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Wednesday, February 13, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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Dangerous books
By Jim Cornelius
Editor in Chief
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer9s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
I appreciated reading Randall McCall9s let-
ter in last week9s Nugget, which opposed the
views I expressed in my letter published the
prior week. In my letter, I stated several con-
cerns about the Tollgate-to-Sisters High School
trail9s resurfacing along the portion that tra-
verses Tollgate property.
A couple days earlier, I had a lengthy and
mutually respectful conversation with a fellow
Tollgate resident about the issue. She explained
in depth the reasons why she supported the
entire trail9s resurfacing (many of which were
the same as points Mr. McCall made). Hearing
her rationale led me to reconsider and moderate
my position.
I now appreciate more fully how the entire
trail9s resurfacing would benefit Tollgate and
Sisters residents, and I would fully support it
if two of my previously stated concerns were
addressed and allayed.
I would want the Sisters Trails Alliance
to issue binding assurances that they would
not attempt to use the resurfaced trail as a
Trojan Horse to revive their proposal for a
Sisters-to-Black Butte Ranch asphalt path, as
they have previously stated they might do.
Also, I would want to know that use of the
Tollgate portion of the trail by the broader pub-
lic would not lead to the loss of Tollgate9s asso-
ciated easement rights.
These concerns are legitimate, as are the
views expressed by people who support the
resurfacing of the entire Tollgate-to-Sisters
High School trail. Let9s have a discussion and
make the outcome a win-win for all involved.
Michael Cooper
s
s
s
To the Editor
My wife and I recently returned from beau-
tiful Methow Valley, WA for a few days of
Nordic skiing. While scoping out a rendezvous
point along the community trail, signs directed
us to a rest area. The rest area turned out to be
a delightfully appointed self-service warming
room complete with snacks and hot beverages.
The room was attached to a private residence. A
See LETTERS on page 15
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The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
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When I was in sixth
grade, I brought Hunter S.
Thompson9s <Hell9s Angels=
to <free reading day= at
school. It did not go well.
My teacher thought it was
an inappropriate book for a
12-year-old (which it was)
and she called my mom.
My mother, who suffered
a lifetime of inappropriate
reading choices from both of
her sons, agreed that a gonzo
plunge into late-960s Bay
Area motorcycle mayhem
was an unfortunate choice of
school day reading materials
4 but she insisted that I be
left alone to read it.
Wise choice on every
level. Making it forbidden
fruit would have only made
Hunter S. Thompson more
alluring (if that were pos-
sible) and my mother was
constitutionally opposed to
shutting off free inquiry or
creativity.
We did, however, have
some very interesting conver-
sations about what I9d read.
Recent letters to the edi-
tor have highlighted what a
hot-button issue a book can
be, even in an age when peo-
ple9s reading habits are fall-
ing away under the seductive
power of streaming video.
There9s been a lively
debate in Sisters and
elsewhere as to whether
<George,= by Alex Gino 4
which tells the story of a
transgender child 4 belongs
on the book list for Battle of
the Books.
I know what my mother
would think.
The urge to silence voices
that make us uncomfortable
or that we simply dislike
is not the province of one
political bent or another. It9s
an authoritarian impulse that
manifests itself across the
ideological spectrum.
A social-media lynch mob
killed a book last month.
A young woman named
Amélie Wen Zhao fulfilled
her lifelong dream of becom-
ing a published author (with
a $500,000 three-book con-
tract) with the scheduled
publication of her YA fan-
tasy novel <Blood Heir.=
Then a horde of social-
media vampires descended
to rip her apart.
The book9s diverse cast
4 which you9d think might
be a plus 4 was savaged
as cultural appropriation.
Dealing with slavery? How
dare she?
<How is nobody men-
tioning the anti-blackness
and blatant bigotry in this
book?= one reader wrote
on Goodreads. <This book
is about slavery, a false
oppression narrative that
equates having legitimately
dangerous magical powers
that kill people with being
an oppressed minority,
like a person of color. This
whole story is absolutely
repulsive.=
As the New York Times
reports, Zhao noted that she
wrote from her <immediate
cultural perspective= and
to address the <epidemic of
indentured and human traf-
ficking prevalent in many
industries across Asia,
including in my own home
country. The narrative and
history of slavery in the
U.S. is not something I can,
would or intended to write,
but I recognize that I am not
writing in merely my own
cultural context.=
Zhao abased herself in
the face of the mob. <I am
so sorry for the pain this has
caused,= she wrote.
With her publisher 9s
acquiescence, she pulled the
book.
This is the death of art.
Soon, creators will fear to
step out their door at night
and will sit in front of their
screen, paralyzed in terror
of typing a word that will
destroy their career or stran-
gle it in its crib.
Writers work hard to get
it right. Accuracy is obvi-
ously a paramount goal for
a work of non-fiction, and it
is that wonderful <reckless
verisimilitude= that makes
great fiction sing. There9s
a vast difference between
getting it right in terms of
accuracy and making a fic-
tional world <real,= and get-
ting it right in conformity to
an artificial and constantly
shifting standard driven by
the cultural/political agen-
das and personal pathologies
of self-appointed arbiters of
moral correctness or social
justice. One hones craft; the
other destroys art.
Killing books is an act
of the weak and the fearful.
Be strong and brave. Read
books. Lots of them. Talk
about them with your fam-
ily and friends. If a book
upsets you, or fills you with
joy, think about why. And
if your kid wants to read
some Hunter S. Thompson,
I9m sure we can find a
copy of <Hell9s Angels=
somewhere&
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.
