Weeding old library collections reveals a lot about what books were being written, sold, and bought for consumption by children through the efforts of supposedly well-meaning adults. Looking at the frightening titles of the dribble of the 1980s provides a view of tweens and teens as up to no good and quite menacing. Titles like "Vandalism: A Crime of Immaturity" brings to mind that this is just a teen crime, and not having bothered to read the book, in all fairness, perhaps the author said or suggested that some immature minds over the age of 21 do exist. I just know that personally I have removed so many of these books based on the fact that the title alone seems to promote poor self-esteem.
The book industry, and everything else attached to it, has a lot of power that while perhaps only subconsciously aware of its effects, exerts a lot of influence which is not always positive. I would hate to be a child with a whole social science section full of horrendous teen possibilities. I don't find nuclear warfare, toxic waste, global warming or terrorism comforting, but these topics seem less focused on a particular generation. It's a sad commentary on our culture and its interaction with our own youth.
Having said this, some of what comes up so disturbingly cannot be blamed on the book industry. A title that I would not have cringed at a month ago caused me great distress due to a recent local crime, which has been exerting its effect upon me more than Goldilocks smoking on my sofa. "The Ma and Pa Murders and Other Perfect Crimes," is thankfully old, and even though Lizzie Borden went on to jump rope ditty fame and has fascinated many, this book doesn't need to be here at this particular point in time.
On a lighter note: The unlocked display case outside the library has a display featuring my newsletter with the recipes to go with the Students Across the Seven Seas series. Given the lack of a lock, a little mild vandalism, if we need to use that word, has been going on, and it is starting to resemble an ofrenda offering of a Day of the Dead alter with delicacies like half-eaten energy bars and an occasional expletive directed to, heaven-forbid, the librarian, who probably said not to eat in the library. Could it be that vandalism is another form of free-speech protected by the Bill of Rights? I think so, even if my occupation is there as an object of derision.
Personally, I'm thinking of going with the flow, and making a multi-cultural ofrenda and just pile some more favorite foods in there, and open it as a snack bar. I even thought of putting in some incense sticks, but then I remembered Goldilocks.
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