My boy builds coffins.

Boo. I'm feeling down in the dumps. The house feels big and lonely without that little cat in it when I get home. Last night I sat around at home. My class decided to meet online instead of in the classroom, so I was stuck sitting around the house more than I normally would on a Tuesday evening. I cleaned a little bit more around the house, and I started listening to music, which is a constant in my life normally, but when I get really sad, I don't listen so much. So, I tried to listen to some music. But I woke up this morning with "My Boy Builds Coffins" stuck in my head, and I realized my choice in music last night was probably not the healthiest. I should probably throw on something a little less maudlin.

Class was interesting last night, even though it was online. I stuffed my face with goldfish crackers the whole time and nearly choked once when the teacher suddenly asked me a question about censorship in libraries and I had to respond quickly. That's one of my issues with online classes: I become a multi-tasker and I'm not really the best at multi-tasking. It's hard for me to sit in front of the computer and just listen to a voice come through the speakers. So, I tend to snack or halfway watch a movie or surf the internet while listening. It just doesn't work out for me because I just don't pay attention. But, since I find this class really interesting and I didn't really want to focus on my empty house around me, I was paying more attention than usual last night. We got into quite the censorship discussion, although it was mostly on the topic of challenged books, I guess. The removal of books from libraries because of a patron complaint. It's going on right now in Blue Springs, Missouri, where a high school freshman read the book "Hold Still" and she shared the story with her parents, who then got upset and challenged the library, and the book has been removed. I think that fight is not over, because librarians in general have a problem with removing books because of a parent's challenge. Or any challenge, for that matter.  I looked that book up on Goodreads and it seems like everyone liked the book, there was nothing on there by those who had read it to say it wasn't a good book or that they found it offensive in any way. I have a personal opinion that many times, the challenges come from people who never read the book that they're requesting be removed. In schools, especially. Maybe the parents just overhear what the kids say the story is about, or maybe they read one or two pages in the middle somewhere and decide it's not suitable for their child. It's not the librarian's fault that a child is reading a book that the parent doesn't want the child to read. It is part of a parent's job to watch what their kids are reading, but requesting that no child be allowed to read a book that you don't want your child reading always makes me queasy. There are better ways to handle your child reading and sharing a book with you that you feel uncomfortable talking about than deciding that you want to deny this book to all children.

I am totally against the removal of a book in a library that is in the collection if it falls within the collection development parameters of that library, and is often circulated, etc. But last night my teacher made a point that I had never really thought of before and that is that librarians are often so into protecting the right to read and immediately want to throw down with any patron who dares to challenge any book in the library, that we can get pretty high and mighty about it. Most patron challenges in a public library are not taken all that seriously. Librarians provide forms for patrons to fill out when they want a book to be removed for whatever reason. Often though, this a total front to just pacify the angry patron. It also serves as fodder for jokes. My professor last night brought up this point to show that these challenges do need to be taken seriously because librarians are always removing books from the collection. Always. Weeding is a constant chore for librarians, but we want to be the ones to choose what is removed, we don't want to bow down to a patron request for removal. But, maybe the challenged book doesn't actually fit with the collection development policy in place. Maybe it really shouldn't be in the collection. It is a good point. You don't want to give in to someone who wants to censor reading in a public library, or a school library, or anywhere. Just as a matter of pride, you don't want to give in to that person. You don't want to remove a book that is popular because one person finds it offensive. It's a public library for a reason and it can't become the library of Joe Smith, who doesn't want anything on witchcraft or homosexuality in his library. And despite the fact that most public libraries are supported by tax dollars that are paid by the patrons who use it, that doesn't mean that the patrons have the right to decide what is in it or not. It really doesn't...Sorry. However, challenges should be taken seriously and actually looked at and reviewed to make sure that book was selected following the policies in place. (It would still really gall me, though, to have to remove a book from a library if the challenge was something that I completely thought was ridiculous. I would probably want to write some sort of Librarian's Rebuttal or something in response to the challenge. Kind of like the dissenting opinion in a Supreme Court case.)

So, that discussion at least got me thinking of things other than how lonely my house is. I did think of all the things I can do now though. Like cook or do yoga. Those were always a little tough with Iris around. She was my [messy] shadow and being the kitchen was her domain and you had to watch your step. Yoga was difficult because she LOVED it when you were on the floor because suddenly she could be all over you because she couldn't jump up on things, so suddenly she had free reign to headbutt you while you were trying to do yoga and hold some pose. It didn't work so well.