Just Don’t Pull the Drain
Fall has arrived in Arkansas. I’m so glad. I love every single season, but by the end of one, I’m ready for the next. And of course, the closer we get to fall, the closer we get to snow days. Buh-ring it.
The lovely and talented author Miralee Ferrell sent me iPhone video of portions of my acceptance speeches from the ACFW conference. Here is the YA award where I’m a little monotone thanks to whatever over-the-counter plague combatant my friend Jeanne Wynne slipped me.
There was some mix-up over which of the first two Charmed Life books won, so I just thanked everyone who’d ever touched the two books. Except that creepy man I met last month in Borders.
You can also see a fragment of the speech for Just Between You and Me. Not that anyone would want to. This is not exactly Must See TV. Unless you’re my mom.
In hindsight, I wish I had put a little more thought into my dress for the Carol Awards. I just decided to pull out the dress I had worn two years earlier. It wasn’t about frugality. It was my silent protest about the state of the economy. I got the LBD at Banana Republic, and I did make a small effort to find a new dress for this year. Two years ago I remember I had a hard time choosing from Banana. This year I couldn’t have picked ONE if I’d had to. So two years ago little black dress options. This year? THIS is what I saw:
Number one, I had that shirt in 1988. Or maybe my dad did. I definitely had those shoes though (Payless, circa 1990). But where is this girl’s pants? It’s bad enough models don’t get to eat. But now they’re deprived of pantalones?
So it’s Banned Book Week, something I usually don’t bother commenting on. But this year I’m unimpressed over the call to ban Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson in Republic, MO, which is not too far from me. As this associate professor was calling for the removal of these books due to the content being rated triple X, I was in Indiana telling writers in a YA class to put the older book on their must-read list. The story is about a girl who makes a wrong choice and goes to a party, knowing she shouldn’t be there, and suffers some horrible consequences including rape. Fifty percent of rape cases reported are adolescents, so I can’t IMAGINE why Anderson would want to write a book about the dangers of silence and the power and courage of finally speaking up. I’d be interested to know if Professor Scroggins has read the book. When I taught English and had a large classroom library, this book was a mainstay on my shelf. Plus, Lifetime made it into a movie, so it HAS to be good, right?! The Green Bean Teen Queen said it better than I did.
This isn’t related to anything, but I am pretty sure this dog and my cat are related.
Have a great weekend! See you Monday.
P.S. If you liked this post, you might also like:
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8 Comments so far
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the complete irony in the whole SPEAK situation is that it’s made the news and more and more people are going out and reading it. if i was a teen from that area, i’d go and buy it just to see what the hoopla was about. there’s nothing like banning to bring MORE attention to a book. The publisher put out a full ad in the NYT today about the book.
By the time we have endured the heat of our summers I’m always ready for autumn as well. Cool nights and days just warm enough to be able to wear long pants and sleeves again.
See here in Colorado, fall lasts at least three weeks… And then it’s winter winter winter until April. So I am kinda sad to see summer leave. But glad that the trees will change color and I’ll be able to hit the slopes here soon! The only bad part of winter is that it is cold. Which means cold football games… But still
.I’m so glad you got awards at the confrence! 
Thanks for the shout-out Jenny!:)
And Deborah-our library hold lists are growing for all three books that were challenged and we have people of all ages that want to read the book! There’s nothing like banning a book to get people to read it!
Seriously, I KNOW what you mean about Banana Republic this year. I have no idea what they’re doing right now, but I miss the BR from 2 years ago.
Congrats on the awards!
I just heard Speak and Twenty Boy Summer are back on the shelves, but Slaughterhouse Five is still being reviewed I think. We actually got surveys for the school district (I think it was planned to send them out that week a long time ago- it just so happened to be the same week all this controversy blew up over it) and I made sure to put an extra sheet of comments (as was encouraged) on the banning. I also wrote to the superintendent as a concerned parent. I feel somewhat responsible since this guy is actually from my town, and it’s my school district.
But we just need to keep speaking up, and I think it’s helping!
Congrats on the awards! It looks like it was a total Oscars moment (without the getting played off). The Speak banning is just crazy. I find it so frustrating when people do things like that in the name of Christianity.
I can’t keep “Speak” on my high school library shelves. I have more on order as I type. The kids find the story even more fascinating when I tell them it’s based on events at one of our local high schools. The professor is obviously a nut who has not been around teens and their “issues” in a LONG while.
The dog reminds me of my cat. I’m not sure why she thinks she can dig to China from the bathtub, but if it keeps her entertained, then I’m happy.
Congratulations on your awards!!
Awesome post Jenny