PRAISE FOR THE PROFOUND AND THE POWERFUL

Alex: As a retired school administrator, now a writer and thinker not unlike yourself, I commend you on this piece for many reasons beyond the political positions you take, which I agree with. I will even go beyond praising the writing, which is crisp and energetic, even muscular, and uses interesting word choices -- a forgotten art in a world of editors decrying the 3- and 4-syllable word, as if there is no difference in subtlety of thought between obfuscation and shady, or in this piece between blinkered and let's say conservative, which I have no doubt a contemporary editor might have suggested to you as being a more "accessible" word, less "graduate school" for the average reader. One more observation: your passion comes through in your instinctive use of "fuck" and "wet dream" to nail home your points -- never gratuitous, but part of the emotional flow of your content and beliefs, and lending the writing an edginess and power that elevates it. I make these points in the hope that we begin reinforcing pieces longer than 10 minutes, understand the value of challenging and original vocabulary, and make note of the impassioned, literary and artful use of profanity for its power and wake-up value.

But what is even more extraordinary in this piece is the depth of thought. I often read articles through the lens of: what new and creative ideas are expressed here?, and are we engaging with complex, multi-layered ideas that go beyond either/or categorizations? The examples of these are many:

*(about the Tennessee schoolboard): Their lack of understanding of their own power is terrifying;

*(to local control inspired by fear): Each layer of breaucracy is a source of overblown angst and terror;

*(from Speigelman himself): Maus offers no catharsis, let alone comfort, to readers. There are no saviors. No one is redeemed.

These are concepts that will challenge a reader not used to text that blows right past the 8th grade ceiling that we are often cautioned to respect in order to maintain readership. This piece reaches far higher and still keeps a grittiness and rough-edged core that is what I'm looking for in academic writing.

A last point: I'm OK with African-American parents and students advocating for moving "To Kill A Mockingbird" into the optional category; that's not a ban, doesn't feel like censorship, and it held its place in schools for many decades. It's time for something else to shine. Maus is flat-out one-of-a-kind, its metaphoric and visual qualities bring home the deep sadness of loss and give an opening to the quiet rage that could power activism, and at the very least inspires an empathy that no other work can approach. And it is now banned, canceled, desaparecido as we might call it in another culture - and that's never good. With all of that, we should be careful about using the word "Nazi" to describe anyone or anything. That's a depth of evil into which very little, thankfully, ever descends, and should be reserved for the absolute nadir of (in)human motivation and behavior.

Thanks for putting your ideas out there with conviction and trusting your readers to reach a little higher. I look forward to engaging with Bluff and Vine in the near future.