News & Articles

The flawed Dr. Seuss 

News broke recently that Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the group that manages Dr. Seuss’s books, decided it would no longer publish six of his books because of racist and insensitive imagery. “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong,” the group said in its statement. We, at Zenith Bookstore, commend this decision.

Critique of Dr. Seuss’s work is not new. Many educators, parents, marginalized groups, and children’s literacy groups have raised concerns for years about how Black and Asian people are portrayed in some of his illustrations and the overt racialization of some of his animal characters. This is a moment where the people with the power to publish chose to listen.

Dr. Seuss – like all of us – was flawed. Many of his works continue to be inspirational, empowering, pro-environment and pro-tolerance. There is no denying the impact he has had on our culture and on children’s literature. Some may say Dr. Seuss was “a product of his time,” in order to excuse or dismiss the hurtful images perpetuated in some of his books. However, times change, giving us the opportunity to change as well.

Children’s literature is powerful. It informs kids about the world they live in and the people they meet. It allows them to explore new ideas and experience other ways of life. It is a great tool for teaching empathy and understanding. There are so many new and brilliantly diverse children’s books out there, and we encourage our readers to explore them. We will continue to stock the Dr. Seuss books that are available as we turn a critical eye towards their content.

Nikki Silvestrini, General Manager
Zenith Bookstore
Duluth, Minnesota

There they go again!

The 2020 elections in our nation took place during a pandemic. Poll workers and election officials all over the nation risked life and limb to ensure that voters could vote, votes were legally cast, votes were accurately counted and rightful winners were declared in races at the local, state and national levels of our government. Postal workers around the nation also risked life and limb to deliver an unprecedented number of absentee ballots during the election. These efforts allowed millions of lawful voters to exercise their right to choose officials to serve in government. These election officials and postal workers are our friends and neighbors. They deserve our gratitude.

Following the election Donald Trump continued a campaign to cast doubt on the results of the presidential election, but not on all of the other elections that were conducted at the same time and on the same ballots. Trump filed lawsuits in state and federal courts across the nation.  Courts all over the nation, including the Supreme Court, concluded that there was virtually no fraud or irregularity in the election. Some states had recounts; there were three in Georgia alone. The recounts showed the election was fair and the count of votes was accurate. Many elected officials in Trump’s party, the Republican Party, supported his lies about the election, many still do.

For over a decade there has been an effort by the Republican Party to gerrymander legislative districts, enact rules that make it difficult, or impossible for many legal voters to vote, and lead people to believe that voter fraud takes place in a widespread and organized manner in the United States. The false fraud allegations are the basis for restrictions on who is allowed to vote.

The Republican Party has been and is engaging in an effort to remain in power by minority rule.  By allowing only the fraction of voters who support Republican candidates to vote in elections, Republicans can win elections while supporting unpopular policies. Only donors need be satisfied, not voters.  

In the aftermath of the 2020 election and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol it is essential that the right of all legal voters to cast lawful ballots in free and fair elections be protected. Instead Republican legislators in states across the nation are now proposing to make it more difficult to vote. Every legal voter should be able to vote in our nation.

Jason Maloney
Washburn, Wisconsin

Adopt precautionary principle

CWD threatens the health of our wild deer and the health of people who take deer to feed their family and community. CWD was detected recently in the wild deer population in an area of Oneida County, where it had not been previously detected, an area “frequently used by tribal members exercising their treaty rights to harvest deer in the Ceded Territory.”

Now there is another monster infectious disease in our midst: COVID-19 transmitted by an animal virus that converted to a human virus and in one year caused a global pandemic. While we are stopped in our tracks, waiting for vaccinations to be available to everyone, we have a perfect opportunity to look at our human species and notice a few things.

For example: 1) all man–made systems are failing; 2) climate chaos is on the rise; 3) prions and viruses cannot be bullied into submissions, and 4) neither human beings no animals are immune to the threat of extinction.

Managing our natural resources during escalating climate chaos requires a new level of anticipation and anew set of rules which clearly we must develop ourselves. We have no shared vision of a sustainable future yet, even at the local, community or regional level. Our future looks bleak unless we stop damaging our ecosystems and unless the DNRs of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan find ways to work together with GLIFWC and local indigenous communities more effectively from now on, as allies who share a common vision for the future.

What else can we do?

“There is no clean water without clean government.” I urge Wisconsin to adopt the precautionary principle throughout state agencies and branches of government as a way to begin to heal society and give nature time to heal.

And let’s always consult with young people of all nations regarding the importance of common sense and the precautionary principle when it comes to protecting their future for the next seven generations. Miigwetch. Thank you.

Mary Ellen Riehle
Ashland, Wisconsin

Laughing in the face of death

My how things have changed! Today putting on a mask before entering a business is a good thing. I remember when seeing someone putting on a mask before entering a business was a bad thing. Remember the old western The Lone Ranger? That’s when someone asking “Who was that masked man?” meant something.

Wouldn’t this be a good time to bring back the exotic Dance of the Seven Veils! And we’d know things are better when the mandate to start with 8 is dropped.
Since the beginning of this illness I’ve advocated for people taking their temperatures twice a day.

There’s no earlier detection, scientific confirmation and/or better monitoring system than the thermometer. Get an oximeter too (Hello CDC and Mayor Larson, who I know read the insightful/inciteful Reader).

And if households need to share they can disinfect with alcohol, like Mom did after and before uses on the mercury thermometer when I had the measles, etc. And if the homeless share they can disinfect with vodka. (Hey, hey, I was one once.)

Q: How many CoVids does it take to fill up the Grand Canyon?
A: I don’t know but let’s find out!
Q: Why don’t CoVids plant pine trees in their yards?
A: They’re afraid of needles.
Finally, if you have a temperature and then a negative CoVid test, you have the flu.
Q: How did you get sick?
A: I opened the window and in flew Enza! (an oldie but goodie!)

Philip A. Hammer
Duluth, Minnesota

Blame and Lima Beans (Congress is full of it)

Blame
and Lima beans
are
two
common things
which abound –
there
always is
enough
of each
to freely
pass around.

Bud Brand
Superior, Wisconsin