Long May They Wave. This item is unavailable.Long May They Wave

From Boulder, Colorado, the town that gave us the Jon Benet Ramsey murder case and the controversial Professor Ward Churchill at the University of Colorado came one of the strangest and most shocking stories of them all: The director of the Boulder Public Library banned the display of the American flag just after the September 11th attacks, concerned that the flag could compromise the library's "objectivity" and might offend some library users. But at the same time, the library was displaying an offensive art exhibit featuring twenty-one anatomically precise penises dangling on a clothesline! These were soon stolen from the gallery by a frustrated father who called himself, "El Dildo Bandito." The story made headlines around the world. Long May They Wave is a true story, told by Chris Power, a former Boulder library administrator who suggested the American flag display and was ultimately deprived of his job. Mr. Power's fast-moving, often humorous inside story guides you through the history and cast of characters of this anything-but-dull public library. You will discover how the flag idea came up, the shocking reason for the ban, the media reaction, the discovery of the dildo display, and the reactions from the public, other librarians, the talk shows and the politicians. You will read revealing interviews of the artist and the "Bandito." Then the story of how the flag ban was "leaked" to the media is revealed, and of the tragic treatment of the author, who only wanted to display Old Glory as a memorial to the victims of 9/11 and their families. It's a twisted but real story that could happen, as they say, "Only in Boulder."

Christopher Power, a former research scientist and MBA, worked as a project manager for the Boulder Public Library for 15 years and wrote The Boulder Public Library Master Plan 1995. Long May They Wave is his second book.