“Participation… That’s what’s gonna save the human race.” Pete Seeger

 

This is the day of the Kindles iPads and other electric literature. Yet we still cling tenaciously to books. There’s something about the smell, the feel, the comfort of a book. It’s something you could sense when entering an empty school post Katrina. Books were missing. All of them… gone. I can’t turn down donations of good books. We have come so far in such a short time. My 1 complaint… books are heavy and i don’t mean in some philosophical sense… i mean really heavy. My goal, in the long game of rebuilding that we are all playing, is to revive not only school libraries, but classrooom libraries and then home libraries. Reading is a habit, a good habit. I picked up the addiction at an early age watching my parents read regularly. I try pass on this habit to the people around me.

You get varied reactions from kids when you read to them and with them. Some of my favorites… from an outspoke, “too cool”  1st grader “I’m so bored, I’m sleeping” The same day from a 4th grader being tutored “Thanks, that was the first time I ever liked reading”  But not the last. Once the seed is planted… you can’t stop it. “Aw… Mr., you tricked me into learning that.” Yes. Yes I did and now it’s too late. You can’t unlearn it. You’re stuck with the bug and the only way to cure it is to teach someone else.

 

“Participation… That’s what’s gonna save the human race.” Pete Seeger