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It’s one of those things that leaves a horrible feeling in your gut. This afternoon, my RSS reader popped up a South Dakota media blog post that Ron Bender of Rapid City was killed Monday in a hit-and-run accident in Gaithersburg, Md.
Ron and his wife, Muriel Shepard, were at the Rapid City Journal when I was there more than 20 years ago, back in the days when typewriters and teletypes were still in use. There’s no two ways about it, Ron was an absolutely great guy. He had excellent writing and editing skills and, equally important, his unassuming character could be a calming influence or crack you up with some humorous, yet insightful, observation or comment. In fact, every time I’ve pictured Ron over the years, it was with a wry smile on his face.
According to news reports and the blog post, Ron, 64, retired from the RCJ this spring after 38 years there. He was in Maryland for the wedding of his brother and was killed while crossing the street to go to a nearby store for supplies for the dinner he was cooking.
When someone leaves a favorable impression on you that lasts for more than 20 years, it makes that feeling in the gut so much more biting.
It’s not that I’m afraid to die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.
Woody Allen, Without Feathers
Calling it a magazine is unfair because it is so much more than that. Early last week I saw an internet reference to a new publication called Lapham’s Quarterly . It was referred to as a history related journal and treated as if it might be good for insomnia.
Out of curiosity, though, I happened to look at a copy on a visit to the local chain bookstore with my daughters one night during their Thanksgiving break. I knew from the internet reference that the following were listed as “among the contributors” on the publication’s back cover: Thucydides, William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth, Eugene Sledge, Sun Tzu, Voltaire, Walt Whitman, Saint Augustine, George Orwell, Homer, General George Patton, Leo Tolstoy, Abraham Lincoln, Julia Ward Howe, Joseph Goebbels and Mark Twain. Paging through the journal left no doubt it was leaving the store with me.
The first issue is 200+ pages of historical writings and speeches on the topic “States of War.” But this is not your typical scholarly historical journal. Most of the writings appear in “Voices in Time,” consisting of are excerpts of two pages or less from previously published works. The first issue is broken into four broad categories from “Call to Arms” to “Postmortems.” It concludes with four longer essays by current historians/authors and all of it is interspersed with historic art and photos but no (I repeat, no) advertising other than a tear-out subscription card. The journal also is supplemented by a web site with two blogs and additional material.
Each quarterly issue will examine a separate topic currently prominent in the news. It all proceeds on the basis of George Santayana’s oft-repeated statement, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Or, as editor Lewis H. Lapham notes in the “Preamble ” to the first issue, “history is the weapon with which we defend the future against the past.”
Lapham’s Quarterly , of course, appeals to those with an interest in history. But given the approach taken by Lapham, the former editor of Harper’s Magazine , I find this far from an insomnia cure. This isn’t the type of magazine you read — or want to read — in one sitting. With its focus on one topic of current interest, it provides insightful historic perspective and provokes thought about where we’re coming from and where we’re going in that area. I know I’m going to put the subscription card to use.
We have nothing else with which to build the future except the lumber of the past — history exploited as natural resource and applied technology, telling us that the story painted on the old walls and printed in the old books is also our own.
“ Preamble ,” Lapham’s Quarterly , Vol. 1, Issue 1
A touch of illness over the turkey day break delayed this post and reduced my reading time. Still, now that I’ve had a chance to more closely read the latest NEA report on reading trends in the US, here’s some thoughts and observations on some of its findings:
“Nearly half of all Americans ages 18 to 24 read no books for pleasure.” I don’t find this too troublesome given the “for pleasure” qualifier. Most Americans in this age group are attending college and/or embarking on full time jobs and careers (or having children) for the first time. It is sad, but not surprising, that they may feel “too busy” to take time to read a book just for the fun of it. The survey raises questions about where homework is taking away time for leisure reading but I think the reality is that other things simply take priority when you’re in this age group.
“The percentage of 18- to 44-year-olds who read a book fell 7 points from 1992 to 2002.” This, too, is not too surprising given the exponential increase in digital and electronic diversions in that decade. In fact, the study itself found that home internet usage increased 53 percent during roughly that same time among 18- to 24-year-olds.
