Walt Whitman, a homosexual poet

Golda Meir, Israeli head of state, and obviously Jewish

Sarah Winnemucca, (I had to look her up) the first Native American woman to secure a copyright and publish in English

Igor Stravinsky , the Russian composer

Albert Einstein, physicist who while supposedly a pacifist lobbied FDR to build an atomic bomb and drop it on Germany, the nation of his birth

Sappho, writer of Sapphic (lesbian) poetry (she was not actually lesbian, but if you tell a lesbian that, you are likely to get a black eye) 

J. D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye, a novel about an alienated teenage male

 

It is as if someone is saying that to be noteworthy, you cannot be a heterosexual white Christian male, or if you are, you have to trash your own culture in your writings (Salinger). Shakespeare, for example, is not represented. 

 

In response to Eric, in regards to Salinger, I have on a previous occasion rallied to his defense and must do so once more. I wrote then, that the main character in his book:

… hates the “phoniness” that surrounds him in the world. I find this a perfect analogy to the lies upon which modern liberalism is built. He is constantly slapped down by his life experiences, which can be compared to the frustration that a traditionalist feels at having to deal with the “pop” culture that is just unavoidable today and permeates everything. His ultimate desire is to protect children while they play in a field of rye, from falling over an invisible cliff (hence the title). I found that a very powerful scene in the book. It occurs only in the mind of this hapless character, never in the reality of the narrative. When I picture it, it seems to me to be almost Arcadian. There is a lot of yearning, nostalgia and a love of one’s people in that book that I, as a conservative, really enjoyed.

Of course, the book is intended to be written in the narrative style of a pubescent boy, and can therefore be a powerful commentary on the degradations of liberal society if that boy’s though-lines and vocabulary represent his social milieu: just because the book represents this, doe not mean that it endorses it. If one is looking for Wordsworth or Shakespeare, one can go to Wordsworth or Shakespeare. Salinger is offering something entirely different and I believe many people on the right have misunderstood its significance and value. 

I will however concur that for a fresco that proposes great literary personas of English literature, those represented certainly do not represent the best hearts and minds of the language. However, I find often that such criticisms overflow into open hostility against those who, while not necessarily being literary geniuses, should not be thrown into the dustbin either.

Jill F. writes:

The thread on libraries was encouraging to me primarily because I have been getting depressed every time I go to the library and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It’s true, that libraries have been hijacked by those who are not true literary lovers nor do they understand children. We’ve moved a lot over the years and have always made visiting the library one of our first stops in our new community. In the past 15 moves or so we have found one really wonderful children’s librarian who had, not only an abiding love of a well-written childrens literature but a deep affinity for children themselves. The librarian is a dying breed.

Also, I don’t know if this is done across the board but many of the libraries we visit have a twice a year library sale where the wonderful classics and “outdated” books are sold off for a song. You see, in order to get “funding” for new books, the library has to spend this years funds whether they are needed or not. So, the book buyers (who are they…can I be one?) often have to quickly decide which books to spend the money on and, just as quickly decide, how to make room for all these new books…thus, a library sale is crucial to make room for the new.

I’ve known schools and libraries who, in an effort not to lose their “funding” quickly buy up brand new books and stack them away in the basement where they are never used. Astonishing. The schools where this occurs often promote reading with posters and contests…why not give the students their own copies of interesting books to take home and enjoy?

But, back to the sale. Every year (or several times a year) my family and I visit the library during its sale. I dole out a few quarters and dollars to my offspring and remind them that our bookshelves at home are full to bursting and so each child just needs to pick two or three books. I reckon without the solid literature base I have fed these children on since infancy, however, and soon I am hearing their cries from across the sale tables, “Mom, they’re selling off the Carol Ryrie Brink books! Oh my gosh…how can they get rid of those?” and,”Oh, look it’s an entire set of the Harvard Classics and they haven’t even been cracked open!.” By the end of the day, I find myself joining my children in lugging bag upon bag of excellent books out of the library. We call ourselves “the Underground” and worry about the really good books which are discarded because they aren’t on this years best sellers list. And we go home gloating over our good fortune and we read.

Mabel LeBeau writes:

For my family, The Public Library, like the The Public School System, has always been a community tax-payer supported facility with which to develop an active relationship.

By the time I’d moved away from home, married, and was paying regular visits to library as a parent, books had emerged in a tremendous variety with incredible use of color and clear, accurate photographs. The focus of early visits with my first son was on non-fiction factually-correct enticements. After he learned to read “The Cat in the Hat”, and “Where is my Mother?”, the emphasis was on logic, linguistics, and comprehension. We tried a different approach with my second son as we had purchased a set of encyclopedias, and he learned to read by himself. On a topic, we would look for as many interesting books as we could at his reading level, and there was no shortage through the library and statewide inter-library loan. Many a Friday afternoon found our whole family in the library reading room before suppertime. That was not always the case. For two years we lived in a small town which did not support a public library and we had to pay an annual fee to use the county-seat’s main library which was not well-funded, frequently in disrepair and lacked sadly in selection of books for children.

As so much of our tax payments go to budget for innovation, and maintaining public entities, citizens should have an opinion (and responsibility) to respond to availability and the accessibility of library items to the patrons.

As for the librarians, as a parent, I’ve never been inclined to simply ‘drop my kid off at the library’ to carry on with errands or other business. Whether or not the library volunteers can be characterized as ‘hip’ or ‘trendy’ or working on court-ordered volunteer hours, they tend to be stationed at the check-out desk, or filing away books on the shelves.

In selecting books to take on trips, it has been a habit to go online to book review sites or to the library or new book stores to look for suggestion for anthologies and new books, then hit up used bookstores or regularly scheduled used book sales. (In our area several large used book sales held at the public library net large profits for the community as the proceeds immediately benefit our libraries in new book purchases.) Quality and selection of used books requires diligence, and a pre-set idea of what to look for in the dusty shop, as they are often stocked with a plethora of specific genres catering to a certain readership.

Current library budget cutbacks limit hours of operation, which ultimately leads to the demise of the facility known as the public library, as information and literature becomes more accessible in different venues. However, for now, the library and schools in my community are considered jewels for safekeeping.