Two blog postings in one day. Wowzee. And of course, it's only something important that would make me blog twice in one day. Or extreme boredom. One of the two. In this case it's the former. So guess what, dear readers?
Guess!
No guesses?
Well, Minneapolis has been named the most literate city in the United States in 2007, followed closely by its brother, St. Paul at number three. Yippee! We may have ass-freezing winters, annoyingly humid summers, and an invasion of trash-eating squirrels, but by golly, we're literate, dangnabbit! Yes, we all spend mind-numbing hours at the library reading about trademark law and the effect of chicken on pugs. Right, fellow Minnesotans? Right? ........ Well, mebbe it's just me.
Or!
7 years ago
4 comments:
"When you've got recent immigrants and people working three jobs trying to just make a living, they're not the same people to likely be subscribing to a daily newspaper and hanging out at a bookstore," Miller explained.
As my friend Telza says, "Do you see my face? Do you see this look? This is my 'are you kidding me' face." I just have no words. None.
Oh, wait. I have some words.
We're from the South, the very definition of what is considered the South, and we're in 8th place. EIGHT. We're not totally stupid, thank you very much.
Jessie,
I do agree with you - I think Mr. Miller spoke without thinking this particular time. Especially about the immigrant situation - they are everywhere - not just in the South. We've got tons of 'em over here (a pretty even split between Somali and Latino). So I really don't think that's any explanation. And who says people working hard don't ever read?
Yeah, they are. I mean, it's not like there haven't been established places in all major cities from where pockets of immigrants make their own safe places. And, it's Texas, because hey, it's Texas. Attached to Mexico. Not like someone can migrate from Mexico and end up in Wisconsin.
My godmother comes from a truck driving father and a cashier/minimum wage earning mother. And she was born during the Depression. She still managed to read as much as possible, to keep herself informed on what popular during the time, especially since they couldn't afford a decent television until she was married. It just seems presumptuous to assume that some people prefer to working class as opposed to something else. After all, she has an RN degree, but never used it after death got to be too much.
I like being working class, being from, and I read a good five-six books a week. Not to mention the articles I see online, and the occasional newspaper. Mostly I leave the newspaper alone because Atlanta's just the same couple of stories with new names. But that doesn't negate my book readings. If I have time, I hit the library twice a week.
Yeah, we're really illiterate down here. I mean, I know we fell five spots this year, but you know, that's not accurate, since 95% of our news this year seems to have been about the aquarium, drought and Vick. Those were the big denominators. You can only hear those topics so many times.
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