• Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact
HEN HOUSE PUBLISHING
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact

Hens Lay Eggs

food for thought

Censorship revisited via the DNF

12/31/2019

 
In 1497, Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola inspired the populace of Florence, Italy to burn their vanities. He was not the first to attempt to impose his ideas of what was right and good upon the people. Since history began, regimes and religions have sought to direct and restrain ideas and thinking by controlling what people read and see. Many classic books schools now often require students to read include formerly banned books.

Digging a little more deeply into Monday's LinkedIn post on this subject, I repeat the opinion that censorship is alive and well, even in the USA today. The general concept of censorship hinges upon the idea of access to words and ideas being restricted by an outside authority or force. With the capabilities afforded by social media, people today exercise even more thorough censorship upon themselves.

We use social media to filter the news we receive so that contradictory ideas and controversial concepts might disturb us. We're happy in our little ruts of thought; change and expansion hurt. Echoes of our own opinions and convictions validate them and comfort us. I'm guilty of that and so are you.

One easy and frequent method by which we exercise self-censorship is through the DNF ("did not finish") of the books downloaded to our e-readers. We justify deleting unfinished books from our e-readers because of poor writing, poor storytelling, disjointed or nonsensical plots, factual errors, displeasing protagonists, or abhorrent themes. Some readers cannot and do not tolerate explicitly sexual material. Others clutch their pearls when faced with profanity. Disappointed or appalled readers self-censor their reading by removing offending material from their e-readers and then attempt to dissuade others from those same books by leaving reviews warning potential readers of the objectionable or lackluster material. I'm guilty of that and so are you.

In short, we hope to influence others to our ways of thinking even as we protect our own fragile minds from the material that disturbs, disgusts, or offends us.

That said, I do not consider every book I download and open to be worth my time. My time is valuable and my limited leisure time even more so. It's mine to do with as I wish, just as yours is. We exercise choice which lends itself to self-censorship.

To make self-censorship palatable and at least rational, one must engage in critical thinking to evaluate the verbiage dumped into our minds. A former coworker once accused me of being close-minded. An open mind is like a ditch, it accepts everything that falls into it, I rebutted. I have filters. I judge the ideas and words flung at me and then decide whether they're worth keeping. Not ever idea has worth. Not every concept withstands critical evaluation. Some we accept anyway, because they entertain us or make us feel good or for whatever other reason. As long as we know why we accept such things, we understand the influence they may (or may not) have upon our thoughts and actions. Those we determine as unworthy and unacceptable, we toss, but it's important that we know why we discard them.

Humans mostly make decisions with their emotions or gut feelings. We are not always, mostly, or even necessarily rational creatures. Like our pets, we prefer comfort and toss into the bonfires of our vanities that which discomforts us.

What are we discarding that, perhaps, we ought to reconsider keeping?

Making resolutions

12/27/2019

 

MFRW 52-week Blog Challenge Participants #MFRWAuthor 

As stated in previous blog posts, I don't make New Year's resolutions. There's something inherently wrong about revolving to do something in the dead of winter when all I want to do is hibernate. I'm certainly not in any mood to promise to do something (or not do something).

For those who don't know, January is derived from Janus, the Roman god of entrances and exits. He's considered a two-faced god. In fact, it was Julius Caesar--yes, that Roman emperor--who decreed January 1 as the start of the new calendar year. Of course, January 1 in central and southern Italy isn't quite as dismal as it is in snow country. New Year's Eve and New Year's Day combine to bid goodbye to (exit) the old year and welcome (enter) the new one. We look both forward and backward, toward future and past, in our own version of being two-faced.

Perhaps the two-faced nature of making New Year's resolutions translates into promising oneself to do (or not do) something and then breaking those promises. New Year's resolutions highlight one of the more common and less attractive aspects of humanity.

I don't make New Year's resolutions. Some years I make "spring resolutions." Spring makes more sense to me, because lengthening days and warming weather transform a dismal, brown and gray landscape into one growing green with life and promise.

