Reading is Fun!

By: Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

Who would have thought that reading would become a lost art? I know that’s a strange thing for a writer to say.  I blame some of it on modern technology and this world of instant gratification. We want to get answers now.  Forget about savoring and enjoying the moment we're in.

Back in the day, we escaped the challenges of everyday living by immersing ourselves in books. Books opened for us a diferent world and exposed us to lives and cultures that were foreign to us. 

As a child, growing up on a small Caribbean island, it was my means of escape. I was exposed to places never before seen. Reading made me long to travel to all those places I’d never been.

On a small island where only the upper middle class had televisions, and reception was faulty, you had no choice but to read.  You spent precious minutes savoring the cover, holding that book to your heart, and pretending you were in that foreign country.

IPads and electronic devices didn’t exist back then, and even today, do they really trump the feel and smell of a good book?

 Years  ago,  when book signings were in vogue, and readers were excited about meeting authors, millennials (normally a smart  group)  would proudly tell me they didn’t read. Mind you, this was usually said while hustling through busy malls with a collection of shopping bags from upscale stores. It was often a sad moment for me, because it struck home that reading was indeed a lost art. Better to acquire material stuff than the knowledge a good book might bring.

More recently, I had the opportunity to do some work for an international airline. My role was to assist passengers at the kiosks preflight.  This was a relatively simple process that required me to assist those electronically challenged. It required reading the instructions and touching the screen.  

 To my amazement, I discovered that many adults simply couldn’t read. It wasn’t fear of technology that paralyzed them, but the inability to read the instructions.  Even the most buttoned down, briefcase carrying passengers were challenged.  

In doing my research, I discovered that 20% of adults in the nation’s capital still struggle with illiteracy, although most are way too embarrassed to admit it. The unfortunate truth is that several don’t possess academic skills beyond those of a middle-school student.

The National Center for Education indicates 19 percent of adults cannot read a newspaper, much less complete a job application. According to the U.S. Department of Education and the National Institute of Literacy, approximately 32 million adults in the United States can’t read.  Further, The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development claims that 50 percent of U.S. adults can’t read a book written at an eighth-grade level.   This is truly scary.       

 The inability to read makes life significantly harder for adults.  The Literacy Foundation says the consequences of illiteracy are as follows:

The unemployment rate is 2–4 times higher among those with little schooling than among those with Bachelor’s degree

Illiterate individuals are assured a lower income

They are destined to find lower-quality jobs

Their access to lifelong learning and professional development is reduced

They place themselves in a precarious financial position

They have limited ability to obtain and understand essential information

 There is greater likelihood that if little value is given to education and reading within the family, the cycle repeats itself in the next generation

 Low self-esteem is often a result, leading to isolation

 Illiterate individuals tend to have more workplace accidents, take longer to recover and misuse medication because they have trouble reading and understanding the relevant information (warnings, dosage etc.)

 This boggles the mind since there are many Literacy organizations out there willing to work with adults, and at no cost to you.  A good place to gather information would be your local library.

 Just think about how much more enjoyable that electronic device used for game playing would be, if you could read the instructions. How much more enjoyable life would be if you transport yourself to another world. And finally, what better way to relax and forget your troubles than reading a book on that electronic device, now a staple of life.

Yes, reading is fun.  What’s more it increases brain power, benefitting you in the same manner as a good run. Reading improves memory function by giving your brain a good workout. Why don’t we work out together? 


BookBub special through November 5th. By Design being offered at the very special price of .99 cents! Amazon and Barnes and Noble http://a.co/d/8Lcz2W9
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Coming soon!

Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. 

She is a travel industry executive and a self proclaimed globetrotter. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 40 books. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling, and with her animal family.

She loves hearing from you. www.lovemarcia.com or Like her on Facebook https://bit.ly/1MlnrIS

Summer and Food Banks

Friday, August 12, 2016

by Diana McCollum 

I know I've posted this before. Since we saw an announcement on the local Bend, OR TV station which told about the shortage of donated food for one of the organizations that help feed the hungry. I thought it would be a good idea to remind everyone that the poor and homeless have to eat in the warm summer months, too.

