User talk:Meredithtibbals

Welcome!
Hello, Meredithtibbals, and welcome to Wikipedia! My name is Ian and I work with the Wiki Education Foundation; I help support students who are editing as part of a class assignment.

I hope you enjoy editing here. If you haven't already done so, please check out the student training library, which introduces you to editing and Wikipedia's core principles. You may also want to check out the Teahouse, a community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to helping new users. Below are some resources to help you get started editing. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 00:10, 26 October 2016 (UTC)

Draft of The Bluest Eye Wikipedia Page

Due to it’s controversial nature, The Bluest Eye has brought about disputes as to whether the book should be banned in schools. One example took place at Stevens High School in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1999 (Houtchens, 114). The case started when a parent complained to the school about the book’s inappropriate sexual content. As a result, the school decided to remove the book from freshmen and sophomore reading lists, and deemed that it was only “suitable” for juniors and seniors to read the book (Foerstel, 231). In addition, the school also ruled that teachers must send reading lists to parents early on in the year to get their approval as to which books their children could read and discuss in class (Foerstel, 231). While some parents would prefer heavier restrictions against the book at Stevens High School, they are glad that action was taken, as they view The Bluest Eye to be an “adult book” (Orlando Sentinel). Another example took place in Adams County, Colorado in 2013. Parents of students at Legacy High School tried to get the school to ban the book due to its sexual content and “subject matter” of a girl getting raped by her father (NCAC Staff). The parents’ petition argued that they “did not want developmentally inappropriate and graphic books used for classroom instruction"(NCAC Staff). However, a student heard of the possible removal of The Bluest Eye, and created a “counter-petition” to keep the book as part of the school’s AP English curriculum (Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 184).  She claimed that "Banning and censoring [The Bluest Eye] tells students that … racism, incest, rape, abuse, are taboo subjects that should not be mentioned. It sends the message that (someone) experiencing these things should not reach out for help, because if it's too explicit to read, it's too explicit to talk about" (NCAC Staff). In order to compromise between the parent and student petitioners, Legacy High School decided to send home a notice to parents that explained which books students would be reading. The notice also indicated that there would be alternate assignments available if parents or students viewed certain books to be unsuitable reading material (Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 184).

Background Paragraph (edited original): Toni Morrison has been one of the most influential African American novelists of the 20th century. While Morrison’s work has been deemed controversial, it has received a variety of prestigious awards, including the the Nobel Prize and Pultzer Prize. What makes Morrison’s writing unique is that it draws upon her experience growing up in a black, working class family in the Midwest during the 1930s (nobelprize.org). The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature points to the fact that Morrison’s work “blends the realistic detail of black families and neighborhoods in an Ohio town that resembles her birthplace” as a way to convey her encounters with racism, white oppression, “violence within the black community” and “exploitation of blacks by other blacks” (Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature). When asked about her motivations for writing The Bluest Eye, Morrison replied, "I felt compelled to write this mostly because in the 1960s, black male authors published powerful, aggressive, revolutionary fiction or nonfiction, and they had positive racially uplifting rhetoric with them that were stimulating and I thought they would skip over something and thought no one would remember that it wasn't always beautiful, how hurtful racism is. I wrote The Bluest Eye because someone would actually be apologetic about the fact that their skin was so dark and how when I was a kid, we called each other names but we didn't think it was serious, that you could take it in, so the book was about taking it in, before we all decide that we are all beautiful, and have always been beautiful; I wanted to speak on the behalf of those who didn't catch that right away. I was deeply concerned about the feelings of being ugly."[5]refer to references on Wikipedia page     Morrison’s intentions of addressing this idea of “ugliness” is conveyed through a variety of characters in The Bluest Eye. For example, Pecola, the main character of the book, wishes for blue eyes as a way to escape her abominable and oppressive reality of having dark skin. Through Pecola’s characterization, Morrison seeks to to demonstrate the negative impact racism can have on one’s self-confidence and worth. Meredithtibbals (talk) 23:00, 18 November 2016 (UTC)Meredithtibbals

Help request
Your sandbox has a talk page. Just use that for comments. (If you reply to this message here, please include  in your response, to ensure that I see your reply.) Ian (Wiki Ed) (talk) 19:38, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Potential Changes
Draft of The Bluest Eye Wikipedia Page

