I agree with you, Susan! No librarian should live in fear of her job for putting any book she/he chooses in the library's bookshelves, not in America. But, as you've pointed out in the past, sadly this is not the case.
Well, in my opinion, you, Susan, are the kind of thinking person who SHOULD have a soapbox !!!
I grew up in the 50s like I imagine many of us reading your platform did. I can remember when my family finally got our first TV ! The programs geared toward children, young people and, indeed, even toward adults did present a very limited - sometimes distorted - view of American life - just like the books most of us usually read. One of the good things about reading those books as young people was that we were at least READING and developing an appetite for it. Because I enjoyed reading I eventually grew into reading not only for enjoyment, but also for information - to learn. I know about so much more than I’ve actually experienced and relate to people I’ve never actually met. I understand about situations and circumstances I’ve never been in. Reading has brought an awareness of so many things I would not be aware of without it ! A lot of the people I end up talking to who can easily exclude / demonize “Others”, have never read anything about “them” written by them. They’re not generally interested in reading to learn. Reading has been responsible for limiting my view of the world and responsible for broadening it.
What a surprise to see my words staring back at me this morning! I'm honored. :) That rereading of the Nancy Drew book I analyzed as a college student really was such an eye-opener for me. Now I'd like to unearth that old paper, which I wrote circa 1977, to see how it holds up. . . .
Gosh--you still have those old papers? Lucky you! I'd love to find some of mine. And you might take a look at Rehak's book, I haven't looked at it lately, but I think there's a chapter on the remakes of some of the early Nancys. Thanks for surfacing the issue!
You're welcome! Yes, I think I have every single college paper I ever wrote. I'm not someone who writes quickly or easily, so, even back then, I knew I wanted to preserve the end result of all the blood, sweat, tears, and late nights it took to produce them all. :) When my father died ten years ago, and my sister and I were emptying our childhood home, readying it for sale, I went through decades of papers of mine, some of which went back to about age five (!) Yikes, what a project and what a trip down Memory Lane that was. (Not to mention spending about two years going through 10 large filing cabinets crammed full of 50 years of my dad's professional academic papers and correspondence, organizing them, and getting them transferred to various archives.) And I do remember seeing the Nancy Drew essay when I did that. So, it's just a matter of unearthing the box.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll check it out!
Sorry I missed the book discussion. I wonder if anyone mentioned Lost in the Barrens (by Farley Mowat) or Caddie Woodlawn (by Carol Ryrie Brink), my two childhood favorites. I recently Googled them and was amazed to find that both had been made into movies, and that Lost in the Barrens had been revised by the author in 1987. Apparently they're still favorites, but I've never heard anyone else mention them before.
Caddie Woodlawn was briefly discussed here, Jennifer, but not Lost in the Barrens. I'm a Mowat fan: loved Never Cry Wolf. Yes, made into a fabulous movie, funny and heart-breaking.
When you mention children's books that were stereotypically racist, a childhood favorite came to mind: Little Black Sambo. My mom even hooked a rug with the tiger from that book on it for one of my children. Written by a Scottish woman and published in 1899, it was hailed as a breakthrough because it featured a Black hero, albeit a little boy. It was mid-twentieth century before critics began to talk about the racist stereotypes, particularly of the drawings which one critic described as "pickaninny style." In one sense, Little Black Sambo taught us about "others," perhaps the way Rudyard Kipling did (there's a problem too, but this is going on too long). Literary guidelines are hard to draw and should never be cast in concrete. I am glad to see the revised versions of Little Black Sambo are available today.
Thank you for that reminder that our world view can be inclusive or exclusive. And we are the richer for an inclusive worldview, and for being aware of the unconscious bias in our reading, thinking, viewing and other ways of understanding the world. As a plant biologist, I have long been aware of our "species-ism" but I find I have to remind myself to be aware of other forms of drawing lines to exclude those who are not in my tribe.
Absolutely, although I think inclusive teaching could start earlier--at home--with parents reading their kids books showing many different kinds of people, and a respect for our more-than-human relatives too. I suspect this is happening in more homes than we realize, even if our school systems and governments haven't caught up.
Looking forward to Someone Always Nearby! When you were telling us about researching it earlier this year, I did a little researching myself and landed on a link of a collection of clothing that Georgia O’Keeffe had made for herself. I was so taken with the way each piece was completed, and of course their everyday beauty. I take it she also had a rather thorny side too, so will be interested to see what you can tell us about this complex person and how she moved in the world she created.
