The Long Spin

And now for something completely different.  +1  if you get the reference.

That’s right, this post isn’t about cycling or anything else you’re used to reading on here.  Remembering my last post where I told you I was interested in expanding my writing I’ve decided to take this post in a different direction.  Maybe this is about how our tastes and hobbies change as we mature, maybe this is about our broken education system, and maybe this is just about the greatest books I’ve ever read.  To the point, I’ve recently rediscovered my Reading Rainbow.

First, shoutout to Levar Burton (you can be cool like me and follow him on twitter @levarburton).  This guy is great and always has been.  Everyone should remember him as the host of Reading Rainbow (Nerd Reference: and Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge from Star Trek: The Next Generation!), a show that was designed to entice kids to read by showing them different book recommendations always followed by Levar’s tagline “But you don’t have to take my word for it.”  Top it off with an amazing and inspiring intro video (see above).  Amazing!  I loved this show.  The show garnered literally hundreds of awards and the greatest thing about it is Levar Burton was (and still is) legitimately passionate about getting kids to read and learn.  Much respect to Levar and company for such a great long-running show.

Here’s the problem though, I NEVER READ (like red, not reed).  For whatever reason I generally did not like reading as a kid!  I’m pretty sure I actually read one assigned book my entire time in high school (Ender’s Game, incredible book).  Outside of reading the actual assigned books I read a lot of Cliffs Notes…

It was that way for most kids though.  Maybe it’s the short attention span?  I think my problem was being assigned to read stuff from genres I had no interest in.  No offense to Dickens but I wanted nothing to do with Great Expectations.  I’m sure it’s a fantastic book, but am I the only one who sees a problem with getting a 16-year-old to read a book from 1860?  Don’t even get me started on Ivanhoe.  (I should really go back and read it again, I’m sure my perspective has changed.)  This is where I tie it in to our sketchy education system.  We all want the youth of America to be intelligent, free thinking, productive, literate members of society.  We want kids to grow up respecting literacy and the written word.  If you are religious you want your kids be able to read the words in the Bible/Qur’an/Tanakh/Dianetics/The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster/Etc.  We want our youth to grow up to make smart, informed decision when voting.  We want all of society to not only be able to read the words that are written but also to analyze, understand, process and respond to those words.

So where does this leave us?  In an ideal world we want our kids to read and respect great works of literature from great historical authors.  Reality check: kids are not going to read books they don’t like!  I think it’s time we all start being Levar Burton’s and let kids decide what to read based on where their imagination wants to take them.  Most people I know loved To Kill A Mockingbird, I didn’t.  So what did I do?  I skimmed the pages and half-assed my way through that section of the class.  Perhaps if I had designed my own reading assignments from books I wanted to read I would have read more, read faster, learned more, and respected literature more.  Bottom line, we need to start being realistic about fostering literacy among society’s youth.  Let’s tailor reading assignments to the kids who are doing the reading.  Let’s help them become better by using their desires and imagination as a guide.  Will it require a lot of work and a complete redesign of the curriculum?  Probably.  Is it worth?  You bet it is!

I’ve recently rediscovered my Reading Rainbow.  I read what I want now.  I read nerdy fantasy books about knights and wizards and all sorts of other nerdy stuff.  Whatever, I do what I want.  Here’s the nice part:  Instead of skimming the pages and being bored to tears reading something I think is boring, I am now reading faster than I ever thought possible.  I can breeze through books at an astonishing pace when they really grab me.  I actually love reading!  I now have an emotional investment in the characters lives that play out on the pages.  That imagination I had as a kid is coming back.  I can escape from reality for a brief venture into the pages of a book that I truly enjoy, and when one story ends there is no shortage of other books to pick up and find another compelling story.

Levar and Reading Rainbow were right.  I can go anywhere.  I can be anything.  Books have given me friends to know and places to go.  So go pick up a book.  Find time to escape.  Get anything you want, don’t be embarrassed.  Maybe you didn’t read much as a kid either, but there’s no reason you can’t start now.  Just take a look, it’s in a book.  But you don’t have to take my word for it.

Update: So, I randomly decided to tweet my blog post to Levar Burton since he was such an inspiration.  I woke up this morning to find that he not only read my post, and not only retweeted it to all of his followers, but he also sent me a message that really is life changing.  (Also tells you how freaking cool he is!)  The part about “I can be anything” really is true.  Thank you so much to Mr. Burton and everyone else who has come through here and read this post.  I really do appreciate it.