stone bridge

Japanese Garden, Como Conservatory.

I was a little worried, when on a recent outing to the Como Zoo and Conservatory, that my assistants would get squirrely if I took them through the Japanese Garden and the rest of the conservatory before hitting the polar bears and sea lions. Not to worry, though; they found all the different plants and landscape elements fascinating and were full of a million questions (that I had no way of answering). The stone bridges in the Japanese Garden were especially intriguing . . .

In conjunction with the ALA’s Banned Books Week, Amnesty International highlights “the plight of individuals who are persecuted because of the writings that they produce, circulate or read.” Among the cases noted are Sakit Zahidov, a poet and journalist imprisoned in Azerbaijan, and Ko Aung Htun, historian of the student protests in Myanmar.