Just-talking-out-loud

Tomorrow night, I will be teaching a class about censorship in libraries. I am not an expert in this field. However, I might know a thing or two about censorship since my entire childhood and young adult life was surrounded by censorship, consideration for not upsetting or offending anyone, and information must be categories into two acceptable or not acceptable groups. There is nothing in gray area; everything is either black or white. Maybe this is the reason that I self-censor a lot of things. Even this poor blog is not safe from my touch of self-censorship. In preparation for this class, I am reading a lot on the harms of censorship, intellectual freedom, and access to information. I recommend reading "Places I Never Meant to Be: A Personal View. by Judy Blume,. " American Libraries 30.6 (1999): 62-67 Happy Banned Books Week:  http://www.ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek

- I learned you were not using your car regularly when I saw that giant spider web behind the window in the back seat! -- or you learned that I don't clean regularly!

and on Sept 14, 2013, on a beautiful sunny Saturday, this is what they shared with everyone: گـل در بر و می در کف و معشوق به کام است سلـطان جهانـم بـه چـنین روز غلام است گو شـمـع میارید در این جمع که امـشـب در مـجـلـس ما ماه رخ دوست تمام اسـت در مذهـب ما باده حـلال اسـت ولیکـن بی روی تو ای سرو گـل اندام حرام اسـت گوشـم هـمـه بر قول نی و نغمه چنگ است چشمـم همـه بر لعل لب و گردش جام است در مـجـلـس ما عـطر میامیز کـه ما را هر لحظه ز گیسوی تو خوش بوی مشام اسـت از چاشـنی قـند مـگو هیچ و ز شـکر زان رو کـه مرا از لـب شیرین تو کام اسـت تا گـنـج غـمـت در دل ویرانه مقیم اسـت هـمواره مرا کوی خرابات مـقام اسـت از نـنـگ چـه گویی که مرا نام ز ننگ اسـت وز نام چـه پرسی که مرا ننـگ ز نام اسـت میخواره و سرگـشـتـه و رندیم و نـظرباز وان کس که چو ما نیست در این شهر کدام است با محـتـسـبـم عیب مـگویید کـه او نیز پیوسـتـه چو ما در طلب عیش مدام اسـت حافـظ مـنـشین بی می و معشوق زمانی کایام گـل و یاسـمـن و عید صیام اسـت English translation:  (Hafez Ghazal 01 Section 46) Amidst flowers, wine in hand, my...

I mean office politics and how naive I am not knowing how to navigate it all. Why people can't be just who they are or can't show who they are. If you are pushing an agenda because you think that is the most important thing in the world, just be frank about it....so many phone calls and emails...so many talking to this person and that person.