Success! Action Item: Library Magazines

I received a letter back from Ms. Mathewson from the Joyner-Green Valley library. I will scan it in soon. She mentioned it would be hard to monitor covers of books and magazines on an ongoing basis, but that my comments have prompted her to think more about the arrangement of the magazine section.She wrote, "I am working with our Children's Services Librarian to determine which magazines are most used by families with young children and it is our intent to move those magazines to the children's area where they will be more visible to individuals who use those most often."

I think this is a great small step! I know there is a magazine section already in the children's area so maybe they will add to that area family magazines as well. I'm excited to check out the library and see what changes are happening. I will write her a thank you letter in response.

My letter to Cox

Dear Mr. Rizley:

I am writing in response to some disturbing news in the world of the Internet. Recently, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) approved the .XXX domain for pornography distributors to use on the Internet. As a concerned citizen and mother I am writing to ask your company to not allow the .XXX domain to be used on your servers. Pornography tears apart marriages and families. It leads to violence such as sexual abuse and rape. I plead with you to take a stand against this filth.

 After reading through your policies I noticed this statemet:

“Cox reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials from the Service, in whole or in part, that Cox deems, in its sole discretion, to be illegal, offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable.”

I would say that pornography on the internet is “illegal, offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable” and that you should do all you can to remove it from your service and servers. Did you know that there are federal laws that prohibit the distribution of hard core pornography? However, the Attorney General is not enforcing these laws. Unfortunately, pornography distributors know this and freely distribute their filth using media, especially the Internet. Now, they have a domain they can call “home” where Internet users can easily access pornography and feed their addictions.

I praise you for your efforts to educate families through the “Take Charge” program. Once my son, who is 2 years old, is old enough to be using computers I plan on applying those principles.

Sincerely,

It was a little intimidating writing Cox because they are such a big company. Who knows if a little voice like mine will be heard?

Media and Your Family

Women for Decency, a group in Utah who promote decency, recently sent out an email with these tips for families and their use of media. Media is such a blessing to us, but it also can be a curse if we are not careful. Here are their helpful tips to keep your family and home safe:

-Avoid using the [computer or] TV as a babysitter.

-Know what your kids are exposed to: viewing, listening.

-Do not have wireless devices or TVs  in bedrooms.

-Set guidelines for children and adults.

-No media at  certain times (such as meal time).

-Watch or listen as a family and DISCUSS  it.

-Use some media, such as VCR and DVD,  to advantage.

-Be socially active about voicing concerns.

-Teach your kids to be media critcs.

-Be careful of what you watch and always remember you can ...TURN IT OFF!!!!


PS - Don't you love that picture? Isn't that how we should be using the TV and other media, as a family?

Update Action Item: Contacting Congress and the Senate

The deadline to send the letter to the Attorney General has been moved back to April 1st. There is still time to contact your senators and congressmen! New signatures are being added every week.

The Future of this organization

For now, you may notice that we are mostly addressing concerning indecencies we see in the community through writing letters. However, eventually I would like to do more promotion of decency through events like a modest prom dress fashion show for high schoolers, educating families about decency and the harmful effects of pornography, and a White Ribbon Week. I will need more supporters to make these come to fruition. But just so yo know, we are not going to only be writing letters. We are going to make our name known so that people in the community understand that there is an organization who stands up for decency!

Action Item: Writing your internet provider

In response to the approval of the .xxx domain by ICANN we need to let our internet providers know that we do not support this domain.

We have Cox and I think most residents in Sahuarita have Cox too. I am writing the Vice President and General Manager, Mr. Stephen Rizley. Cox's mailing address is:

1550 W. Deer Valley Rd.
Phoenix AZ 85027


While looking around on their website I noticed that they have a good program for educating families about internet safety. That is something we could praise them on in our letters. I even read that they don't support having a TV and/or computer in every child's room. That's great! Because when TVs and computers are in private places in the home, like rooms, people are much more likely to come across and become interested in inappropriate material.


While looking at their policies (you know, the list of rules and regulations that everyone has to say they have read, before receiving a service or agreeing to something, that no one really reads) I noticed this statement that could help us in our letter 


Cox reserves the right to refuse to post or to remove any information or materials from the Service, in whole or in part, that Cox deems, in its sole discretion, to be illegal, offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable.


Let's let them know that we think the .XXX domain is all of the above, illegal, offensive, indecent, or otherwise objectionable, and we ask them not to carry it or support it. 

Update on Action Item: Library Magazines

I got my letter addressed to the Green Valley library back in the mail today with a sticker from the post office saying the address was "invalid." I looked on the library website and it looks like if you want to send mail to the library you have to send it to a mailing address in Tucson:


Pima County Public Library
101 N. Stone Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85701



I will either drop it off to the Green Valley library in person or I will mail it to the address in Tucson and cross my fingers it makes it to Ms. Mathewson. 

News: Approval of the .XXX Domain

Today we learned that ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) agreed to allow a domain of .xxx. Now, internet pornography distributors will use this domain to publish their filth on the internet legitimately and won't have to hide behind domains such as .com.

