Freedom is elusive but always in pursuit. As creatives, quilters, stitchers, textile artists, we explore and reflect on the hopes and illusions that help us better understand the richness and contradictions of this concept we call freedom. Strictly speaking, freedom means 'having the ability, power, or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint,' but here in the United States, it holds additional connotations. It includes the liberation from slavery or from the power of another.

Despite the current political climate, the state of being free means, the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action. Freedom includes autonomy over one’s body and mind. I’ve been deeply troubled by encroaching threats to reproductive freedom, reading material, as well as school curriculums. “Book banning and educational gag orders (signal) a … war on … open discussion and debate of Ideas in America.” Banning books is actually the effort to censor thought.

I’m skeptical enough to never fully rely on a single source for information. But I am intellectually curious about how things work and motivations for different behaviors. So not surprisingly, I naturally want to read banned literature, particularly newly banned books. How did they land in the crosshairs of angry people? What is so threatening about the information contained therein that prompted their removal from libraries and school curriculums? Who makes the decisions about the suitability for reading consumption? When, if ever, should people participate their own development?

So, I proudly affiliate with the “banned” and wholeheartedly recommend reading banned books.

October 2022