Although I had been planning to avoid politics today I was the recipient of a "banned book list" that Palin supposedly tried to push for while mayor. Book banning is another one of those issues that gets me up in arms so I had to look into it. Although fact checkers have found that the supposed "books banned by Palin" list is questionable, the fact checkers (even the rather right leaning ones) concede that Palin did ask about how to get books banned from the library in Wasilla. The fact checkers also concede that Palin fired (although under pressure from local citizens she later rehired) the librarian whom she originally asked about book banning. Why did she fire the woman? Because she felt the librarian was not "loyal" enough.
Loyal enough? Is Palin a duchess or a queen? Since when are librarians expected to swear their loyalty to the mayor? Ridiculous.
To me, book banning is just a vile perversion of what America at its very best might stand for. In some odd way I know that I am deeply "American". I believe in freedom, liberty, and equality as guiding principles. Despite the troubling violent and oppressive foundation of our system I think that these ideas remain woven in the fabric of our national identity, even if they are only something to be dreamed of and worked for, something not yet achieved.
Enough politics for now. Today was day one of our multi-day vegetation surveys. We surveyed 20 plots today at E.E. Wilson. Most of what we saw was thick blackberries and roses, but there was also substantial thistle of several kinds, asters, cow parsnips, apples, hawthorns, and hazelnuts. Outside of the plots we found some pears and brought six or seven home. A lovely but tiring day.
1 comments:
glad you had fun :)
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