Due to it’s controversial nature, The Bluest Eye has brought about disputes as to whether the book should be banned in schools. One example took place at Stevens High School in Claremont, New Hampshire in 1999 (Houtchens, 114). The case started when a parent complained to the school about the book’s inappropriate sexual content. As a result, the school decided to remove the book from freshmen and sophomore reading lists, and deemed that it was only “suitable” for juniors and seniors to read the book (Foerstel, 231). In addition, the school also ruled that teachers must send reading lists to parents early on in the year to get their approval as to which books their children could read and discuss in class (Foerstel, 231). While some parents would prefer heavier restrictions against the book at Stevens High School, they are glad that action was taken, as they view The Bluest Eye to be an “adult book” (Orlando Sentinel). Another example took place in Adams County, Colorado in 2013. Parents of students at Legacy High School tried to get the school to ban the book due to its sexual content and “subject matter” of a girl getting raped by her father (NCAC Staff). The parents’ petition argued that they “did not want developmentally inappropriate and graphic books used for classroom instruction"(NCAC Staff). However, a student heard of the possible removal of The Bluest Eye, and created a “counter-petition” to keep the book as part of the school’s AP English curriculum (Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 184).  She claimed that "Banning and censoring [The Bluest Eye] tells students that … racism, incest, rape, abuse, are taboo subjects that should not be mentioned. It sends the message that (someone) experiencing these things should not reach out for help, because if it's too explicit to read, it's too explicit to talk about" (NCAC Staff). In order to compromise between the parent and student petitioners, Legacy High School decided to send home a notice to parents that explained which books students would be reading. The notice also indicated that there would be alternate assignments available if parents or students viewed certain books to be unsuitable reading material (Newsletter on Intellectual Freedom, 184).

Background Paragraph (edited original): Toni Morrison has been one of the most influential African American novelists of the 20th century. While Morrison’s work has been deemed controversial, it has received a variety of prestigious awards, including the the Nobel Prize and Pultzer Prize. What makes Morrison’s writing unique is that it draws upon her experience growing up in a black, working class family in the Midwest during the 1930s (nobelprize.org). The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature points to the fact that Morrison’s work “blends the realistic detail of black families and neighborhoods in an Ohio town that resembles her birthplace” as a way to convey her encounters with racism, white oppression, “violence within the black community” and “exploitation of blacks by other blacks” (Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature). When asked about her motivations for writing The Bluest Eye, Morrison replied, "I felt compelled to write this mostly because in the 1960s, black male authors published powerful, aggressive, revolutionary fiction or nonfiction, and they had positive racially uplifting rhetoric with them that were stimulating and I thought they would skip over something and thought no one would remember that it wasn't always beautiful, how hurtful racism is. I wrote The Bluest Eye because someone would actually be apologetic about the fact that their skin was so dark and how when I was a kid, we called each other names but we didn't think it was serious, that you could take it in, so the book was about taking it in, before we all decide that we are all beautiful, and have always been beautiful; I wanted to speak on the behalf of those who didn't catch that right away. I was deeply concerned about the feelings of being ugly."[5]refer to references on Wikipedia page     Morrison’s intentions of addressing this idea of “ugliness” is conveyed through a variety of characters in The Bluest Eye. For example, Pecola, the main character of the book, wishes for blue eyes as a way to escape her abominable and oppressive reality of having dark skin. Through Pecola’s characterization, Morrison seeks to to demonstrate the negative impact racism can have on one’s self-confidence and worth. Meredithtibbals (talk) 23:01, 18 November 2016 (UTC)Meredithtibbals

Comments on your first draft of edits
Meredith, Below are my comments:

Censorship Cases Paragraph(s): I think that this was well written. As in my smaller comments section, I think this section should split the two different cases into two different paragraphs. Furthermore, I think I would watch out when describing the opinions of certain parties involved to ensure that the reader understands that those are the opinions of the parties, not a value judgment made by the writer of the page. I am not sure if the information is available, but a potentially interesting addition would be to see what happened after the fact of the ruling. Is the book still available? Do parents still have an issue with the system. This might not be available via news sources and the Journal on Intellectual freedom, but if it did, it would be something that would be beneficial to add to the article. Beside that, I thought this article very clearly summarized the cases of potential censorship and did a good job in putting the events that occurred in an easy to read format!

Background Paragraph(s): I liked this paragraph but I think you need to be especially careful here with your value judgments. In the small edits I sent you, I included where I thought you needed to re-word/add citations to some points as there seemed to be some non-neutral language. Besides that, I thought that this paragraph very clearly summed up the background.

Zac.schroepfer (talk) 15:28, 21 November 2016 (UTC)