I READ: The Next Book On My List

I read.

You heard me, tough guy. I read.

Not just on the internet. And not blocks of ad copy that are comprised of two simple sentences. Nor the comics. Nor just the home page blips off newspapers' web sites that are 2-3 paragraphs long, written for those with ADD/ADHD. (I do read a lot of newspapers, Atlanta Journal Constitution, LA Times, NY Times, USA Today, Boston Globe, Washington Times, Wall Street Journal, Jackson Clarion Ledger, and by force majeure, Memphis Commercial Appeal so that I can be freed from accusation that I don't know what's going on in my own city, except Wendy Thomas. I don't read Wendy Thomas).

This causes me to digress a moment.

When I was in j-school at Mississippi University for Women -- top school in that state at the time for academics, in horrible demise now because of the puppet leadership installed by the MIHL-- we were taught to write for the eighth grade educated reader. My professors explained that research and statistics revealed that the lowest educational common denominator in this country was an eighth grade reading level. And that was to whom we should write when we filed our stories.

If 50 is the new 30, then the new eighth grade reader is now a fourth grade reader.

Sad but true. Still, I gravitate toward people who read. I'll have to accuse myself of being elitist in that sense.

The old adage "knowledge is power," was first used to mean in some negative way such as to threaten or blackmail.

The more accurate statement today is "knowledge is only power when you use it to create new knowledge".

So, I read. And I wish you would, as well.

The next book on my reading list:













Here are my next three:

The Pulitzer Prize: An Oxymoron

Bob Dylan said he was "in disbelief" when he was told he had been awarded an honorary Pultizer for his song lyrics.

Let me tell you Bob, I was too.

The Pulitzer Prize has been regarded in America as the highest national honor in print journalism, literary achievements and musical composition.

Quite simply, there is no rock music or body of rock music work that deserves a Pulitzer.

Now, I know all of Bob Dylan's achievements in writing song lyrics and making the words sound "like poetry set to music."

I even like a lot of his stuff.

But the Pulitzer is supposed to be awarded to composers who reach the apex of musical composition in the most challenging of music disciplines: classical, operatic and symphonic, and not for a bunch of lyrics that appealed to a social group of people during a particularly hedonistic period in this country (60s free love, sex and dope smokin').

The judges stated he was cited for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power." Then let the Grammys give him a Lifetime Achievement Award.

This move actually reveals the depths to which the Pulitzer Prize has fallen. The judges have stooped to a PR/publicity stunt in an effort to try and rebuild appeal with a public.

The Pulitzer has lost touch mainly because it has not been able to expose journalism in this country for what it has become -- a fly-by-the ratings junkie and change-on-a-whim elitest group of organizations that want to try and talk or write down to the poor, stupid masses instead of doing some real journalism to splash in the faces of corporate and government hacks running this country.

The judges did one thing right. They did not hand out an award in the category of editorial writing. They shouldn't hand out another Pulitzer in any category until they can get back on the right horse: giving awards for work that will stand the test of highest honor.