a 'personal touch' ?
a good friend of mine whom i finally persuaded to visit and take a glance at the 'chronicles', suggested that while it was an effective idea to use brightly colored pictures and emotional images , in order to get a valid point across , also mentioned that she sensed that something was missing . After thinking a moment she said she noticed ,that what might make the blog better would be , adding a 'personal touch' .
Now i'm not actually sure what a 'personal touch' actually means , and since she had to rush off to attend to some things at home ( from the sound of her voice, translate possibly as : "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz") i'm still in doubt as to what she might have meant .
Well in general , i trust a woman's instincts , and because she usually shows good taste as well as something of an artistic flair , i gave her thoughts some thought . Since i firmly believe in the axiom that "imagination rules the world " ...i'm going to imagine that telling a personal anecdote , here and there , could be included underneath that potentially wide-ranging catch-all umbrella/banner of adding 'personal touches' that subtly reach in and open minds and effectively energize imaginations to greatly flow in similar directions.
Recently in the news we witness not only the 'Cosby-stir' created by remarks given at celebrity public appearances, that too many of our parents aren't parenting and half our kids are dropping out instead of learning , but in addition to that, the cold hard stats revealing that non-functional illiteracy among us, since the days of emancipation from jim crow segregation , is at all time highs .
Coupled with that bad news also , are reports that in america ,for all demographic groups , excepting for maybe far-east asians , east indians and other newly arrived immigrants , the old fashioned practice of regular thought-provoking reading for personal enlightment and enjoyment is nationwide in serious , serious decline.
Even though more people and households than ever are wired to the net, this does not indicate a literacy solution , as a significant part of that stat-increase is pissed away in light perusal scan-reads and web versions of "tv channel-surfing" along with numerous other frivolous pursuits , rather than serious in depth reading... A problem we all now face, is how to counteract the societal trend to slide back into ignorance and the mass culture that promotes it . Do we really want to become Al and Peggy Bundy?
A long time ago , back in the stone ages when i was coming up , before the 'modern era' ...i still can remember times before we have computers ...Can clearly remember when we have no internet ,no global positioning satellites, no cd or dvd players...Back in the times when there are no barcodes to be swiped in supermarket checkouts and gasoline is much less than a dollar ...i vividly can relive my parents both enthusiastically reading in front of us daily .
While their kids eat their breakfast, Pop and Mom always make a point of sitting with the 'young-uns' at the kitchen table and dutifully reading the newspaper . Mom and Pop each take turns mentioning to the other , or to us kids ,interesting , eye-catching things that they read .
They together , discuss daily world events and are sure of including ,how the events that are unfolding , relate to 'us' and touch our own people's lives .
We are a reading family and every night while dinner is being prepared , we older kids are always expected to do homework while the younger kids enviously watch .
We determinedly struggle to successfully master our learning tasks and solidly build our future foundations in the warm , supportive atmosphere of the family kitchen table in concert with savory dinner aromas and pleasant sounds from the stovetop , of Mom's and Pop's tasty cooking .
They , on the daily, read in front of us kids, newspapers , books and magazines . They steadily reinforce the practice until it infects their offspring to the point where the habit once established, deeply sinks inward to never leave.
Today i cannot sit and eat breakfast without something to read . i can find myself reading entire cereal boxes simply out of habit, if the newspaper is temporarily not available . Daily feeding your mind , reading like this, becomes an important part of you... Guess that Mom and Pop clearly understand that you are what you eat...
Now i'm not actually sure what a 'personal touch' actually means , and since she had to rush off to attend to some things at home ( from the sound of her voice, translate possibly as : "zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz") i'm still in doubt as to what she might have meant .
Well in general , i trust a woman's instincts , and because she usually shows good taste as well as something of an artistic flair , i gave her thoughts some thought . Since i firmly believe in the axiom that "imagination rules the world " ...i'm going to imagine that telling a personal anecdote , here and there , could be included underneath that potentially wide-ranging catch-all umbrella/banner of adding 'personal touches' that subtly reach in and open minds and effectively energize imaginations to greatly flow in similar directions.
Recently in the news we witness not only the 'Cosby-stir' created by remarks given at celebrity public appearances, that too many of our parents aren't parenting and half our kids are dropping out instead of learning , but in addition to that, the cold hard stats revealing that non-functional illiteracy among us, since the days of emancipation from jim crow segregation , is at all time highs .
Coupled with that bad news also , are reports that in america ,for all demographic groups , excepting for maybe far-east asians , east indians and other newly arrived immigrants , the old fashioned practice of regular thought-provoking reading for personal enlightment and enjoyment is nationwide in serious , serious decline.
Even though more people and households than ever are wired to the net, this does not indicate a literacy solution , as a significant part of that stat-increase is pissed away in light perusal scan-reads and web versions of "tv channel-surfing" along with numerous other frivolous pursuits , rather than serious in depth reading... A problem we all now face, is how to counteract the societal trend to slide back into ignorance and the mass culture that promotes it . Do we really want to become Al and Peggy Bundy?
A long time ago , back in the stone ages when i was coming up , before the 'modern era' ...i still can remember times before we have computers ...Can clearly remember when we have no internet ,no global positioning satellites, no cd or dvd players...Back in the times when there are no barcodes to be swiped in supermarket checkouts and gasoline is much less than a dollar ...i vividly can relive my parents both enthusiastically reading in front of us daily .
While their kids eat their breakfast, Pop and Mom always make a point of sitting with the 'young-uns' at the kitchen table and dutifully reading the newspaper . Mom and Pop each take turns mentioning to the other , or to us kids ,interesting , eye-catching things that they read .
They together , discuss daily world events and are sure of including ,how the events that are unfolding , relate to 'us' and touch our own people's lives .
We are a reading family and every night while dinner is being prepared , we older kids are always expected to do homework while the younger kids enviously watch .
We determinedly struggle to successfully master our learning tasks and solidly build our future foundations in the warm , supportive atmosphere of the family kitchen table in concert with savory dinner aromas and pleasant sounds from the stovetop , of Mom's and Pop's tasty cooking .
They , on the daily, read in front of us kids, newspapers , books and magazines . They steadily reinforce the practice until it infects their offspring to the point where the habit once established, deeply sinks inward to never leave.
Today i cannot sit and eat breakfast without something to read . i can find myself reading entire cereal boxes simply out of habit, if the newspaper is temporarily not available . Daily feeding your mind , reading like this, becomes an important part of you... Guess that Mom and Pop clearly understand that you are what you eat...
posted by dsekou at 12:13 PM
1 Comments:
Although I was not around at the dawn of Human civilization, I too remember times before cell phones, VCR's internet or computers. I even remember the time when a phone ringing in a house during dinner didn't get answered. My mother always had a newpaper at the dinner table and it was only later at someone elses house that such a things was said to be rude. Anyways, since I'm a bit of a youngun, I watch the news while I eat and read "heavy" material online. However, the impact of reading by parents in front of children should not be discounted especially since children looko to parents for first habits.
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