The Portland Alliance Dangerous Readings

Last month the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) released an ominously worded report sending out the alarm that adult Americans just aren’t reading that many books anymore. Using words such as “an imminent cultural crisis” (a term that I queerly twitch to), the report entitled Reading at Risk, warned that literary reading as a leisure activity will virtually disappear in half a century (literary defined as novels, short stories, poems or plays). Using data collected in cooperation with the Census Bureau, the report does not offer any profound reasons for this drop in page turning and it does not say what people are doing instead of reading (how about working two jobs just to stay afloat?). Reading at Risk does break down the statistical findings by race, age and geography with white women (55.1percent) still finding the time and desire to read. Geographically the Pacific States (CA, WA, OR, AK and HI) came in second right behind the Mountain states. It must be something about those long cold winters that promotes reading. It is especially disheartening to read that only 42 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds are mining literary veins for those ores of treasure that can and have changed lives.

July must be the month when reports are released because last month the Association of American Publishers released worldwide sales figures for 2003 and sales of consumer book products is up by 6 percent. The rise in sales is confusing when coupled with the numbers from the NEA but consumer book products include audio books, non-paper e-books and juvenile titles. Sales of adult hardbound and paperbacks remain flat.

But wait there’s more. The Association of American Libraries (ALA) also issued a report last month echoing the NEA’s findings. Yes, people are reading fewer books but the data collected by the ALA shows that people are using the internet as a primary source for information, news and opinion. This report was based on a small sampling, and the ALA plans to launch an expanded survey project beginning next year. It is this report that truly frightens me. If the ALA finds that their initial data was correct I fear that books will begin to disappear from library shelves, along with library shelves themselves, and more and more computers will take their place. Oh cursed Luddite, I hear you mutter, get out of the way of the future. But I don’t want to live in a world without books. I like the way they feel in my hands, I like the way they look, I like going to a shelf and pulling a book down and flipping through pages. I like their mobility and their adaptability to any environment. Come on, I dare you take your PowerBook to the beach and read an e-novel. I like lending books to friends, putting that bound paper into their hands and saying I think you’ll like this book. It feels like I’m giving them a precious gift. Books have been a critical part of my whole life, in fact this month’s Jack photo is from some type of festivity held at the Bridgewater Public Library back in the early 60s. Of course, why I’m wearing a paper plate on my head remains a mystery. So come on Portlanders prove those surveys wrong. Go to the library and grab a couple of books. Head over to your local independent bookstore and buy a book for yourself, for a friend, for a stranger. Me, I’m heeding my own advice. I have a pile of books sitting on my desk and it’s time to give them away.

To the Archdiocese of Portland here’s a brand new copy of The Church that Forgot Christ (Free Press, 2004) by Jimmy Breslin. For forty years Jimmy Breslin has been a hard hitting, take no prisoners newspaper columnist in New York City. He’s one of the last of those guys (and mostly they are guys) whose journalistic loyalty lies with the truth, no matter how personally painful the truth may be. In his latest book Breslin, a devout Roman Catholic, takes on the Catholic Church not only for their complicity in the abuse of hundreds of children but for their obscene greed in such a time of need. Comparing St. Patrick’s Cathedral to the Biblical temple of money changers that pissed off Christ and describing the gold ring on the bishop’s finger as the commercial of a pimp, Breslin thunders his anguish and anger at an institution that he has so faithfully loved all his life.

Breslin’s deepest anger is directed at the pedophile priests (and the occasional nun) who used their “god-given authority” to abuse hundreds and hundreds of children. The corporate cover-ups orchestrated by bishops and cardinals hell bent on protecting their reputations and their assets receive no mercy from Breslin. His mercy is reserved for the survivors and how they have struggled with the pain and the shame and the still ringing words of “why me, why my priest” swirling through their souls. Breslin no longer attends Mass. His personal faith in his God is intact but he cannot reconcile that faith with the knowledge of the evils that the church has committed. I would love to see Jimmy Breslin write about the Archdiocese of Portland. Oh the words he could hurl as he watched the Archbishop and his lawyers file for bankruptcy, deny the extent of the church’s assets and properties and wrap it all up in a shroud of concern for the victims. I encourage the Archbishop and his staff to read this book then get down on your knees and ask for forgiveness for your sins. Then say amen and rise up and do the right thing.

I’m sending a copy of Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America’s Prisons (Prentice Hall, 2004) by Alan Elsner to Governor Ted (what a disappointment) Kulugowski so that he can fully understand that building more prisons is not the way to reduce crime or increase the safety of communities. Elsner, a national correspondent for Reuters has written extensively about conditions in prisons and jails in this country and has written powerful op-ed pieces condemning the prisoner abuse in Iraq. Elsner wrote this book for three reasons: 1. To remind all of us that we cannot/should not ignore the plight of so many of our brothers and sisters, cousins, neighbors and fellow citizens. 2.Ten million people cycle through our correctional system each year. The abuses they endure, the diseases they contract, the traumas they suffer will inevitably come back to haunt the rest of society. There is no us or them. They are us. 3. As a democracy, respect for human rights is a critical and vital part of who we are. It would be self-righteous and hypocritical to criticize other countries for human right abuses and not look at how we fail in that area. Elsner is not an abolitionist. He firmly believes that some people need to be locked up but he also believes and makes a strong case for rehabilitation rather than punishment. Most people who are in prison or jail will be released. Released back to our city, our neighborhoods. Drug, alcohol and mental health treatment programs, educational programs and community involvement must be part of the correctional system program. Gates of Injustice ends with suggestions for prison reforms including better medical care for women prisoners, incarcerating prisoners close to their families (Kulongowski okayed prison construction in Lakeview...go figure), counseling for prison staff, the end of prisoner abuse and humiliation and an end to mandatory sentencing. Some of the suggestions are guided by a speech given by Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy last August. Kennedy, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Reagan, is certainly no prisoner-coddling, bleeding heart liberal. In fact he voted to uphold California’s draconian 3-strikes you’re out law. Kennedy believes that it is our responsibility, all of us, to be aware of what happens after a person is incarcerated— “...out of sight, out of mind is an unacceptable excuse for a prison system that incarcerates over two million human beings in the United States.” Ted, read this book. It’s well written, well documented and well worth your time.

To the Nader zealots (and you know who you are) I am sending you a copy of the The Dummies Guide to Poker. This handy sized chock full of useful information book has an easy to follow chapter on knowing when to hold ‘em and when to fold ‘em.

Front Page > Issues > 2004> September

Breslin rages; Elsner warns of prison’s legacy