Cultural Literacy

This is a test...This is only a test.  I had a little idea that I think might motivate me, but I start these things and tend to never finish, so we will see.

The concept of Cultural Literacy is something that I started to think about when I was completing my masters.  I even thought about changing the topic of my thesis from Advanced Placement courses, but by that time I just needed to get the damn thing done, but ever since it has been bashing around in my brain.

Hirsch is the man who came up with the term, but then he went on to publish all sorts of books with lists:  What your first grader should know, What your second grader should know, etc.  And while he points out that they should know these things "in context" it still ticks me off.  Life isn't as easy as a to-do list, and knowledge isn't as easy as a to-know list.  But I am sure that it sold a lot of books so... he wins.

Then I found this quote:

"How does one become more culturally literate? By reading more, by reading about different subjects... When reading becomes a pleasure rather than a chore, one becomes more culturally literate naturally. It's a simple fact that the more one reads, the more one can understand what is read, the more enjoyable reading becomes and... the more culturally literate one becomes."

And I realized that while I have been thinking about Cultural Literacy I have also subconsciously been striving to increase my own under the guise of, "Holy crap, this 1950's stay-at-home mom stuff is mind-blowingly boring!"

When I was pregnant with Darren I found that I couldn't read novels.  I was so stressed and anxious that I simply couldn't concentrate.  It was brutal.  But when he was about six months old I found that I absolutely needed something that was mine and only mine.  So books became my salvation once again and I have been on a tear ever since. 

I have been reading all sorts of stuff!  Recommendations from friends, books from the 1001 books to read before you die list, but mostly fiction.  I write reviews on Goodreads and have really enjoyed that but I have also noticed that a one time review just doesn't really cover how it feels to read a book.  My attention is waning and that brings me here.  I wanted a place to chronicle the actual reading and see if it helps to get me fired up again.

In a lot of ways this is just for me and I don't really intend for anyone else to read it, but it may turn out to be something pretty good, so why not just put it out there?  Who knows, reading is very personal for me but I think a huge component of Cultural Literacy is discourse.  It is great to read about things and take in that information but I also think that a huge part of participating is to then discuss that information with others.  In this technology ridden world talking is becoming less and less common and that makes me sad - as she types in a blog! - so maybe just getting it out here will fill some of that hole for me.  Who knows... but here we go!