Curiosity Versus Neurosis - What are you reading now?

Dear you,

I am curious and have never, until recently, wondered why I am built that way. I know, never assume, but I have assumed that people generally want to discover things, answer random mind-tripping questions, hear about the experiences of others.  Anything I read is prompted by those desires.  I usually read two books at once, sometimes three. I mix modes, taking in expository information, fiction, poetry, biographies and essay collections.  Currently, see above photo, I am reading and re-reading that text on Buddhist practice and true accounts of bad-girl behavior from excellent women writers. They work together in a "be true to yourself" kind of way.  Their revelatory bits and pieces aren't standard stuff; they certainly don't align with the Christian Nationalism-purity agenda.  If given the opportunity, conservative book banners would put these two on some sort of hit list. "Atheist propaganda!"  "Lurid tales of fornication and guilt-free fun!" 

Imagine a day not so far away when these simple texts are forbidden. What will happen when these two books are not on a library shelf?  Who will answer questions about religious practice and breaking bad?  Some questions cannot be sufficiently answered by a Google search.  Curiosity is nipped in the bud because some/many people fear books.  A perverse obsession, considering the other problems we should be addressing. The situation is so absurd, this conservative obsession, it is best described in satire.  Thank you, opinion writer Rex Huppke of USA TODAY for your comedic spin in "Please stop asking me to address gun violence, I'm busy banning books."  An excerpt from that satirical delight: 

"The other day, while I was not considering a way to address the frequent and uniquely American issue of school shootings, I came up with a list of the greatest threats our children face: wokeness; Disney; lesbian M&Ms; diversity; equity; inclusion; Renaissance art (aka, statue porn); the word “gay” and it being said out loud; and probably mail-in voting.

These are all things we can and should ban to keep our children safe. But guns? Who’s that going to help, aside from the people being killed by guns?

No, as Rep. Burchett suggested, we can’t possibly stop school shootings. But we can put a stop to what me and my fellow Republicans see as the most dangerous thing that happens in schools: learning."

Brilliant, Rex.  Sadly true.

We are witnessing a war against fluid intelligence and curiosity. Neurosis v. Open Minds. But our neurotic friends face clever opponents:  bad ass librarians, teachers, old-school libertarians, creatives, progressives, good-trouble makers, lawyers with souls, and - of course - bad girls and Buddhists.

Happy end of April.  Support your local libraries and bookstores!

Love,

Joyce

Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down

Dear you,

April came in hard. The gun deaths, the conservative assaults on democracy and personal liberty, and more wars and rumors of wars.  April came in soft too, with some good turns of events such as the vindication of the #TennesseeThree, one not ejected from their state representative position, one already back on the job, and another (Pearson) who will return in a day or so.  April, the month of the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. They took his life but not his power. Things seem dark?  Dr. King said "in dark times you can see the stars."

Shine on. I do see glimmers of light  in our dark American skies. And we have plenty of opportunities to laugh, to enjoy the pleasure of mocking the enemy within. But sometimes their antics are just too brutal to serve as comedy:

The Kansas state legislature passed a ban on transgender students participating as female in school sports. The state's Democratic governor vetoed the bill but the KS legislature overrode that veto.  The Republicans posed as defenders of female athletes.  But the ugly part concerns "identification" of student sex.  Birth certificates?  Nope.  See reporting by newsweek.com:  

During a February session on the bill in February, Republican Representative Barbara Wasinger, who introduced the legislation, was asked how the law would be enforced.

According to Buzzfeed, she said it would happen during a student's "sports physical." When queried by opposition lawmakers on whether this amounted to a genital inspection, she reportedly said she couldn't recall.

She couldn't recall. Genital inspections. And they accuse Dems of "child abuse."

On the other hand, there are countless examples of hilarious conservative nonsense.  I'll keep it local.

A neighbor of mine at the Villas had a hissy fit about the "banning" of Zip-a-dee-doo-dah.  First of all, the woman had no clue about the context. She did not know the song is from the 1946 film "Song of the South", long criticized for its stereotypical portrayal of Black men and worse, its creepily romantic view of the antebellum South. And secondly, she didn't know this wasn't a ban (you can hear the song on YouTube, darling).  Disney, the owner of that song, removed it from the Disney World Magic Kingdom music loop. The Song of the South connection went too deep.  Why not play something else, something without baggage?  And so, in spite of the Florida governor's insistence that he is the boss of all businesses, Disney made a decision.  Their park, their music loop, their creation. Enough said. Deal with it.

I tried to sum up all these facts for hissy-fit neighbor, but she just kept defending the "wonderful song she loved". Come on man. The song is really stupid and I seriously doubt a somber and somewhat un-musical woman like her skips around zip-a-dee-doo-dahing when no one's watching. 

And on the national scene, we got another giggle. We were reminded of this revelation from far-right Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas when asked about his idea of a good vacation: “I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it,” Thomas said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that — I prefer being around that.”

There is NOTHING normal about that, Clarence!  Lurking around an acre of hot asphalt versus frolicking in the surf?  What is the matter with you?  And you say you come from "regular stock"?  What does that even mean?  So twisted, I just can't.

But I can.  Carry on with a dusty certainty, maybe delusional certainty but still certain, we will survive this tyranny, engineered by a confederacy of dunces (read that novel, by the way, genius funny).  It is dark, but we can still see the stars.

Don't let the bastards get you down!

Joyce