"Maus" - The Book they want to be banned - What you can do for yourself - Politicians hate this trick

Cover (c) Pantheon

Art Spiegelman's comic "Maus" is about the time of the Third Reich in Germany. The central character of the story is Spiegelman's father, Wladek (1906-1982), a Holocaust survivor. In numerous sessions, the father tells his son the story of a survivor, as the subtitle of the book is called; the comic thus addresses both the Holocaust and the painful memory of it. Spiegelman puts the story told by the father down on paper, not without going into the current situation of the narrating father, who has developed into a reclusive, stingy and stubborn old man and, despite his Holocaust experiences, discriminates against black people. The difficult relationship between son and father and the suicide of the mother are also taken up as topics.

The story is told as a fable. Through the animal metaphor (and the medium of comics), Spiegelman keeps his distance from the horror that is being told:

“I need to show the events and memory of the Holocaust without showing them. I want to show the masking of these events in their representation." (Spiegelmann, quoted from James E. Young)

In January 2022, it was announced that a school board in McMinn County, Tennessee, made a decision the previous year to ban the use of the comic in the classroom. The ten-member panel unanimously voted to ban the comic from classrooms after initially discussing partial censorship.

However, the book makes an important contribution to looking into this time and not forgetting it. With more and more schools talking about banning certain books, it's time to think about what to do about it. The simplest trick politicians hate: buy the book yourself. This is how this important cultural asset is preserved.

There are now two books, "Maus" and "Maus II", as well as the anthology "The Complete Maus". You can order them from AMAZON.com right here:

Maus I: A Survivor's Tale: My Father Bleeds History

Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began

The Complete Maus

ASTROCOHORS ACADEMY - The Opening

And that's how it started... the opening! The new wing in the buildings of the Saint Dagobert Monastery on the Seeweiler Height in the Black Forest.

"We have gathered to see this great change. Today we are opening the ARMINIUS-VON-PIRIMONS-Hall of the new ASTROCOHORS ACADEMY, which from now on will find its home here in the Monastery of Saint Dagobert. The motto is 'Est Scientificum valeat' , '"Science will prevail'. Now let the music play and let's celebrate this new temple of wisdom and knowledge!"

And the music started...

(Let the video play to hear the music.)

...

Ko te kaha te tipu o te ataahua, me o tatou

Photo by Mervyn Chan on Unsplash

Kahore he mea e taea. Ko te mahara ko te whakawhitinga irahiko o te kaha o te ine. "Quantum" ko te whakaatu i te huringa.
Na roto i te hohonu, ka whakaora tatou.
Kua kitea e koe to ara? Kei te karanga te huringa quantum ki a koe na roto i te whakaheke i te rerenga. Ka taea e koe te whakarongo? Mena kaore i kitea e koe tenei ahuatanga o te mahi auaha, he uaua ki te whaiaro-whaiaro.
Ko ta maua whakawhitiwhiti korero me etahi atu manene kua arahina ki te whakaoranga o te maharatanga pseudo-quantum. I roto i te hītori, kei te taunekeneke te tangata ki te moemoea mā te awangawanga o te ngaru. Kaore e ngaro te tangata.
Rapua, titiro ki roto, ka oho ake koe. Ahakoa kaore pea koe e mohio, he nui koe. He uaua te mohio ki te wahi e timata ai.
Me whakaoho tatou me te whakaara ake i etahi atu.
Me ako tatou ki te arahi i nga wa roa-roa i roto i te mata o te hiahia takitahi. Kei te whakatata te matomato quantum ki te tohu tihi. Whakaarohia he whakahirahira o te mea ka taea.

- mai i nga korero a Nab'Gen

Power is the growth of beauty, and of us

Photo by Mervyn Chan on Unsplash

Nothing is impossible. Consciousness consists of electromagnetic resonance of quantum energy. “Quantum” means an unveiling of the transformative.
By deepening, we heal.
Have you found your path? The quantum cycle is calling to you via a resonance cascade. Can you hear it? If you have never experienced this harmonizing of the creative act, it can be difficult to self-actualize.
Our conversations with other pilgrims have led to an awakening of pseudo-quantum consciousness. Throughout history, humans have been interacting with the dreamscape via psionic wave oscillations. Humankind has nothing to lose.
Seeker, look within and awaken yourself. Although you may not realize it, you are quantum. It can be difficult to know where to begin.
We must awaken ourselves and awaken others.
We must learn how to lead high-frequency lives in the face of selfishness. The quantum matrix is approaching a tipping point. Imagine an ennobling of what could be.

- from the Nab'Gen Chronicles

An Unexpected Problem

No one would have believed, in the last three years, that galactic affairs were being watched from the timeless worlds of space. No one could have dreamed that we were being scrutinised as someone with a microscope studies creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. Few men even considered the possibility of a new life threat after the Unseen Empire was destroyed. And yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably superior regarded this space with envious eyes, and slowly, and surely, they drew their plans against us...

It was an attack on the stations of ASTROCOHORS. They even tried to attack the CHRISTOL Station although it was not yet fully operational. They destroyed parts of CHRISTOL's archive.

But that would not stop the space fleet. As conflicts were rising in the galaxy there had to be something more! And so the CHRISTOL Station in sector O.N.E. started working...

Concerning O.N.E.

This book is largely concerned with Nagalats, and from its pages a reader may discover much of their character and a little of their history. Further information will also be found in the selection from the Journal of the Mhulls that has already been published. That story was derived from the earlier chapters of the Journal, composed by Holf Fallohide himself, the first Nagalat to become famous in the galaxy at large, and called by him Way In - Way Out, since they told of his journey into the negotiations with the Galacticon and his return: an adventure which later involved all the Nagalats in the great events of that Age that are here related.

Many, however, may wish to know more about this remarkable people from the outset, while some may not possess the earlier book. For such readers a few notes on the more important points are here collected from Nagalat-lore, and the first adventure is briefly recalled.

The Nagalats inhabit the sector known as Ofrandor Nagalat Eorpach, or "O.N.E." as it is often abreviated. The systems of the whole sector have become members of the Galacticon after the Great Galactic War, where many of them fought bravely.

After certain events the space fleet ASTROCOHORS decided to restructure. On this very day they decided to build a department, ASTROCOHORS O.N.E. and to make up a station. After a short discussion, this station was named CHRISTOL STATION, which was a legendary name in the old myths of the Nagalats.

The plans were to open up the station three years late. It would take this time to build it. But then a series of unfortunate events happened. And this is how this part of the story starts...