Hello! For those of you wondering, what happened to my column last issue, I did not get fired! I took a little time off, and you can be sure I felt guilty the entire time. Didn’t notice I was missing? Hmm. Well, that’s too bad because there are weeks I am down right hilarious and, well, others not so much. Each week is a bit of a gamble, but the odds of me making you smile are better than those of winning the Missouri Lottery.
I have lots of things I could write about. The marriage of ‘St. Louis Celebrity’ Meghan King. (If you don’t watch the Bravo channel, this means nothing.) The firing of Cardinal manager Mike Schildt. (If you aren’t a Cardinal fan, get out of St. Louis.) Or why my two-year-old grandson likes my dogs better than me. (Most people do.) Maybe even why yet another neighbor is selling their house. (See the above.)
Instead, let’s talk about books. I read about the executive director of curriculum and instruction in a school district in Texas reminding teachers of the importance of enforcing the concepts from Texas House Bill 3979: “And make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has an opposing — that has other perspectives.” Yep. Be sure the Holocaust is treated “fairly.” I sometimes question what goes on in Texas and Florida, but then I wonder for which other state is Missouri the Texas or Florida. So, I shut up, realizing this woman will receive a huge amount of grief, and I don’t need to pile on. Though, in a way, I guess I just did.
I want to talk about reading. I have two very different children. Both went to an independent elementary school and were encouraged to read at a very young age. My oldest was not an early reader. The school really wanted us to practice reading 30 minutes a night. But by the time we got home from work, made dinner, finished baths and spoke without yelling, it was bedtime. So, I used to give my son a nickel for every sign he could read on the drive to and from school. He had a tough time reading, but by the end of the week, he knew exactly how much money I owed him! We moved on to comic books, then books on tape, and now, he has an MBA (obviously, he read some books in between). My daughter has always been a reader and so have I. My parents were big fans of the Brentwood Public Library.
Do you know my parents never asked me what I was reading? Oh, I got through Valley of the Dolls and all of Jacqueline Susann’s, umm, exploits before I realized that maybe I could learn some other things from books. I recently read The Lincoln Highway. I wanted to hate it. I pre-ordered it before it got buzzy. I hate buzzy books. (Do I sound mean this week?) But one of the characters carries his favorite book with him so I had to love it.
I am not too worried about that one Texas administrator, but I do worry about people who try to ban books. My parents could have easily banned any number of books because of conflicts with our religion. But no, they were too smart—like Dr. Seuss: “The more that you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” Read a book. Peace my Peeps!