To the Editor:
I read Jonathan Wilder’s brilliant letter of support for our library and its staff earlier this morning and my response was, “Why didn’t I say that?”
Not having said it first, I submit this LTE [Letter to the Editor] as my own corollary to his statements.
We live on Library Lane and either Christina or I will usually have some reason to stop by the library each day, sometimes just to speak with one of Phoebe’s superhero(ine) team members.
I stopped by yesterday to provide a little encouragement and ask how they were “holding it together”? Before I got to Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row” or Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” the librarian “shushed” me and provided some assurance with a quote from one of America’s First Ladies: “When they go low, we go high.”
In 2005, that same First Lady’s husband said to the ALA [American Library Association]: “The moment we persuade a child, any child, to cross that threshold into a library, we’ve changed their lives forever, and for the better. This is an enormous force for good.”
Julie and Nikki: keep up the great work!
Sincerely,
Thomas D. Gotowka,
Old Lyme.
It’s nice to see a positive letter in support of the library staff. Very different than Jonathan Wilder’s letter.
Oh dear,I am not too sure about what I wrote,in support of the OLPGN Library,that was not positive.As a private citizen and observer of events within the borders of Old Lyme,one cannot help but comment on said events as well as the motivations of those setting the events in motion.The efforts being made to censor certain books and materials at our town’s library are simply this:A small group of conservative/religious minded parents who have decided to make decisions about what is good for everyone else’s children and how smart,or not,those children are to process the information being offered.They are using a very small yardstick with which to judge children,tweens and teens in general.Perhaps any negativity in my writing stems from the fact that in order to make a point one must often hold up a mirror to someone else’s face.Reflections are very telling.This latest tempest in town has serious reflections of the “Parents Music Resource Center” movement from the middle part of the 1980s.For those of you too young to remember,basically it was a group of well-heeled adults who seemed shocked by the lyrics of many then popular rock songs and videos.They wished to create a body of like minded souls whose job it was to listen to each record then assign a rating to it.What was unsaid was how easily such music could then be banned.Here in town there seems to be a push by a small group to achieve something on a more local scale.Is this is a deep need to feel empowered,egged on by organs such as Fox News,or maybe these misguided souls just have a problem with sex?
There has been a steady flow of adults into the town library recently to peruse the “questionable materials”.I applaud anyone who has the guts to walk into any library seeking knowledge and finding it.A library is a temple of learning with a dedicated staff to help you find it.Perhaps some of these adults will learn something new about sexuality from reading the books under review and add it to their own lives.Far fewer people on planet Earth have been hurt after reading the Kama Sutra than reading the Bible.Sexual ignorance leads to sexual misconduct.
Our town’s library is a very special place for me and has been since the early 1970s and I will go to great lengths to defend them and their stated mission in our lives.My own parents were ignorant,racist and admired the Nazis.Having access to this library and its volumes of books saved me from a similar fate.I have heard the worst words from peoples mouths and found that the best way to counter them was through reading many,many books and becoming a more enlightened.Life is much easier the smarter you are.
You were very positive and supportive, Jonathan.
And your last paragraph was nothing short of inspiring.
Cicero said “If you have a library and a garden, you have everything you need”.