Happy Bookstore Day.
That's not all.
I needed to add something to what I said yesterday about "grownups" who read, and Young Adult literature, since I'm going to be talking today with a bunch of smart people about books and stuff. And eating cake.
Young Adult literature not only represents an opportunity to catch glimpses of things that lie between the stark fringes of the extremes, but, as an art form (and I'm going to go rinse out my mouth for using that term because I really don't like how condescending and pretentious it sounds) it serves as an expression of a set of cultural values which have not yet been diluted and constrained by bubble-in number-two-pencil tests.
And that's another underlying sentiment that echoes loudly enough beneath the text of all these recent pieces assailing the current state of literature: The specter of Standardization.
The most vocal champions of the all-or-nothing, I-know-what's-good-for-everyone, black-or-white movement are also those who believe that standardizing our youth will allow us to rise up and conquer all our enemies lurking in the shadows, because once kids all think exactly the same and can bubble in standardized math tests with the exact same levels of proficiency, we will arrive at Happy Future Land.
So, naturally, their faith in the religion of standardization is going to bleed over into the arts as well.
Kids, put down your number-2 pencils.
Break them.
Go outside.
Okay.
So... Today is Bookstore Day, and I'm going to be at Vroman's in Pasadena with some amazing authors and book people.
I will bring goods.
And nothing that requires bubble-in contemplation.
Here's all the info on YA in Bloom.
Hope to see you in Pasadena.
4 comments:
I like this. Scratch that. I love it.
It's the homogenization of youth. Few things these days encourage the type of free thinking that makes people exceptional.
Books still have that power, regardless of how they're labeled.
Exactly. It's exactly why the most powerful thing we can do to counter those Wall Street Journal and Huffington Post (and, even to some extent, Slate) people is to carry on and try to live alongside them pleasantly, in much the same way we'd tolerate creepy neighbors who are always snooping over the fence with looks of disapproval because they simply have nothing better to do.
That was a really long sentence.
ripe for emmancipation yet assimilated. say it loud, I'm odd and I'm proud. You gotta keep 'em seperated. i'm downloaded daily. etc etc. It's phrases like these that got me through my teenage years because I wanted attention and I wanted to be different. In other words, I was the teenage stereotype to a T. It's complicated.
Good point.
I'm too often reactionary. I see something that makes me mad and I fire off the first thing that comes into my brain. Helping kids be awesome is a much better use of our time.
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