I am beyond anger--now the economy has hit HARD.

Where it counts.

We all know that the states (most of them) are in terrible fiscal crisis. What do they cut? In our neocon environment, they go STRAIGHT TO THE HEART. In the case of Idaho, the cut is being aimed at its university press.

For those of you who don't know much about publishing in general, or about university presses in particular, these presses exist to promote the universities themselves and to provide venues for serious publishing that would not otherwise exist. The university presses also assist small literary presses that provide the real raw stuff of literature--the literary beginnings.

As some of you might know, I am a literary fiction writer with a first book to be launched in May by a small, western, literary press. The press has done extraordinarily well since its inception in 1998 and it recently partnered with the University of Idaho press in order to improve the distribution of its books. University presses can get books into chain book stores, while small literary press distributors cannot; they usually lack the money to do so. So my publisher, which was earning some very respectable awards right off the bat and also promoting literature regionally with conferences and workshops, was really taking off.

Then this--I received this email from my publisher yesterday:
___________________________

Dear Friends,

I am making some progress regarding the unfortunate closure of the
University of Idaho Press. Bonner County Legislator George Eskridge,
I've discovered, is dismayed as well about Idaho's literary loss, and
he has suggested that we all write to Idaho senators, legislators,
Congress and Governor Kempthorne expressing our vehement opposition to
the University' decision. Since I spoke with him a few days ago, Mr.
Eskridge has sent a lobbyist to the University of Idaho to investigate
the abrupt closure of the Press. Mr. Eskridge feels that the University
is moving too quickly and being too secretive. He does not agree that
the Press should be closed, especially not for financial reasons.
Please, we have to mine this!

Please continue to write letters to our elected officials, who seem to
be our only hope to reverse this demented decision.
______________________________________________

I cannot even begin to describe how angry and completely deflated this makes me and many others feel.

Besides, it is obvious why they aim at such programs. Perhaps, someone at your university press could aim a grant application Soros' way.

I really hope things turn around and don't know what else to say.

But in states like Idaho..I WILL say you all need to take AIM at the groups associated with the Heartland INstitute which is how the American Enterprise Institute funnels funds locally to YOUR area (thereby seducing locals into the NEOCON nightmare.)

I'll pass it along.

If your House Rep is Dem maybe you could meet with him/her in a group and see what could be done. Or target any other House Dems in Idaho, since the House Reps seem to be more responsive to their districts than the Senators. (especially if your Senators are Repug) Group meetings sometimes work more effectively than fax or mail.

Is there any free speech group that might get on this? I wonder if this isn't going to be a national problem and some education group might be supportive in some way.

Good luck on this. I will keep an eye out for my own universities here in NC who might be thinking about doing this..

I asked for one. I live in Colorado, so I don't know if my emails will do much good--but I'll write them nevertheless.

Because of the assinine tax cuts that George W. Bush gave to corporations here in Texas back when he was Governor that dissolved our state budget surplus, when the economic downturn hit, our budget like most other states' budgets, went deep into the red.

Public universities in Texas have basically been told to fend for themselves when it comes to budgetary short falls. The University of North Texas Press has been targeted among those things that some would like to cut out of our budget, too.

Unforunately outside of the big unversity presses (Chicago, Michigan, Oxford, Texas, Berkeley, etc.), many are vulnerable to increasingly corporate models of university administration, models where the administrators only see balance sheets and bottom lines instead of education and enlightenment.

I have a friend who basically founded the U. of New Mexico Press, and I need to talk to her about this.

This is truly frightening.

I just sent an email to the following regarding University of Idaho Press! (Still haven't emailed the guv--YET.)

Brian Whitlock, Chief of Staff
E-mail: bwhitlock@gov.state.id.us
Gary Smith, Deputy Chief of Staff
E-mail: gsmith@gov.state.id.us
Miguel Legarreta, Governor's Scheduler
E-mail: mlegarreta@gov.state.id.us
Michael Bogert, Counsel to the Governor
E-mail: mbogert@gov.state.id.us
Mark Snider, Senior Communications Advisor
E-Mail: msnider@gov.state.id.us
Michael Journee, Press Secretary
E-Mail: mjournee@gov.state.id.us
Parra Byron, Education Advisor
E-mail: pbyron@gov.state.id.us
Kent Kunz, Legislative Liaison
E-mail: kkunz@gov.state.id.us
Jim Yost, Senior Policy Advisor
E-mail: jyost@gov.state.id.us
Kathy Ruffalo, Senior Policy Advisor
E-mail: kruffalo@gov.state.id.us
David Lehman, Policy Advisor
E-mail: dlehman@gov.state.id.us
Scott Turlington, Policy Advisor
E-mail: sturlington@gov.state.id.us
Sara Nye, Policy Assistant
E-mail: snye@gov.state.id.us
Megan Reinschmidt, Policy Assistant
E-mail: mreinschmidt@gov.state.id.us
Samantha Pisca, Policy Assistant
E-mail: spisca@gov.state.id.us
Blossom Johnston, Policy Assistant
E-mail: bjohnston@gov.state.id.us
Addy Wissel, Administrative Assistant
E-mail: awissel@gov.state.id.us
Brad Christensen, Staff Assistant
E-mail: bchristensen@gov.state.id.us
Jayson Ronk, Counsel Assistant
E-mail: jronk@gov.state.id.us
Jennifer Hayes, Executive Assistant to the First Lady
E-mail: jhayes@gov.state.id.us
Jonathan Glenn, Staff Assistant
E-mail: jglenn@gov.state.id.us
Pat Nelson, Secretary
E-mail: pnelson@gov.state.id.us


