Somehow, I missed this news when it originally came out. I certainly didn’t recognize the name, and this is definitely a name that more people should recognize.

Judith F. Krug died earlier this month of stomach cancer. According to articles in the New York Times and Wikipedia, she led campaigns by libraries to fight the banning of books, and later fought efforts to limit children’s access to the internet. She even fought to guarantee access to books that she herself found offensive. The NYT article talks about The Blue Book of the ultraconservative John Birch Society. She said:

“Library service in this country should be based on the concept of intellectual
freedom, of providing all pertinent information so a reader can make decisions
for himself.”

In 1982, she helped to found Banned Books Week – something I celebrate every year – bringing attention to all sorts of books that the narrow-minded have attempted to ban.

I admit that I was not familiar with Ms. Krug until I read the article in the NYT and I am sorry about that. This is a woman I would have liked to know – I certainly respect her policy positions and I am grateful that there are people like her who are willing to fight for free access to information.

Recently, I reviewed Rubber Side Down: The Biker Poetry Anthology. I recently a lovely email follow-up from Marc Goldfinger – author of one of my favorite poems in the book, “The State Trooper & the Biker Get Tested.” I mentioned that Marc is a substance abuse counselor and he told me a little about his work.

Marc has written a book called Essays On Major Mental Illness with A Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder or What Came First: The Chicken or The White Horse. The book is available through an organization called Give Us Your Poor – a group that is working to end homelessness in America.

The book is a little outside my areas of expertise, but Marc is obviously dedicated to this cause and brings a lot of life experience to this issue. You can get more information on the book at their website.

I want to send a big THANK YOU out to Nancy Johnston at Read Street. It’s a great book blog with all kinds of book news – I stop in regularly and I found out today that I won a book! I am really looking forward to reading Christopher Moore’s Fool and I am thrilled to be a winner.

Starting today, I will be writing a weekly book review column for a great website called When Falls the Coliseum. I am really thrilled about the opportunity to write with this talented group of people. I will still be posting regularly here, but I hope you’ll all stop in and wish me good luck at my new digs! My first post – an expanded version of my review of The Strain – went up this morning, so stop by and check it out!

Happy Birthday, Mr. Darwin!

This is certainly a good place to remember the birthday of a man who wrote one of the most influential books in history – certainly one of the books that has caused the most controversy.

I had hoped to be a part of Blog for Darwin, but it’s just been impossible to get much done on the road this week. Instead, I will encourage you to check out the links at Blog for Darwin and celebrate one of the great thinkers of our time.

On a more personal note, I have never truly understood the problem that some people have with evolution. My father, a devout Catholic, explained it to me this way when I was a child: God created man, but we don’t know anything about his creation process. Perhaps everything began with God stirring his finger in the intergalactic soup that formed the galaxies and eventually our Earth. Perhaps his creation process included protozoa and amphibians and dinosaurs and men, the way that a loaf of bread requires mixing and kneading and rising and baking. Just because we have begun to discern some of the steps does not make the process any less miraculous. It’s not like you or I could do it.

There are some great links out there to read today, and I may be adding some here as the day goes on. I’ve already suggested Blog for Darwin, and check out my pal Phyl’s posts over at Bookishgal – a little about Darwin and more about On the Origin of Species.

An online pal of mine decided that Darwin Day was a great time to restart her blog. Stop and see my mathy friend Mojave over at Non-Standard Deviations to get her take on the day.

So, Happy Birthday, Mr Darwin! You’re an inspiration to free-thinkers everywhere.

I’m sorry that there hasn’t been much new to read here in a while. I’m battling The Cold of the Century, dealing with consultants and emissaries from The Corporate Office and trying to get ready for a 2-week business trip to Europe, so I am behind in my reading and my reviewing. In the next few weeks, you can look for reviews of The Bible Illuminated (a follow-up to my sneak peek), a cookbook called Kosher by Design Lightens Up, Coraline by Neil Gaiman – I finished this one ages ago and have been meaning to post my review. I will also be on the blog tour for Love and Biology at the Center of the Universe, which I have nearly finished and am really enjoying. I hate it when real life intrudes on my reading and blogging!