Chapter Eighteen: Censorship

Words are a powerful thing. They create stories that can change lives. They reveal information that can alter perspectives. That's why we take them so seriously in our work here at Noteworthy Communications. Words, whether in a novel, essay, poem, film, or even in professional copy, have an impact.

This is not new information. People in power have always understood the potential that words can carry. That's why history is filled with instances of attempts to silence certain words, certain stories, certain truths, certain perspectives. We are living in one of those historical moments right now, with this year’s number of book challenges set to exceed last year’s, according to the American Library Association.

“The pen is mightier than the sword.”

- Edward Bulwer-Lytton

“Ideas are incombustible. And therein lies your real fear.”

- Ellen Hopkins

Now, we could dive into how the banners of books are never remembered as the heroes of history (quite the opposite, in fact), or why they feel the need to censor voices at all. Instead, we prefer to focus on how book banning efforts tend to have the opposite effect of their intended purpose.

Censorship always backfires. Censoring literature especially only succeeds in driving up readership and piquing curiosity about why someone is working so hard to keep this information hidden away. With the technology and the resources we have today, true book banning is next to impossible. Those who are determined to find the stories that speak to them will always find a way, and the internet, public libraries, non-profit organizations, and passionate individuals are ready to assist in this mission.

“There is more than one way to burn a book.

And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”

- Ray Bradbury

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

- Nelson Mandela

A term often heralded in the fight to keep books on the shelves is “representation.” Representation is a two-sided coin. It is vital that readers, particularly young readers, see themselves in the stories they read, watch, and absorb. That’s how they know they are not alone, no matter what their own personal story may be. The flipside, however, is just as crucial. To seek out stories, particularly as adults, that show us perspectives beyond our own experiences makes us more informed and open-minded in a world full of people who are different from ourselves.

No matter how deeply some people may dig their heels in, we will never all conform to the same ideals and behaviors. That reality can seem frightening to those who are very comfortable in their own bubbles and who wish to remain there always. Education, however, is the antidote to fear. We do not necessarily have to agree, but we do ourselves a true disservice when we refuse to at least learn.

“Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it.”

- Mark Twain

“The books that the world calls immoral are books that show the world its own shame.”

- Oscar Wilde

So often in the discourse of challenging books, we hear from parents determined to shield the children from material they personally find objectionable. Their compulsion to control the content in schools and libraries is expected to outweigh the training and expertise of those specifically hired to cultivate a collection of materials designed to educate students, expand their perspectives, arm them with information, and allow them to walk out into the world a more well-rounded citizen.

What these book banners want for their child is also expected to be good enough for their classmates as well, but to be public means something: the community as a whole, for everyone. The discomfort of some should not dictate the education of all. After all, ignorance is far from bliss for those who have to live with the consequences of the decision-making of the ignorant.

We expect students to handle school shootings, and even forced parenthood, yet we cannot trust them with the power of information? Words and stories of diverse perspectives have turned into a type of boogeyman, talking points designed to fuel an agenda of anger, division, and bigotry. The only way to break through the fear is to shine a light, because no one should have to read in the dark.

“Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.”

- Laurie Halse Anderson

“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”

- Heinrich Heine

“Read the books they’re banning. That’s where the good stuff is.”

- LeVar Burton

For additional resources on this topic, including lists of banned books any of us would certainly benefit from reading, and ways you can help share stories of all kinds, check out the organizations below.

- American Library Association

- PEN America

- We Need Diverse Books

- Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression

- The Book Fairies

Chapter Seventeen: The Juggling Act

We all lead multi-faceted lives. Every day we attempt to balance the personal, the professional, the obligatory, the entertaining, the relaxing, the essential, and the meaningful. We make commitments to ourselves and to others, and then we have to see them through, or at the very least, deal with whatever the consequences may be of not seeing them through.

For business owners, if we are fortunate, our commitments tend to grow as we become more successful. Our client rosters increase, our schedules fill up, and we need to make some decisions about what’s really important to us and how we approach our various responsibilities, as well as our joys, moving forward.

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Keep the Balls in the Air

The value of having a plan should never be underestimated. Through trial and error, we can chart our multitasking course. We can find the tools that help us stay on track and develop a schedule that suits our needs so it’s simple to maintain. Making lists, setting deadlines, and turning good habits into productivity systems are all vital in keeping our priorities well balanced and the various balls we juggle up in the air.