Happy New Year!
Picture

What's up with children's literature?

12/24/2019

 
I've not felt particularly festive this holiday season, but with time growing short, I finally went Christmas shopping for a nephew Dominick and a grand niece Talia. Because I'm Auntie Karen who always gives the worst gifts, I bought books. (Yeah, I do take pride in that.)

I make the effort to find books that will appeal to the recipients. However, today's blog isn't about the importance of teaching children to read or even to enjoy reading. It's about the type of literature commonly available.

Dominick is around 12 and Talia turns three years old. I discussed with my brother (Dominick's father) as to what he enjoyed reading and learned that Dominick reads at a high level, but doesn't necessarily comprehend what what he just read. He reads the words, but doesn't understand what they mean. "How about a graphic novel?" I asked, thinking of Archie and the Gang comics or the old-fashioned superhero comics. I thought maybe words accompanied by dramatic pictures would help him learn to enjoy reading with the pictures helping him to understand what he read. My brother allowed that a graphic novel might interest his son.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So, let's try.

I headed to Dark Star Bookstore in Yellow Springs, OH. (I love shopping in Yellow Springs.) The bookshelves stocked with graphic novels revealed an interesting array of work, much of which I consider unsuitable for children. Several done in the Japanese manga style read right to left and began at what we in the Western World would consider the back of the book. Some of those looked suitable, but featured female heroines--Ruby ("RWBY") and Zelda--which I wasn't sure would appeal to Dominick. Boys tend to prefer male protagonists in their literary adventures. (I know, because I raised boys.) However, I found another that offered a collection of stories in graphic novel style. It looked along the lines of R. L. Stein's Goosebumps tales.

One present down. One more to go.

I figured Talia would be easier to buy for. Not necessarily ... and here's where the rant begins. With very few exceptions, the literature I found for young children focused on morality tales. Every story beat the child (and the adult reading it) about the head and shoulders with lessons in morality and tolerance.

Don't talk to strangers. Don't judge those who are different. Be kind to others. Share your most prized possessions. Those aren't bad messages, but not everything children read (or is read to them) needs to thump them over the head with public service announcements.

Does no one writing children's literature write just to entertain them? Is engaging a child's imagination and delighting him or her with sing-sing rhythm and delightful absurdity anathema?

What did I find that existed merely for the enjoyment of children? Nursery rhymes and fairy tales. You know, literature from centuries ago.

Talia's only three, so she should like the sing-song rhyming schemes of Mother Goose: "Sing a song of six-pence, pocket full of rye ..." Also being only three--and a girl--I thought that the more simply told fairy tales would appeal to her: The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Puss in Boots. There's no flogging with lessons on morality, just good stories that have entertained people for uncounted generations.

Have we lost sight of the need for just good stories?
<<Previous

    Share!

    Picture

    Author

    Hard boiled, scrambled, over easy, and sunny side up: eggs are the musings of Holly Bargo, the pseudonym for the author.

    Follow
    Karen (Holly)

    Blog Swaps
    View Guest Author Posts
    Looking for a place to swap blogs? Holly Bargo at Hen House Publishing is happy to reciprocate Blog Swaps in 2019.
    For more information: 
    Email Us

    Get Your Copy of
    Hen House Publishing Blog via Email:

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    Categories

    All
    Books By Holly Bargo
    Egg Reviews
    Events
    Guest Author
    Interviews
    Mfrw
    Mfrwauthor
    #MFRWHooks
    Reviews
    #SpringfieldOHBookFair
    Status
    #WinterBookFair

    Share

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

HOME | ABOUT US | SERVICES | PORTFOLIO | TESTIMONIALS | BOOK CATALOG | FREE READS | BLOG | EVENTS | CONTACT
Copyright © 2015 - 2023
  • Home
    • About Us
  • Services
  • Portfolio
    • Ghostwriting
    • Editing
    • Critiques
    • Formatting
    • My Byline
    • Testimonials
  • Free Reads
  • Reviews
  • Events
  • Blog
  • Contact