Read a Book, You Illiterate Son of a Bitch

Ironically, the title of this blog comes from the Jay Z song, "Big Pimpin'.  It's not even Jay Z rapping that part of the song, it's UGK spitting some truth. These guys rapping aren't just pimps (or wannabe pimps, or whatever), these are EDUCATED guys. Listen to Bun B as he mispronounces the word "scenario" in order to make it rhyme with the previous couplet, then retreats and apologizes for being so grammatically incorrect. Then he says what all smart people think when someone stupid speaks: "Read a book you illiterate son of a bitch / Step up your vocab". Motherfucker just insulted your ability to READ, bitch! AND he's going to steal your ho! The joy I get from this is indescribable. 
(thanks, internet lyrics blogs!)

So imagine my intrinsic sadness, when my community service club did a book collection, collected almost a thousand books, and then hard a hard time finding anyone who wanted them ... even when the books were absolutely free of charge.  I contacted some elementary schools, a junior high which hasn't even opened yet (so has a VERY small library), an alternative school, and other teachers of English.  Altogether, teachers took about 30 of those 900+ books, because reading is (apparently) not something students and/or teachers do anymore.  (Thank god for those teachers who care, by the way.)

I contacted the local family services place, and they said they would take the books, but as kids only get to spend 20 minutes in the back of the place looking for stuff they want (think: pants, shirts, socks, shoes, athletic equipment, games, etc), they probably weren't going to take the books.  Okay, so maybe INCREASE the amount of time the kids have to look for things!  A book, in the hands of a troubled kid, might be the ONE thing that saves them.  Yes, they need clothes, but the whole idea of a 20-minute scramble to find necessities is mortifying.  And what young kid goes directly to the book section?  They have to be invited in to the world of reading, so they can find an alternate universe of life.  It's essential.

I ended up giving the books away to a shelter out of town, where people can sort of shop around without a time limit and maybe even use the books in an alternative classroom setting.  Some of them I even gave to the Goodwill, even though they resell donations, because my community doesn't even house a book store. But I can't shake the feeling that books are becoming obsolete.  When kids have their phones plastered to their faces all day, in the short-attention-span 21st Century, kids don't understand the value of books.

As Ray Bradbury once said, “You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.”  Unfortunately, this is already happening. 

Here's a suggestion, when you read a good book, pass it on to someone.  Don't let Big Brother win this one.