Can crowd-funding really solve America’s literacy problem?
America has a reading problem and we are either too ashamed or lazy to admit it.
We put warning labels on things to prevent accidents that should be common sense, but who really reads those?
I do.
I’m also two-thirds into a book trilogy that is calling my name as I type this.
It may sound dorky, or contrite, but I love to read.
Many of us read on a daily basis unknowingly, but how much it develops us is solely based on the content of what we’re reading.
While it’s easy to read social media feeds while on the loo, reading a book takes dedication.
Some people remember the now-infamous quote:
But we have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of controversy…
…yet scarcely anyone ever read the bill Rep. Pelosi was referencing.
We all, however, are experiencing the bill’s effects and many more are complaining about it’s impact.
This occurred because reading quickly became passé.
Not reading directions can have serious and dire consequences, so can signing a contract without reading fine print.
Artists, negotiators, and travelers have been spurned at some point for not reading, causing undue stress.
The importance of literacy was stressed in my home and the premise that knowledge is the one thing that can’t ever be stolen from you was central to my childhood. Reading increases your vocabulary and can expand your field of knowledge, so I ravaged book after book as a child until my appetite left no book unread.
If you read books — which I don’t, none at all — about how to become a billionaire, they always say, ‘You learn more from your mistakes.’ So if you learn from your mistakes, then I’m a fucking genius.
Kanye West uttered those words in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview, and no one batted an eye.
Our society has accepted the fact that reading is a bore and those who champion reading should be shamed into keeping their excitement down.
Not me!
Reading transports me to far off places in my imagination and tells grand tales that stay with me.
Comic books have become comic movies–but my own nephew pooh-poohs the idea of reading a paper story of any sort.
Once upon a time the question was: how do we get kids and adults to enjoy reading?
These days, the question is: how do we get people to read at all?
Me?
I have a trilogy to finish, and I’m excited to “see” the ending.
