Woody Cavenaugh

I have been reading about the National Endowment for the Arts' report that says that people are reading less even though booksellers are ordering more. I can only assume that the NEA has no understanding whatsoever of suppy and demand. Their lack of economic understanding aside I cannot tolerate being insulted like this bunch of economic ignoramiouses.

Dictionary.com says a great deal about the definition of "read". Here's the number one definition.
1. To examine and grasp the meaning of (written or printed characters, words, or sentences).

The NEA say that people are not reading literature. They define literature as poetry, prose, or play like you might find in the Operah book club. They seem to define reading as taking meaning from symbols printed with ink on dead trees.

By their definition I do not read. They called me illiterate and figured I wouldn't notice. If I didn't read, I would not have found the article in the first place. Bastards! They discriminate against me because I take meaning from symbols shown in liquid crystal pixels on an LCD screen. They could say that my grammar is informal, they could say that my spelling is criminal, they had better not ever say that I do not read.

The fact is, I love to read, I'm the readingest damned person they ever saw. I read over eight hours a day. And 99% of what I read is floating on the computer screen in front of me. At home, I have a book I have been reading for a couple of months now. It's called Savannah Spectres, and other strange tales, by Margaret Wayt DeBolt ISBN 0-89865-201-4 and its signed by the author and did I mention it was printed in ink on dead trees? But noooo. It doesn't count either. I have to read it in a single month if it were to count.

To add insult to injury they say that people who don't read more than one book per month have lost touch with social understanding. Social understanding? What is a piece of fiction from some Operah person going to tell me about social understanding? I blog and read blogs I am a part of the collective social consciousness. And I am involved with my community volunteering three nights a week at the YWCA teaching fencing. I'll bet these guys are simply too busy reading their dead trees to dedicate that kind of time to volunteerism and community outreach.

What's more I also understand the laws of supply and demand.