Writing again?

I have not written anything in an exceptionally long time. It is not as if there have not been things on my mind or heart. Instead, it has been a matter of (down)time and solitude that have prevented my writing. Now that I would like to return to writing, I find that I need to (re)learn the site and my limited programming knowledge. This post is just a convoluted test to refamiliarize myself with the workings of the site. Hopefully, there will be more posts upcoming soon.

In the meantime, here are a few more words to illustrate to myself what this will look like so that I can move forward on the right foot.

In the meantime, have a nice day!

The Joy, The Gift, The Art…

Of reading.

I know it is after Christmas and the lead-in seems to cover many nouns that describe the holiday season. However, the two words in the opening paragraph are here to disabuse you of that notion. This post is about the joy of reading. It is about the gift of reading. It is about the art of reading. In short, this post is about reading. Plain and simple.

Earlier today, I read a post on Twitter that referred to this article from The Guardian:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming

The article provided a rather startling statistic/common practice – future prison capacity is largely projected by the number of 10-11 year-olds who currently can’t read. Although the writer, Neil Gaiman, goes on to explain that the numbers do not have a direct correlation, he does make it clear that the number of jail cells needed in the future does factor in this subset of fifth and sixth graders. That is a frightening correlation.

Gaiman then goes on to describe what benefit reading fiction provides to children (and adults). I really would like all to read the article, therefore I won’t go into great detail about what he says. One of the benefits, reading to find out what happens next in a story, is a Pavlovian-like response for me. It was that way when I was a child who would stay up all night to complete an extremely interesting book and continues to be that way as an adult who cannot stay up all night but will stay up past my bedtime to reach a stopping point. That need to know what happens next can also be regarded as curiosity, something with which I am very well acquainted. It is the motive for so many seemingly random things that I do.

Another point Gaiman touches on is empathy. The process of reading is an active use of imagination that combines the author’s imagination to create the original story that is committed to paper and the reader’s imagination to make the words come to life in the reader’s mind. With recreating the black and white words that appear on paper into emotions that are recreated by the reader, empathy is achieved. Ever read a book and feel as if you have walked a mile in the character’s shoes? You have empathy to thank for that. Although the process of reading a book is often a solitary pursuit, it allows us as readers to connect with the experiences of those who are not us, those who are not like us and those we do not know intimately. Reading has the power to make a stranger’s existence something about which we should care when there are no other cues otherwise.

One of the most profound benefits of reading is one with which I struggle with constantly – the ability to see that things do not necessarily need to be the way that they are. I am currently not far from Ferguson, a place that now only goes by one name like Madonna or Matisse but for all the wrong reasons. If it had not been for books that I’ve read or the experiences books have inspired me to have, I would not be able to deal with the reality of the place that I find myself. Even those buttresses of knowledge and experience are worn thin in places, however I find myself grateful in knowing, by reading and experiencing, that this is not the way of the entire world, nor is it the way things must be. I take solace in that many Twitter posts that I read from protesters make references to a different vision for this area. The written legacies of those who have come before them provide an alternative vision of how things can be that I hope they can bring to fruition. There is power in knowing that Ferguson today seems like Birmingham of yesterday and realizing that the Birmingham of yesterday no longer exists.

Libraries. This is one of the last points on which Gaiman touches. I have had a well-used library card almost everywhere I have lived. Libraries, to me, are repositories of people, places, things, ideas and experiences all (or most anyway) under one roof. For that which is not under the same roof, there is inter-library loan. Within the four walls of libraries, I have discovered new ideas, checked out movies and music not necessarily within my range of interest, used the computers when my internet service was not on or not working, listened to a guest speaker present information on a topic that seemingly had no relevance to me but quickly caught my interest. The library always has and always will be like a light that illuminates darkness. Libraries will always draw me as if in a daze for it is there that I have found some of the best things.

Another post about the importance/benefit of reading:
International Literacy Day

PS:

Men, one of the quickest ways to attract my attention is to have a book whose title I cannot read from where I am sitting; that is, if I think you are somewhat attractive. If you are not attractive, I will still be curious, just not interested in getting to know for a relationship. Just the other day, I was sitting in a waiting room and an older man sat next to me, carrying a library book. I had my Italian language book to help me pass the time but couldn’t help but ask what he was reading. That simple question started a conversation that meandered into the two of us exchanging information about travel – our completed travels and travel dreams. We were not looking at the other as potential life partners (he was easily 20 years my senior), however, for a few moments we both shared the light in our eyes over the details of completed trips and dreams of future, unplanned travel. We have books to thank for the pleasant passing of time in an otherwise boring setting.

