As an immigrant I know what it’s like to leave all you know for the unknown. We had visas, we weren’t penniless, we flew to the US and regardless I felt fear. When you emigrate everything familiar is gone and you don’t know how it will be replaced, nor do you know what will happen next. I heard and read about the caravan from Central America and I can’t help thinking about those courageous people who are willing to walk a couple of thousand miles or more in search of some safety, in search for some opportunities out of assured poverty and violence, in search of better lives for their families. They banded together to avoid the criminals who prey on migrants, (more…)
October 2018
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Ode To Libraries
We have a stereotype of the spinsterish librarian and of the austere domain she (for it’s always a she) rules. Yet libraries are hubs of activities as the new Frederick Wiseman’s film “Ex-Libris: The New York Public Library” illustrates. Even more recently a NYT article by sociologist Eric Klineberg “To restore Civil Society, Start with the Library,” reminds us how much we owe libraries and how much they contribute. He says that libraries are valued and necessary but often influential (more…)
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The Free Speech of Prisoners
Incarcerated people are usually American citizens—with the exception of the many immigrants detained for lack of visas or other papers—and as American citizens one would expect that they would be subject to the provisions of the Bill of Rights which includes freedom of speech. But that may not necessarily be so. The issue came up when a weekly debate club in Statesville Correctional Center in Crest Hills, Illinois, was suspended without explanation. They had been debating the pros and cons of (more…)