"Who told you you might meddle with such hifalut'n foolishness, hey?"

It's been years since I read Huckleberry Finn.

I am no acclaimed literary scholar, nor am I easily offended by issues of artistic integrity. But when I learned of the new edition of Huck Finn & Tom Sawyer that will soon be released by a local publishing company with all 219 uses of the N word replaced with "slave" and references to Injun Joe in Tom Sawyer changed to Indian Joe, I was frightfully taken aback.

I'm not sure what kind of a right I have to speak to this. I'm white. I have no idea what it feels like to be the object of racial slurs. Exept for that one time this kid called me White Chocolate back in 2006. Apples to apples here, as you can see.

So you can imagine my apprehension when I found out that I might be interviewed for CBS's 60 Minutes on this issue. I could handle the .18 seconds of the back of my head appearing on Anderson Cooper, but you might remember my reference to the damage I could have done had they handed me a mic.

So would you mind if I used you, my certain mass readership, as a sounding board for a minute?

All I can say is this: I don't know what it's like to stumble across a word in literature, in school, that is deeply offensive to my heritage, my ethnicity, my ancestors.

But isn't it more dangerous, more risky to sugarcoat here? Especially when it comes to classic literature? Should this not spur on the hard conversations that none of us really want to have with each other in the company of mixed races? Or, ahem, when you're the only white girl in the room?

It's not easy, it's not comfortable, and it's not supposed to be. But it's the reality of our country's past, and we're not doing ourselves any favors by pretending it wasn't as bad as it was. Nor or we doing ourselves any favors by acting like there aren't still remnants of that history in all of our lives today in some way, shape, or form.

My biggest question here has little to do with what Mark Twain would think, because the truth is that the stories ARE no longer under copyright, and besides, he seemed to be of the sort that was okay with tweaking, changing, and messing with his works after they were penned.

My biggest question is this: Is it WORTH it to alter such literature so that it becomes easier to deal with the language that reminds us of our past? Is it worth it to tweak classics so that the at times shocking reality of our own history is a little easier to sidestep, particularly in the classroom? How relevant is it?

Quite relevant, I think.

Now granted, I'm speaking out of a mere 5 years experience in the classroom compared to Alan Gribben's 40. Also granted that the term "slave" isn't quite sugarcoating. But I feel certain that Twain's use of the N word 219 times was purposeful, and I don't think it's ok to undo that intentionality for the sake of not having to deal with the explosive nature of the word in the classroom.

Because what is Mark Twain if not explosive?

And how is this still-uncomfortably-real kind of tension to be dealt with if not head on, regardless of the comfort level?

So there you have it - my very white, somewhat naive take. Hand me a mic at your own risk.