International Literacy Day

“Literacy is much more than an educational priority – it is the ultimate investment in the future and the first step towards all the new forms of literacy required in the twenty-first century. We wish to see a century where every child is able to read and to use this skill to gain autonomy.”

Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director Genera

http://www.unesco.org/new/unesco/events/prizes-and-celebrations/celebrations/international-days/literacy-day/

Today is (better yet – was) International Literacy Day.  It is a day focused on expanding literacy to include populations with low levels of literacy and to expand the definition of literacy to include skills suited for the 21st century’s technological advancements in populations where reading, writing and arithmetic are already at adequate levels.  “See Spot run” is 20th century literacy (which is still necessary).  The amount of knowledge necessary to remain relevant in this century encompasses an ever-increasing ability to navigate the explosion of technological advances brought about by the internet.  Literacy of the future may come to mean having the ability to understand “See Spot run” on a reading comprehension level (what was Spot doing?) AND create a computer representation of Spot running (creating/posting a video of a dog running).

Reading is something I continue to enjoy doing.  I recently got my library card and was over the moon.  I’ve trekked back and forth to the library on an almost weekly basis.  Upon entering the library one day, I recalled a part of my summertime happiness – going to the library to pick out the books I wanted to read as opposed to the books assigned for me to read during the school-year.  I would play and/or hang out during summer’s daylight.  However, at night, I would stay up late to read a book.  Sometimes, I would even forgo telephone conversations with friends if a call came in during the exciting part of my book.  Anyone who knows me knows I L-O-V-E to talk on the phone; and that started early.  However, phone conversations easily took a backseat to books.  I could sit quietly for hours submersed in another world created by the book that I was reading.  I was the proverbial bookworm.

As an adult, I value my continued love of reading, for it has allowed me to move seemingly effortlessly through worlds totally different than my own.  Random minutiae from various books have allowed me to connect with and understand people far removed from my set of personal life experiences.  Descriptions of foreign people and places drove (and continue to drive) my interest in seeing the world.  Long before the US State Department issued my passport and I boarded a flight to an international destination, my first passport was issued by the local library and I traveled far and wide utilizing a combination of an author’s place descriptions and my own imagination to make the little black words on the white page come alive in my mind.  It is through reading that I continuously seek to assimilate more knowledge into everyday life. 

Just as my reading another author’s words inspired me to imagine the world and context they created or described, it inspires me to leave just a little bit of what’s in and/or on my mind as well by way of writing.  As a 21st century adjunct to writing, sometimes I just post a video when original words fail me.  As such, I straddle literacy of both centuries. 

Children learn by example and one of their favorite ways of learning is by imitation.  If you hate to read, pick up a book when you’re around a child and just stare at it, making sure to turn the page from time to time.  If you love to read, read a book to a young child.  Although it is not the gift often hoped for, gift a child with a book suited to their interests.  Stepping back into this century, give them an eBook they can read on a tablet, if they have one.  Turn the tables, have them write something from their imagination for YOU to read.  In giving a child a book, you are in essence giving them an increased chance of success far beyond the realm of a standardized test – but an increased chance of success in life.

PS: Special thanks to Beth, whose blog post regarding International Literacy Day inspired my wanting to also say a few words in its honor.

PPS: I hung out at the library yesterday afternoon in order to hear a presentation on local name origins.  My library card is the gift that keeps on giving…

The Fifth Sacred Thing

This is a book that I have read several times in addition to giving a copy to someone I thought would appreciate the book.  In it, Starhawk, the author, describes a utopian approach to a dystopian future.  I am guilty of presenting grim information (the Syria video) but smile when I think of how it could be, and better yet, read someone else’s words that have created a vision of how it could be.  Now, I’m happy to see that the book is making progress to move from the page to the screen.  I look forward to seeing the story I read and imagined on screen…

In the meantime, here’s a preview:


The backup is, well, back up…

I once forgot to back up this blog and lost a slew of posts (they were my BEST ones, lol).  When I restarted blogging, I decided that periodic backups were in order since I don’t ALWAYS continue the blog.  The other day as I posted a Rani Taj video just to have something new online, I realized that I never restored the backup of my older posts.  The older posts are now restored with the original post dates and times.  A few more will be forthcoming later as I sort out some of the details that were rearranged in the restoration shuffle.