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I can dig you wanting to maintain your privacy, wc edwards. People who want to share every aspect of their life and appearance, hang out on FaceBook, not discussion forums. Your book mobile idea has possibilities. But I wonder whether there is anything that will turn non readers into readers. I've always suspected that readers are born not made. Reading is a personality trait. All children are exposed to the stimuli of words in books but by 4th grade, the wheat is separated from the chaff. Some anthropologists have even suggested that there is an element, who if not taught to read, would teach themselves to do so. Those who can read, do; those who can't, don't. Those who can read with comprehension gravitate toward books; those who just recognize words, don't. The argument is made that the way to stimulate an interest in reading among young people is to supply them with matter to which they can relate. Hopefully that will be the gateway to reading books. But, just reading what you relate to does not expand your mind, it limits it. Curiosity about a broad specturm of subjects is what defines the good reader. And curiosity is also a personality trait. IMO I'm long past being in my mid-fifties and I am disillusioned about the future of the black underclass and its non reading kids. Its members seem trapped in a visual culture that perpetuates itself. What's troubling is that it's a "ratchet" culture that they revel in. They love the bling and the drama and the violence, and they breed indiscriminately. The fact that they are emulalting the cult of celebrity is even more discouraging. I've reached the point where I've given up. This world is beyond reform. It is evolving to a point where reform may be regression. My day has passed.

Cynique, thanks, but I think your comments on rap are well said, much more articulate than mine, shorter and to the point. I'm in my midfifties. I came to this country the same month Martin Luther King was assassinaed. It's a vivid memory because of the news reports. You can google me if you want to but I don't think you'll find much about me online right now or anything for that matter. I don't really want to promote myself here. I've not written many books and most of them are unpublished except for a self published one that I am trying to get republished by an established publisher. I figure a finished book should be better than a plain old manuscript. I've written a screenplay that I'm trying to get made into a film or a play. I like science fiction, horror, fantasy, genre stuff. I don't know if I want to reveal more. Shouldn't I save it all or my memoirs? I'll think about it. Yes, I am a man of mystery, an international man of mystery--the ANTI-ESCAPIST--for the weed of greed will bare bitter fruit. I was thinking about Bookmobiles to promote books. What do you think? If some one can offer the homeless showers in old buses, why not take a bus ride and read or buy a book in a mobile library or bookstore? If illiteracy is a wound--we need a sort of M.A.S.H. unit of sorts for non-readers. A social space of some sort. We could even offer indie films on a bus ride--how much should riders give. Will the city allow parking? Should it be free?