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Friday, September 28, 2007
Banned in Florida
September 29 through October 6 is the American Library Association’s Banned Books week. Florida, with its mix of cultures and religions, and its vehement politics, has had
its share of contentiousness over books. In the past, Shel Silverstein’s A Light in the Attic,
Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, Orwell’s 1984, and “anything by Judy Blume” have been
banned here.
In 2006 we in South Florida witnessed a banned book debate when the Miami-Dade County School Board pulled the book
Vamos a Cuba (A Visit to Cuba) off the public school library bookshelves. The ACLU then
sued the school board. Today, taking a look at Vamos a Cuba, one of a series of travel books written
by Alta Schreier, what we notice most is its blandness. Vamos a Cuba is aimed at the 2nd
and 3rd grade audience and has seemingly harmless descriptions such as “Cuba is a country in the Caribbean
Sea, south of Florida. It is one big island with some smaller ones nearby,” and “Cuban children
go to school between the ages of five to fourteen. They wear uniforms to school. There
are different colored uniforms for different ages.” According to an August 10, 2006 article in the Miami New Times, a 3rd grader’s father was upset that the book portrayed a cheerful view
of life in Cuba and took it to the board, whose action set off a national debate. The Miami New Times article points out that “The Vamos series…had been in Miami-Dade public school libraries for five
years before anyone complained. During that time, no one had questioned why Vamos a Colombia fails to mention decades
of kidnappings by leftist guerrillas or why Vamos a China omits any mention of the millions who starved during Mao's
Great Leap Forward.” The superficiality of the picture of the world offered to schoolchildren is
worth questioning—though not, in our view, banning. In a 2005 case, Hillsboro County commissioners banned gay pride displays after a library graduate assistant showcased several gay-oriented
books in hopes of reaching troubled teens. The graduate student explains in the article, “Suicide
is the No. 1 leading cause of death for gay teens . . . I wanted to provide outreach to that particular segment of the population."
This too, set off a national debate, to which publishers seem to have responded with greater boldness.
Two new young adult gay-themed books, published by Simon & Schuster and Dutton, and another from Delacorte with
frank heterosexual scenes, all with Florida settings, reached our office in the last couple of months for review. And here we see the paradox of banning, because a banned book receives media coverage, passionate response to the
attack, and ultimately more readers. Many an author might wish to be banned (at least for a little while,
here or there) to gain more readers in the long run, and publishers who find it hard to grab attention cannot fail to notice
the sales figures that result because those who read will flock to anything forbidden. “Banned in Boston” used
to be a proud proclamation. Will "Banned in Tampa” or “Banned in Miami” be so, too?
If you are interested in learning more about banned books, the American Library Association has extensive information on their website. Also, visit our News page for a sampling of events around Florida and our Classic Reads page for more about enduring Florida books that have been banned. ---Lynne
Barrett & Susan Parsons
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| (Image from a Florida postcard) |
Weblinks to follow the weather:
www.nhc.noaa.gov - This is the official site of the National Hurricane Center. It's probably the most "official" site on the
web, so if you have trust issues, go here. They've made several improvements since last year, most notably the cool map
on the front and a new small news feed at the top. I'm not sure if they're still not using the "line of uncertainty."
In the past, their maps have been less definitive, with a huge cone, especially for slow-moving storms. Plus, it's not
as colorful, and we all like colors, don't we?
www.wunderground.com/tropical/ - This is Weather Underground's tropical weather site. They are good if you want easy access to a wide range of information,
including things like the "historical" diagram which shows how similar past storms have moved. They have a good
variety of computer models (which are lacking on the NHC), and they're very easy to navigate. They're also the best
source I know of for hurricane blogging - Dr. Jeff Masters blogs about tropical activity pretty consistently, although if
you're a complete beginner he may seem a bit jargonish. Plus, they're the best location for hurricane news if you're
trying to "one-stop shop" for weather info at your mansion on Fisher Island, your home in the Hamptons, the Manhattan
apartment, the London flat and the Chateau on the Loire. On the con side, they are a commercial entity, so there are ads around
the site.
www.skeetobiteweather.com - These guys have very clear diagrams that show not just where the storm will go, but how strong it will be in different
locations. They're also good for more minor systems, as they show "investigation areas" that may develop into
depressions, which neither the NHC nor Weather Underground does. Their historical records, however, have not been updated
since 2005. They have a slightly wider variety of computer models than Weather Underground, though you need to visit both
sites to see all of them. They can be a bit slow in updating (they normally have a 45-minute to an hour lag in updating after
the NHC, as compared to Weather Underground's 5-minute lag), but that's because they end up presenting much more information
with their diagrams. They come across as no-frills, with their relatively plain layout and lack of things like "wind
history" that the other two throw in. --James Barrett-Morison
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