Greece, closes Oct. 5.
Art a la carte:
Artwares — Call 546-5315 for infor.
Hudson Studios — abstract watercolors
by Charles Hudson
Wild Rabbit — a unique working studio of
pottery and featuring the daywork of Pat
and Carter McCaffrey as well as two dozen
other artists both local and from aroung
the country.
St Gregory Episcopal Church — located
at 3195 Barnett Shoals Rd Paintings by
Susan Nees will be exhibited throughout
October.
UGA Tate Center Gallery — An exhibition
of boomerangs and paintings by local
artists' and UGA Graduates Patrick Car
diff and Andrew Cayce from Sept. 9
through Oct. 5. "Lumen", an Athens area
photography group, will have a show
from Oct. 7 through Nov. 1. There will be
a reception for photographers present
ing their works at the gallery on Oct. 8
from 6-8 p.m. the public is welcome.
Georgia Museum of Art — Best of works
from the permanent art collection. Also.
“The Monotypes of Adolph Gottlieb" and
"Provincetown and the Art of Printmak
ing," closing Oct. 6. Hours for the mu
seum are 9a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through
Saturday and 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday
Lyndon House — “All that Glitters is not
Cold" — The Cotton Patch Quilt Guild
exhibit. There will be a Weaving Class for
adults on Thursday mornings for eight
weeks as well as a Watercolor Class
which will meet on Wednesday morn
ings. The fee is $42 per class. Also
offered is a Youth Art Class for grades K-
3 on Wed. afternoons for $25; as well as
a Pre-school Art Class for ages 3-5 on
Tuesday mornings for $27. Call 357-
6076 for further information
Loef Gallery— In the East Gallery a show
about Lexington. GA through October.
Artists visited Lexington and came back
with all kinds of interesting things. Artist
of the Month is Richard Stevens who
makes carved, decorated gourds. Ex
hibits change every two months. Call
546-7580 for info.
State Botanical Garden — “Garden
Scenes" by artist Lynwood Hall of Moul
trie. GA until Oct. 20. Hall is a former
graduate of UGA and has done commis
sioned art work for the U.S. government.
On exhibit are landscapes in oil.
UGA Visual Arts Gallery— Pholographs
of Sean McDevitt. The gallery is located
at the Dept, of Art on Jackson Street.
Hours are from 8:00 a m. to 5:00 p.m.
Monday through Friday. Free and open
to the public.
Athens Creative Theatre — Creative
Dramatics for children in grades 2-4, and
Theater Movement/Production for grages
8-12. Appointments for auditions for “Big
River" on Oct. 5. Performance is sched
uled for December 6-7 and 12-15. Call
357-6060 for further information.
Ecology Gallery — “Poetry in Motion"
through Nov. 2. Contact Janice Sand at
542-6013 for more information
li you have any info regarding exhib
its. classes, workshops, lectures, etc. in
the arts please let us know. Contact Flag
pole c/o Christina Drake, P. O. Box 1027,
Athens. GA 30603, or call 404-549-9523.
The One Man Who
Refuses to Let Dolphins Die!
Paul Watson of Sea Shepherd
Radical Environmentalist & Co-Founder of Greenpeace
Come hear Paul Watson speak at the
Tate Theater
Oct. 7,1991 at 8 PM
$1 Students
$3 Non-students
If You Care, You’ll Be There!