An Intercessory Appeal to the Only One With Power to Actually Help In the name of the ALA, and of EveryLibrary, and of the Holy Institutional Backing, Amen.
By David Rice
![]() |
| Click on image for clarity |
St. Dudash-Buskirk, PhD in Rhetoric, Professor at Missouri State University, backed by the American Library Association and EveryLibrary, hear my prayer.
I come before you as a supplicant, a lone citizen without credentials, without institutional backing, without the organizational power that you wield so effortlessly. I have already prayed to St. Michael the Archangel at a library board meeting (at the 4:00 minute mark) and you found that offensive. But I understand now my mistake.
But you have real power and you can help me.
So I pray to you instead, O Patron Saint of Rhetoric and Institutional Power, that you might intercede on behalf of the marginalized—a role you claim as your sacred calling.
First Petition: For Sight to See Who is Marginalized
St. Dudash-Buskirk, grant me understanding of your Critical Theory of Power.
You teach that we must identify who holds power and who is powerless. You proclaim the importance of protecting marginalized voices against institutional authority. You celebrate speaking truth to power and challenging entrenched systems.
So I ask: Why do you not intercede on my behalf?
What you claim to value:
• Speaking truth to power
• Challenging entrenched institutions
• Protecting marginalized voices
• Exposing institutional corruption
• Resisting institutional authority
What I actually do:
• Expose institutional corruption (staff illegally suing the board)
• Challenge entrenched power (administration covering up violations)
• Speak truth to power (one citizen vs. PhDs, ALA, MSU, EveryLibrary)
• Protect citizens from institutional overreach (BDSM instructions for teenagers)
• Resist institutional authority (refuse to be “handled” by administrators)
Your institutional backing:
• PhD in Rhetoric from a major university
• Teaching position at Missouri State University
• American Library Association
• EveryLibrary (national lobbying organization)
• Professional credentials and networks
• Executive Director Will Blydenburgh (your ally)
• Media sympathy
• Friends who rally around you
• Career advancement opportunities
My backing:
• A library book
• A prayer you found offensive
• No credentials
• No organization
• No church support (they reject this fight)
• No professional network
• Lost friends
• Increasing isolation
Under your own framework, I am the marginalized voice. You are the institutional power.
Yet you defend the institution and attack me.
St. Dudash-Buskirk, intercede that I might understand this mystery.
Second Petition: For the Contradiction of Words
Holy Mother of Relativism, you teach that all truth is constructed, that moral claims are mere power plays.
Yet you called my reading “salacious.”
If the book isn’t salacious on the shelf for teenagers, why is it salacious when I quote it?
The content didn’t change. The speaker changed.
You cannot claim both that books are neutral information AND that my speech is harmful. If words have no meaning, then “salacious” is meaningless, your objection is meaningless, your entire Facebook post is meaningless.
But if words have power—if language shapes reality—then my prayer has power (that’s why you objected), my reading has power (that’s why you called it salacious), and the book’s content has power (that’s why it matters what’s in the library).
You use language to convey meaning while teaching that meaning doesn’t exist.
The word “salacious” has no place in your worldview. But you used it anyway, because you know words carry moral weight. You just don’t want to admit that truth applies to the books you defend.
St. Dudash-Buskirk, intercede that you might recognize the contradiction you embody.
Is it wrong for adults to participate in BDSM or Kink? If so, why? If not, why not?
You won’t answer. You deflect to authorities (ALA, Freedom to Read), make pop culture references, claim I violated decorum.
But here’s the simplest question: Why should strangers instruct children in sexual practices?
This isn’t a parent answering their child’s questions. This is institutional strangers giving sexual values to children as if values don’t exist.
If sex has no value, then rape is not a crime.
Answer the question or admit words mean something.
St. Dudash-Buskirk, intercede that you might answer what you refuse to address.
Third Petition: For Justice in the Matter of the Edited Video
O Defender of Institutional Prerogatives, I bring before you a documented case of public records destruction.
The public meeting video was edited to remove Tory Pegram’s challenge to the board’s oversight authority. This is a Sunshine Law violation—the destruction and alteration of public records to hide inconvenient challenges to institutional power.