One of the findings that disconcerted me is that 15- to 24-year-olds spend 2-2½ hours per day watching TV and “[t]his activity consumes the most leisure time for men and women of all ages.” I find this disturbing because, at least from my standpoint, quality seems far too lacking in modern television and requires less imagination. (Thus sayeth a man who spends 10 or so hours a week watching hockey on television — although I tend to read during commercial breaks and intermissions.)
“[F]rom 1985 to 2005, average annual household spending on books dropped 14% when adjusted for inflation.” Again, not overly surprising considering the increased competition for consumer dollars presented by other forms of entertainment, be it internet access, DVDs or even video games. The fact is the number of competitive players in the market have increased.
The most frightening statistic: “Little more than one-third of high school seniors now read proficiently.” In fact, “[e]ven among college graduates, reading proficiency has declined at a 20%–23% rate.” To me, the ramifications of this are frightening. I am a reader because my parents were readers. My children are readers because my wife and I are readers. If our future adult population does not read proficiently, this certainly has long-term consequences that are more significant than simply whether people read for pleasure. The survey plainly indicates there is a correlation between an individual’s reading ability and their employability and future earning capacity.
As an incurable reader, it is perhaps natural for me to be dismayed by the survey findings. The fact is, though, it raises issues all of us need be concerned about.
Whatever the benefits of newer electronicmedia, they provide no measurable substitute for the intellectual and personal development initiated and sustained by frequent reading.
Preface, To Read or Not To Read
Those of us in the Sioux Falls area have seen the “hospital wars” for years, from helicopters to heart centers. One perhaps not so new front that’s received a bit of attention lately is the donations the Sanford and Avera health systems are making to other entities, including government-funded ones such as the medical school and, most recently, for a science building at SDSU.
Last night Doug Wiken posted some thoughts from USD Law School professor Michael Myers, who teaches Elderlaw and Health Care Law & Policy at the Law School and heads up its Elderlaw Forum. An excerpt:
Thoughtful citizens should reflect on the nature of this generosity and ask themselves: where does this money come from? And, is it appropriate for “charities” like Sanford and Avera to collect money from patients, to accept tax-exempt gifts, and then behave like private philanthropists and “donate patient money” to the government?
* * *
If Sanford and Avera are “charities” should they be gifting their monies to other “charities”—or to the State of South Dakota, which now takes on the role of a “charity”? If South Dakota wishes to support higher education should it not tax all of us, not just patients?
Regardless of where you stand on them, these are interesting and pertinent questions not only with respect to health care but the funding of higher education and other government obligations. Kudos to Doug and now go read the rest of the post.
We are convinced that traditional assumptions bear little relationship to the economics of the medical-industrial complex of [today].
Utah County v. Intermountain Health Care, Inc., 709 P.2d 265, 270 (Utah 1985)
I intended to post most of this over the weekend but, proving once again that sometimes procrastination is for the best, the first two items are from today.
- Amazon announces its long-awaited Kindle, “a wireless, portable reading device with instant access to more than 90,000 books, blogs, magazines, and newspapers.” List price? $399.00. Me? I’ll stick with paper. UPDATE: Check out Ed’s reasons he’s sticking with books.
- The NEA’s new report on reading trends isn’t surprising: reading is declining and the younger you are, the less likely you are to read books. The latter is discouraging as the “number of books in a home is a significant predictor of academic achievement” just as reading for pleasure “correlates strongly with academic achievement.”
- In light of that report maybe the television writer’s strike is good news. A Pepperdine University survey showed that “[w]hen asked about the prospect of reruns replacing new shows, 42% of the respondents said they would read more.”
- So it appears death is good for a writer’s sales, particularly Kurt Vonnegut. But I have the same question about the story as Sam Houston. If “Vonnegut was the American Mark Twain,” what country is Mark Twain the Mark Twain of?
- There was a slight CIA theme in the National Book Awards last week. One of the main characters in fiction winner Tree of Smoke is a CIA officer while the nonfiction winner was Tim Weiner’s Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA.
Say what you will about the sweet miracle of unquestioning faith, I consider a capacity for it terrifying and absolutely vile.
Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night
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