Posted on by Laura Lee

Part 3–Literacy can be the Bridge: in Praise of Public Libraries

cropped-be-creative-creative-creativity-256514      Getting to there from here? How does one change careers while still paying the bills?  This was a true dilemma for me, for there was no trust fund, no rainy day forgotten account, no family to turn to once I quit my job in business.

This is a nice problem to have, and I know that.  It reeks of privilege, and I know that.  Yet I was a healthy adult with so much energy, and I knew I wanted a different type of life than working in an office.  I did not turn to drink, but I turned to sadness.  I turned to tension. Those are not healthy.

Since I loved to read and write, I turned to the public library and was amazed to find the library had become a hub of activity.  The library was not a quiet place as I remembered it, but a place of reading groups, tutoring, computer training, and so much more–in addition to having quiet places for reading and studying.

I wonder if librarians know they have helped to improve the lives of many?  For that is what I saw daily as people looked for jobs, learned a new skill, found positive activities for themselves and their family.

I found the world of book discussion groups, and never looked back. Like-minded reading lovers–what a joy!

And more–the library was looking for literacy tutors and I wanted to become a teacher.  Would I dare to take that risk, even while I was so very sad in my everyday world?  It almost seemed too difficult to risk change and then have the change not work out.

Would I take the risk and make changes?

More to follow.

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

Foundry (Literary Journal), a mini-review

journal  As promised, I’ll keep posting links to sites I find interesting, important, or both.

A dear friend introduced me to Foundry Journal online, and I was impressed with the superb poems and beautiful presentation of the site.  I read the poetry of love, nature, politics, and more.  I saw carefully selected images that enhance the site.  If you love poetry, why not go there?

It’s obvious Foundry loves poetry and has found fine poets to publish.

From their site:

About

 

Poems are manufactured objects — the intangible cast into forms. ​Foundry showcases poems crafted by writers at all stages of their practice. We are interested in poems as made things, and we are interested in their making. 

Poems published in Foundry have been awarded a Pushcart Prize, selected for Bettering American Poetry, and featured on Verse Daily.

Posted on by Laura Lee

Poetry-reading rate is up in America per NEA study

find joy          Poets! According to this NEA (National Endowment for the Arts) study, poetry-reading rate is up, to about 12% in American, up from 6.7% in 2012. Alas, this means that MOST Americans–88%–do not read poetry at all.  Hmm… from my own acquaintances, I thought more than that percentage WRITE poetry.   And if you write poetry?  You do need to be reading poetry.

Come on, American–we can do better.

Find the article here : NEA Study on Poetry-reading rates in USA

From the study: The 2017 poetry-reading rate is five percentage points up from the 2012 survey period (when the rate was 6.7 percent) and three points up from the 2008 survey period (when the rate was 8.3 percent). This boost puts the total rate on par with 2002 levels, with 12.1 percent of adults estimated to have read poetry that year.

Growth in poetry reading is seen across most demographic sub-groups (e.g., gender, age, race/ethnicity, and education level), but here are highlights:

• Young adults have increased their lead, among all age groups, as poetry readers. Among 18-24-year-olds, the poetry-reading rate more than doubled, to 17.5 percent in 2017, up from 8.2 percent in 2012. Among all age groups, 25-34-year-olds had the next highest rate of poetry-reading: 12.3 percent, up from 6.7 percent in 2012.

• Women also showed notable gains (14.5 percent in 2017, up from 8.0 percent in 2012). As in prior years, women accounted for more than 60 percent of all poetry-readers. Men’s poetry-reading rate grew from 5.2 percent in 2012 to 8.7 percent in 2017.

• Among racial/ethnic subgroups, African Americans (15.3 percent in 2017 up from 6.9 percent in 2012), Asian Americans (12.6 percent, up from 4.8 percent), and other non-white, non-Hispanic groups (13.5 percent, up from 4.7 percent) now read poetry at the highest rates. Furthermore, poetry-reading increased among Hispanics (9.7 percent, up from 4.9 percent) and non-Hispanic whites (11.4 percent, up from 7.2 percent).

• Adults with only some college education showed sharp increases in their poetry-reading rates.  Of those who attended but did not graduate from college, 13.0 percent read poetry in 2017, up from 6.6 percent in 2012. College graduates (15.2 percent, up from 8.7 percent) and adults with graduate or professional degrees (19.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent) also saw sizeable increases.

• Urban and rural residents read poetry at a comparable rate (11.8 percent of urban/metro and 11.2 percent of rural/non-metro residents).

Posted on by Laura Lee

Submitted three poems today (hate to let them go–what’s wrong with me?)

coffee-smartphone-desk-pen    So we write to be published, right?  Erm… sometimes.  I submitted three poems today to a journal a dear friend recommended, and it hurt to let them go.  What’s wrong with me?

I have heard you need to kill your darlings or something similar, meaning don’t hold on to the art… share it.  I have to believe I will write more, I will write poems as good or better.

Yet I’m not sure I believe that, and I remember why I wrote each poem.

So I sent three poems I believe are good as poems, but that didn’t punch me to let go.

I’ve never felt this way about fiction or nonfiction; perhaps it’s the compressed nature of poetry that packs this type of punch?

We shall see; I read many poems in this journal, and they are good! I would be lucky to be included.

Do you ever feel “too close” to something you have written or created?

Posted on by Laura Lee

All praise for conifers

I often walk on a nature path with many conifers; all praise for conifers! In winter when the gray and gloom just persists seemingly forever?  Green.

Just a few amateur photos of conifers and some other images of nature on this beautiful late Spring day.

What trees or nature images do you enjoy?

 

Posted on by Laura Lee

A good science news site

sky-earth-galaxy-universe    As I wrote before, I’ll be sharing what I have found to be   interesting, novel, important, or fun websites.

Here is another site worth visiting for science news.  Science affects us all on a personal, societal, and global level.  Interesting and important articles. I’d do some reading there.  If you know of any other good science sites (for a layperson like me!), I’d love to hear about them.  I know very little about science… but know it’s important to keep learning.

Sciencenews.org website

Posted on by Laura Lee

Sad statistics on Puerto Rico from ScienceNews.org

Science News

Such a sad news story that up to 4,600+ people killed in Puerto Rico.  From the article:

Hurricane Maria killed at least 4,645 people in Puerto Rico, a study estimates

The new number is based on household surveys and surpasses the official count of 64

Hurricane Maria and its chaotic aftermath in Puerto Rico led to at least 4,645 deaths, according to a new estimate based on household surveys. That’s thousands more than the 64 official storm-related deaths counted from death certificates.

The Category 5 storm hit the U.S. Caribbean territory on September 20, 2017, bringing down trees, houses and the electricity system. From then until December 31, the death rate rose 62 percent compared with the same time period in 2016, researchers report online May 29 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Posted on by Laura Lee

Link to article about text v. screen reading

                           open-book-library-education-read-159621  As a reading specialist, teacher, and avid reader myself, I am interested     in reading research.   This study shows that students often learn better when they read print v. screen reading materials : Study: text v. screen

For everyday leisure reading, I am fine with a kindle or screen reading. In fact, it’s more convenient so I read MORE. But when I need DEPTH? Then I need paper. Might be true for many others, according to this study.

I am not, in any way, denigrating the power of e-texts to engage us to read. I read so much more now that I can quickly and easily access texts on my Kindle. I am, and my colleagues have been concerned, about the pushing of e-texts in formal education, textbooks on iPads, etc.

What about you?  Do you prefer to read using paper texts or e-texts?