Tag Archives: Ron DeSantis

Florida School Pulls Paradise Lost

By Robin Bates | Published: January 11, 2024

A Florida County has pulled “Paradise Lost” from the shelves. It’s true that the work has “sexual content.”

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Bacchae, Book banning, canon wars, censorship, Euripides, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison | Comments closed

Florida’s Latest Author Ban: The Bard

By Robin Bates | Published: August 9, 2023

Some Florida schools are now censoring Shakespeare, taking out the racy parts and offering only excerpts.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged banned books, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Toni Morrison, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Morrison on the Death of Emmett Till

By Robin Bates | Published: July 25, 2023

In “Song of Solomon,” Morrison has the men in the community grapple with what the death of Emmett Till means.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Civil Rights Movement, Emmett Till, racism, Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison | Comments closed

DeSantis’s Orwellian Power Play

By Robin Bates | Published: April 2, 2023

A judge recently compared Florida governor Ron DeSantis to Orwell’s Big Brother.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged 1984, authoritarianism, Education, George Orwell | Comments closed

Did Pullman Predict U.S. Book Bans?

By Robin Bates | Published: March 13, 2023

DeSantis’s attacks on books and teachers in Florida is reminiscent of the League of St. Alexander in Pullman’s “Book of Dust” series.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Book banning, Book of Dust, La Belle Sauvage, Philip Bullman, teachers and teaching | Comments closed

The Bard Cited in DeSantis Smackdown

By Robin Bates | Published: October 23, 2022

A judge has cited a Shakespearean passage to equate an out-of-line Florida state prosecutor to Henry V.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Henry V, Henry VI Part I, voter fraud, William Shakespeare | Comments closed

Reaching Out to the Poor and Oppressed

By Robin Bates | Published: September 17, 2022

Martha Serpas calls out America on how it treats the poor and unfortunate.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Poem Found", Dante, Immigration, Inferno, Martha Serpas | Comments closed

Longing for Consequences

By Robin Bates | Published: September 19, 2021

Reading “Washington Square” made me realize how hungry I have been for misbehaving politicians to pay for their bad behavior.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Consequences, Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, Henry James, January 6 insurrection, Trumpism, Washington Square | Comments closed