Compartmentalizing is a gift some people naturally possess. Others have to work through the mental muddle and train their brains and their bodies to be in work mode, to be in creative mode, to be in friend mode, to be in rest mode. Getting organized is really about strategy and mindset, but once it’s unlocked, productivity can skyrocket.

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Reduce the Number of Balls in the Air

Even still, no matter how well we plan, there comes an undeniable point when we have to acknowledge that our capacity has been reached and concessions have to be made. We cannot add even one more ball to the ones we’re already keeping aloft, and it is at that juncture that we have to start getting comfortable integrating the word “no” into our regular vocabulary. For overachievers and people pleasers, “no” is avoided like the plague. That practice is not sustainable, however, and will only lead to dropped balls. There’s only so much any of us can juggle, after all.

Saying “no” is a lesson we recently had to learn at Noteworthy Communications. After a year and a half in operation, we have scaled to a point where we no longer have the capacity to say “yes” to every potential client or project. While that is a good thing for our business, saying “no” is never something we enjoy. Still, we have to say “no” to some things so we can say “yes” to others, all while keeping our balls from crashing down.

Life is a juggling act and people do it every day. The juggle may never truly end, but we can put tools in place to keep the act manageable, profitable, and maybe even enjoyable. Not every system will work for everybody, but the learning experience of finding what does work for us is part of the satisfaction.

Noteworthy Communications can serve as one of your tools if you’re struggling to keep all your balls in the air. When we reach a point when we can’t juggle everything ourselves, hiring out some of our tasks can relieve that extra stress and ensure that all of the balls we’re responsible for continue to soar through the air.

Chapter Sixteen: Business as Usual

Bad days happen, and so do bad weeks, bad months, even bad years. Things happen that can absolutely devastate us, whether on a personal level, within our financial situations, on our professional paths, or throughout our larger communities. Catastrophes happen and then we are expected to show up, do our work, and remain focused on the task at hand. We mourn on our own time.

However, …

How can we go about business as usual when we see tragedies play out in our 24-hour news cycle?

How can we go about business as usual when our most basic human rights are at stake?

How can we go about business as usual when the rug is pulled out from under our feet and our world is turned upside down?

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Have Grace

Human beings are not robots, and we cannot be expected to perform as such. When we are feeling drained or stretched to our limits, accomplishing the bare minimum can feel like we’re pushing maximum capacity. What we can normally get done in a couple of hours can drag on for days. Our usually sharp focus can go blurry and waning motivation can cause exhaustion to seep down into our very bones.

Rather than allowing ourselves to become numb or nihilistic, having grace with ourselves can get us through the rough patches, and allow us time to get back into fighting shape. Self-care doesn’t always look like a luxurious bubble bath and a facemask. Sometimes just acknowledging the struggle we’re in, that it’s not business as usual, is enough to make something seem less daunting.

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Recalibrate

With deadlines looming and responsibilities weighing heavily on our shoulders, slowing down for even a moment can seem laughably unattainable. However, by reprioritizing our commitments, we can trim the fat, and focus on what’s truly vital so we have time to recover. Sometimes we have to ask ourselves, what is the bare minimum we have to do to get through the day? We make that list, we do what we can, and then we rest. This is not slacking off, but rather, doing the best that we physically or mentally can manage at the time.

The Noteworthy Conversation itself is an example of a commitment that had to be reprioritized in a moment when overachieving was simply not an option. Noteworthy Communications has never missed a deadline for a client, but something had to give, and skipping a monthly blog post was something we were able to live with during a time that was not business as usual. Posting a month behind schedule seemed like a big sacrifice at the time, but now, a month and a day later, the conversation is back on track, and we even got a new blog post topic out of the experience.

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On the other hand, sometimes throwing ourselves into our work might be just the solution we need. We can harness our feelings and channel them into something productive and positive. When everything else seems to be falling apart around us, we hold tighter to what we feel we can control. Still, even that is not actually business as usual.

Feeling overwhelmed is a part of life, and it will happen time and time again. Coping with the unexpected and the devastating might look different day to day, but pretending everything is business as usual and forcing ourselves to power through is almost a guarantee of a burnout or a breakdown. It’s not business as usual, and that’s exactly the point.