I remember when music and art were deemed unimportant in the school curriculum, and programs were cut to save money. And then people wondered why kids were on the streets and joining gangs. Music and art and literature feed the human soul and if we don’t nourish our soul, what is left? We don’t just want books because some of us happen to love them, we need books to keep us human.
I am entirely with you. These resources MATTER. And you’re right — they have been cutting back for a long time. We need more books, arts programs, and libraries, not to cut the funding further.
I grew up in a rural community and we had a very small school library. The weekly visit from the Book Mobile was the highlight of the school day. This is breaking my already broken heart.
It’s so hard and heartbreaking. But it’s worth speaking up for. Books matter, and so do the people who read them, write them, and hope to write them in the future. Thank you for sharing!
There’s so much in this piece Caroline, I need to read it again to process…but it speaks so much to inclusion and access over erasure and exclusion and also the worst of our history repeating itself x
It was a hideous direction to go in last century. It's not looking any better this time around. We need to turn the tide. Thank you so much for reading.
I remember when music and art were deemed unimportant in the school curriculum, and programs were cut to save money. And then people wondered why kids were on the streets and joining gangs. Music and art and literature feed the human soul and if we don’t nourish our soul, what is left? We don’t just want books because some of us happen to love them, we need books to keep us human.
I am entirely with you. These resources MATTER. And you’re right — they have been cutting back for a long time. We need more books, arts programs, and libraries, not to cut the funding further.
I grew up in a rural community and we had a very small school library. The weekly visit from the Book Mobile was the highlight of the school day. This is breaking my already broken heart.
I am right there with you. There is a fight to have now, and it’s services and stories like this that will spur us on. 🩷
A sobering post. I shared on FB - the more people are aware the better. Thanks for this. It makes for grim reading …
It’s so hard and heartbreaking. But it’s worth speaking up for. Books matter, and so do the people who read them, write them, and hope to write them in the future. Thank you for sharing!
There’s so much in this piece Caroline, I need to read it again to process…but it speaks so much to inclusion and access over erasure and exclusion and also the worst of our history repeating itself x
It was a hideous direction to go in last century. It's not looking any better this time around. We need to turn the tide. Thank you so much for reading.
Less an action to support/protect libraries, but one to keep books available for young people, the Books Unbanned program: https://www.bklynlibrary.org/books-unbanned
Wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing this here, Sara 🩷
Such an important post! Thanks for writing this.
I've been boiling for ages about this. It felt necessary. Thank you so much for reading.