A Parable: It is like if there was a place in a neighborhood where everyone could get the drugs they wanted. That place is illegal, but no one is doing anything to stop them so they continue their business.  The neighborhood HOA decides just to make that drug place a legitimate address. Therefore, people know exactly where they need to go to get their drugs. That is what the .xxx domain is doing for those addicted to and enticed by pornography.

I found this article on fox news that tells more about it (Anyone else have a problem with the almost pornographic picture they use in the article?). Even the porn industry was against the domain (for the wrong reasons of course). So why did ICANN approve it? Money.

I sense a future action item coming up. Because I am trying to motivate and organize people locally in my community we need to make our voices heard about this matter where we live. Let's write to our internet providers asking them to block .xxx domains from their service.

Action Item: Contacting Congress and the Senate

We need the US Department of Justice to being enforcing federal obscenity. There are laws that prohibit the distribution of hard core illegal pornography (who knew?), however they are not being enforced. Senator Orrin Hatch and Representatives Andy Forbes and Mike McIntyre have begun circulating a letter in the Senate and House that will ask Attorney General Eric Holder to begin enforcing obscenity laws. We need to urge our state senators and representatives to sign the letter in support of enforcing these laws. You can do this very simply - contact your senators and representatives online.

I've emailed twice. From a list I've seen, Representative Giffords is the only one who has not signed the letter from my area. This is completely understandable since she is unable to serve in Congress right now. I emailed Representative Kyl and Senator McCain thanking them for signing the letter.

I urge you to write your representatives and senators to promote decency in this nation! Let me know how it goes.

My letter to the library

This is the letter I wrote. What do you think? I'm sending it in the mail tomorrow. I hope she responds!

Dear Ms. Mathewson,

As a resident of Sahuarita and a stay-at-home mom I really appreciate the Green Valley-Joyner library. I especially enjoy the children’s story time and the children’s area of the library. My son loves to visit the library and find new books about trucks, trains, and cars.

I want to bring your attention to something I noticed in the library about a month ago. I went back to the magazine section to check out one of my favorite magazines, Family Fun. As I was trying to find the location of the magazine my eyes glanced over the cover of Esquire magazine. On the cover was a very indecent picture of a woman who had hardly anything covering her body. I was holding my son on my hip and immediately whipped him around so he wouldn’t be able to see the picture. I was very embarrassed that he could have been exposed to something so inappropriate.

I am not surprised at what was on the cover of the magazine, but I was surprised that the library had it out for anyone to see, including children. Therefore, I am asking if you could please cover indecent magazine covers. I know some magazines provide plastic covers to go over magazines to cover inappropriate pictures. Those who want to see them can get the magazine out for themselves while those of us who do not want to see the indecent picture do not need to be exposed to it. If you cannot cover the magazine maybe you could make a specific section for “adult” content magazines. I was so surprised to see the Esquire magazine right next to the Family Fun magazine, both of which have very different purposes and audiences. (I understand that they are in alphabetical order).

I would like to continue to bring my child to your library. I know in your mission statement you say “library buildings are a place of intellectual discovery, and are inviting, comfortable, and safe.” If indecent magazine covers are displayed for anyone to see I do not feel like the library is fulfilling that statement.

Thank you again for all you do for our community. Please join with me in promoting decency in the community by making your library a little more comfortable for everyone.

Sincerely,

Diane Jones

Action Item: Library Magazines

When I was at the library one morning with my 1 year old son looking for one of my favorite magazines, Family Fun, I was taken aback by a magazine with blatant soft pornography on the cover right next to the Family Fun magazine. I wasn't surprised by the cover or the magazine - magazines often show the most indecent pictures on the cover, but I was taken aback that the by the library. Why does the library allow such an indecent picture to be seen by everyone taller than 4 ft? I read the library's mission, vision, and values in which I found this statement. Library buildings are a place of intellectual discovery, and are inviting, comfortable, and safe. The cover of that magazine, displayed for all to see, does not make the library a safe and comfortable place for me and my child. I also read their internet policies. Most of their computers have a filter, but you can ask the filter to be taken off if you need it to be. Hmm.. that sounds suspicious too. Would a student need to look at an internet site that is inappropriate to get information for his report? I would hope not!

My first action item is to write the library branch manager, Amber Mathewson. I will start out the letter by saying how much I enjoy going to the library with my son and how I am impressed with the children's program and activities. I will then explain what I saw in the magazine section, how it affected me, and how, even soft pornography, can be damaging to families. I will then ask her to put a cover over any magazines that may have an in-decent picture on the cover so that those of us who wish not to be exposed to it do not have to be. Especially if all we are wanting is a simple family magazine.

The mailing address for the Pima County Library is:

Pima County Public Library
101 N. Stone Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85701

I plan on sending my letter there. I thought about calling her or asking to meet with her in person, but I'm not sure how to do that yet. If I don't get a response from her and I continue to see the same problem at the library maybe I will resort to more personal measures.