Day: December 10, 2007

From Maureen F. McHugh:

Darby Dixon, at Thumb Drives and Oven Clocks, posted a link to an article in the Sunday Herald about falling reading rates in Russia. Seems that when reading was a political act, or when your only alternative was Soviet TV and radio, lots and lots of red people read.

In 1991, the year the Soviet Union imploded, 48% of young Russians systematically consumed literature. By 2005 that figure had shrunk to just 28%.

And for the next generation, things can only get worse.

What is being called a systematic crisis even extends to the traditional bedtime story for children. In the 1970s, 80% of parents read aloud to their children. Today the figure is just 7%

Probably because it is easier to sit a kid in front of a TV than read to them. And while we all complain about kids spending too much time in front of the TV — they do! they do! — as a parent I can remember times when I wished my kid would spend more time in front of the TV. Darby’s post is called “Congratulations America! You’ve Won the Cold War.” It does seem to me to say something about reading, consumerism, and entertainment. But what it says is not entirely clear. In the 1800’s, people bemoaned the rise of novels and predicted that reading them corrupted youth, particularly young women. Now we say that about video games, particularly with regards to young men. A weird kind of progress there. Is it bad that Russians have something better to do than read? Only if you believe that there is almost nothing better to do than read.

Matthew Baldwin writes:

I think vending machines are a race of parasitic, interstellar, robotic intelligence that has adapted to Earth by evolving a digestive system capable of metabolizing coins and excreting 2.5 oz. bags of Cheez-Its.

I was reminded immediately of this vending-machine disguise for Japanese women:

Ms. Tsukioka, a 29-year-old experimental fashion designer, lifted a flap on her skirt to reveal a large sheet of cloth printed in bright red with a soft drink logo partly visible. By holding the sheet open and stepping to the side of the road, she showed how a woman walking alone could elude pursuers — by disguising herself as a vending machine.

I, for one, welcome our new vending-machine overlords.

One of the many books I’m reading right now is Steve Almond’s (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions. A co-worker loaned it to me several months ago, I think because she thought I would like his essay on Kurt Vonnegut. Which I really did, but I’ve only recently gotten around to reading any of the rest of the book. I particularly like the description of the baby shower he says he and his wife held shortly before their daughter’s birth:

Thankfully, Erin and I agree on this point. We both believe that Americans would be a lot happier if they bought less and felt more, and we want to make sure we pass these values down to our daughter. At the same time, people want to buy us stuff. So we decided to throw an informal party that we billed as an effort to establish the Peanut Almond Library. Guests were instructed to bring a book, preferably used. Our final haul included forty-plus volumes, along with three adorable outfits, which certain guests insisted on buying for the child (in defiance of our direct orders) and which I plan to burn in a public Death to Capitalism rally when Peanut is old enough to appreciate the gesture.