October 2025

Welcome, SNL members.
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We promised you periodic information with suggestions of action you might take. Here you go.
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OCTOBER 2025

SNL ENDORSES for the 2025 School Board Elections:
D1 Felicity Pereyra (unopposed)
​D5  Maria Benzon
D6  Mike McDonough
D7  Audrey Nath
D9  Myrna Guidry (unopposed)
The Houston Chronicle reported that Harris County Democrats also endorsed all five  "citing the “high stakes facing Houston’s schools in the wake of the state takeover.”"

This election matters. We need strong voices speaking for our students.

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The Librarians film showed on Sunday, October 12 to a sold out audience at the MFAH, sponsored by Houston’s Progressive Forum. From the film’s website, “Librarians emerge as first responders in the fight for democracy and our First Amendment Rights. As they well know, controlling the flow of ideas means control over communities.” Readers here and SNL followers may wonder why the film matters to us when HISD has not faced many challenges to specific titles. What we know is that "ELIMINATING SCHOOL LIBRARIANS IS A FORM OF BOOK BANNING." (Washington Library Assn tshirt) What we are experiencing is much worse than the slow drip of one title at a time, or even 100. Too many of our students in under-resourced neighborhoods are being denied access to ANY and ALL books, and any ideas not included in the NES scripted curriculum. Freedom to Read Week has just passed (October 5-11) but the fight for access to books and ideas continues all year. The film is showing at the River Oaks Theater October 17-23. Please show up in droves for an inspirational two hours. Opening (10/17) and closing (10/23) shows of the run include panel discussions with folks involved in making the film.

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How to help. SNL followers often ask us what actions they can take for our libraries. There is an ongoing need for speakers at HISD Board of Managers meetings, but there are other possibilities. Many of your neighbors remain unaware of the effects of the takeover, the loss of school libraries and everything else. Others don’t care because their own students aren’t directly affected. You can help change that. Keep talking to your neighbors and friends who are not yet outraged. This issue of Literary Activism is focused on censorship, but the same actions support rebuilding our HISD libraries.

Commission on the HISD Takeover
​There is a Commission to study the effects of the Takeover. Everyone is welcome to listen. Anyone is welcome to voice their experiences and observations. There is no recording allowed so that speakers feel safe. The group is chaired by Texas Senator Molly Cook and Texas Representative Lauren Ashley Simmons. The next meeting is Oct. 23 at Westbury United Methodist Church. Details on the website. There will also be a session for Spanish speakers. I have found both sessions so far to be powerful information for the members of the Commission, and for all of the audience. Check out the website: www.hisdtakeover.com 

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Relevant Graphic Novel 
​Shaun Tan’s The Arrival, a wordless graphic novel for middle grades and older, is not new - it was originally published in 2006. There is a lovely 2025 paperback edition. Art Spiegelman, author of Maus, is quoted on the cover: “Tan’s lovingly laid out and masterfully rendered tale about the immigrant experience is a documentary magically told.” From the title page on, no words are included or needed. In these fraught times where everyone needs to remember kindness, perhaps this book will be a good resource.

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