{"id":5439,"date":"2012-03-01T07:35:06","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T12:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/?p=5439"},"modified":"2012-03-02T07:48:55","modified_gmt":"2012-03-02T12:48:55","slug":"reading-always-helps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/2012\/03\/reading-always-helps\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading always helps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>by Vicky Dickson<\/em><\/strong><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/reader.100.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/reader.100.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"reader.100\" width=\"100\" height=\"100\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-4092\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/reader.100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/reader.100-80x80.jpg 80w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 100px) 100vw, 100px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve often thought that the ability to read is one of the things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d most hate to lose. <!--more-->If my memory started to fail, and, like my father, I became unable to follow the storyline of a novel or understand a magazine article, what would I do all day? How on earth would I occupy my time?<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5440\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5440\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Reader1\" width=\"400\" height=\"251\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader1.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader1-300x188.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5440\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, authors Robert Goolrick, Marisa de los Santos, Kevin Wilson, Daniel Wallace, Lee Smith and Natasha Thetheway at the recent Orange County Literacy Council Writers for Readers luncheon. Photo by Alicia Stemper.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nSo the statistics cited by Robert Goolrick at the Orange County Literacy Council\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fifth annual <strong>Writers for Readers<\/strong> luncheon are dismaying, to say the least. After describing the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153flush of shame\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he felt at being unable to read a Greek newspaper during a sojourn in that country, the author of <em>A Reliable Wife<\/em> noted that 15 percent of adults in this country are functionally illiterate. They are people who experience the shame of being unable to read, and the crippling effects of that inability, on a daily basis. Goolrick asked why the richest country on earth ranks 40th among nations in its literacy rate.<\/p>\n<p>Good question. But it is heartening that organizations like the Orange County Literacy Council are working hard to remedy illiteracy, and that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re spreading the word through events like their recent book and author luncheon.<\/p>\n<p>Along with Goolrick, this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s luncheon featured Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and author Natasha Trethewey (<em>Domestic Work<\/em>, <em>Native Guard<\/em>) and best-selling authors Kevin Wilson (<em>The Family Fang<\/em>) and Marisa de los Santos (<em>Love Walked In<\/em>, <em>Belong to Me<\/em>). Honorary chair was Lee Smith, author (most recently) of <em>Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-Eyed Stranger<\/em>, and the highly entertaining emcee was Daniel Wallace (<em>Big Fish<\/em>). <\/p>\n<p>Volunteer tutor Ian Morse and his student Casio Noell started things off by talking about their relationship and its benefits.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5441\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5441\" style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader3.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Reader3\" width=\"350\" height=\"213\" class=\"size-full wp-image-5441\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader3.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/Reader3-300x182.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-5441\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Casio Noell (left) chuckles as volunteer\u00c2 Ian Morse relates some of the adventures the pair has had while working together through the Orange County\u00c2 Literacy Council.  Photo by Alicia Stemper.<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This program, it changed a life like mine,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Noell stated, noting that he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d gone from being a high school dropout who got involved in gang violence to being on the verge of obtaining his GED.<\/p>\n<p>Trethewey then spoke of how the power of words first grabbed her through a story about a St. Bernard with a cask of brandy that saved a man trapped in the snow. Being only in the third grade, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never had brandy \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but the words made her feel as though she could taste it then and there. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when she knew she wanted to be a writer.<\/p>\n<p>De los Santos told of how her 12-year-old son developed a crush on Anne Frank, a girl whose diary made her probably more real to him than many others in his life. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The best books,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153give us the ability to emerge from them \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 with more empathy for those around us.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>That point was echoed by Kevin Wilson when he described how reading to his 4-year-old son enabled the boy to realize that \u00e2\u20ac\u0153people aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t simply bad or good, but in between.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Growing up, the author had found it terrifying to be in a room full of people, so the books he read even while brushing his teeth became, in some ways, guides to how to live. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Books offered a safe place for me to interact with others outside myself,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Wilson brought the lunch crowd to its feet when, speaking of struggles with anxiety and Tourette syndrome that sometimes led him to be hospitalized, he told us that, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153One of the things that always helps is reading.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n<p>We shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t forget that. Reading always helps \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so we need to do whatever we can to help people learn to read.<\/p>\n<p>Another opportunity to support the valuable work of the Literacy Council comes to the Friday Center on March 24 at 8 p.m., when literacy students will share their personal stories and Wallace\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s short film <em>Two-Legged Rat Bastards<\/em> will have its world premiere. Tickets are $50 and include beer and wine as well as dessert. Check it out at themonti.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Vicky Dickson I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve often thought that the ability to read is one of the things I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d most hate to lose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5439"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5445,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5439\/revisions\/5445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/mill\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}