Remember Sarah Palin? She's unmasked, Covid-positive, and out on the town.

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( January 27, 2022 A Tennessee school board made national headlines yesterday when it voted to ban Maus—a Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic novel about the Holocaust—due to objections over language and its depictions of cartoon nudity. Book banning is nothing new, and Maus isn't the only book that conservatives have seized upon as objectionable for young audiences. I recently watched a recorded school board meeting that had made local newspaper headlines in my hometown, a suburb of Boston. In the liberal, mostly white town where I grew up, I was surprised to see multiple parents offended at the presence of Toni Morrison's Beloved in the high school library and on recommended reading lists for students in advanced English classes. To prove a point, one angry parent read sexually graphic passages out loud—which was pretty counterintuitive, considering that there were middle schoolers present. These discussions of book banning always remind me of something that happened when I was in eighth grade. While reading the Parade magazine that came with my parents' issue of the Boston Globe, I came across a blurb from Oprah Winfrey recommending Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. The next time my dad took me to Barnes & Noble, that's what I picked out. (I recently checked The Bluest Eye out of the library, and you can see how it would have appealed to me as a middle schooler. The back cover begins, "Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl, prays every day for beauty. Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in.") I remember a teacher who saw me with the book asking if I wasn't a little young for it, but I had no inkling that the book would include depictions of incest and child sexual abuse. I was too young to appreciate Morrison's masterful writing, and I really probably should have waited a couple years before diving in. The book shocked me, but it didn't scar me. The book isn't pornographic, as some [parents have suggested]( in their attempts to ban it, and none of the events it depicts are outside the realm of possibility. Ever since, I've had trouble understanding the impulse to censor what kids read—especially since kids have access to the internet. But who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I have some festering psychic damage I have yet to become aware of. I tend to doubt it, though. I just placed a hold on Maus at my local public library. I'll let you all know how it goes. —Abigail Weinberg Advertisement [House Donations Ad]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [The Whole World Is Hating on Joe Manchin]( “He’s a villain, he’s a threat to the globe.” BY OLIVER MILMAN [Trending] [Sarah Palin, Covid-positive and unmasked, hits the town]( BY INAE OH [Gas stoves leak greenhouse gases, even when turned off]( BY NOAH Y. KIM [Oil firms claim Baltimore's climate lawsuit threatens US energy security]( BY CHRIS MCGREAL [Will this court case end the "subminimum wage"?]( BY EMILY HOFSTAEDTER Advertisement [House Subscriptions Ad]( [Special Feature] [Special Feature]( [Oath Keepers Anticipated “a Bloody and Desperate Fight” to Overturn the Election for Trump]( US prosecutors paint a chilling picture of the extremist group’s alleged seditious conspiracy. BY MARK FOLLMAN [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755