Running with the Buffaloes banned

Sometime, Somewhere wrote:

They should remove RWTB. Consider replacing it with Gravity's Rainbow.

Perhaps the Marquis de Sade would be a better choice.

yadda yadda wrote:

Steve Adkisson wrote:

"Banning books is like telling a man he can't eat steak because a baby can't chew it."

- Mark Twain (banned book expert extraordinnaire)

So middle school is now the age of manhood? I thought it was 32 based on letsrun stats. Which is it? "Young enough to read, you enough to breed" or "Babies to the end"? Make up your mind.

Obviously some middle school kids are the man and some are the baby. When I was 9-12, I was reading Greek mythology, like the Odyssey, science fiction, like Jurassic Park and This Perfect World (which was full of sex) and classics like Lord of the Flies and Catcher in the Rye. I'll admit that I may have missed some of the deeper meaning in the later books at that age, but I still enjoyed reading them. One of the reasons that the American populous is so overwhelmingly stupid and uninformed these days is that nobody takes the time to read anymore. In high school, our school took part in some sort of collaboration with the public libraries, where they gave us books and we had to review them as an assignment. All of the books were rated for young adults and I was absolutely appalled at how immaturely the books were written. I couldn't conceive of any high schooler wanting to read them, but that's my own opinion, just as this kid and his mother believe that RWTB isn't suitable for his age group. Needless to say, I didn't recommend the book that I was assigned to read, but I would never try and ban others from reading it. I thought we'd moved beyond that as a society.

At the same time, you have low-brow sitcoms and reality TV appearing around dinner time that are mostly about sex (Two and a Half Men, Big Bang Theory... etc) and yet these shows are extremely popular, even in conservative households. I'm not saying that I'm offended by this, but I'd be more concerned with my kids watching shows like these (not to mention all of the crap on MTV) than reading a book with some swear words in it.

Additionally, as someone else pointed out, this mother is setting a far worse example to her son by being morbidly obese.

I would have thought that any school library would have some kind of a policy regarding what books are appropriate to offer their students, particularly in terms of the language used. Does the inclusion of certain swear words automatically disqualify a book from being offered to middle schoolers? I can't imagine Running With the Buffs is the first book where this question has come up.

Here, something like this would probably work:

"We endeavor to have the books in our middle school library be free of profanity. While we recognize that much great literature contains profanity, students will have the opportunity to read those works in high school and beyond, when they are better prepared to place the language in context. And yes, we realize that many of our students are exposed to profanity on a daily basis and often use it with great enthusiasm. We just don't feel that the school library is a place to reinforce that behavior. So if comes to our attention that a book in the library contains profanity, we will remove it from circulation ... not because the book is 'bad' or because we wish to 'ban' it, but because we have decided that such language is not appropriate for books in a middle school library. Note that this does not preclude students from reading such books, but it does make that a decision to be handled by them and their family rather than something sanctioned and provided by this school."

Or, have a separate section for works that are more "adult" in topic or language, and require the kids to have a note from a parent to check out those books.

There are a dozen ways to solve this problem rather than turning it into a pissing contest.

My dad took me to see Aliens when I was 5. Just made me tougher! Kids these days won't have any idea what to do if they encounter a curse word or enraged colony of aliens.

I don't see how RWTB could be worse than this sort of thing

:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303657404576357622592697038.html

I read Running With The Buffalo when I was in 8th grade (middle school). I was mature enough then to understand the context of this language. This is completely absurd. How is this helping the kids?

Why do people think they have the authority to tell other people what they are and are not allowed to read? RWTB is a good book, is at a teenage/early teen reading level, and is interesting if you're an athlete. So it has some swear words in it. So does Huck Finn and Catcher in the Rye. If you don't want your autistic kid reading a book, fine, don't let him read it. But don't tell other people what they should and should not be reading.

By the way I sure hope this kid doesn't read the bible--too much rape, murder, violence, war, and genocide in that bad boy. Better yank that from the shelves too.

Also I can't believe people think middle schoolers are too "innocent" to read RWTB. Don't you remember being 13 years old?

Are there some things that shouldn't be in a middle school library? Sure. But RWTB is far, far inside that line.

sadfsadf wrote:

Also I can't believe people think middle schoolers are too "innocent" to read RWTB. Don't you remember being 13 years old?

I got a good laugh from those posts as well.

