Attended a conference today at Georgetown U. convened by Verizon Foundation, with lots of help from American Library Association and other orgs working to promote literacy. We (NCL) were invited because of our work on LifeSmarts. We'd tried to shape our Vz Fdtn proposal around their literacy interests, thinking that they might appreciate that we're promoting consumer literacy, but we found they really do mean learning to read. In the end we asked for $$ to strengthen the Technology content and our assessment capacity.
I had the oddest sensation in the reception that followed. My colleague, Ingrid Montero, and I were chatting with people and a guy came up whom I'd met at a dinner not too long ago. He remembered me and the fact that I'm studying at Wesley Seminary. What was odd was the juxtaposition of what for me is pretty intense reading about Saint Augustine and his
City of God, composed in the early years of the 5th century, and an interesting and stimulating conference and discussion about how best to teach people -- kids through adults -- how to read. Augustine was writing in the aftermath of the Sack of Rome by Alaric in 410, an event that shook everyone's faith in the
Roma Aeterna ideology that had prevailed up till then.
I guess it's not such a big deal, moving between cultures, but I was just struck by the image of this African bishop, 1600 years ago, pacing up and down in his study, dictating letters, sermons, books, polemics at a furious pace, actively engaged through reading and writing with people all over the Roman Empire. This on one hand, while today we worry that so many Americans are essentially illiterate, although everybody can text-message. Progress?
