Red Emma Hurls Himself Against the Wall and Enjoys It Plenty

ALA Banned Books Week 2007
UC Irvine Read-Out Wednesday, October 3

“I'm going to hurl myself against the wall

'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all.”

Warren Zevon is dead, but he left a lyric for nearly every occasion. He was there in spirit with all the other dead poets and writers—Allen Ginsberg, Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger (oops, not quite, but he sure is quiet lately)—and I thought I heard him singing the above, which Red Emma has sort of adopted as a personal and political anthem. And here, once again, yet another reason why.

Despite listings in the campus newspaper, the thirty-year-old New University (okay, unreadable, and, besides, nobody reads it—certainly nobody edits it), web and email and newsletter and Much Ado postings and fliers, not a single UCI Senate faculty member, TA, Librarian, or Lecturer came around to support this event organized by the American Library Association in support of solidarity and intellectual freedom. I mention this only because the event was also sponsored by the English Department and the union representing Librarians and Lecturers, so you’d think (were you wall-hurler like me) that maybe some of your colleagues would show, which they did not.

I should say that Red Emma, raised in Sunday School, likes to comfort himself with that New Testament verse about where two or more are gathered, so am I. (Sadly, Jesus didn’t show either.)

Still, I cheered myself at the participation of the new Campus Writing Coordinator, Jonathan Alexander (pictured below standing under the umbrella), who started the 90 minute “read-out” of challenged, banned, censored books with a heroic presentation of Whitman. Sue Cross, a longtime tutor and UPTE organizer, read from Ngugi wa Thiong'o’s Devil on the Cross, which was a great choice because the much-persecuted superstar of African lit runs UCI’s International Center for Writing and Translation, another official sponsor.

Those two good folks went to class and meetings, and so it was the Red Emma up there on his own for awhile adjacent the flagpole, reading out loud the list of 100 top books on the hit list, shit list, whatever it is, compiled by the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. Judy Blume is on this list I think 6 times.

You rock, Blumey!

But then the heavens parted on the shit-storm of apathy and indifference and there emerged a lovely young woman named Asia. Unlike the other dopes who just walked by, the noise of the idiot frat boy gangsta rap in their ears, my angel figured out the drill, went through the pile of exemplary bannage I’d assembled near the microphone and the “Free People Read Freely” banner and, delighted, grabbed Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. “My favorite book,” she exclaimed, chortled, gushed. All of those. It was a beautiful thing to witness. “I cried when he died,” she went on.

I surrendered the mic pronto to Asia, who read the first chapter of one of my own absolute favorite novels of all time, both of us laughing at the Jon Jonson and the dirty limerick and the great line about his breath of roses and mustard gas and I looked around and just hoped that she would stay up there and read the whole novel to me, in solidarity with authors and readers and as testimonial to the importance of intellectual freedom. You know, like that.

But she was a Business-Econ major, and had to go to class. My heart was broken, both from joy and discontent, but in a good way. Happily, two of my own Composition students soon arrived, both reading from The Catcher in the Rye, and they were righteous readings indeed and, although I would have done the whole thing by myself anyway, I comforted myself that at least a couple of people got it.

But Lord knows what the New U reporters and photographers there to cover us made of the whole affair. I tried to spin it as the “first-ever” effort and “Next year will be bigger,” but I’m afraid the easy conclusion is the right one in this case: a national event sponsored by multiple organizations on a huge institution of higher learning and eight people show up? And except for the amazing new CWC and my pal Sue, not one actual teacher or other variety of grown-up academic professional? —RE

Andrew Tonkovich

Truth, lies, and video games in the moron nation

From this morning’s New York Times: For Schools, Lottery Payoffs Fall Short of Promises:

…[Pro-lottery] Pitches … have become popular among lawmakers who…have sold gambling as a savior for cash-starved public schools and other government programs….

…Now, a New York Times examination of lottery documents, as well as interviews with lottery administrators and analysts, finds that lotteries accounted for less than 1 percent to 5 percent of the total revenue for K-12 education last year in the states that use this money for schools.

In reality, most of the money raised by lotteries is used simply to sustain the games themselves, including marketing, prizes and vendor commissions.

…Also, states eager for more players are introducing games that emphasize instant gratification and more potentially addictive forms of gambling…. [My emphases.]

Also in this morning’s NYT: Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a Popular Video Game at Church:

First the percussive sounds of sniper fire and the thrill of the kill. Then the gospel of peace.

Across the country, hundreds of ministers and pastors desperate to reach young congregants have drawn concern and criticism through their use of an unusual recruiting tool: the immersive and violent video game Halo.

…Those buying it must be 17 years old, given it is rated M for mature audiences. But that has not prevented leaders at churches and youth centers across Protestant denominations, including evangelical churches that have cautioned against violent entertainment, from holding heavily attended Halo nights and stocking their centers with multiple game consoles so dozens of teenagers can flock around big-screen televisions and shoot it out.

…Witness the basement on a recent Sunday at the Colorado Community Church in the Englewood area of Denver, where Tim Foster, 12, and Chris Graham, 14, sat in front of three TVs, locked in violent virtual combat as they navigated on-screen characters through lethal gun bursts. Tim explained the game’s allure: “It’s just fun blowing people up.”

Once they come for the games, Gregg Barbour, the youth minister of the church said, they will stay for his Christian message. “We want to make it hard for teenagers to go to hell,” Mr. Barbour wrote in a letter to parents at the church.

…“If you want to connect with young teenage boys and drag them into church, free alcohol and pornographic movies would do it,” said James Tonkowich, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a nonprofit group that assesses denominational policies….

…Players of Halo 3 control the fate of Master Chief, a tough marine armed to the teeth who battles opponents with missiles, lasers, guns that fire spikes, energy blasters and other fantastical weapons. They can also play in teams, something the churches say allows communication and fellowship opportunities…. [My emphases].