Also want to thank you for encouraging us to read out of our comfort zone. Last year I took a path less traveled for me and chose a science fiction book that opened my eyes and heart. It certainly stuck with me. It was only after reading this book that I discovered that the author had died at an early age. She was a bright light and I encourage others to look for Kindred by Octavia Butler.
Yes, GO'K created some of her clothing for herself, but also hired a seamstress. (I never did find evidence that she had a sewing machine.) She was insistent about creating a unique public style for herself and persisted in it through her life. Glad to hear that Kindred was important to you: it opened the door to other similar books. A necessary door. And the time-travel device was the very best way to do that!
I cannot find the link I spoke of for the GOK collection. It may have been taken down as it was for a particular showing of the collection. Too bad, as it was rather extensive with notes about each piece and some of the pieces mentioned if they had been sewn by a seamstress and/or mended by either Georgia or a seamstress. Most pieces had dates. I got the impression she had made most of the early pieces.
On a side note, while living in a house that had been converted to apartments in my 20s, I made friends with an older woman that lived in a small flat on the ground floor. One day she asked if I could help her pin the hem of a dress she was making. Long story short, I discovered this lady made most everything she wore, and she did not have a sewing machine! She also sewed without store bought patterns. She simply made newspaper patterns from clothing that fit her and altered them as she liked. All seams were beautifully hand sewn as were the attachments of collars, sleeves and trim! She was a quiet homebody who had married a watch repairman several years older than herself and was now widowed. Her sewing skills, she said were nothing unusual. She brought me a piece of homemade peach pie as a thank you for helping her.
One of the things I liked about Kindred was going back in time to think of how people got around on the east coast and southern states in those times. And of course, to imagine that time at all!
GO'K liked to sit in the corner and sew while Stieglitz was holding one of his men-only roundtables. My mom sewed by hand, too. You were lucky to meet someone who still had that skill. It's an art form now!
Sorry--writers don't control that option: Substack sets us up with Stripe and Paypal isn't on the menu. I'm new here, but I've already seen writers raising this question, so there's obviously some support for Paypal. Guess we just have to wait and see.
Thank you for letting me know! I very much prefer not having to put my credit/debit card info directly onto to every platform out there. Lol. Perhaps only a psychologically secure belief, at best. But I tend to not sign up for things these days if that is the sole option.
I understand. From Substack's POV, Stripe is cheaper and more flexible for big business (and SS is quite large). And offering both would be quite a challenge: at the least, SS would have to rebuild its reporting systems.
Somewhere in the “land between” is the place where I’d like to arrive. I think reading literature that comes from others with a different perspective or life experience is good. It expands our thinking. Having said that, I do not believe that exposing children to things that are not age appropriate is advantageous to their well-being and growth. Some banned books include topics for a later stage of maturity. I am sure I am much more cautious and conservative than many. I would rather err on the side of caution than cause a child a problem by exposing them to something they are not ready for.
Corrie Ten Boom recounts a story from her childhood. She asked her father relating to a sexual topic. Her father asked her if she carried his suitcase off the train when they traveled to get supplies for his watchmaking business. She said no...it was too heavy. He told her that the topic that she was questioning was too heavy for her at that point but when she was stronger, she could carry it.
Karen, I agree that it's our job as parents to set limits for our children. (OUR children, not other people's children.) My choice, as a parent: let my children choose and be available for discussion when they wanted to talk. I was always grateful for wide-ranging library choices for the kids.
In junior high school I read Gypsy, the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee. Amazingly I found it in the school library. It did not make me want to grow up to be a stripper. But it did stay with me the rest of my life so far as a description of a strong, independent, fierce woman who didn’t take shit from anyone. I needed that at the time and always. I haven’t read it in many years and maybe ought to read it again for perspective. I imagine it was very Caucasian.
Hi Debbie! Your post made me think of Ethel Merman who played Gypsy in the movie version of her life. And for that I thank you! Our brains are so amazing. How it allows me to hear Ethel Merman's voice after all of these years and out of the thousands of voices one hears in a lifetime and without any manmade device, is pretty magical!?!? :) Wishing you a good week-end!
Ethel Merman played the mother of Gypsy Rose Lee. She was portrayed as an aggressive woman (yet depending on men) while surrounding herself with weaker personalities to shore up her own insecurities.
Oh, that's right Carol. My face is red to admit that it is Ethel Merman's voice that I remember, more than the movie. I should read Gypsy and then see the movie to refresh my memory. Thanks for posting! :)
I agree with you, Susan! No librarian should live in fear of her job for putting any book she/he chooses in the library's bookshelves, not in America. But, as you've pointed out in the past, sadly this is not the case.
Well, in my opinion, you, Susan, are the kind of thinking person who SHOULD have a soapbox !!!
