Judy Blume’s Film Debut: “Tiger Eyes” Hits the Big Screen June 7

Maybe it was Forever. Perhaps it was Are you there God, it’s Me, Margaret? It could have been Deenie or even Tiger Eyes. Chances are that if you went through puberty since the 1970s, you learned something from one of Judy Blume’s real, relatable and enduring books.

And now, for the first time ever, one of those works is being made into a feature film…and it wasn’t easy. Tiger Eyes will simultaneously hit big screens, iTunes and on-demand on June 7.

The film’s director, Judy’s son Lawrence Blume, described the difficulties of finding a distributor to back the film:

“What shocked me was that a big -segment of the business knew who Judy Blume was but they didn’t understand who she was…

While Hollywood was deep in the throes of its love affair with YA—thanks to Harry Potter and Twilight—Tiger Eyes didn’t fit its template. It was a movie about real teenagers dealing with real problems: no magic, no thrilling danger, no fangs. It didn’t have a big producer backing it, nor was there an A-list star attached.”

The Guardian UK published a great article about the impact of Judy Blume on generations of young people and the history of censorship of her works. They called us and asked about Judy and why she is so frequently banned:

“Bullying, menstruation and questioning whether God exists; for some segments of the American population that is too much,” said Joan Bertin, NCAC Executive Director. “They think that kids should just be given a nice story.”

Because Davey and the other characters drink and have sexual feelings, Tiger Eyes has been challenged in school libraries in Indiana and Wyoming and banned in Hanover, PA and across the state of Louisiana.

Watch the trailer, get your tickets and spread the word!

Tiger Eyes – Trailer from Tashmoo Productions on Vimeo.

Anne Frank (and all her parts) Will Stay in Northville Schools

A reconsideration committee in Northville, Michigan, voted to retain Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl after it was challenged by a mother of a middle schooler who called the book “pornographic.”

In a letter to the community, Assistant Superintendent Bob Behnke wrote that “the committee felt strongly that a decision to remove the use of ‘Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl – The Definitive Edition’ as a choice within this larger unit of study would effectively impose situational censorship by eliminating the opportunity for the deeper study afforded by this edition.”

Right on!

Over at The Huffington Post, Dr. Logan Levkoff rails against the lack of information about sex, masturbation and the body that could lead a student to be “uncomfortable” with Anne’s descriptions of her own anatomy.

Ta-Ta to Texas Ethnic Studies Bills, May We Never Meet Again

Librotraficantes and their allies are dancing over the legislative grave of Texas HB1938, which sought to limit which courses university students could take to fulfill state history requirements. After impressive advocacy efforts on the part of Tony Diaz and Los Librotraficantes, the bill is indefinitely stalled in the Calendars committee.

HB1938 and its Senate counterpart, SB1128, were the more subtle cousins to the Arizona law banning ethnic studies in that state. If passed, the Texas bills would have made it impossible for college students to take women’s or ethnic history courses to fulfill graduation requirements, ensuring that fewer students would be able to take those courses  and they would eventually be boxed our of the curriculum.

 

School Counselor Who Defended ‘Family Book’ Honored by GLSEN

In honor of National Teachers Appreciation Day, the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) has honored Matt Beck, a school counselor in Erie, Illinois, with its 2013 Educator of the Year Award. Matt showed impressive courage and resolve in the face of censorship of LGBTQ materials, including Todd Parr’s The Family Book, in his school in Erie in the spring of 2012.

His work was instrumental in continuing the conversation about these materials in the community, even after they had been removed by school officials.

From GLSEN:

“The Educator of the Year award recognizes an exceptional education professional who has enriched his or her community by ensuring that all students, particularly lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students, are safe from bullying and harassment. The award honors an educator who works not only to ensure safety, but impacts measurable change that is visible within that person’s school district and community.”

Great job, Matt! And a great big ‘thank you’ to all teachers who work closely with us on censorship issues around the country, sometimes at great personal or professional risk.

Fla. Teens Write on the Dangers of Book-Burning

For the last few months, the West Palm Beach Library Foundation in Florida has been hosting the travelling exhibition Banned and Burned: Literary Censorship and the Loss of Freedom from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. In addition, the Library asked students in the area to make their voices heard in their first-ever essay contest. The theme? Literary censorship.

The Library Foundation recently celebrated the winners at an awards ceremony in West Palm Beach. The first-place winner in the 11th and 12th grade category was Brady Alter, while Savannah Rodgers placed second. In the 9th and 10th grade category, Tyler Perry placed first and Lauren Gayosos won second place.

Farewell, Edward de Grazia

Edward de Grazia, a lawyer, professor, playwright and staunch defender of free speech died on April 11 at the age of 86. de Grazia represented famed banned writers Arthur Miller, William S. Burroughs, and Normal Mailer among others and served as counsel on important cases which ultimately led the Supreme Court to loosen restrictions on obscenity.

The obscene, Mr. de Grazia argued, was subjective: what would be deemed obscene by one could be considered as “pure as mountain snow to another.”

Thank you, Edward de Grazie, for your work on behalf of “morally defiant artists.” You will be missed.

 

Texas Day of Action 4/26: Fight for Ethnic Studies!

Right now the Texas state legislature is considering a bill that would require college students to take the equivalent of two semesters of “courses providing a comprehensive survey in American History” in order to graduate. One of the two semesters could be Texan History. The new bill is evidently a “reinforcement” of a 1971 law mandating students take six hours of American history.

While the legislation makes no mention of ethnic studies, Mexican-American studies, Women’s Studies, African-American Studies or the like, its not hard to see that it follows on the heels of Arizona’s law banning ethnic studies in that state.

It also follows on the heels of a January 2013 report on U.S History courses at Texas A&M and UT by the National Association of Scholars, “Recasting History: Are Race, Class and Gender Dominating American History?” Spoiler: their answer is yes.

Sen. Dan Patrick has defended his bill, saying that “the simple purpose of SB 1128 is to be sure that our core curriculum in history represents a comprehensive understanding of our history in areas of the economy, politics, war and other significant events that have helped shape our past and who we are today.”

While not an outright ban, the bill signifies an unnecessary level involvement of legislators in matters of curriculum and serves to restrict education and exploration by boxing out ethnic studies. There is a real fear that if such courses no longer count toward degree requirements in the state of Texas, enrollment will drop, courses will be cut, teachers moved around to teach mandated survey classes and the subjects will decline.

What’s more, it is based on an presupposition that there is a central “American history” — – a shared American mythology — and that there are secondary, lesser histories.  The histories of migrant workers, women, former slaves however are not different from “American history” — they are one in the same.

As UT Austin stated after the NAS report was published: “The report attempts to isolate race, class and gender as something distinct and separate from other areas of study, when in fact they are intrinsic to these other areas.”

The question of what students should be required to learn at the university level is a tough, legitimate question. The value and drawbacks of a broad survey course could and should be debated by educators, academics and students. Such a course certainly could be constructed in a comprehensive way, focusing not only on “economy, politics, war” as Sen. Patrick would prescribe. But that is not within the scope or aim of state legislators or this bill.

Stand up with Los Librotraficantes and other activists on Friday, April 26 in Texas and beyond and spread the word! Learn more here.