My name is Cara Forbes. I am a senior at the University of North Carolina Asheville major in Language & Literature with minors in U.S. Ethnic Studies and Mass Communication. My partner for this class is Rosanna Garris, a Chemistry major.  Rosanna’s major tends to surprise some people, but she has interest in the subject in part because her mother is a librarian. I think that our coming together is an example of the interesting crossings of disciplines that a liberal arts education can bring.

I signed up for this class to have it count as my last literature elective at UNC Asheville. I thought it would be a worthwhile way to wrap up my major since this course not only covers a subject that I am fascinated by, but also challenges me to utilize digital tools to create a website/portfolio that I can proudly share at the course’s end. I was also especially interested in the investigative research component of this class.

Rosanna and I have come to the consensus that we will do a case study on The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Before signing up for this class, I read about the challenge in the Asheville Citizen Times and was intrigued by it since I had just finished a seminar course on Toni Morrison’s works. Coming from an academic background, I personally see The Bluest Eye as a worthwhile literary masterpiece for students to explore. However, as a parent myself, I can also see why some parents may not want their children to read the work. It is a truly controversial subject where I think we can reasonably see how both sides of the argument are valid.

We have scheduled to interview Gene Hyde, the Head of Special Collections and the University Archivist at Ramsey Library of UNC Asheville this week to make inquiries about his thoughts on censorship, his findings on challenges to The Bluest Eye, and the research process in general.

This week, our class will be coming together to share our digital Story Maps, online presentations that will explore our histories and interests with literature. I’m also in the process of getting acquainted with WordPress technology so I can personalize my website a little more.

In the meantime, we have been reading and discussing articles surrounding book censorship. Thus far, we have read articles that explore the history of censorship as well as politics in children’s literature. Stay tuned for my thoughts on these topics as the semester progresses.