Have I Said Something To Offend You? Good.

Okay, so… Spank Me. I missed one day already. In my defense, though, I was sick and conked out for about 90% of everyone else’s normal waking hours.

Now, quick update: I’ve been using my OPKs like mad, and haven’t gotten a positive yet. Don’t know if I missed my surge, or what, but I’ll keep testing until I either get a positive OPK, or my OPKs start getting lighter.

I had the weirdest dream yesterday. I fell asleep during a SyFy marathon of Ghost Hunters International, and let me tell you, that lends itself to weird and strange dreams. I don’t remember much of anything other than the fact that I was investigating a supposed haunted location with Mike Rowe and the Dirty Jobs Crew, and I was scared and absolutely terrified. Seriously, that’s all I remember. Then, I start awake, to Terra having found her way onto the couch where she promptly put a paw on my head and her nose on my nose. I must have been wigging her out or something; she looked quite worried. As soon as I awoke, she backed off, rolled over, and promptly fell asleep with all four feet and her belly to the sky. Wasn’t long after before she started snoring so loud I had to turn the volume up on the T.V.

OH! Another thing to bitch about! They’re going to be censoring Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Yes, you heard me right. According to this article, the words nigger, and injun will be replaced with more politically correct, and therefore, less offensive terms.

Now, we all know I have an issue with censorship… a big one. My thought is that books are supposed to make you ask questions, they’re supposed to trigger the cycle of thought and discovery. The use of those words show how people thought back then, and I don’t care what anyone says, removing those words will harm the book. The teacher who instigated the change states that he was uncomfortable saying the word nigger in the classes he was teaching, and doesn’t feel that the removal of the word will cause any harm. He states that the book will continue to be thought provoking, and will have all the comedy it started out with.

I beg to differ.

When I first read Huck Finn it was my first real study into racism. It opened up conversations with my family, and with my educators. It caused me to think, and it caused me to make my own decisions. When we read it in class, I knew were weren’t calling the black kids (I’m purposefully not being politically correct here) in class niggers and they did too. If, for some reason, one of the kids did voice they were uncomfortable, we discussed why it made them uncomfortable. It opened up a dialog; something that’s been missing from our educational system for years now.

If, as an educator, you are not comfortable with the topic or wording of a book, then you have no right teaching it. As an educator, it is your responsibility to remain impartial and simply be there to act as a sounding board for the children you are instructing. Let your students learn to think on their own.

Don’t do their thinking for them.