Education

 by David Safier

The Librotraficante Caravan should be pulling into Tucson some time today. A press conference is scheduled for 3pm, followed by a series of events Saturday (flier with details below the fold). Will our press give adequate coverage to this event which, after all, is a result of our school district's demolition of the MAS program and the banning of books used in its courses? We'll see.

Here's some of the press coverage in other cities in the past few days:

• Caravan brings book protest to Mesilla en route to Arizona (Las Cruces Sun-News)
• Group to Expose Arizona to Mexican-American Literature (My Fox Houston)
• Librotraficantes: Caravan moving through San Antonio on way to protest Arizona's dismantling of Mexican-American studies (San Antonio Current)
• Group Advocates Cultural Studies (Albuquerque Journal)
• 'Librotraficantes' Stop By El Paso To Protest Controversial Ariz. Education Law (KVIA El Paso [ABC])

There's been more far-reaching coverage as well, like the story in the NY Times (Books Without Borders), the story on Univision (Los Librotraficantes) and the story in Global Voices Italiano (USA: altri attacchi contro le culture degli immigrati messicani), which includes the Tony Diaz video and this paragraph:

Da questi segnali positivi si evince che l'onda di solidarietà guadagnerà sempre più forza e che sarà un valido antidoto contro l'abuso di potere, la paura e il razzismo. A marzo la carovana Librotraficante, che partirà da Houston per arrivare in Arizona, passando per il Texas, distribuirà i libri censurati.

Flier for Saturday's events below the fold.

by David Safier State Republicans have killed the school bullying bill which would increase efforts to minimize bullying in schools. At the forefront of the effort was Center for Arizona Policy President Cathi Herrod. The bill, in her "Christian Values" eyes, is part of the gay agenda. Since gays and lesbians are often targets of … Read more

by David Safier Here's a scathing East Valley Trib headline on a Howie Fischer article: Christian values lobbyist blamed for killing anti-bullying legislation It seems Center for Arizona Policy President Cathi Herrod thinks anti-bullying legislation is part of the gay agenda, so she worked to kill the bill. These are the same people who howl … Read more

by David Safier Whether on not you saw "Waiting for Superman," the deeply cynical documentary bashing traditional district schools and singing the praises of charters, you may find this answer worthwhile: "The Inconvenient Truth Behind Waiting for Superman" March 17, 10am at the Loft. It's a free screening.

by David Safier The Librotraficante caravan, scheduled to arrive in Tucson Friday, got a warm reception and good sized crowds in El Paso yesterday. El Paso played host Wednesday evening to a group of so-called "book traffickers" hoping to raise awareness about a controversial Arizona education law that led to the dismantling of a Mexican-American … Read more