Sreeja Mudumby Editorial Page Editor

@sreejamudumby

Nothing can beat the feeling I get seeing the end result of a finished piece of writing. Placing the period on the last sentence, and looking back at the creation you made offers a sense of fulfillment like no other. Writing is an art, confined only to the boundaries of carefully scripted letters to form words, paragraphs and ultimately, stories. Stories that live on for lifetimes.

Journaling as a young girl and this freeing writing class led me to become a student journalist. I no longer write to document my daily life; I write as a method of service to my community, a way to condense all the lightness and darkness of Coppell into stories.

Writing is something that every literate person can do. But to write well takes time and effort. It cannot be done in two seconds, or even two minutes. Writing requires brain power and creativity in order to craft the perfect combination of text to produce something meaningful.

Many think they cannot write, so they stay away from writing. But everyone should experience the beauty of it by writing for themselves; everyone can. Designing one’s jumbled thoughts into enjoyable compositions is unique for each individual, as no two people can interpret the world the same way. Everyone can and should write, not for a class or college essay, but truly for themselves.

It is not hard to write. I don’t consider myself a great writer, but I do it because I love it. What started as me ranting about an annoying classmate became awards won for my stories, things I’ve written, those which can be achieved by anyone.

Try writing. Take a piece of paper, or open a Google Doc, and just write. Write what comes into your mind, what you like, hate and everything in between. Write about people, places and food.

Writing is nothing short of magic. It is a power that can change minds and make the world better. Write for you, and write for the world. You might be surprised by just how beautiful your words can be.

OPINIONS THE SIDEKICK

Graphic by Noor Fatima

In a tale as old as time, Texas politicians are back to banning books in schools

Anjali Vishwanath

Daily News/Assignment Editor

@anjuvishwanath

I can trace book banning back to the Protestant Reformation, when the newly invented printing press was creating controversy as English- and German-translated Bibles swept across Europe.

Just after the invention of the printing press, literacy rates in Europe trended upwards. As their citizens began reading their constitutions and legal charters, leaders rushed to restrict their access to these materials.

A lot can be understood about a person based on what they have read. In the same way, a lot can be understood about a leader based on what they won’t let people read. You can see their fears, their prejudices and principles.

The list of 850 books Texas Representative Matt Krause presented to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) covered many topics. Krause proposed to ban the books on his list from Texas public schools’ libraries, on grounds of causing students to feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress because of their race or sex.” It was more than comprehensive; in some cases, it was repetitive: several books, such as Cat Clark’s The Pants Project and Anastasia Higginbotham’s Not My Idea, can be found on the list twice. Also found on the list, oddly, are all five volumes of the Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine.

Clearly, there were some clerical errors made in what appears to have been the rather haphazard process of putting Racism, Antiracism, and You, a resource together this list. Still, there are some many people turned to after the fatal archilling takeaways from the document, rest of George Floyd in 2020 at the rise of between the irregularities. the Black Lives Matter movement. These

Danika Ellis, a writer for Bookriot, are books, such as Cinderella is Dead, a broke down the list by topic in November. fantasy novel I checked out and enjoyed Her observation as an eBook from that more than the Cozby Library half of the books and Community on the list are in Commons’ catasome way about the LGBTQ+ community hits differ- These are log. My hope is that our public schools ently after Governor Greg Abbott’s recent bill targeting young transgender Texans books about stories, and libraries will defend our right to read, rather than allow politicians to further and reinforced restrictions on instruction of African-American history and the communities and people.” their agendas at the expense of our education. My hope is that we took the opportuhistory of slavery nity provided to in this country. us by the March 1

The reality of primary election the list of contested books is it almost ex- to keep representatives who aim to furclusively targets minority communities ther muffle marginalized communities - among them the LGBTQ+ community, off of the ballot. the Black community and the indigenous These are our books they’re coming afcommunity. These are novels featuring ter. Our education. Our voices. LGBTQ+ heroes and nonfiction history “The library is a place for you to make books and memoirs without redactions a choice of books that you want to read,” over the ugly bits. These are books about CHS librarian Trisha Goins said. “And not real communities, real people and real every book is going to be for every readstories. er, but we want to allow access. Libraries

These are books our own Coppell High should be a safe place for everyone and it School proudly displays and makes avail- is a place to come to seek answers.” able to its students, such as Stamped: Our representatives in Austin and Washington are trying to take these books off our shelves. They claim that these books would offend or harm minority students, or otherwise lead them to believe that American history (and present-day America) is imperfect.

Quite frankly, though, it is impossible to tell the human story without covering the painful parts; to do otherwise would be to turn your backs on the hundreds of thousands of people oppressed by their fellow man for uncontrollable circumstances of their birth, for daring to look or sound or believe differently than those around them. To do otherwise would be to lie, blatantly and knowingly. To do otherwise would be to stagnate history at that level of discrimination, for we cannot advance without first learning what we have done wrong. Telling those marginalized and historically silenced stories is critically important as we try to create a more tolerant America.

And if you don’t want to listen to a 17-year-old student journalist, then take it from writer, philosopher and self-identified American Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás (or as he was more commonly known, George Santayana):

“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”