Fires are for reading by, chatting and napping by, cooking over, adding light to the night and warming up winter. That in 2021 U.S. citizens, including elected school board members in not far enough away Spotsylvania County, VA, promoted burning books they don’t like–including those in public and school libraries–gets my ire up. I’m guessing these folks haven’t read Fahrenheit 451. Don’t read what you don’t want to read, but don’t tell me or anyone in your community that we can’t read something. We must pay attention to what’s going on in places we’d rather not look at or else we’re going to find fascist behavior normalized and applauded. Librarian Angie Manfredi says it better than I do.Let’s stay fired up in 2022 to protect intellectual freedom. And I hope you can curl up with a book near a warm fire, human, pet or blanket as you welcome the new year.