Take me back to 2015.
At eight years old I was confident that I knew more about marmosets than anyone east of the Mississippi. Looking back I wasn’t exaggerating that much, as I would rot away at my dad’s computer scrolling endlessly through any niche animal fact website I could find.
There, a hyperfixation was born. Not just on marmosets, but bengal cats, okapis, coatis, beluga whales also piqued my interest. One day I was so transfixed on a black widow spider I fell off my house’s porch and gave myself a gnarly black eye.
Programs like PBS kids and National Geographic nursed this obsession and allowed me to educate myself about things that were way more interesting than first grade math. Seeing Donald Trump’s order to cut off federal funding for NPR and PBS is disheartening for me now, and I know would be soul-crushing to my 8-year-old self.
PBS shows like Wild Kratts that focus on science education through going on adventures in habitats around the world and spotlighting different animal species inspired me even further. I began to journal every time I assisted an animal. If I picked up a worm and moved it into the grass and off of the searing hot pavement in the middle of July, I would immediately run inside to document it.
Trump called NPR and PBS “radical left monsters that so badly hurt our country,” on social media platforms. Though NPR is left leaning, the substance of the educational station is so much more than political or social ideologies.
But unfortunately, censorship has been a concern for these programs for decades.
In NPR’s sake, there have been several efforts to defund educational stations like it, including orders made by Ronald Reagen during his presidency, one of Trump’s many inspirations. Without such an influential public radio, that develops stories about anything curious minds can fathom, my fixation deep dives wouldn’t be possible. They are not defunding monsters, they are defunding free and accessible knowledge.
Though my obsession with animals and childhood dreams of being an animal rescuer have faded, my need for having personal autonomy to learn what I want to learn about has not. And though it sounds like an odd connection, NPR is for grown up, eccentric kids that once watched PBS kids.
Despite the current climate and lack of job security due to censorship from fascist politicians, I want to be a journalist. I want my arm shooting up in excitement to ask a question, the way it was in my 2nd grade classroom, to demand answers to the questions people need answered. The questions the people controlling this country want to be kept unanswered.
Education is power, but eccentricism is power, too. Curiosity is power. And freedom is power. Without a free press and accessible educational programs, we wouldn’t have any of these things.
