Follow-up to Reading at Risk links declines in reading with poorer academic and social outcomes

November 19, 2007

Washington, DC — Today, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announces the release of To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence, a new and comprehensive analysis of reading patterns in the United States. To Read or Not To Read gathers statistics from more than 40 studies on the reading habits and skills of children, teenagers, and adults. The compendium reveals recent declines in voluntary reading and test scores alike, exposing trends that have severe consequences for American society.

“The new NEA study is the first to bring together reliable, nationally representative data, including everything the federal government knows about reading,” said NEA Chairman Dana Gioia. “This study shows the startling declines, in how much and how well Americans read, that are adversely affecting this country’s culture, economy, and civic life as well as our children’s educational achievement.”

To Read or Not To Read expands the investigation of the NEA’s landmark 2004 report, Reading at Risk. While that report focused mainly on literary reading trends, To Read or Not To Read looks at all varieties of reading, including fiction and nonfiction genres in various formats such as books, magazines, newspapers, and online reading. Whereas the earlier report assessed reading among adults ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifge 18 and older, To Read or Not To Read analyzes reading trends for youth and adults, and readers of various education levels. To Read or Not To Read is unique for its consideration of reading habits alongside other behaviors and related outcomes including academic achievement, employment, and community involvement. (More here)

Full PDF of Report

In an effort to improve my questionable grammar skills and to find another excuse to keep the pen on the pad, I have joined a fiction writing group. It’s a loose gathering but everyone brings their own unique skills – we have two poets, one fictionist, one visual artist and a journalist – and, most importantly, everyone acts like a pro. We start on time, end on time and the comments on the writing is direct but constructive; a great environment for me to keep expanding my fiction writing muscles.

Don’t get it twisted, the focus is still on poetry and all the stories I have generated are just backstories to what is going on in Anywhere Avenue. It’s also an extension of a writing exercise I got once from Patricia Smith.

Find a poem, then write a short story based on the poem, then write a poem based on the short story.

So I hope to gather all these fiction pieces and then write poems based on them. Or I could just try to start submitting them to fiction contests.

Anyhows, here is an excerpt from the story I’ll be presenting tonight. It’s based on both the text and the epigraph of Jeff McDaniel’s The Foxhole Manifesto.

The God of Near Misses (excerpt)

I see the God that exists in the roll of dice against a wall. It doesn’t matter who is throwing the dice, if it’s an old hustler or some new jack, they both have that same look on their face when there hands are shaking harder than creation and they have no idea what they’re going to throw. But you can’t tell that from the look in their eye. Oh, no. They are already plotting what they’re going to do after the dice land. How they’re going to spend the next couple of crumpled bills they’re going to add to their pockets, or how to convince the congregated that they need to stick around for one more go of the dice. Now let me tell you, that there is some real God. Not caring whether you willed into existence a mighty seven or a hard six, but how you are going to make that creation live on after you.

Spindle is proud to announce its nominees for the 2007 Pushcart Prize, as selected by Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Guy LeCharles Gonzalez:

* 10,000 Fs, by Willie Perdomo
* All I’d Leave Behind, by Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
* Depression, too, is a kind of fire, by Taylor Mali
* GED, Raina Leon
* Great Expectations, by Liz Dolan
* Succumbing, by Patricia Smith

More info here

Spindle: NYC in the first person