With school out for the summer and families taking vacations feeding the hungry is not a high priority.



The Bend homeless shelter, which also packs lunches to pass out to people living on the streets, was just a days away from running out of food and bottled water.

After the news story there was an outpouring of donations to the food bank, and all the other local shelters. Yay, for that!!!

Around holidays people think more about donating to charity, food banks in particular. Haven't you been in the grocery around Thanksgiving and Christmas and there are donations set up for $10 per bag of food? Why don't these stores have food drives in the summertime?

Have you checked with the local organizations where you live if they are short on supplies?  Usually if they have a website you can look on it to find out what they need.

Helping charities with donations of money or time is a wonderful thing.  I believe that when one gives freely to help others, it will come back ten-fold.  Karma, you know? And I always feel gratitude for all the things I have to be grateful for. 

What I don’t like and don’t contribute to are the enormous amount of mailed solicitations for donations.  It irks me to no end the mailers I receive for donations.  Sometimes, I receive the same charity mailer two or three times in the same month!!  Those charities should use the money spent on paper, printing and postage to help their charity.  Or send one instead of several. 

One letter requesting donations should do it.  Either the person receiving it will donate, or they won’t.  Why waste money sending the same ad over and over to the same person?

I believe that charity begins at home.  By home I mean, the country, the town, the community, and the neighborhood I live in.  There are so many homeless families in America.  In every city and town and county. I am grateful my family members all are together in their own homes, with food on the table and jobs to support them.

 This year I donated to the Bethlehem House in Bend, OR.  Bethlehem House is a place for homeless families and single adults to transition back into a home of their own.  The children attend school and there is counseling to help the jobless find jobs and get back on their feet. 

 And Bethlehem House was the organization the Bend news story was about.

We are all caretakers of the world we live in.  Let’s begin at home, wherever in the world that may be, and make a difference.  One small act can ripple through the world further than you ever dreamed. 

Make this the summer of giving back!

Do you have a favorite charity, and how does giving shape your out look on life?

Real Heroes and Heroines: Teachers

by Kristin Holt

I won the parent lottery. My parents read to me.

I won the first grade teacher lottery. I'll never forget Miss W's patience and kind explanations to my questions, including, "But how do you read so quickly?"

If you can read, you can learn anything.

Literacy rates in the Old West were lower than in education-focused New England.

1. Old West parents were more worried about harvesting the crop than their children's 100% attendance in one-room schoolhouses. In New England, well-to-do fathers saw their sons into high school as a preparation for college.
2. While the working poor of New England often did not need basic literacy skills (cotton mills and factory jobs), neither did most western pursuits: miners, railroad construction workers, and hired ranch hands.
3. Nineteenth Century Americans knew they needed a basic education. Without the ability to read a bill of sale or contract, swindlers had the advantage.
4. Old West Education often ceased at 8th grade--though a good percentage of students stopped attending before then. Whether orphaned or pressed into the work force, education, for many, proved to be a luxury.

TEACHERS are real-life heroes. Whether in a one-room schoolhouse on the dusty streets of an Old West town or in today's crowded classrooms, the work teachers do in building the future, investing in hope and possibilities and opportunity qualifies them as heroes.

Did you have a teacher who made all the difference for you?

Hi! I'm Kristin Holt, author of Sweet (wholesome, "clean") Romance set in the Victorian-era American West. Mail-order brides, small-town love stories, bonds strong enough to withstand significant challenges, and love to last a lifetime.

My engineer husband of nearly three decades rolls his eyes at my romanticism and fondness for happily ever afters. But he agrees with me--growing old together has been a beautiful journey. Given the opportunity, I'd do it all over again...and I'd still choose him. (Our 28th wedding anniversary is in two days, March 17th.)

I love hearing from readers. Please post a response here or stop by my website and say hello!