I grew up in the 50s like I imagine many of us reading your platform did. I can remember when my family finally got our first TV ! The programs geared toward children, young people and, indeed, even toward adults did present a very limited - sometimes distorted - view of American life - just like the books most of us usually read. One of the good things about reading those books as young people was that we were at least READING and developing an appetite for it. Because I enjoyed reading I eventually grew into reading not only for enjoyment, but also for information - to learn. I know about so much more than I’ve actually experienced and relate to people I’ve never actually met. I understand about situations and circumstances I’ve never been in. Reading has brought an awareness of so many things I would not be aware of without it ! A lot of the people I end up talking to who can easily exclude / demonize “Others”, have never read anything about “them” written by them. They’re not generally interested in reading to learn. Reading has been responsible for limiting my view of the world and responsible for broadening it.
What a surprise to see my words staring back at me this morning! I'm honored. :) That rereading of the Nancy Drew book I analyzed as a college student really was such an eye-opener for me. Now I'd like to unearth that old paper, which I wrote circa 1977, to see how it holds up. . . .
Gosh--you still have those old papers? Lucky you! I'd love to find some of mine. And you might take a look at Rehak's book, I haven't looked at it lately, but I think there's a chapter on the remakes of some of the early Nancys. Thanks for surfacing the issue!
You're welcome! Yes, I think I have every single college paper I ever wrote. I'm not someone who writes quickly or easily, so, even back then, I knew I wanted to preserve the end result of all the blood, sweat, tears, and late nights it took to produce them all. :) When my father died ten years ago, and my sister and I were emptying our childhood home, readying it for sale, I went through decades of papers of mine, some of which went back to about age five (!) Yikes, what a project and what a trip down Memory Lane that was. (Not to mention spending about two years going through 10 large filing cabinets crammed full of 50 years of my dad's professional academic papers and correspondence, organizing them, and getting them transferred to various archives.) And I do remember seeing the Nancy Drew essay when I did that. So, it's just a matter of unearthing the box.
Thanks for the book recommendation. I'll check it out!
Sorry I missed the book discussion. I wonder if anyone mentioned Lost in the Barrens (by Farley Mowat) or Caddie Woodlawn (by Carol Ryrie Brink), my two childhood favorites. I recently Googled them and was amazed to find that both had been made into movies, and that Lost in the Barrens had been revised by the author in 1987. Apparently they're still favorites, but I've never heard anyone else mention them before.
Caddie Woodlawn was briefly discussed here, Jennifer, but not Lost in the Barrens. I'm a Mowat fan: loved Never Cry Wolf. Yes, made into a fabulous movie, funny and heart-breaking.
When you mention children's books that were stereotypically racist, a childhood favorite came to mind: Little Black Sambo. My mom even hooked a rug with the tiger from that book on it for one of my children. Written by a Scottish woman and published in 1899, it was hailed as a breakthrough because it featured a Black hero, albeit a little boy. It was mid-twentieth century before critics began to talk about the racist stereotypes, particularly of the drawings which one critic described as "pickaninny style." In one sense, Little Black Sambo taught us about "others," perhaps the way Rudyard Kipling did (there's a problem too, but this is going on too long). Literary guidelines are hard to draw and should never be cast in concrete. I am glad to see the revised versions of Little Black Sambo are available today.
And there was also Uncle Remus (Joe Chandler Harris). More stereotyping, and making slavery palatable. Thanks, Judy.
But Little Black Sambo wasn't a slave. Perhaps a worse stereotype: he lived in the jungle.
Thank you for that reminder that our world view can be inclusive or exclusive. And we are the richer for an inclusive worldview, and for being aware of the unconscious bias in our reading, thinking, viewing and other ways of understanding the world. As a plant biologist, I have long been aware of our "species-ism" but I find I have to remind myself to be aware of other forms of drawing lines to exclude those who are not in my tribe.
Wouldn't you love to see a deliberately "inclusive" curriculum, Susan--starting about third grade? Wouldn't happen in Texas or Florida, I'm afraid.
Absolutely, although I think inclusive teaching could start earlier--at home--with parents reading their kids books showing many different kinds of people, and a respect for our more-than-human relatives too. I suspect this is happening in more homes than we realize, even if our school systems and governments haven't caught up.
Looking forward to Someone Always Nearby! When you were telling us about researching it earlier this year, I did a little researching myself and landed on a link of a collection of clothing that Georgia O’Keeffe had made for herself. I was so taken with the way each piece was completed, and of course their everyday beauty. I take it she also had a rather thorny side too, so will be interested to see what you can tell us about this complex person and how she moved in the world she created.
