Last Thursday, Sept. 29, Greenwood Library honored Banned Books Week by holding an event in the library atrium at 2 p.m. with refreshments, a raffle to win books and other prizes, and readings from challenged or banned books. Faculty and students read from various works that ranged from Shel Silverstein's poems to "Alice in Wonderland" to "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." The readings ranged from the loud-mouthed to the sexual to any other topics that one might want to cover their children's ears for. Dr. McGee, associate professor of English, even helped make the event a learning environment by reading from Robie Harris' It's Perfectly Normal, detailing for children sexuality, sexual organs, and sex, in general.
Jess Trafton, a fifth year senior at Longwood, read "The Veldt" by Ray Bradbury, saying, "… I was reading the Banned Book list, and it said – you know – this one had been challenged recently because a woman thought that she did not approve that the children don't get punished. There're no consequences at the end of the story where they basically had lions eat their parents."
Katy Stein, a first year graduate student, read "Dangerously Alice" by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, saying, "Primarily I love it whenever there's sex in young adult books because that's something that people get really uncomfortable with. And I never really see the reason why. I mean, I guess I can kind of understand it…I think Alice questions why she wants to do it with certain guys, and I think that's always a very progressive way of looking at it. And in the scene I read today, she fully admits that she wants to have sex with this guy, or that she wants to have sex and that she has these feelings, and I think that's a really cool thing that these girls…[are] not penalized for it."
Beth Feagan, a second year graduate student and graduate assistant to Dr. Miskec, said that she read "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie. When asked why she chose that book specifically, she said, "I chose this book partly because it's so widely banned. And it's banned mainly because it references masturbation, and it has moments that some people could read as racist if they don't take it in a larger context of the book, and sex, and it just makes people uncomfortable because it talks really frankly about all those things."
When asked if she believed reading is important, Trafton said, "I think reading is right up there with seeing and hearing. [I'm a] big fan of it...We take history courses because you want to make sure to get this objective view of history, and I really strongly believe that you read to get a subjective view of history and of events. I think it reveals things that you might not always think about if you didn't immerse yourself."
Feagan also expressed a love for reading, saying, "I really feel like the whole world is a text to be read. So, I think as a critic, as a theorist, I don't feel like reading is just important for the act of reading, which it certainly is -- I mean, it's entertainment. It's amusement. It's information. It functions on a lot of levels. But for me, it's part of a larger effort to see the world critically and to unpack what's going on in the stuff that is being portrayed, especially to children and young adults…You know, we can gather what's going on in the surface of the text, but figuring out what's going on underneath the surface -- that's where it gets really juicy. And that's where I get really excited."
When asked if challenging books is ever necessary, Trafton said, "I do think it's necessary to challenge books because I think it creates that discourse, and it brings up the issues that we have, and...there always needs to be a constant talk about what it is that we think is necessary. It brings issues to light...I think it's important to talk about it. And I'm glad that we live in a country where we can read banned books."
Stein disagreed, saying, "I don't ever agree with banning or censoring books," but added that, "I do like the idea of -- not the reasons why you challenge it -- but I like the fact that it brings something to a conversation. And the fact that I think that if you can talk about why it makes you uncomfortable that leads to more understanding of the issue and how we view it in our society."
Feagan took the same stance as Stein, saying, "I think that while it may come from a well-intentioned place, and while I can understand it, it's absolutely wrong. I don't think there's ever any excuse for it. I'd never accept any banning [or] censoring at all. And the fact that it's well-intentioned is not an excuse that behavior is absolutely un-intellectual. It's anti-freedom. And there's just never an excuse for it…It's just the single most un-American act to take away someone's right to freedom of expression and to access freedom of expression. If there's anything that could undo America, it's that."
When asked what was hoped others would take from the event, Feagan said, "I hope people take from this event the idea that intellectual freedom is a precious thing, that it's not a given in this country where we think it should be a given. It's constantly under attack. And it's our responsibility to make sure that we're never among the horde of people who ask that a book be challenged, censored, or banned, that instead we actively stand up and fight for the right to read whatever we want to read…because this is America, and you're not gonna get arrested for reading a book. And that's a really great thing. And something we should celebrate, and something we should be aware of and stand up for it."
Trafton said, "We have our freedom to read, and our freedom to speak, and our freedom to write, but it is constantly being challenged."
Commenting on the event as a whole, Feagan said, "We had a really good turnout and we had some free prizes, and this year for the first time. We had snacks. We had some lovely refreshments. And we give thanks to the library...And I think we had a really good event. And I am really excited about the fact that we were able to incorporate technology...So, I think the event's growing, and I'm looking forward to a bigger event next year."
