Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Sept. 8, 1994, edition 1 / Page 5
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On The Page Or The Screen, A Little Mind-Candy Is Okay uonunuing with the Literacy Month iheme... "You read all that since this morn ing?" my incredulous 16-year-old asked, noticing that, between break fast and suppertime, my bookmark had moved from the beginning to nearly the end of E. Annie Proulx's The Shipping News. "Yes, son," I replied testily. "It's miraculous the things you can do when you don't watch any MTV for a whole day." Today's kids don't read like we did, the experts say. Speculation is that their attention spans surrendered under attack by the split-second im ages of cartoons and music videos. ("1 hate videos with words," Butt head says to Beavis. "If 1 wanted to read. I'd go to school. ...huh-huh, huh.") Maybe it's true, maybe not. Communication theory, to my way of thinking, is a lot like education theory and child-rearing theory ? we have no idea if the experts were on target until it's way too late to right anything we did wrong 1 like to be optimistic that some day my son will derive as much pleasure as 1 do from the blessed act of reading a good book ? not just some paperback drivel but some thing meaty and meaningful After all, 1 tell myself, he's been around avid readers his entire life I read to him every day when he was little There arc hundreds of books in our home. I see my boy slumping behind a copy of Surfer magazine and I re member President Reagan smiling kindly and telling an interviewer. "Oh. 1 don't read books ? jus! maga Lynn Carlson zines." I am not comforted. I think back to my high school years and remember doing lots of reading ? both assigned and unas signed. More a party girl than a committed scholar, I surprised my self by enjoying Tess of the D 'urbe villes and actually having fun re searching a term paper on British journalists Joseph Addison and Richard Steele. Who knew? But for recreational reading, it was nothing but mind-candy. My friend Vickie and I swapped paper backs of Jacqueline Susann, Harold Robbins and the other featherweight best-sellers of the early '70s. We wept together on the phone after rac ing to see who would be first to fin ish Erich Segal's blockbuster Love Story. (She won.) We bought Cos mopolitan every month, took its silly quizzes, devoured its insipid advice about love and glamour, and were certain this was the path to sophisti cation. Vickie and I only talk to cach oth er every couple of years now. and never about books or magazines. Our catch-up sessions are hasty newsbytes about our kids and our work ? she's a travel agent with a collcge-age daughter. We swear we'll get together this year, but we never do. I'd bet you ten bucks she still passes a night every now and then like 1 did last Saturday ? bundled up in a quilt at 2:30 a.m., not even con sidering sleep until I got to the end of Jane Smiley 's A Thousand Acres. Maybe MTV is no worse for the attention span than Valley of the Dolls was. Maybe we have to give our teenagers the benefit of the doubt and have faith that when the time is right, they'll start laying some bricks on the intellectual foun dation we did our best to construct. Maybe it just happens too gradually for us to see while it's happening... It makes me uneasy to use this space for a plug, so let's just call this a Literacy Month gift: The Shipping News is the finest novel I've read in years. It's the story of third-rate newspa perman Quoyle, who is done dirty by an amoral wife and packs off to his ancestral home in Newfoundland with two young daughters and an old-maid aunt. In the process of settling in to his new life as single parent and re porter for the weekly Gammy Bird , Quoyle comes to terms with his per sonal demons and his nothing-to-be proud-of lineage with a supremely satisfying ending that uplifts without even a hint of schmaltz. Proulx's writing is spare and razor sharp. She wastes no words and plays no tricks. She won both the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for The Shipping News', read it and you'll sec why. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Short School Days Cheat Brunswick County Students l"o the editor At a time when some school sys tems are considering lengthening school days, I do not understand why the Brunswick County school system is shortening theirs. 1 am referring to the fact that stu dents will he dismissed from school at 12:30 on Wednesdays I suppose since they go to Mrhool until 12:30, that is considered a full day. How ever, 1 do not believe they receive a full day's worth of instruction They will he let out early for 30 days' That must affect the quality of education they receive. Please don't think this is being done to take the place of teacher workdays. There will still be seven teacher workdays in the upcoming year I feel our students are being cheated out of valuable education time Carole Ixmg Calabash EDITOR S NOTE The Brunswick County Schools' 1W4-V5 calendar lists 1H *-orluiays, 10 holidays and 10 days ' annual leave. Shining Some Truth To the editor: Congratulations on your promo tion to this current post. The Beacon is just that, shining some truth in a sea of dysfunctional misinformation provided by the BssinstisstQ ?ic uiu. As to your excellent column on books and reading, an English teacher once told me that a person who makes a friend of books is nev er lonely. There's always some fa vorite thai has nad the capacity to cheer me at times, to entertain me but always to educate me. Everyone should at least have a library card. Mr. Carlson's latest column, "A Fight Against Crime, Or Class Warfare?" is the finest, most far-see ing article I can recall reading Unfortunately for me the letters I write deal with the passion against urban journalism that is felt. There has to be a frame to mount Mr. Carlson's article, and I'll be proud to display it prominently in my home The Knight-Ridder group of Charlotte and Myrtle Beach seem to be tainted with the type of anti thinking described in this excellent work This tops "The Great White Shark" article Both of these are go ing to be hard to beat. I have faith that you'll be able to do it. J.C. Fletcher Calabash Symbol Of Manhood To the editor: Courage, Honor, Fidelity, Family, Country, God! These are the words that come to mind when I, a transplanted Nor therner, look at the Confederate bat tle flag. To me it has very little to do with slavery, rather it embodies the traditions that have helped so many Southern men and boys sacrifice themselves in ihc service of our country. This symbol of Southern man hood does more than honor the one third of the Southern male popula tion that died in the War Between the States and the one-third who were wounded, more than 90 per cent of whom never owned slaves. Imagine how many so-called red necks carried their Southern battle flags at the Argonne and the Meuse; how many so-called rebels carried their at Normandy and Guadalcanal; how many so-called Bubbas carried theirs at the Chosin, the Pusan Perimeter, Chu Lau and Hue! Why can't a few frustrated, would-be community activists leave these Southern veterans their own symbol of sacrifice, much as they encourage the wearing of caps and sweatshirts embossed with an X to glorify a radical, anti-white, anti American criminal. John McAleer Calabash Write Us We welcome your letters to the editor. Letters must have an origi nal signature and must include your address and telephone num ber. (This information is for veri fication purposes only; we will not publish your street/mailing address or phone number.) Letters must be typed or written legibly. Address letters to: The Bnuswkk Beacon r.O. Boa 2558 Shallotte NC 28459 Anonymous letters will not be published. "lunch"1111! SPECIAL Choice of entree and 3 vegetables s4.25 ^ (ten or coffee included) A Sunday Lunch Buffet Relax, we'll do the cooking. 1 1 :30-2 PM Closed Sunday evenings. Seafood ? Sandwich Plates ? Prime Rib Lunch Specials ? Salads ? Carry-Outs HWY. 21 1 SOUTHPORT 457-6588 HWY. 130 E. SHALLOTTE 754 8168 r coupon" WITH THIS COUPON* *No Purchase Necessary ? Limit One Per Customer ? Expires 9/1 5/94 We're celebrating the opening of our brand new outlet store by giving away free baskets this week! 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The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 8, 1994, edition 1
5
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