Hello all: To many people public service is a zero sum game--if there are resources allocated to accomodate the needs of one segment of a community, they must be being taken from "MY" community. Add in the English Only faction and you have a fairly typical hyperbolic debate. In 1967, Lillian Lopez (my aunt, and the first Puerto Rican to reach a position of significance in the New York Public Library system) was instrumental in the creation of what came to be known as the South Bronx Project. This initiative offered services tailored to the people of the neighborhoods they served bringing in more Spanish language resources and being more inclusive rather than exclusive in their attitude towards the community. The follow-up studies showed an increase in circulation and in the overall delivery of library services thus the model spread more broadly throughout the city and beyond. This was part of the foundation of what has become known as multi-cultural education efforts in our nation and is a part of my late aunt's (may she rest in Peace) wonderful legacy. I share that to say this: those fighting against such an initiative should spend additional time in the library, period. They can then read about anything and everything they choose and be supportive of those from other cultures who are trying to learn something new. Reading and educating oneself are traditional means of moving up in our society and learning the value of what being a citizen of these United States really means. In my view, fighting against high quality, broad-based library services for all people in a community is simply bad public policy if you want everyone to buy into the notion of cooperative effort, building a sense of brotherhood, and mutual understanding. That's just my $.02--that plus $2.58 will get'cha a gallon of regular these days. ;-) Paul Mondesire P.S. Thank goodness for all of you folks out there, especially Andy! I keep hoping to be able to contribute in some small way to the wonderful communications/work of the DDN and WWWEDU lists. Keep fight the good fight. P.P.S. I often feel like a combination of Sisyphus and Cassandra of legend...read thse lyrics if you feel that way too: www.countrygoldusa.com/impossible.asp
Andy Carvin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Here's another article about the controversy: http://rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_3988338,00.html I can't get the Denver Post URL to work either. -- ----------------------------------- Andy Carvin Program Director EDC Center for Media & Community acarvin @ edc . org http://www.digitaldivide.net http://www.tsunami-info.org Blog: http://www.andycarvin.com ----------------------------------- _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
