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Chris Wilson with The Graphic Classroom, a website dedicated to “promoting the use of high-quality comic literature in the elementary, middle school, and high school classroom,” shared a story over the weekend about a third grader in Alaska who used his science fair project to overcome his teacher’s ban on comics in the classroom.
Click through for more about third-grader Sam and the science fair project that opened a teacher’s mind to comics…
Last weekend Anime Detour welcomed 5,000 fans of anime and manga to one of the Midwest’s longest running and most well organized conventions, and for the first time, CBLDF was there! We were graciously welcomed by the convention organizers, who provided a spot for an information table, and a programming spot on Saturday morning where Ryan Matheson spoke in person about his ordeal for the first time alongside con guests of honor Greg Ayres, Richard and Shannon Townsend and Kim Pridemore from Studio O-n-Y, and Frenchy Lunning, editor of Mechademia and an important expert contributor to CBLDF casework. CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein recounts the weekend after the jump!
Emerald City Comic Con took place last weekend, and it was three days of infectious enthusiasm, excited mobs, and great comics of all varieties. The CBLDF was on hand, excited to talk to all the fans and creators that populate the Pacific Northwest. ECCC was a terrific show; well-organized, well-attended, and well-programmed.
Click through for Deputy Director Alex Cox’s re-cap of a great convention, one that earned a much-needed $6,536, to help fund our continued education work and will assist in paying down the legal fees for Ryan “Brandon X” Matheson.
ABC 15, an Arizona affiliate is reporting that a sweeping electronic media censorship bill passed by the state’s legislature last week and headed to Governor Jan Brewer’s desk for signature has been pulled back in the wake of public outcry. Last week, CBLDF called attention to the bill and its constitutional deficiencies, helping to spark a wave of media coverage that turned the tide against the bill.
Lawmakers intended the law to protect people from online stalkers and bullies, but the law was so broadly worded that it would apply to the internet as a whole, not one-to-one communications, and the legislation does a poor job of defining the material that would run afoul of the law. As a result, anyone posting constitutionally-protected material could face charges if an individual deemed the material was intended to “annoy,” “offend,” “harass,” or “terrify.”
Read more about Arizona House Bill 2549 after the jump…
Last weekend, comics fans and creators gathered at the Harbor Lights Restaurant in New York City for the launch of Derek McCulloch and Colleen Doran’s new graphic novel Gone to Amerikay.
The star-studded party raised donations for CBLDF and several comics creators were in attendance, including McCullock, Doran, Paul Levitz, John Cassaday, Stuart Moore, and Jose Villarrubia, just to name a few. The Beat‘s Heidi McDonald and Torsten Adair also joined the party. Attendees had the chance to view original artwork, enjoyed drinks and hors d’oeurves, and picked up signed copies of the book.
Click through for a gallery of photos from the party…
CBLDF and other free speech advocates won an important victory last year when the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. EMA, striking down a California law that restricted the sale of video games to minors based on specious evidence that violence in video games causes violence in children. The law would have made violent speech a new category of unprotected speech, alongside obscenity.
A law proposed by Representatives Joe Baca and Frank Wolf has raised free speech concerns again. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has raised the issue.
More after the jump…
The National Coalition Against Censorship and the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression — both frequent CBLDF collaborators in the fight for First Amendment rights — are looking for a New York-based coordinator to manage their Kids Right to Read Project. The full job posting has all of the details, after the jump…
Imagine going through a security check more involved than anything you face before taking a flight, even if you’re a small child. You must be entering a high-security building, like the White House, right? You may also be entering a school board meeting in Tucson, Arizona.
The Tuscon Unified School District beefed up security at their school board meetings in response to the outrage fostered when the Tucson school district decided to end the Mexican American Studies program and removed several books by Mexican and Native authors from classrooms. Even small children are not exempt from being wanded and searched by security. When a Latino father took a photo of his 9-year-old son being searched before a meeting, his photo went viral and was embraced as emblematic of the anti-Latino and anti-immigrant attitude many feel is endemic in Arizona.
More after the jump…
One of the side effects of the clashes and protests against President Bashar al-Assad that have seized Syria is the ability to speak more openly against the government, an ability that had been previously stifled by the regime. In the midst of this political discourse, some Syrians have embraced satire, generating videos, plays, and cartoons that use humor to counter the horror, frustration, and civil unrest that has affected citizens of the nation.
A recent report by Michael Rundle on the Huffington Post describes the role of satire in the protests, including the work of one cartoonist in particular, Ali Ferzat.
More after the jump….
Yesterday, the Arizona legislature passed Arizona House Bill 2549, which would update the state’s telephone harassment law to apply to the Internet and other electronic communications. The bill is sweepingly broad, and would make it a crime to communicate via electronic means speech that is intended to “annoy,” “offend,” “harass” or “terrify,” as well as certain sexual speech. Because the bill is not limited to one-to-one communications, H.B. 2549 would apply to the Internet as a whole, thus criminalizing all manner of writing, cartoons, and other protected material the state finds offensive or annoying. The Bill is currently on Governor Jan Brewer’s desk awaiting her decision on whether to veto or sign the bill.
Media Coalition, a trade association protecting the First Amendment rights of content industries, whose membership includes CBLDF, has been active in opposing the bill. On March 14, Media Coalition sent a memo to the Senate Rules Committee regarding constitutional infirmities in H.B. 2549. Yesterday they sent a letter to Governor Brewer urging her to veto the bill.
If passed, the law could create vulnerabilities for cartoonists and publishers who publish material online intended to shock, satirize, and criticize. Beyond the example of the Mohammad cartoons listed in the Media Coalition letter, the taboo-pushing work of cartoonists like R. Crumb, Johnny Ryan, and Ivan Brunetti would potentially be vulnerable to prosecution, as could incendiary works such as Frank Miller’s Holy Terror and Dave Sim’s Cerebus. Similarly, the culture of message boards, within and beyond comics, would be imperiled. With more titles released digitally each week, and an extremely active online ecosystem of professional and fan exchange, laws like this one are extremely worrisome for the creators, publishers, and readers of comics.