Banned Books Week

The American Library Association (ALA) is a wonderful organization that brings attention to many important issues and causes. Take for instance Banned Books Week. I very strongly advocate this issue because of how essential it is that society maintain unobstructed access to works of literature - ALL works of literature - and that authors are given the right to publish free of censorship.

It is also vitally important for readers to read for themselves...and what I mean by that is that social groups (e.g. parents, teachers) that speak out against books have a tendency to do so without actually having read them. Their objections are based on hearsay, second- and third-hand accounts and word of mouth. While that may be enough to persuade a person to make the individual choice to avoid a book, it is quite a different matter for a person to speak out and demand official action using only rumors and gossip as evidence. That, to me, is the height of ignorance. (To be clear, it is the glorious 1st Amendment right of free speech that allows you to speak up against that which you don't approve. Just be informed before you open your mouth.)

Here's a list of many books that have been banned and/or challenged (some may surprise you):

ALA Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century

As I was perusing this list, I was surprised to discover Orem mentioned as a place where a bookseller was arrested for selling A Clockwork Orange in 1973. I've lived in Orem my whole life and work for Orem City but have never heard the story of this incident, so I set about to do a little research.

In the online archives of the Deseret News I found only one article regarding a bookseller getting in trouble for selling an objectionable book, and it wasn't A Clockwork Orange.

Our electronic police records don't go back that far, and in order to check our archives I would need the name of the bookseller or bookshop in order to find the report. I'd like to know where the ALA got their information...I've been unable to find a source in any of the articles.

(Random note: I'm currently listening to A Clockwork Orange on cd as I commute to SLC for school. Weird.)

And here's a very long and very thoughtful blog post about freedom of speech and the CBLDF from writer extraordinnaire Neil Gaiman.

At any rate...censorship awareness. It's important and it affects you (ever checked out a book from a public library?). Happy reading.

Disneyland Half Marathon weekend

I registered for this race back in April...I can't believe it's already come and gone! I had such a good time. Steve and I went with our friends Jeff and Jennie Hill to California so that Jennie and I could run in the Disneyland Half Marathon. Needless to say, it was a FUN race. It starts off through California Adventure and then crosses the Disneyland Resort Plaza into Disneyland, where you run through Tomorrowland, Fantasyland, through Sleeping Beauty's Castle to Frontierland and all the way back to Toon Town. Then you go out onto the streets of Anaheim and at about mile 9 run through the Angels baseball stadium. The finish line is in Downtown Disney, and all along the route there were high school cheerleaders, marching bands, Disney characters, floats, music, and many supportive crowds. Here are a few pictures from the race:

I think my favorite part about the race was that my name was on the bottom of my race bib, so all throughout the course the crowd kept yelling out my name and telling me how awesome I was. It was especially thrilling during the last tenth of a mile where there was a huge crowd and everyone was rooting for me to finish strong. I've attached a link where you can view three videos from the race. In the stadium, Jennie and I come in at about 19 seconds. In the castle and finish line videos, we are right at the very beginning. As I cross the finish line, I cut to the left side of the screen to high-five Goofy.

http://www2.brightroom.com/email/75730/5607/112173251

We finished in 2:30, which was my exact time from the Utah Valley Half Marathon in June (the finish line says 2:46, but there were 13,000 people in the race so we started about 16 minutes after the official start time at 6:00).

In addition to the race, we spent three days at Disneyland/California Adventure. My favorite rides are Storybook Land, Peter Pan, Indiana Jones, and Toy Story Mania. I tried one of the famous Disney turkey legs, and it was delicious and greasy, but I still think my favorite place to eat in the park is The Golden Horseshoe. They put on a fantastic show and the chicken breast nugget basket really fills you up. Yum.

I don't know if I would do this race again (it was fun, but a little crowded with it being Labor Day weekend) but I can't wait to go back to Disneyland. Love that place.