Banned Books Week

Hi all!

This week has been pretty killer - I had my first all-nighter of the semester and a bunch of quizzes, and I got all my paperwork in order for my on-campus job as a marketing intern.

Nothing too exciting has happened since my last post, but in English this week my teacher told us about something called Banned Books Week, a national week that celebrates free speech and free expression by bringing attention to censorship. Upon reading up on the list of books that were/are banned in various places across the country, I was shocked:

The Great Gatsby
Their Eyes Were Watching God (this is my FAVORITE book of all time, so needless to say I'm outraged)
The Catcher in the Rye
The Scarlet Letter
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Fahrenheit 451 (Considering the plot, this is just plain ironic)
Moby Dick
Where The Wild Things Are
The Hunger Games  (I know not everyone likes it (I personally do!), but banning it?! It turns out that people see anti-ethnic sentiments in it. I don't understand it either.)

And all of these are only a few. It's truly ridiculous. Almost all of the ones I listed (and even more in the actual list) are novels that have shaped this country, and if a small group of people had their way, then we might never have had the opportunity to experience them. In my English class we're currently in the middle of a "banned book" - Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, a fantastic piece of literature that has a lot to say about the human condition.

BB Week is officially September 30th until October 6th, but CNU had a read-in this past Thursday, Sept. 27th. People showed up to read banned book, and could even stand up and share their favorite passages. I was unable to attend at the very last minute, but have friends who went and loved it. Regardless, I'm glad that banned books week exists and that I know about it. I absolutely love what it represents, and I knew I had to share with you guys!