Also want to thank you for encouraging us to read out of our comfort zone. Last year I took a path less traveled for me and chose a science fiction book that opened my eyes and heart. It certainly stuck with me. It was only after reading this book that I discovered that the author had died at an early age. She was a bright light and I encourage others to look for Kindred by Octavia Butler.
Yes, GO'K created some of her clothing for herself, but also hired a seamstress. (I never did find evidence that she had a sewing machine.) She was insistent about creating a unique public style for herself and persisted in it through her life. Glad to hear that Kindred was important to you: it opened the door to other similar books. A necessary door. And the time-travel device was the very best way to do that!
I cannot find the link I spoke of for the GOK collection. It may have been taken down as it was for a particular showing of the collection. Too bad, as it was rather extensive with notes about each piece and some of the pieces mentioned if they had been sewn by a seamstress and/or mended by either Georgia or a seamstress. Most pieces had dates. I got the impression she had made most of the early pieces.
On a side note, while living in a house that had been converted to apartments in my 20s, I made friends with an older woman that lived in a small flat on the ground floor. One day she asked if I could help her pin the hem of a dress she was making. Long story short, I discovered this lady made most everything she wore, and she did not have a sewing machine! She also sewed without store bought patterns. She simply made newspaper patterns from clothing that fit her and altered them as she liked. All seams were beautifully hand sewn as were the attachments of collars, sleeves and trim! She was a quiet homebody who had married a watch repairman several years older than herself and was now widowed. Her sewing skills, she said were nothing unusual. She brought me a piece of homemade peach pie as a thank you for helping her.
One of the things I liked about Kindred was going back in time to think of how people got around on the east coast and southern states in those times. And of course, to imagine that time at all!
GO'K liked to sit in the corner and sew while Stieglitz was holding one of his men-only roundtables. My mom sewed by hand, too. You were lucky to meet someone who still had that skill. It's an art form now!
Hi, forgive me if this is already answered. Is it possible to add PayPal to the payment options?
Sorry--writers don't control that option: Substack sets us up with Stripe and Paypal isn't on the menu. I'm new here, but I've already seen writers raising this question, so there's obviously some support for Paypal. Guess we just have to wait and see.
Thank you for letting me know! I very much prefer not having to put my credit/debit card info directly onto to every platform out there. Lol. Perhaps only a psychologically secure belief, at best. But I tend to not sign up for things these days if that is the sole option.
I understand. From Substack's POV, Stripe is cheaper and more flexible for big business (and SS is quite large). And offering both would be quite a challenge: at the least, SS would have to rebuild its reporting systems.
Banned books....
Somewhere in the “land between” is the place where I’d like to arrive. I think reading literature that comes from others with a different perspective or life experience is good. It expands our thinking. Having said that, I do not believe that exposing children to things that are not age appropriate is advantageous to their well-being and growth. Some banned books include topics for a later stage of maturity. I am sure I am much more cautious and conservative than many. I would rather err on the side of caution than cause a child a problem by exposing them to something they are not ready for.
Corrie Ten Boom recounts a story from her childhood. She asked her father relating to a sexual topic. Her father asked her if she carried his suitcase off the train when they traveled to get supplies for his watchmaking business. She said no...it was too heavy. He told her that the topic that she was questioning was too heavy for her at that point but when she was stronger, she could carry it.
Karen, I agree that it's our job as parents to set limits for our children. (OUR children, not other people's children.) My choice, as a parent: let my children choose and be available for discussion when they wanted to talk. I was always grateful for wide-ranging library choices for the kids.
In junior high school I read Gypsy, the autobiography of Gypsy Rose Lee. Amazingly I found it in the school library. It did not make me want to grow up to be a stripper. But it did stay with me the rest of my life so far as a description of a strong, independent, fierce woman who didn’t take shit from anyone. I needed that at the time and always. I haven’t read it in many years and maybe ought to read it again for perspective. I imagine it was very Caucasian.
Hi Debbie! Your post made me think of Ethel Merman who played Gypsy in the movie version of her life. And for that I thank you! Our brains are so amazing. How it allows me to hear Ethel Merman's voice after all of these years and out of the thousands of voices one hears in a lifetime and without any manmade device, is pretty magical!?!? :) Wishing you a good week-end!
Ethel Merman played the mother of Gypsy Rose Lee. She was portrayed as an aggressive woman (yet depending on men) while surrounding herself with weaker personalities to shore up her own insecurities.
Oh, that's right Carol. My face is red to admit that it is Ethel Merman's voice that I remember, more than the movie. I should read Gypsy and then see the movie to refresh my memory. Thanks for posting! :)