Knowledge...and a map of the world. Diane comments in San Francisco Chronicle 8.14.2011

A recent Newsweek poll said 38 percent of Americans would fail the U.S. citizenship test...Putting a colorful map of the world might be a good place to remedy the fact that many families don't know much about history. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/14/INJM1KIGT2.DTL

Start off the school year right!

With school around the corner, start the year off right and buy a colorful map of the world. Let me share a story, THE MAP.

Our kitchen is the focal point of our family life and for the past 30 years, a colorful map of the world has decorated the room where we eat all our meals. It was this MAP that became a focal point for our conversations. We are a family of newspaper readers and THE MAP gave us context to where in the world something had happened. There was never any shortage of what to talk about, and we saw that without the map, our dinner table conversations became trapped in the sand pit of  “what happened (in school) today?”  with the usual forthcoming response: “Not much, nothing.”  When the boys were young THE MAP felt like a gigantic game board—it was fun and a challenge to discover and find the exact locations of world and national events.  The aim of any good conversation is to explore and not to persuade and THE MAP saved us from tedious and boring conversations as it entertained and educated. John Dewey said, “Democracy has to be born anew every generation, and education is its midwife.”  Let a world map or a map of the United States be your family’s midwife to that education. 

P.S. THE MAP still hangs on the wall and not one of my sons live in the same time zone as their parents. We “blame” THE MAP, but hey, we told them to put on their roller skates and explore the world. My children were very good listeners.

The drawback of E-readers.

I have written extensively about the pros and cons of E-Reading and I admit I am not lukewarm on the subject. But I have just found the reason why I have not succumbed. I  recently read an article, “What an E-Reader Can’t Download.”  and I couldn’t say it more eloquently so here is an excerpt from that article.  “Electronic books can give us a universe of reading without ever leaving the house. but the books on my shelf help me remember that reading isn’t merely an inhalation of data. My library, and the years and places it evokes, speak of something deeper: the interplay of literature and the landscape of a life, the vivid record of a slow and winding search for wisdom, truth, the spark of pleasure or insight.”  

Discover the pleasure of rereading a favorite book.

Treat yourself and reread a favorite book. Not only do you reap the benefits of meeting an old friend you loved, but you also discover a different you who is now reading the book, but with different eyes. Experience the wisdom of Marcel Proust who said : “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”

When I read a book to a classroom of children they often tell me ‘they know that story” and when I have finished the story, I hear a small voice say in awe, “ the story changed—that is not how I remember it.” Of course the story hasn’t changed—it is the listener who has changed.  It was Mark Twain, who said in a letter written to William Dean Howells in 18187,  “Nothing remains the same.” Each read delivers new riches.

Nothing demonstrates how personal reading is more clearly than rereading.  I just reread Bridge to Terabithia and want to share one of my souvenirs from that timeless book.   “Sometimes it seemed to him that his life was delicate as a dandelion. One little puff from any direction, and it was blown to bits.” From Bridge to Terabithia

In the books you read, begin to look for your souvenirs, a quote from a story you want to remember— and discover the power of ideas and how they are expressed. 

Words and verbal fatigue. Are you beginning to sound like everyone else?

I love words and I marvel how all of a sudden people can easily begin to sound like everyone else. Believe it or not, there is actually someone who keeps track of words and phr is actually someone who keeps track of words and phrases that are over used. Though maybe "you could care less," the scholars in question keep track of linguistic mangling and overused buzzwords in a database called the Oxford University Corpus. The voluminous record keeps track of books, magazines, broadcast, online media and other sources, watching for new overused, tiresome phrases and retiring those that fade from use (or misuse). Here are a few of my favorites and yes, I too probably over use these words and phrases.
The great hierarchy of verbal fatigue includes:
1 – At the end of the day
2 – Fairly unique
3 – I personally
4 – At this moment in time
5 – With all due respect
6 – Absolutely
7 – It’s a nightmare
8 – Shouldn’t of
9 – 24/7
10 – It’s not rocket science