Dear Readers,
The following is a direct response to the rapid book bans that have taken place, but furthermore, there are some twists in the Florida education saga that make me question why the state was even annexed by the greater United States in the first place. I’d like to actually begin this post with a chilling tale of two children, my own son and the daughter of my brother. As a worried and scared aunt and the mother of my son, I speak in this post directly from the bottom of my heart regarding both these children’s educational outlooks.
It seemed a bright cool day in April, and though we didn’t have the clocks striking thirteen, Malcolm Jacobs came home from Denver Health and Hospital to begin his new life with us, parents Beth Taurasi and Clayton Jacobs. Now we’d decided we’d home school our son, and boy we’re so glad we made the right decision. Keep reading. It occurred to us one fine evening, I was nursing Malcolm tenderly with a Boppy breast feeding pillow about my waist, my tiny one comfortably positioned, suckling away, we were watching YouTube videos. We are always a big fan of literature. At least I am, but I’m sure Clay gets a bit freaked out about the way I tend to put a bit more expression etc into my reading. Malcolm is read to every night. Studies show that reading while a baby’s present, especially to baby, increases a baby’s chance of a great outcome in terms of language development. I purposefully am reading every book in the world to Malcolm, but especially Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, and I’m thinking why not piss off the Conservatives, the Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, both books have become targets for Ron DeSantis and his book banning campaigns. Malcolm Jacobs will likely have an advanced education, homeschooling allowing Clayton and I to tailor every aspect to his specific needs and wants. Malcolm will advance quickly, math being one of Clay’s subjects, he will be able to do way better even with the language development. Let’s now take a look at an eighteen-year-old Malcolm, and look at his bedroom library. Perhaps by this point, our son will probably read one of a few different books at his bedside book. 1984 by George Orwell, the aforementioned volume by Atwood, or possibly his namesake’s autobiography, the one by Malcolm X and coauthored by Alex Haley. Malcolm will likely be educated like this and depending on graduation, Clayton and I will then begin teaching him things no public schoolchild is ever taught, financial literacy, adult skills like cooking, bill pay, managing your own bachelor pad or heaven forbid, if Malcolm marries, the entire household, same with any daughters we acquire. Malcolm will not have to wonder if he’ll be prepared for life outside our protection, he will be prepared for that life outside parental protection. He will also be learning responsible use of technology, and I’m planning to buy a pair of Nest Audio speakers to place in my son’s room so that he and I can chill together and listen to music, and at sleeping times, Malcolm will be able to have his own musical scenery to fall asleep to. Call me irresponsible, but that’s what I plan to do to create a beautiful scenery and help him with independent sleep. This stems from a fond memory of David Taurasi, the man who thought he’d be my dad, placing a radio near my bed at 3 years old or something, K92FM was a staple in my entire life. Malcolm does not worry about K92FM, but he is also blessed to have music at the drop of a hat.
Okay, now let’s meet my niece. Leah Taurasi is a couple of years older than Malcolm, but because she lives in Florida, her outlook appears much bleaker. With DeSantis’s attack on education continuously ripping apart Florida schools, many of my teachers friends ought to be worried. I have a chorus teacher buddy, Kristen Bowne, who lives in a spot near Winter Haven or something? Honestly I’ve not read my facebook timeline enough lately to confer where she lives. Kaitlin Money teaches elementary education in Bradenton, FLorida. Both of these women should be so worried about their children’s education, and I’ve offered Kaitlin to get the heck out of that fascist playground. Leah’s outlook being so bleak may scare people and get questions going, but here’s why her future is so bleak.
Leah Taurasi might begin her education at a preschool, but even if parochial school had been a possibility, I’d still have a huge problem. No education setting in Florida is ever going to be safe between Parochial schools spewing out hate and inaccurate information about LGBTQ individuals and the public schools banning multitudes of books. Leah’s preschool chants might carry a pang of racist glee: “Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a tiger by the toe, if he hollers let him go.” But imagine Florida kiddos around Leah sing the original white supremacist chant that appears to be a manual for catching a runaway slave: “Eeny meeny miny mo, catch a nigger by the toe, if he hollers, let him go.” Clay showed me that second line and the N word, just as it’s written, shows that this chant is racist and could have a horrible impact on Leah, so she is stuck. Florida children starting in first grade will get so few books, and by twelfth grade, Leah can look forward to a life of being unable to discern literature and fiction. It’s pretty sad that her educational outlook appears so bleak, but the reason is that Florida and its people need a makeover. Clay and I have repeatedly called for everything from Florida being axed from the union to the hanging of Ron by his head. While I admit Clay and I are passionate about books and Ron is not, I personally would piss off the whole of Florida, and if tried and convicted of something, I’d ask a judge to hang Ron the way they actually do in Gilead, but instead of a sac on his head, I’d say let his whole head lull and be empty and let his face show! The entirety of the First Amendment will be written on a large plaque below Ron’s dangling and decomposing body. In Gilead, signs are usually pictures. By denying children the book they want, Florida has begun lulling my niece to sleep. Leah’s entire schooling will appear to be indoctrination, not education, and it will be as if she was attending a religious extremist school either way if she had Parochial education or not. ON one side, she’s taught inaccuracies regarding sexual health, and encouraged to save her so called virginity for marriage. Now let’s put her and Malcolm in a room one bright and cold day in April, perhaps then the clocks strike 13, and the cousins at age 16 are sitting down together, and Leah grows curious. Malcolm figures she’s probably curious about a book in his hand. Imagine Leah’s outcome, and she asks Malcolm what book is in his hands. “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” he replies, and the questioning begins. “Who’s Malcolm X? Who’s dDr. King?”
To make matters worse for Leah, she will learn black history as a means to benefit white supremacy and not understand the entire concept. Recent educational changes state that Florida teachers must twist things and say that slaves took advantage of benefits etc. There is however no pleasure in making someone work 24/7 without pay. I never cease to be amazed at the lack of true depth and understanding students get when they’re in the South, and they say slaves benefited at all from a cruel arrangement. Leah will not only be banned from reading Malcolm X’s work, or know who he is, she will never know the true purpose of the Black Panther party, not read 1984 and likely become a servant of a head of estate that treats her so bad. While Malcolm is able to provide for himself financially, his education being so carefully tailored, and our reading list jampacked with social justice and great literature, Leah’s book list is going to be quite bland. This bland education could well be myself, and Brevard County schools used to be reading any number of slave narratives, including Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, and so many others. I’m a worried aunt, and I wih I could whisk Leah over here to play with her cousin Malcolm, I feel Leah’s book learning will benefit from that step. However, my brother and his wife are caring for her, probably oblivious to DeSantis and his minions.
Thank you all for reading this. I apologize for not writing here because I’ve been parenting and lots of things have happened.
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