Tag: reading

Elderly Woman Recalls what a Book Was
Society

Elderly Woman Recalls what a Book Was

A dim light from the kitchen flickers occasionally as she adjusts herself on an old rocking chair. She takes something from the table and blows the dust off. She says it’s a book. It has a hard cover and is filled with paper, apparently bound together so you can flip through it. Hm. We try swiping the front of it with two fingers but nothing happens. “I remember when I was four years old,” she says, then pauses for an eternity. We thought she might have…yep, she fell asleep. We glance at each other then lift the book in front of her face to try and access it that way but no joy. We let the object fall onto the table so it makes a loud thud. “I remember when I was four years old,” she says again, as if nothing had happened. “I got that book for my birthday.” Our min...
American Youth Locked in a Room and Forced to Read
U.S.

American Youth Locked in a Room and Forced to Read

A young boy from a town as normal as the next, recounts a scene so horrific that it just might make you pee your pants. He is like any other kid his age.  You might even call him “the kid next door.”  His neighbors do.  He plays on his Wii and Xbox most days and, when he’s not doing that, he’s looking at memes on 9Gag in between his favorite TV shows and YouTube videos. But, according to Daryl (not his real name), on June 20, 2017 something so terrible happened it almost shouldn’t be told (in fact, it almost wasn’t because his account consisted of so many “Oh my GERDs” and “Trollolols” we had no idea what he was saying, until we got his English teacher to translate). “It’s still so hard to talk about,” Daryl recounted slowly as he rocked back and forth in his chair, the dim light ...
Trump Sets Personal Reading Record during Speech
Politics

Trump Sets Personal Reading Record during Speech

This week, during his speech to Congress, President Trump set a personal best for consecutive number of words read in one sitting. And just so the Times couldn't refute it, his speech (read from a teleprompter) was recorded for the world, for posterity, and for Trump--to watch and re-watch in between tweeting sessions with Congress. In addition to the reading record, he also set a record for number of near-presidential things to come from his mouth. "Trump is on fire," tweeted one supporter.  "This just proves that he is not the fashist dictator that the fake media says he is." "They just got Trumped!" read another tweet.  "Look at him all knowlegable and stuffs!" In honor of World Reading Day, the organization has noted the president's accomplishment on their website, outdo...
US Kids Say they Would Happily Read More Videos
U.S.

US Kids Say they Would Happily Read More Videos

  A recent survey conducted by the people at Gallup reveals that 10 out of 10 students would read a book everyday if it were converted into video format (or, at the very least, into a thread of compelling GIF files). They even said that they wouldn’t mind helping the adults with the conversion process since they usually had to help mom and dad and the grandparents with computer stuff anyway. We talked to a few kids about the popular PBS TV series, Reading Rainbow, to get their thoughts on the program and the importance of reading. “A TV show about reading? Isn’t that encouraging kids to watch TV and not read books?” one smart aleck kid asked.  “I mean, if you want us to read books, why do you keep making TV shows for us to watch?” Another kid, local know-it-all, Katy Mc...