It's pretty easy to imagine the people trying to shield those 13 olds from this book. They were likely fairly normal 13 year olds themselves, but they developed their current neo-victorian sensibilities later and feel they have the right to impose them at their whim.

your kid is probably fapping to some internet porn right...NOW! you should lock him in his room & take away his phone, computer, etc. so that the dirty outside world cannot corrupt him!and what is the "fear" you talk about? what exactly are you afraid of? how will hearing a bad word turn your child into a monster? this may come as a suprise to you, but despite the fact that i was listening to 2PAC, Snoop, Warren G, Biggie, etc. when I was 12 (behind my parents back of course), I DID NOT turn into a gang banger....crazy, right?!

agip wrote:

A book with the f word as a chapter title should not be in a middle school library. Seriously. You should be able to send your 12 year old to school without fear of him checking out a book from the library with the major curse word in it.

wejo wrote:

Just talked to Chris Lear.

He was laughing pretty hard from protective custody.

He reminds everyone to buy the digital version of the book if they have a choice:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HD49Q2/ref=as_li_tf_tl

He will be releasing a statement shortly.

I can't wait to see how filthy that statement is! Let's see how the "Lenny Bruce of running non fiction" tries to spin his way out of this mess.

I know the book is over 10 years old, but is it too late to wash Lear's potty mouth out with soap?!

dontflushwhileyousit wrote:

Ex-Coach wrote:

I am a married man with 3 kids who had just returned from an 8 mile run to catch a bit of the evening news before bed. I don't have time to make up stories.

http://www.wset.com/story/16636316/curse-words-found-in-middle-school-library-book

How does the fact that your 3 kids just returned from an 8 mile run have any impact on your amount of time to make up stories?

Exactly!! What was EC doing while his kids were our running? Why doesn't he stop being so lazy and run with them. Sounds like another couch potato who thinks somehow his kids running will translate into him being in better shape. Sorry dude but it doesn't work that way.

Butthead, It was Ex-Coach that went for the 8 mile run, not his kids.

fear might not be the best word - maybe worry. I want my 14 year old to believe that institutions have standards and that he can learn from institutions how to behave. I believe that a jr high library should be filled only with books that meet the standard of appropriateness for his age group. Any book in that library implicitly has the imprimatur of the school and the teachers. He can find the nasty stuff outside school. But he needs the school and my family to teach him what is appropriate or not. That's what parents and authority figures do. Or should do anyway.

Middle school teacher and high school track/XC coach here.

I have read the book several times and I encourage my serious distance guys to read it. I would not recomend it to my middle school runners. The language is too much for me to advise kids of that age to read it. Do I know they curse? Of course. I still have a responsibility to make proper judgement calls when it comes to issues that fall in the grey areas like this.

Solution: The book should be in a public library, not a middle school library. The same kids can have access to the book with parent supervision and approval.

...

Way off topic, but whoever said that the Lynchburg/Forest area is one of the best spots for running in the east was dead on. It is gorgeous there, especially in the fall and spring.

ronner wrote:

Chris Lear should start a campaign to get this book in all schools. It would bring a lot of press to the book and he'd sell more copies than ever.

I do wonder how much being a banned book actually helps sales.

I've tried really hard to get my book banned for this very reason. It's more difficult than you'd think.

Harry Groves told me that his favorite line from RWTB was:

"Slattery, you're an A**HOLE"

Coach Groves cracked up just telling the line. He must have laughed out loud when he read it.

This amounts to high praise of literature in my world.

agip wrote:

fear might not be the best word - maybe worry. I want my 14 year old to believe that institutions have standards and that he can learn from institutions how to behave.

That's interesting. I don't know that I'd want my child to behave like a middle school library, though.

Ok, seriously, what are you talking about? How the hell is a kid going to learn how to behave based on which books are or are not available for him to take out of his school library?

Freelove wrote:

agip wrote:

fear might not be the best word - maybe worry. I want my 14 year old to believe that institutions have standards and that he can learn from institutions how to behave.

That's interesting. I don't know that I'd want my child to behave like a middle school library, though.

Ok, seriously, what are you talking about? How the hell is a kid going to learn how to behave based on which books are or are not available for him to take out of his school library?

__

in this case, if a book in that library has the f word in the table of contents and elsewhere, it might suggest to my kid that that kind of language is appropriate for him to use.

His thinking might be something like: My teachers and parents tell me not to curse, but then they buy a book and put it in the library with cursing throughout. I guess what they don't mean what they say."...and lose respect for the teacher, school and parents.

Agip, the frequency with which you have been posting on this thread suggests either that you do not have a job or that you don't work very hard at the job you have. If you are so worried about people setting a poor example for your kid, perhaps you should put in an honest day of work. The example you set by doing so will have a much greater impact on your kid than elimination of "the f word" from his school library.