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Homegrown Charity

Homegrown Charity

by Diana McCollum

This month at Romancing the Genres the suggested subject is:  A Shout Out to Charities.  There are charities for everything imaginable.  Charities to help with disasters such as the Red Cross, Charities to help animals:  cats, dogs, horses, big cats & exotic animals kept as pets that need rescued.  There are charities to help specific causes:  homelessness, the environment, Doctors with Out Borders etc. 

There are world charities.  You can donate to feed the world, to build wells in Africa, to educate the illiterate in third world countries, to help fund the orphanages in other countries. 

If you can think of a cause, there’s probably a charity established for it.  There are many choices to donate your spare change towards.

Helping charities with donations of money or time is a wonderful thing.  I believe that when one gives freely to help others, it will come back ten-fold.  Karma, you know?

What I don’t like and don’t contribute to are the enormous amount of mailed solicitations for donations.  It irks me to no end the mailers I receive for donations.  Sometimes, I receive the same charity mailer two or three times in the same month!!  Those charities should use the money spent on paper, printing and postage to help their charity.  Or send one instead of several. 

One letter requesting donations should do it.  Either the person receiving it will donate, or they won’t.  Why waste money sending the same ad over and over to the same person?

I believe that charity begins at home.  By home I mean, the country, the town, the community, and the neighborhood I live in.  There are so many homeless families in America.  

There are still illiterate people living here who need help to learn to read and write.  Many adults and children go to bed way too often without ever having a meal.  The foster care system is over crowded with children many who are waiting to be adopted. 

This year through Romance Writers of America, I donated to Literacy.  Why?  Because reading and being able to comprehend opens up worlds of information for everyone.  When one reads a book one can relate to, it might help with a problem he might be facing.

Reading can take you away to far-away places.  Reading can inspire one to higher goals.  Learning without being able to read?  While not impossible, without the skill of reading, learning can be very hard.

 This year I donated to the Bethlehem House in Bend, OR.  Bethlehem House is a place for homeless families to transition back into a home of their own.  The children attend school and there is counseling to help the jobless find jobs and get back on their feet.

I volunteer my time at the local hospital.

We are all caretakers of the world we live in.  Let’s begin at home, wherever in the world that may be, and make a difference.  One small act can spread further than you ever dreamed.

Do you have a favorite charity?

Charity Begins at Home.

I looked up the word charity on Dictionary.com Here are two of the many definitions they gave me.

1.generous actions or donations to aid the poor, ill, or helpless: to devote one's life to charity.

2. something given to a person or persons in need; alms: She asked for work, not charity.

Romance books and charity. I think they fit well together. Authors have donated royalties to various organizations. Cancer, Cystic Fibrosis, Salvation Army, Red Cross and don’t forget Brenda Novak's wonderful auction to benefit Diabetes Research

During Hurricane Katrina my niece, who also happens to be my godchild, was working at the Marriott in New Orleans. Her first job out of the Culinary Institute of America. We were worried sick about her. Her parents, her sister and her entire family. She emailed her sister as long as she could then they lost power. Luckily management at the Marriott requested that anyone who did not have family to go to come hunker down at the Marriott.  Most of her family lived in and around Boston. I am out here in Arizona. For 3-4 days we heard nothing. Then she called, she said the Red Cross helped the get out afterward and they were in Texas. I cried when her sister called to tell me.

Not long after that I had a book published. I gave half of all the royalties to the Red Cross. This is a group I do not usually donate to but they helped my niece get home so I wanted to do something in return.

 My local RWA chapter collects donations for our local food bank at each months meeting. One of our members collects loose change every month and when her jar is full she cashes it in and donates it to the food bank.  At Christmas time we do this in lieu of a gift exchange. We also donate books to several local literacy groups and woman's shelters. In addition to romances we try to include children's books, recipe books and other books of every genre. After all every book gives us a potential reader AND we feel good doing it.

You don’t have to be in a group to do this. Give your money, no matter how small it is appreciated. You can also give of your  time.  If you are not sure where to start, look in your local phone book or check out the web sites I listed below. Remember charity begins at home.

www.socialwelfareservices.org

http://literacydirectory.org/.