Read A Book (1)

“Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.”

Frederick Douglass

Why do we read? Joy? Enlightenment? Inspiration? Information? Self-preservation? Knowledge? Skill development? Survival? Power? Understanding? Appreciation of other cultures? All of these and more?

“We read to know we are not alone.” C.S. Lewis

Cindy Elkins gave the name “Community Unity” to the colorful tile project she organized at both ends of the Riverwalk tunnel between the Estes Park Visitor Center and Kind Coffee. On my daily run I frequently stop to read random tiles, and recently one enticed me: “Books Change Lives.” It got me thinking about my reading history.

“Children know perfectly well that unicorns aren’t real, but they also know that books about unicorns, if they are good books, are true books.”

Ursula LeGuin

My independent reading life began with Freddy the Pig in the late 1940s. I camped almost daily in the Happy Valley library, thrilled by the perceptive porker’s adventures in FREDDY THE DETECTIVE, FREDDY THE PIED PIPER, FREDDY GOES CAMPING and other timeless (to my ten-year old brain) classics. Books were for entertainment, pure and simple, and I was hooked.

“I intend to put up with nothing I can put down.”

Edgar Allen Poe

High school introduced me to Captain Horatio Hornblower, and I devoured C.S. Forester’s swashbuckling maritime series. My life changed, and entertainment became literature for me, through Kenneth Roberts’ historical novels of our Revolutionary War, specifically OLIVER WISWELL. Roberts’ sympathetic portrayal of a Tory was initially a blasphemy --- we were the “good guys” against Perfidious Albion, after all --and my conflicted feelings raged. I finished the book rooting against Sam Adams and his liberty-loving thugs, preferring the Loyalist unjustly assailed by fellow Americans. WISWELL upended what I had been taught about the Revolution. Decades later, I realized that’s when I began to read with a critical mind.

“Make it a rule never to give a child a book you would not read yourself.”

George Bernard Shaw

Upton Sinclair’s THE JUNGLE continued my education. I railed against unjust treatment of immigrant workers in his muckraking account of corporate greed in the meatpacking business. That the 27-year old’s work was banned in several countries only whetted my appetite.

“To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.”

Victor Hugo

An unanticipated dinner with George Kennan in college reaped valuable advice: the elder statesman, just named by President Kennedy as Ambassador to Tito’s Yugoslavia, exhorted our small group of college seniors to carry a book everywhere. “If there’s down time or the meeting is boring, I read. Some don’t like it, but that’s their problem. I get smarter.” Since then I have rarely been without a book in my hands.

"Today a reader, tomorrow a leader."

Margaret Fuller

Fifty-plus years ago TIME offered weekly recommendations for televiewing. Exquisitely echoing Newton Minow’s 1961 critique that TV was “a vast wasteland,” the magazine offered a dry dismissal for one Thursday evening in the mid-sixties: “Read a book.”

"Let’s be reasonable and add an eighth day to the week that is devoted exclusively to reading." Lena

Dunham

The weekly book toss at Eagle Rock School came near the end of Wednesday Community Meetings, when I lobbed a dozen or more paperbacks, including such staples as WATERSHIP DOWN, DUNE, ROOTS, ENDER’S GAME, A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME, THE HOBBIT, THE BOOK THIEF, the Harry Potter and Hunger Games series, and more. The last book tossed was always GANDHI THE MAN, after which I declared in my best stentorian voice, “Remember, those who do not read…” to which the assembly responded with a resonant, “…are no better off than those who can’t!” Thank you, Mark Twain.

“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years. To read is to voyage through time.” Carl Sagan

In early years the Peace Corps gave Volunteers a footlocker of books. On rainy days in northern Iran near the Caspian Sea I luxuriated reading Thomas Hardy, Theodore Dreiser, Norman Mailer, Thornton wilder, H.G. Wells, Miguel de Cervantes, Giuseppe di Lampedusa and others (Why were no women writers represented in my footlocker?).

“Until I feared I would lose it, I never loved to read. One does not love breathing.” Harper Lee

But what happens when policy decisions impede access to books? Who gets to decide, and why? To be continued…

Reader response welcome: ftm7522@gmail.com

Nonprofit Boot Camp Scholarships

Nonprofit leaders, including board members, paid and volunteer staff, and executive directors are invited to a oneday crash course in the pillars needed to run a successful nonprofit organization. There are 100+ nonprofits serving the Estes Valley. That is a powerhouse of goodwill and much-needed services. Boot Camp is an in-person workshop led by nonprofit experts who will guide nonprofiteers through all the basics: Development, Operations, Governance, Finance, Evaluation, and Strategic Planning. This workshop is presented by our statewide nonprofit training and advocacy organization, the Colorado Nonprofit Association. The Estes Park Nonprofit Resource Center is offering ten scholarships. These scholarships are in keeping with the Nonprofit Resource Center’s mission to provide premium education for our nonprofit industry. Boot Camp scholarships are available to organizations in service to the Estes Valley with a budget of $250k or less. The scholarships cover the entire registration fee and lunch (which range from $75-150).

Visit epnonprofit.org to take advantage of this opportunity. One scholarship per organization. First come, first awarded. Total registration for Boot Camp is 30 (currently, 20 spots remain). Once the event is full, scholarships will no longer be available. Catch it while you can! Questions? info@epnonprofit.org or 970-480-7805. Let us go forth and conquer!

Estes Park Woman’s Club

Trunk Treasures Sale This Saturday!

be a yummy bake

All proceeds go to the Estes Park Woman’s Club. This is a major fundraiser for the club which supports the Estes Park community by giving to the library, school, RMNP, Crossroads and other local organizations.