Papa’s got a brand new bag..

So, several weeks ago I put out some feelers to see if I could extend my random musings into a paying gig. No, not with advertising here, though I suppose that’s a viable option. Nah, who wants to sell out this early in the game, well, unless they offered me oodles of money. Rather, I used my trusty Google capabilities and found several online and offline publications that were looking for writers. Funnily enough, to be a freelance writer for offline magazines you have to first have a portfolio of experience, sigh, how I hate catch-22’s. Still, the wonderful world wide web is not always so picky, so long story short I’ve heard back from two of them, one is still considering (whether my random ways fit their publication no doubt), the other picked me up and now, hmm, I have even less time in my day.

Isn’t life grand, you get what you want and sometimes have that “why did I want this” moment, especially if I’m picked up by several more sites. Nevertheless, I do enjoy writing and it IS truly something I want, so, woohoo! One step closer to possibly someday writing my own column and a bit of pay along the way never hurts. Life is grand.

Links to my first two articles:

♦ Does God tweet?, and to Digg it.
♦ Haiti: our neighbor in the midst of hardship

That is all.

Read more: Banned Books Week

     Dr. Quinn

What does Google and your local library have in common? They are both taking a stand in favor of freedom, against the tyrannies of censorship and the nazi-like practices of book burning (or banning). Google celebrates with libraries across the world by launching their “Celebrate Your Freedom to Read” Page.

Moreover, Google has added to that page a list of what they consider to be the best of the best of books that were challenged in the 20th century. In addition, they’ve highlighted books that have been challenged this year and like me have added a link to the American Library Association’s “Banned Books Week” Page. To which I’ve added Wiki’s list of banned books and their list of most commonly challenged books in the United States.

             photo taken by Mara Cota

   Taken from Google itself, who tells us to explore banned books:

Catch-22. A Farewell to Arms. Of Mice and Men. Hailed as literary classics, it’s hard to believe that there are hundreds of attempts each year to remove these and other great books from schools and libraries. In fact, according to the American Library Association, 42 of 100 books recognized by the Radcliffe Publishing Course as the best novels of the 20th century have been challenged or banned.

Google Books is our effort to expand the universe of books you can discover, and we’re proud to join libraries and bookstores across the country in celebrating Banned Books Week – a nationwide initiative to help people learn about and explore banned books.

   And from the mouths of a few great men:

“Censorship ends in logical completeness when nobody is allowed to read any books except the books that nobody reads.” – George Bernard Shaw

“Censorship is telling a man he can’t have a steak just because a baby can’t chew it.” – Mark Twain

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.” – Oscar Wilde

“All these people talk so eloquently about getting back to good old-fashioned values. Well, as an old poop I can remember back to when we had those old-fashioned values, and I say let’s get back to the good old-fashioned First Amendment of the good old-fashioned Constitution of the United States — and to hell with the censors! Give me knowledge or give me death!”
– Kurt Vonnegut, author

“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.”
–Winston Churchill

“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.”
– Harry S. Truman, message to Congress, August 8, 1950

“We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasent facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
– John F. Kennedy. Remarks made on the 20th anniversary of the Voice of America at H.E.W. Auditorium, February 26, 1962

“Don’t join the book burners. Don’t think you are going to conceal thoughts by concealing evidence that they ever existed.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower, speech at Dartmouth College, June 14, 1953

“The dirtiest book of all is the expurgated book.” – Walt Whitman

   Digg it.