Drawing the Line(s)

The topic of stifling expressions facilitated three days of conferences at CSULB were scholars explored the occurrences of censorship within America.

The event was entitled “Drawing the Line(s): Censorship and Cultural Practices,” and was orchestrated by the department of Comparative World Literature and Classics. The event gathered academic scholars and practitioners in order to discuss censorship. Material covered pertained to movies, the first amendment and many other topics. Admission was free.

“This conference will show the students that what the faculty members do on a scholarly level begins at their level,” said Nhora Serrano, a conference organizer from the department of Comparative Literature and Classics.

At the conference, the subject of censorship and children was a repeating motif. Samantha Rosso, a CSULB student wrote a paper entitled: “Keeping it PG: Making Myths More Appropriate.” Rosso talked about the editing of classic Greek and Roman myths in order to make them suitable for children.

“It’s a tragedy to a child’s appropriate journey,” Rosso said about censorship and the alterations made to the moral lessons of Hercules, Aphrodite, and Zeus.

Jason Schulman, a graduate student from Emory University wrote a paper entitled: “The Red Flag Case Revisited: Young Communists and the First Amendment,” where he addressed issues of censorship in the context of protecting American children.

“Censorship is all about power dynamics, who makes the rules, who has the power, because the line is artificial,” Schulman said. When Schulman read his paper, he talked of an American summer camp teacher, Yetta Stromberg, whose prosecution derived from the raising of a communist flag at a youth camp in California.

Schulman notes that the Supreme Court determined Stromberg had her first amendment rights violated when the state tried to fulfill its motive to censor children from communist influences.

The connection between American history and censorship was abundant at the conference. This year was the 47^th consecutive Comparative Literature Conference on campus, making it the longest running event at CSULB. The event took place in the Anatol Building, March 1^st through the 3^rd, with a collection of nearly 80 speakers.