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Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-rator™

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Xe Sands

The Christmas Present

11 December 2016

My super-talented and energetic narrator friend Xe Sands had this wonderful idea:

December…the time to give thanks for those things that have sustained us through the past year. For narrators, a huge part of that is YOU, the listening community! As we wind down 2016, we want to give back to you, our listeners, who help make our job so rewarding, and who travel with us on each audiobook journey. SO! Over 60 narrators have partnered to bring you FROM THE HEART – recordings of poetry, essays, stories, excerpts, songs, etc. – throughout the month of December.

I’m so thrilled to be among this group of exceptional narrators and offer you a free reading! Today, I present “The Christmas Present” by Richmal Crompton. In this short (11:55) Christmas tale from 1922, Mary learns that the best presents don’t cost a thing.


Thanks to Xe for spearheading this project and to a favorite audiobook blogger Jennifer Connor at the Literate Housewife blog for her generous publicity of this project throughout December. I encourage you to visit Jennifer’s site to catch up on narrators and their readings from earlier in the month, as well as those to come.
Happy holidays!

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Narrators, Recordings, Short stories Tagged With: audiobook, Christmas, From The Heart, Jennifer Connor, Literate Housewife, narrator, Richmal Crompton, short story, Xe Sands

FAMILY LIMITATION Recorded for Banned Book Week 2013

26 September 2013

Earlier this week, Xe Sands, fellow audiobook narrator and founder of the Going Public Project, posted about Banned Books Week, which this year is 22-28 September. She said that Going Public would have a special posting tomorrow, 27 September, of banned books.

 

Excited by this idea, I spent a few hours searching through lists of banned books on numerous web sites to find something I wanted to record. I was amazed to see the broad range of banned and challenged books, including a long list of classical titles. People complain about and attempt to censor material for a variety of reasons.

 

Many of these books are still under copyright, so I can’t record them. However, I found a historic and significant pamphlet that is directly connected to my life today:  Margaret A. Sanger’s FAMILY LIMITATION, first published in 1914.

 

You see, I am child-free by choice. I am grateful to live in a time period where I not only can make that choice but have immediate access to information about birth control and appropriate medical care.

 

If I had lived 100 years ago, though, it would have been extremely difficult for me to learn how I could prevent pregnancy. In my research, I learned about the Comstock Law of 1873. The Comstock Law (the Federal Anti-Obscenity Act) banned the mailing of material considered to be “lewd”. “indecent”, “filthy”, or “obscene”. It also forbade distribution of birth control information.

 

My research led me to a fascinating blog devoted to Margaret Sanger’s work and papers. In this interesting article, I learned Sanger was a nurse in the NY slums who believed that women had a right to know about their reproductive health. She first published her pamphlet in 1914.

 

The next year, her husband was jailed for distributing this pamphlet which describes and advocates various methods of contraception. Sanger fled the country to avoid prosecution. When she returned, she started the American Birth Control League, which merged with other groups to become Planned Parenthood.

 

In 2012, the Library of Congress included Sanger’s pamphlet in its exhibit of Books that Shaped America. This exhibit featured 88 works that shaped American life and thought.

 

For these reasons, I am very proud to present the entire recording of the FAMILY LIMITATION pamphlet (sixth edition, published in 1917) by Margaret A. Sanger in celebration of Banned Books Week.

 

 

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Away From the Mic, Narrators, Podcasts, Recordings Tagged With: audiobook narrator, Banned Books Week, birth control, Comstock Law of 1873, Family Limitation, Going Public Project, Margaret Sanger, women's reproductive health, Xe Sands

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