His Dark Materials | Philip Pullman | Carnegie Medal Acceptance Speech: "And there's a spin-off too, a social benefit. All stories teach, whether the storyteller intends them to or not. They teach the world we create. They teach the morality we live by. They teach it much more effectively than moral precepts and instructions. The current campaign for moral education being waged by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Secretary of State for Education and Training could achieve all it wants in the field of moral education (and we all want a more moral society) by simply making sure that the schools' library service didn't die out. Give the books to the teachers, and then leave them alone; give them time to read and think and talk about the books with one another and with their students, so that they can put the right book into the hands of the right child at the right time.
We don't need lists of rights and wrongs, tables of do's and don'ts: we need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever."
Sitting at the post office, trying to solicit donations for the midwest pages to prisoners project, I often get bitter responses from people asking why they should donate money to serve people who have wronged, even harmed others. While there is ample evidence that many people are wrongly imprisoned, or certainly, that the punishment rendered to them by the criminal justic system is disproportionate to the crime, the reality is that some of the people who we send books to are murderers and rapists - people who have comitted acts of inhumanity whose mark cannot be totally erased by repentence (not that it can be erased by vengence either, though). In my life, literature and words have been fundamental, and I feel that they are a basic mark of our humanity. Ultimately there isn't much sense in trying to respond to inhumanity with further inhumanity. Still, even if you believe that the prison system should serve as some kind of punishment, it seems that ultimately the greatest, most lasting, most productive, to use a horrible word, form of punishment is not a physical one. Arguably, the economic demographics of many imprisoned and, moreso , their stories, are a testemant to the human capability to endure physical punishment or material deprivation. To me, the worst punishment I have ever received has been from a fundamental understanding of the results of my decisions and the impact they have on others. Certainly, many of those arguing for a "tough on crime" stance at the polls, or arguing with me in front of the post office would not doubt the adoption of religion that many in prison seem to undergo as a source of spiritual punishment and possibly, redemption. I've gained more respect for humanity, for others, gotten more of a sense of personal accountability and models for virtue, courage, and compassion from books than I ever have from the years of Sunday school inflicted upon me as a child. In the above quotation, Pullman seems to agree and articulates the point I want to make to those folks outside the post office better than I ever could.
posted by geoff on 1/05/2006 09:57:15 AM
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Belief: "Welcome to the new series of Belief, the programmes in which I talk with people about what it is that they believe. We all have them - beliefs. We all have our own perspective on the world, and for some of us, they may focus around specific religious doctrines or have grown and developed from them. Or indeed, be an independently arrived at, personal view of the world, and our place in it.
Throughout the period of the celebration of Christmas, when we find time to contemplate what Christmas means to Christmas, I shall be hearing of the diversity of beliefs now held in the United Kingdom.
Today, my guest is author, Philip Pullman, whose trinity of books, his Dark Materials, is seen by some as an attack on religion. The first volume won the 1996 Carnegie prize. The third part, The Amber Spy-glass, was winner of the children's book section of the Whitbread prize, and then the overall Whitbread winner, earlier this year. An indication that his appeal is far broader than simply to children, but to readers of all ages."
posted by geoff on 1/05/2006 08:48:08 AM
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- Hugo Chavez announcing plan for Citgo to sell heating oil to NYC for ~$2/gal (Chavez claims market price is ~$3/gal.)
- Democracy Now interview with Stanley Tookie Williams.
- The New Yorker's article about Phillip Pullman.
posted by geoff on 1/04/2006 03:52:00 PM
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Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neil.
posted by geoff on 1/04/2006 12:49:00 PM
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revives got to Knill Road (43,47) in nearby Barrville.
posted by geoff on 1/03/2006 10:32:00 AM
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