...be it prejudice or hate, or even love...

This makes me very angry. I'm so tired of people (parents, teachers, media, administration, etc.) underestimating the intelligence of youth, trying to shelter them from things they should appropriately be exposed too. It's funny to me that the parents who are protesting the book "Snow Falling on Cedars" for its sexual content are likely the same parents who unwittingly and unconcernedly buy Gossip Girl for their kids. The sex, alcohol and drug use, and irresponsible behaviour in Gossip Girl is episodic and trashy - no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Gossip Girl and series like it have the same sexual content as what you would find in "Snow", sometimes more sometimes less, but without any of the sociohistorical or literary context, or the gorgeous writing, to place it in perspective. Not to mention that "Snow Falling on Cedars" is not about sex! It's about coming of age, community relations and racial tension in a very tumultuous time and is the kind of fiction that anyone would enjoy and thoroughly benefit from reading.

The second problem here, which bothers me no less, is the fact that the school board felt themselves swayed by the comments of one dissenting parent. When educators start being intimidated by every whim of ignorant or emotional parents, we're all in trouble. When educators decide that one parent's protest can limit every student's access to material, especially mainstream literary material of impeccable repute, it is indefensible.