Jack T. Barraclough, Republican
Email: barracloughjt@cs.com

Scott Bedke, Republican
Email: bedke@pmt.org

Donna Boe, Democrat
Email: donnaboe@cableone.net

Darrell Bolz, Republican
Email: dbolz@house.state.id.us

Larry C. Bradford, Republican
Email: houserep31@msn.com

John L. Campbell, Republican
Email: mhl85@hotmail.com

Jim Clark, Republican
Email: jimclark@clarkforidaho.com

Gary E. Collins, Republican
Email: gary-hiai@uswest.net

George E. Eskridge, Republican
Email: geskridge@coldreams.com

Debbie Field, Republican
Email: dfield1@mindspring.com

Lee Gagner, Republican
Email: lgagner@aol.com

Kathie Garrett, Republican
Email: charwood@smgazette.com

Wendy Jaquet, Democrat
Email: wjaquet@sunvalley.net

Douglas R. Jones, Republican
Email: djones@house.state.id.us

Eulalie Teichert Langford, Republican
Email: eulaliel@juno.com

David Langhorst, Democrat
Email: dlanghorst@cableone.net

Janet J. Miller, Republican
Email: jjmiller17b@aol.com

Shirley G. Ringo, Democrat
Email: sringo@house.state.id.us

Ken A. Roberts, Republican
Email: rranch@ctcweb.net

Kenneth L. Robison, Democrat
Email: kenneth.robison@worldnet.att.net

Ann Rydalch, Republican
Email: arydalch@msn.com

George C. Sayler, Democrat
Email: gsayler@house.state.id.us

Mary Lou Shepherd, Democrat
Email: jvshep@aol.com

Elaine Smith, Democrat
Email: erbsmith@aol.com

Steve Smylie, Republican
Email: ssmylie@house.state.id.us

John A. "Bert" Stevenson, Republican
Email: berts@safelink.net

Tom Trail, Republican
Email: ttrail@moscow.com

Richard Wills, Republican
Email: rwills57@netzero.com

Kent M. Bailey, Republican
Email: kentbailey02@yahoo.com

R. Skipper "Skip" Brandt, Republican
Email: skipp@cybrquest.com

Email: hbunderson@earthlink.net

Martha Calabretta, Democrat
Email: calabrettas@hotmail.com

Dean L. Cameron, Republican
Email: dcameron@senate.state.id.us

Dick Compton, Republican
Email: djcomp2@msn.com

Bart M. Davis, Republican
Email: bmdlaw@ida.net

John W. Goedde , Republican
Email: john@johngoedde.com

Fred Kennedy, Democrat
Email: fkennedy@senate.state.id.us

Shawn Keough, Republican
Email: skeough@senate.state.id.us

Brad Little, Republican
Email: blittle@senate.state.id.us

Patti Anne Lodge, Republican
Email: palodge@senate.state.id.us

Melvin M. "Mel" Richardson, Republican
Email: chair@micron.net

Gary J. Schroeder, Republican
Email: gary@hideandfur.com

Clint Stennett, Democrat
Email: cstennet@senate.state.id.us

Elliot Werk, Democrat
Email: ewerk@mindspring.com

buying the news media, increasing laws against "profanity," arresting people involved in "terrorism."

What's next? A bonfire of books in front of the White House?

This has less to do with the economy than it has to do with the elimination of ideas contrary to neo-com goals. Including the dissemination of facts.

What's next? A bonfire of books in front of the White House?

Don't give President Cornelius any ideas!

some poets to the White House?

but then I thought I was being paranoid. Maybe I'm not.

In some ways I'd rather see a close presidential race down to the wire and run the risk of another Florida occuring than to see Kerry and whomever whipping Bush/Cheney. Why?

Because I'm quite concerned about the Bush/Cheney (actually the Republican Party's) embrace of this whole culture war ideology. If they get too far behind (in reality or in their own minds) then I think they wouldn't hesitate a second to blow this whole culture war idea wide open. Embrace not only intolerance and ignorance toward homosexuals, but also embrace more militant opponents of abortion and blow the whole academic demonization idea up into a grade-A bogeyman. The basics are already in their grasp: How liberal colleges are, how unfair colleges are to conservative viewpoints, how college doesn't really "prepare" you for a job, etc.

I'a afraid that considered in the light of desperation, some soft attacks on academia, including burning books (they've already burned Dixie Chicks CDs), isn't too far fetched.

I've been laughing recently at how twisted they are getting at the fact that gays and lesbians are getting married. With all of the important and terrible troubles our country is having, they seem to worry about that "problem" to an unbelievable degree. (!) How much more ridiculous can it get?

