Wait a sec…our new president…reads? Openly?
Excuse me if I’m confused, but it’s been so long since we’ve had a president who OPENLY reads (Bush seems to have looked at reading more as a competition, and less as a way of provoking thought), and who is respectful of the English language both as a written and spoken form of communication, that I’m feeling a bit verklempt. *brushing away a tear*
In today’s New York Times, Michiko Kakutani writes about how books and language in general have influenced our almost-inaugurated president-elect, Barack Obama. It seems that Mr. Obama uses books as a way to *gasp* gain information, and not necessarily to cement in his mind his own ideas and visions. As widely reported, Doris Kearns Goodwin’s excellent “Team of Rivals” is one of his biggest influences, solidifying his beliefs that differing opinions and backgrounds do not an impossible situation (or cabinet) make.
Obama counts many other books and authors as having been a direct influence on both his personal beliefs and public policy, including Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon,” Doris Lessing’s “Golden Notebook,” Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man,” and Shakespeare’s tragedies, among others.
In addition to his love of reading, as everyone knows by now, he’s also a best-selling author. Since “lowly” community organizers aren’t known for their outrageous salaries (much like mayors of tiny Alaskan cities), his personal fortune was only made upon publishing his two books, “Dreams from My Father,” and “The Audacity of Hope.”
My hope is that with Barack Obama in office, maybe a New Word Order is at hand. Perhaps kids and parents will look at him and begin to realize how much books have to offer, and how reading, from an early age, can actually change the hardwiring of the brain, helping with later reading comprehension, and easing the path through elementary school and beyond. While I’m probably just wishing, if his widely-publicized love of books influences even a small percentage of people, I will take it.
Farewell, Is Our Children Reading. Welcome, Ardent Love of Reading and Lifetime Lover of Books.
