I was going to put this in Literary, but I love it as much as a "what a cool thing to do" story as a book story:
The Book Bike
...Since 2008, he has rode his custom-built Book Bike into public parks across Chicago every weekend, weather permitting. Heading from park to park, Levinson distributes books donated by publishers to anyone interested...
"Free" is baked into the Book Bike's mission statement: Levinson only appears at public parks and free events, ensuring that there is no barrier to entry. As he explains, "the mission is to build and cherish a private library regardless of class or economic state, which is why the Book Bike is only at public parks. It's a place where every single person, whether you have a roof over your head or don't, has the right and privilege to be."
"I believe that one of the greatest gifts of being alive, of being human, is that of literacy. If you can read, your world suddenly becomes wide open, all knowledge is at your fingertips and there is no telling where that can lead someone in life. 'Teach a man to fish' is such a tired maxim. Why can't the common phrase be 'teach a person to read'?"...
Levinson is one practioner of literary activism, but he's far from the only one. Another notable literary activist is Luis Soriano, the man behind the Biblioburro project. Soriano loads his library on the back of two donkeys and delivers books to impoverished rural communities in Colombia. As described in a New York Times article about Soriano, the teacher is directly fostering bibliophilia in communities with low literacy rates...
"The goal is to hit as many parks as possible, and as many communities, well to do and not well to do, so nobody is excluded. " he says. "I ride a bike to a park, hang out on my day off, I crack open a book and just chill. I dont take it for granted that I can do this; on the contrary, I do everything I can to make the most of it. What a wonderful way to spend the day."
Jilli, have you tried that sunscreen? I do love my Vichy SPF 60 for sun protection, but I hate the way it feels.
Catching up:
I'd put at least some of the veggies in an omlet, Java.
I, too, could eat spagetti for dinner every day.
And, why, oh why, do people think that once they step out of a meeting to take a call do they think they can be as loud as they want? Yes, you are out of that room, but there are other folks trying to work here too. We don't need to hear every detail of your conversation.
My favorite was when attorneys would stand in the hallway yammering loudly. Dude, you're leaning ON MY DESK. Your office? With the neat-o closey door? RIGHT THERE.
Random question for well-travelled ladies: I'm reading this info I just got about the Greece/Turkey trip I'm taking, and it says that women should wear "long skirts or slacks to cover their legs" for some of the religious places. How long is long? Covering the knees or longer than that? Is it different for churches v. mosques?
I just toted around one of those broomstick skirts tied in a knot. It was light to carry, cool to wear, ankle-length, looked fine when you shook it out and I could pull it on and off over my shorts at will. If you can't find one quite long enough, with the elastic waist you can scootch them down a bit if you feel like your ankles are being scandalous.(FTR, I was in churches and synagogues, no mosques).
This is sort of weird, but I seem to have fallen off the radar when people are collecting money for various Buffista gifts. So- if anyone is organizing anything-- I would love to be included!
Me too!
Ain't no blame, Sophia! Gifts are like rainbows -- they are just spontaneous; you shouldn't look for them or expect them. They just happen or no; the sky is still lovely without a rainbow.
Oh Erin, I love you so much. I can count the times we've spent together on one hand and yet each is so special. See above re: why.
When I was in Israel, when we went to historic synagogues, we were told ahead of time that we needed to have at least everything from shoulders to knees covered, but some people wore tank tops or shorts. At most of the synagogues, there was a woman sitting near the entrance with a basket of scarves, and she'd run up and tie scarves around anybody who was showing too much skin. For some reason, at just about every synagogue, this woman was about 100 years old and just a bit over 4 feet tall.
OK, really, most of what I wear covers shoulder to knees. I'll just get one additional thing that goes all the way down.
At the Duomo in Sienna, they had plastic poncho things that they handed out to people in skimpy tank tops. Usually blond, gorgeous European teenagers.
For those looking for Filament
US Stockists
It's in a few stores here in DC, I might pick up a copy this weekend.
In Turkey, I remember I also brought a sarong with me in case I needed to be covered to my ankles (usually I was wearing knee-length skirts). So something like that -- a piece of fabric that you can carry around with you and just put on as needed -- might be an option, too.
The Blue Mosque in Istanbul has a basket of scarves for covering one's head, but I don't recall extra skirts.
Love the tattoo, Allyson.
When I was backpacking around europe, we all kept long sleeved button ups, bandannas, and a broomstick skirt in our daypacks. I remember being in one church in eastern europe where the woman at the front was reluctant to let us in, but didn't speak english. When we saw the other people, we realized what was wrong and we just pulled on our skirts and button ups right there on the steps. She was so excited when we covered our heads, she kissed us on the cheeks. it was really cute.
