Disappointed in Left Blogsylvania
With so many great progressive blogs in and aboutPhilly, I’m disappointed so few have written about the libraries.
It’s not just a local issue, and it’s not just books it’s the way marginalized and low-income individuals and communities having access to the same resources as wealthier populations, including resume assistance, internet access, after school programs for kids, meeting places, and adult education classes. Libraries are a concrete expression of progressive values: they are progressive values in action, and I for one am disheartened and ashamed that many of my colleagues in the left side of Blogsylvania seem to have given the issue short shrift or no shrift at all. Exceptions include Susie Madrak, Philly Bits, Young Philly Politics, All Spin Zone, Metroblog, Attytood, Blinq, and a few others.
SUPERTRAINS are great and all, and I’m not dismissing the importance of Obama’s appointments, or whether Chris Matthews will run for Arlen Specter’s seat, but libraries point the way to the future for a lot of kids and families growing in less than perfect neighborhoods, attending decaying schools with limited resources, and living in dismal economic conditions. How can you learn about SUPERTRAINS when you have no internet at home, and the library’s closed down? How will you contribute to Obama 2012? How do you keep up with the ever increasing speed of events when you don’t have the resources to stay current, and the only library for miles got shut down?
Supporting libraries is supporting a progressive agenda. And not to bust my friends’ chops, but your voice is needed too. You DO live in Philly, right?
December 16th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
You DO live in Philly, right?
wrong. but i’ll still let you give me a ride home.
but yeah, your point is well taken.
December 17th, 2008 at 9:47 am
[...] would like to point out that only someone who has always had access to books would take libraries for granted. I would literally not be the person I am today without the Cobbs Creek branch of the Philadelphia [...]