Celebrating Her-story

What is the deal with Women’s History Month? Why do we need a whole month to recognize and celebrate the contributions women have made to human society and culture? Don’t we live in more enlightened, egalitarian times?

Here is the “deal”: Women’s history is all of our histories, from the beginning of time, and not just feminist propaganda.   It is Black history, Latina history, Asian history, European history, American history, African history, Mexican history, and Laotian history. It is the history of race, religion, and sexual orientation; not just how they came to be, but how they have played out over time. It is the history of aristocracy and poverty, social injustice and the building of great nations. It informs on what is, what was, and most importantly, what will be. It is the history of marriage, homemaking and childbirth. It is stories of loves, lusts, and heartbreaks.  We study the things that great and terrible men have done in every high school history class we’ve ever taken, but during the month of March, we are given permission to explore the things that great and terrible women have not only done, but felt. Hopefully, that will be our feminist legacy…leaving behind some record of a complete human experience.

Reading for Women’s History Month:

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir (okay, maybe not the whole thing…)

Please, Don’t Kill the Freshman by Zoe Trope (a memoir based on the ‘zine by a Portland teenager)

Two Teenagers in 20 (a collection of first-person stories by lesbian and gay youth)

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan (mothers and daughters…need I say more?)

Check out these titles, and others, at the PHS Library. 

Happy Belated Banned Books Week

So, I’m a week late with this posting, but when isn’t it a good time to fight censorship? In 1982, the American Library Association (ALA) declared the last week of September (Sept. 29th-Oct. 6th this year) Banned Books Week. You will be amazed at the titles that have been challenged and banned in schools and public libraries across the nation. Check out the ALA’s website for banned book lists…

http://ala.org/bbooks

…then come into the PHS library and celebrate intellectual freedom by checking one out!

BTW…
How many of you Broncos have textbooks from last year (or the year before) buried under your bed or that pile of laundry on the floor? (Eew! I have to touch those books!)  For the love of Mr. Reynolds, turn them in already! There’s a handy drop slot right next to the textbook room door.

Back in the saddle, again…Welcome back, Broncos!

What a glorious start to the 2007-2008 school year! Even though it is now officially autumn, and we’ve almost been in school a month, I’m still nostalgic for the summer. The freedom, the sun, and ALL THAT TIME TO READ! So here’s a little flashback to what I read this summer…

• Harry Potter and Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling (Of course…who didn’t read it this summer?)
• Animal, Vegetable, Miracle : a year of food life, by Barbara Kingsolver (Part of my new obsession with our food economy)
• Stolen Harvest, by Vandana Shiva (Ditto the above)
• Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen (The classics never die)
• Stardust, by Neil Gaimon (Love this guy)
• Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett (Inspiring, heartbreaking)
• Blue Bloods and Masquerade, both by Melissa De La Cruz (Hey, everyone is entitled to cheap thrills)
• From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg (A little side trip down memory lane)

Throw in a couple of gardening and patio building books and a few seed catalogs, and you’ve got this librarian’s summer! Oh, and of course Mr. Boeh and I played lots of Scrabble…

What did you read this summer? Share your recommendations with the PHS Library.

April 23-29th is National TV Turn-off Week

This week is National TV Turn-off Week…a week to unplug, re-engage with people, create meaningful interaction, instead of passively absorbing the hegemony of the mass-media. Did you know that:

• the average American student, age 12-17, watches over 1100 hours of TV a year, and spends only 900 hours in class?
• the average American household has 2.55 people in it, and 2.73 televisions?
• children with televisions in their bedrooms are at a substantially greater risk for obesity than children without?

You can find these fun facts, and more, at http://tvturnoff.org

Welcome to Sarah Woodburn’s World!

 I’ve developed the sneaking suspicion that no one is listening when I talk, so I’m setting up shop in cyberspace.  Parkrose High School students, staff and community can access this page to  find information about the library at PHS, as well as  the occasional Ms. Woodburn fun fact. I’ve never done this blog-thing before, so I appreciate your patience while I get this up and running.