We went into last night’s event, “Books are for Reading, not Banning,” knowing that censorship has risen in recent years and that we feel, often smugly, lucky to live in Massachusetts. We knew that the majority of targeted books (and their authors) have LGBTQ+ themes; the rest are primarily about race. What we discovered is that there is a lot we didn't know, and other realities we need to be reminded of.

After last week’s letter about our 2025 Art as Activism contest inviting high school students to create posters expressing the importance of fighting book bannings and censorship in schools and libraries, and our plans for a forum on the same subject at the Cabot Theater in Beverly on March 26, we started thinking about what we might all do in our daily lives to spread awareness about this issue, increase knowledge, and make some tangible effect.

We are excited to announce our fourth annual Art as Activism contest for high school students. We believe that art is an effective form of activism, as well as an especially powerful way for students to find and express their voices.

A recent trip to Berlin included a historical tour of the city. Since Germany has an impressive and extensive record of reckoning with its past, the tour not surprisingly covered the underground memorial to the 1933 book burning in Bebelplatz, a beautiful and notable center of cultural activity. On May 10, 1933, members of the Nazi German Student Union organized burnings throughout the country of important works of world literature they deemed dangerous. Works by Thomas Mann, Erich Kästner, Stefan Zweig, Heinrich Heine, Karl Marx, Albert Einstein, and Kurt Tucholsky were among those destroyed in Berlin. Many of the authors were Jewish, and for that reason alone, their books were considered unworthy. In fact, Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda Joseph Goebbels pronounced that day in Bebelplatz that “the era of extreme Jewish intellectualism is now at an end.”

What does the term 'cancel culture' mean to you? Does cancel culture hold people accountable or is it a form of censorship?

First, we have two quick reminders: Hungry to Learn

Please make time to watch Hungry to Learn, a documentary about food insecurity on college campuses and the subject of our next kNOw MORE! discussion on Monday, March 22 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. EST