In rebuilding the site, I ran across lots of old tidbits. I’ll eventually go mining into the archives for select past blog posts (like Batman in Brazil) unless we find an easy way to restore all of them. But for now, if I run across something intriguing I’ll toss it into the pile as we re-build content.
So here are my reflections for a Banned Book Week essay I was asked to write a while back. This and other bits can be found in the Ken on the Web section of the site.
“Whenever Banned Book Week comes around I feel a bit of a jolt as my past revisits me and reminds me just where I come from and how far I’ve traveled. You see, I once favored banning books. I thought that controlling the ideas people were exposed to – and the thoughts and feelings those might evoke — was not just prudent but necessary in order to keep the world on track…especially by keeping our children safe from what I perceived as dangerous. And back around 1982, I even joined the ranks of the frightened, ignorant and narrow-minded by actually burning some books. I got better.
This is how it happened….”