you can't read toni morrison, you can't read toni morrison's banned. >> the federal government's not banning books. local hold on local. >> republicans, local. >> school boards. >> who elected. yeah. >> so if you get elected, your school listen education is a distinctly local function. >> and and. >> so school boards vote on what they determine. they establish book councils and they say this is where we deem appropriate for our schools. and the. >> librarians who i know. will look, look, look, look at john. and i agree again. >> there, there are, there are, there are excesses all over the place. there were excesses from the like the woke left about books that they didn't like in various schools. and there. >> was dumb too. >> yeah. >> that's right. >> mark twain. >> america has america both left and right in the country, have an illiberalism problem is that. >> i agree. >> with that. and the the thing is, you know, kate was saying how she likes cranky jonah. well, uh, one of the. >> curmudgeon. jonah. >> curmudgeon. jonah. so one of the biggest pieces of bs in this culture in the las

and people like tony morrison and people you know, just who they are; right?nd maybe that came with their age and being elder so i should mention people that are story tellers their life and connect with them and you know, i had those models. >> (multiple voices.) >> and when we approach as elders they sort of see us as harmless. >> right. right (laughter). >> that's true someone is sitting there and- >> (multiple voices). >> coming up to take. >> you're much more open to. >> my mother was like i said passed at 1 hundred and 4 but a curious person with her life and always said she may with living in north beach the first chinese person an open authoritative but because she was curious this was a really modeling for myself and i feel like elders we just have a we're able to approach 0 anyone and hey how are you? and they're open to take with us. >> i think for me my challenge and career forced me to be a more public person and away from work i became more quiet and less engaged. so this pierson of being in the room and doing what i needed to do and saying what

and so taking the advice of toni morrison, i wrote the book that i wanted to read. so that's the origin story of the book in terms of how it connects to my previous research. you know, i have long been interested in the ways that history shapes the present moment in which we find ourselves. and i see part of my job as a professor as making that history legible and accessible to people who don't have the time to, you know, go on a deep dive into the library archives. and so this book is really an extension of that work. and my hope is that even though it covers a lot of ground, it does so in a way that people will find accessible and easy to read. i think you achieve just that. i mean, every line in the book has something packed into it, something that i took away. and so i left with boundless new knowledge and really appreciate how you wove together the history and the analysis and the lived experience. i want to get into the premise of the book, right? so in original sense, you argue that schools have long been framed as as the great equalizer. but but in reality,

and people like tony morrison and people you know, just who they are; right? and maybe that came with their age and being elder so i should mention people that are story tellers their life and connect with them and you know, i had those models. >> (multiple voices.) >> and when we approach as elders they sort of see us as harmless. >> right. right (laughter). >> that's true someone is sitting there and- >> (multiple voices). >> coming up to take. >> you're much more open to. >> my mother was like i said passed at 1 hundred and 4 but a curious person with her life and always said she may with living in north beach the first chinese person an open authoritative but because she was curious this was a really modeling for myself and i feel like elders we just have a we're able to approach 0 anyone and hey how are you? and they're open to take with us. >> i think for me my challenge and career forced me to be a more public person and away from work i became more quiet and less engaged. so this pierson of being in the room and doing what i needed to do and saying wha