Things Worth Remembering: The Memory of Stories

December 6, 2021December 6, 2021 ~ Joe Broadmeadow ~ Leave a comment

“I have never let schooling interfere with my education.”
Mark Twain

Every day someone reads a book to our grandson, Levi. Most days it’s his parents but, whenever he’s with us, we read to him as well.

Why would we read to an infant unlikely to remember the moment?

Because reading stories always create memories—sometimes buried deep in the synapses of the brain — that last a lifetime.

Back in the Dark Ages, before the invention of eBooks, my grandfather gave me a book that I carried everywhere. The book weighed almost as much as I did, but it seemed a worthy burden to bear. It was a collection of many stories—The Wizard of Oz, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, Sredni Vashtar, and many others that I read, and reread, and read again.

Even all these years later, when most of the things I once thought important have been lost to the dark recesses of my brain, these stories stayed with me on the forefront of memory. Perhaps it takes the mind of a child to know what is important to hold on to. Sadly, it seems it is a skill we lose as we turn our focus onto matters that we come to learn later in life never really mattered at all.

I want to create those lasting memories for Levi, the ones worth remembering, as my grandfather did for me.

There were other stories I remember. Stories from Captain Kangaroo—the model for all those shows that followed. Stories like Stone Soup, Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel, Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddlar Some Monkeys and their Monkey Business.

I haven’t heard these stories since I heard them on that show, but I remember enough to tell them to Levi from memory. His reaction was mostly to smile, frown, laugh, or blow spit bubbles, so I also bought the books to read them to him and watch as the memories take root.

Reading is the critical foundation for learning. On average, Americans read just twenty minutes per day (https://www.statista.com/topics/3928/reading-habits-in-the-us) which is actually an increase over previous years (likely related to the involuntary limitations of Covid-19.) Could it be our lack of reading, and lack of encouraging others to read, negatively impacts our success with education?

I have always wondered what is it that makes some successful at learning while others struggle. It seems today that many would blame teachers for their kids’ failures in school or the dismal state of public education in many parts of this country.

My sense is nothing could be further from the truth. Teachers aren’t the problem, they are the filter that catches the problem and brings it painfully to our attention.

So I asked teachers, if they could point to one marker of success in students, what would it be?

The answers were remarkably similar.

A willingness to learn and work at it…

An enthusiasm to learn…

Parent(s) who make their children’s education a priority… parent(s) who were actively engaged in their children’s education…

… students that have the eagerness to learn have the most success. Of course, that eagerness, especially with the primary grades, comes from the attitude of the parents.

The point is, like the quote from Twain implies, schooling is just a part of education. It is fundamentally necessary but just one aspect of learning. The rest comes from living and the influences of those around you.

So if one book, given to a child all those years ago, can light the spark of an enthusiasm for learning, imagine what reading to them every day can do.

… and that’s why we read to him and will continue to do so until he is such an age to read on his own or to tell us not to… I hope that never happens.

If you want to create a legacy that will live on long after you’re gone, read to someone. They will remember…

A special shout out to Colleen Campbell Hagen (my cousin), Pat Nixon-Gwin (a classmate from Cumberland High School Class of 1974), and Joan LaPlante and Dan Walsh (two of the finest teachers to grace the halls of Cumberland High School), for sharing their thoughts and experience as teachers.

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Confessions of a Reading Junkie

January 28, 2020January 28, 2020 ~ Joe Broadmeadow ~ Leave a comment

T’is true: there’s magic in the web of it.
William Shakespeare The Tempest

My name is Joe, and I am a Kindle-aholic. The addiction to reading anything and everything has plagued me all my life, long before this devil device came along. Kindle opened a whole new dimension to my addiction.

It all began with a book my grandfather gave me. A compendium of condensed stories; The Wizard of Oz, Gulliver’s Travels, Huckleberry Finn. I would carry the book with me everywhere.

Elementary school brought me the world of the Hardy Boys, more Mark Twain, more and more worlds to explore by the mere turning of a page. Reader’s Digest added to the mix. I even read the Encyclopedia Britannica (surely an early indication of my future addiction.)

Reading became an integral part of my world.

When I traveled, I would almost fill a separate suitcase, requiring four or five books just for a week’s trip. The thought of being without something to read made me tremble with terror. I could not bear the thought of being without a book.

I recall one trip to Barbados, where I did not bring enough books to read. I found myself desperate, almost willing to grab a dog-eared copy of some romance novel left behind on the beach just to have something, anything, to read.

But fate intervened at the last moment.

In the hotel room—this was a Marriott hotel—was a copy of J. Willard Marriott’s biography. The whole place got started with an A&W Root beer stand. Who knew? Now I did. Alongside the biography in the nightstand was The Book of Mormon—no Gideon’s Bible here, although I’ve read that as well on another ill-planned expedition—Marriot was a Mormon and promoted his flavor of religion.

This book is a frightening read. In the dark, a reading light cannot ward off the bizarre contents of this most terrifying of religious tracts.

Back then, lacking a book would force me to seek one out at any cost. Bookstores were my suppliers. Then, when my career required me to travel over two hours each day in my commute, I discovered audiobooks.

It got to where I did not even look at the titles in the library. I would just grab a handful and head out. It got me strange looks from the librarian. But I feared the terror of being stuck in five o’clock rush hour traffic, moving three miles per hour, and the book ending more than a librarian’s disdain.

Perish the thought. On a side note, did you know there are audio cookbooks? There are. I listened to one and learned a few things, arriving home starving.

But what put my addiction into overdrive was the invention of two things; the Internet (with its insidious links) and my acquisition of a Kindle Reader.

No more taking notes about other books I might want to read, no more wandering libraries or bookstores, no more looking for old favorites to reread hidden in stacks of books all over my house.

Oh no, not for me. All I needed was a Wi-Fi connection and my thumb, and I could buy just about any book ever written.

Read about a book in a footnote, one-click buy it.

Read a list of other books by the same author, one-click buy it.

Read a list of similar books to the one I just finished reading, one-click buy it.

One-click buy it, one-click buy it, one-click buy it.

On my Kindle device, I now have 189 books. I have the added enhanced reading addiction where I always have two or three books going at once. Since I’ve owned the device, the number of books grows geometrically. The chances of the total reaching zero is, well frankly, zero.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail, where every ounce of weight is evaluated for its necessity and usefulness, I carried my Kindle!

On top of my addiction to reading, I’ve followed a tragic but common path. Now I’ve WRITTEN books available on Kindle for others to join me in this affliction.

(Here is the link for those of you ready to one-click buy it. https://www.Amazon.com/Joe-Broadmeadow/e/B00OWPE9GU)

They say the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem. I know this is true, I read it in a book.

There is a special place in hell for those who have made it so easy to feed my reading habit, and when I join them there, I promise to bring plenty of good books to read.

Now do yourself a favor, and one-click buy it!

https://www.amazon.com/Joe-Broadmeadow/e/B00OWPE9GU