(I also keep thinking, "Well, they wanted their little 'culture war'--now they have it.)

But I think blowing it open may be in their plans already.

Aside from any tinfoil thoughts about the right suppressing dissent and free thought, there is a very large contingent out there that hates the arts in general.

I was listening to some rightwingnut on the radio as I was driving through Springfield Mass, and he was serious when he said a truck driver contributes more to American economy and culture than any artist.

I have no idea who he was, or what the station and show were, but it seemed to be one of the religious stations. This anti-arts attitude is a spreading cancer fomented by both the secular and religious right, but I think it is more prevalent in the religious wingnuts.

Closing a publishing house is not only terrible for you and your book, and the other authors, but it fits right into the overall agenda of closing down the arts.

One of the major battles between the White House and Congressional Republicans right now is that the White House actually wants to incerease arts funding, while the right wing of Congress wants to kill it off entirely.

We MUST do whatever we can to reverse this.

wing and the arts.

One goal of the real nuts is to totally abolish the National Endowment for the Arts. It looks as if, through this effort on the state level, some on the right are targetting the university presses with the pretext of saving some money.

The whole thing makes me feel physically ill.

to the Idaho legislators.

After this primary fiasco, I told myself I'd just get back to the books--but it looks as if politics has nosed its way into that arena as well.

It is beyond belief.

Is Brady Udall who I think he is?

The right wing has always hated any kind of schooling that doesn't lead directly to a job in a fairly standard industry. If you want to train accountants or engineers or best of all, pro athletes, fine, but art, music, theater, creative writing, dance, literature, foreign languages, and other subjects that encourage students to think in unconventional ways are "frills."

I'm constantly reminded of the passage in Brave New World in which the authorities use electric shocks to condition the Epsilon children against books and flowers.

of literature for engineering students.

I'm amazed by the number of times I've heard Ayn Rand cited by them.

The same thing happened here at UCF. Our literature journal is holding bake sales and garage sales in order to stay open.

magazine or did you also have a full-blown book publishing operation? (Not that the fate of the journal isn't enough...)

I wonder what sort of economy will be left by the time November gets here? :scared:

But I emailed the heck out of the Idaho state government, so maybe someone will do something.

what's going to happen with your book? Will it still be published? If I send emails, what exactly should I say in them? I don't know much about how the publishing industry works.

Send me a PM if you want to.

different distributors, (one is a nonprofit literary distributor out of Berkeley and the other is through the university press). The university press distributor is a lot more aggressive though. It has a full-time staff doing nothing but that all the time. It would mean that you could walk into Tattered Cover and pick up a copy of Food Chain, but the same would probably not hold true for Barnes and Noble.

A lot of university presses do this for relatively new, small presses, and it's really important to keep books--not just mine--surfacing and circulating.

If the worst happens and the University of Idaho Press is indeed canned by the state of Idaho, my publisher might be able to find another university press with whom to work, but the real effect of this happening might mean that once one university press goes down, others will follow. That's one travesty that is almost certain to happen. Witness the posts from LiberalinTexas. We have corporate consultants coming into the universities to try to figure out ways that the state can save money; they know nothing about the function of a university press and still even less about publishing. They are part of the ever-encroaching emphasis the corporatization of the universities. (And I don't have anything against corporations in general, but there are some places where people need to realize that MBAs are not all-knowing in every aspect of life: medicine, the arts, government...) They look at balance sheets and "the bottom line" and try to figure out ways in which the state can cut costs, period. They don't know what they don't know.

I'll send you a PM above and beyond this...

In Minnesota, we still have a $160 million deficit. So what is Paw-ass-lenty going to do about it? Cut Human Services some more, of course. Burn in hell, Pawlenty.

State universities seem to be a target.

so we will be running defecits...but thats not a tax increase so its okay.

AIDs funding.

Can a movie star fix the situation? Nobody knows.

it has nothing to do with the CA economy.

You and I have something in common :-) --Weimies!

Here's mine:



About what is happening to your press. The current presidential administration has inspired a full frontal assault on academia. It isn't just about money--the closing of your university press--it is about academic free speech.

I see the actions that are happening--closing university presses, firing liberal arts professors--as an attack on the reputedly "liberal" establishment of Liberal Arts and Humanities.

We need to band together to fight these assaults! I am participating locally in my state, and I am contacting legislators in my state and in Washington. We simply CANNOT stand for this.

I hope you can find another press to publish your book. THe University press at Kentucky has a wonderful reputation...they have published many books on Indian Americana. That press will be sorely missed, as will the potential of great authors' being able to express themselves through that press.

It is a sad day in academia. Very sad indeed.

Please keep me informed via PM. I will do the same for you. Thank you for your supportive words on my thread.

:hug: :hug: :hug: :loveya: --jchild

The book will still be published--Lost Horse Press is the small press publishing it--but the distribution will suffer. And I just can't stand to see a university press shut down like that.

I will definitely keep in touch.

Thanks so much!

:hug:

What is your weimie's name?!

Pamela (the poet holding the weim puppy) is solely responsible for my introduction to weims. Her pup, Portia, and mine (Huck) are sister and brother--they're from the same litter.