Reading, Interrupted
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- December
- 12
It is not often that a story about a “banned book” comes from our very own Hudson Valley region. But indeed, we have a situation out of New Rochelle where high school staff are accused of tearing out portions of a memoir that discusses oral sex. My colleague Aman Ali wrote the story yesterday.
It appears some English department staffers at New Rochelle high apparently ripped out pages of a “Girl, Interrupted,” a book used in a senior class. School officials are trying to sort out the issue and clearly they are coming out against censoring books.
Chris Finan, president of American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, quickly expressed his concerns when I contacted him this morning. The topic of censorship is something he follows daily and has done so for decades. I could almost feel the outrage jumping out from his email.
“I am shocked that an English teacher in 21st century America would admit that she had engaged
in bowdlerizing a literary work. I am glad that school officials have now repudiated this intellectual vandalism,” he said today.
ABFFE’s mission is to promote and protect the free exchange of ideas, particularly those contained in books, by opposing restrictions on the freedom of speech. It was founded in 1990 by the American Booksellers Association based in Tarrytown.
Finan said he is preparing a letter to the school board.
ISchool officials, Ali said, were upset to learn that a book was tampered with. Some Lo/Hud.com readers were also concerned about the sexual element of a book discussed in a class of teenagers. You can read Ali’s full story at Lohud.com where he quotes Principal Donald Conetta as saying: ” We don’t censor and when any book is tampered with; it creates concern.”
“Girl, Interrupted” is a 1994 best-selling memoir by Susanna Kaysen (Borzoi Books/ Alfred A. Knopf), where she talks about her 18 months as a patient in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. She tells lots about the hospital, her condition and personality disorders. The book was also the basis of a major film starring Angelina Jolie.
Forum comments on The Journal News story range from those who say the book should not have been included in the curriculum anyway to those who say teachers or staffers should not tear apart books to remove parts they don’t like. Some posters note that high school students didn’t need the book to learn about oral sex anyway.
Ah, yes, the unfiltered comments from those who don’t have to leave their real names.
Any other comments — and certainly information about the issue are welcome. Has anyone read the book?
This entry was posted
on Friday, December 12th, 2008 at 2:52 pm by Barbara Nackman.
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Ms. Nackman,
Blogging tip for you; it’s common courtesy among bloggers to link to other blogs especially when they are the source for your post.
You might find yourself more welcome by bloggers if providing links, do little things like mentioning that the story was broken by a blog – New Rochelle’s Talk of the Sound – not Mr. Ali at the Journal News. Also, that there was no “accusation”; there was a “confession” by the person who did it. The confession was made to me and reported by me on Monday at newrochelletalk.com. You might also mention that you got the name Chris Finian from his quote in my piece and found his web site from my post.
Mr. Ali’s stenography…err…reporting…and your style of blogging without the courtesy of a link to your source goes a long way towards explaining why The Journal News finds itself in the state it is in.
If you MSM folks want to operate in the blogging world you might want to learn a bit about it first.
Who knows, I might even toss you a link and drive some actual traffic to your blog.