Fear of Commitment

For more than three years I have avoided the blog culture, fearing that I would start this online conversation and then allow it to languish like those silly digital pets that can "die" if you don't feed them and play with them, then causing me to be overwhelmed by latent (really latent, like another lifetime) Catholic guilt. But alas, in a fit of procrastination, I entered the digital world, cautiously, looking over one shoulder for the naysayer me, and here I am.

About the title: Censorship Causes Blindness is one of the slogans for the American Library Association's campaign against Banned Books. I think it reflects why I teach, how I think, what the world could be if we all were honest with each other and ourselves. If we could see past our ignorance, perhaps we could stumble our way toward enlightenment.

My kids (63 8th graders) start The Giver tomorrow, one of the most frequently challenged or banned books in the United States, but also a book that I consider to be one of the most important in the line of "new" classics. Handing kids this book is one small way I try to change the world: I create questioners. Even if only one reads this book, often in one sitting, voraciously, after I told them not to read ahead (they always do) and then questions, "What about our world?" I have done my job.

So here is my line in the sand, a challenge to myself to not abandon this bit of literary vanity, in an effort to write something that is worth reading.