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Bravo, Palmer.

America eats shit in some obvious ways (see the post below this one), but is also an amazing place. When idjits on the school board in Palmer Alaska banned some of the twentieth century’s greatest novels (details here), people there rose up and blew them a big ol’ collective raspberry.

Ever since an Alaska school board voted to remove five books from elective high school classes, the titles of the works have come alive throughout the community. One city council member reads excerpts from her favorite book on Facebook every night. An attorney began a movement to reward students who read them. Hundreds have joined a Facebook group to voice their opposition to the removal. And a local bookstore owner says donations have been pouring in since the vote from community members who want her shop to give teenagers those books for free. “There’s been a huge response from the community,” says Mary Ann Cockle, owner of Fireside Books in Palmer. “The outpouring of support and concern about banning and censorship has been quite a surprise — but in a good way.”

Nice one.

Margaret Soltan, April 28, 2020 9:16PM
Posted in: class

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3 Responses to “Bravo, Palmer.”

  1. charlie Says:

    The school board that serves Palmer has a November election. Five of the seven board members voted to ban books. I’m guessing it was nothing more than an election ploy based on what those five clowns believed was constituent sentiment. Maybe the circus will leave town early this November…

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    charlie: Interesting, though I think we can more simply put their vote to ban down to stupidity. I do wonder if all the backlash they’ve produced will make some of them drop out, or get some voted out. Certainly the scandal of having a majority of know-nothings on your school board should provoke some serious thinking…

  3. charlie Says:

    Well, those five did admit they hadn’t read the books, nor could they reference the supposedly offending passages. Yup, they’re stupid. But, why would anyone who doesn’t read, nor has critical insight into curriculum, WANT to be on a school board?

    All I can offer is John Taylor Gatto’s explanation of the function of modern American schools, that being, a mechanism for letting contracts. The Palmer Five were more than likely on that board to create policy that benefited the companies that do business with the district….

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