“In Prisons, Chips But Not Chaucer,” by Gina Bellefante, New York Times, Sunday Jan 14, 2018, metro section, p. 4 https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/12/nyregion/why-prisoners-can-choose-cheetos-but-not-chaucer.html?_r=0 :
[The NY State Department of Corrections was] moving ahead with an entirely off-brand initiative whose disturbing effect was to reduce inmate access to reading material. The program, which was in a pilot phase in three prisons, confined what inmates could receive to the inventory of six vendors who specialize in prison care-packages and offer relatively few books that deviate from the categories of religious text or insipid fiction. The impetus for it had been concern over an increasing volume of heroin entering the prison system. During a single week in April 2015, more than 25 people were treated for overdoses across the state’s prisons. Last year, over Columbus Day weekend, eight people were treated in a single facility. But among those who would no longer be able to supply books to prisoners was a volunteer organization called Books Through Bars that delivers thousands of books a year to prisoners around the country free, about cultural history, chess, origami, language-learning. ... [Editors’ Note: January 14, 2018. The Big City column in the Metropolitan section about a New York State prison program limiting prisoner purchases to six venders (sic) contains outdated information. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo canceled the program shortly after the Metropolitan section went to press. The online version of the column has been updated to reflect the change.] ===== See the witty illustration by Kiersten Essenpreis to "When Forecasters Get It Wrong: Always" *https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/opinion/sunday/when-forecasters-get-it-wrong-always.html <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/30/opinion/sunday/when-forecasters-get-it-wrong-always.html>* Karen Reeds, co-ringleader Princeton Public Library Origami Group Affiliate of Origami USA, http://origamiusa.org/ We usually meet 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6:30-8pm, 1st floor Quiet Room. Free! We provide paper! All welcome! (Kids under 8, please bring a grown-up.) Princeton Public Library info: 609.924.9529 https://princetonlibrary.org/ Celebrating 12 years of paperfolding in Princeton! Our next meeting: Wednesday, February 14, 2018 Karen Reeds [email protected]
