READING THROUGH THE UNITED STATES...ARKANSAS

Arkansas...

Just got back from a spontaneous trip to Arkansas. I took a canoe trip down the Arkansas and Mississippi border.  One would side Mississippi forests crowd the banks and on the other the Arkansas forests do the same, in between vast amounts of muddy water surrounded me. Had a wonderful scenic drive through the Ouachita National Forest, and stopped off at some scenic overlooks. After that a quick trip to see Hotsprings. It was a wonderful trip, that would have been super expensive had it really happened. Nope, just arm chair traveling or in my case kitchen table traveling. Seriously though, thanks to Google Earth for allowing me travel while having my Saturday morning cup of coffee. It was a curiosity trip sparked by my last A state, Arkansas.  

Original Image Credit: The Graphics Fairy

I went a different direction with my book of choice this time and chose a non fiction book. A book that has has “thirty-nine public challenges or bans since 1983”, according to the “Spotlight on Censorship: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” article on the American Library Associations Website. I’m not sure about you, but when a book is banned or someone tells me I shouldn’t read a particular book, it just make me want to read it more. I guess I’m just a rebel that way. 

You’ve probably figured out the book I read was the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I had read her poetry previously, but never her autobiographies. It was a choice I’m glad I made. The autobiography follows the early part of Maya’s life living with her Grandmother, later with her mother, and on into her life in California. She is treated less than because of her race and abused by someone she should’ve been able to trust. She loses her voice to the trauma, which for me was the most horrific thing. Not being able to voice that pain. My heart ached and felt like it might break. I wanted to hold that small little girl in my arms, protect her and tell her it would be okay. 

Yes it is a book that deals with sensitive and difficult topics, but lest we forget these horrific events happened to a real person. Was she able to “ban” them from her life and memory? No. Might we instead read this book with the young people in our lives and focus on how despite all of this, she not just overcame but excelled at the life she chose. Life, nor the world, is perfect. We cannot hide from the horrible things people do to each other, but we can discuss, learn from it, and reach out to those who need our support.