This is not a HOW TO book, it’s a how NOT TO book
My dad up in heaven had a favorite saying: “A little bit of knowledge is dangerous.” Truth be told, sometimes a little knowledge is all we really need. As a lawyer for thirty-plus years, I’ve seen young people from different neighborhoods and different upbringings repeatedly make the same wrong choices and take the same wrong turns, literally devastating their futures. If someone had just given them a little bit of knowledge, they could’ve avoided ever seeing the inside of a lawyer’s office. I wrote this manual to provide a map to navigate teenagers and twenty-somethings through unexpectedly dangerous waters and guide them around the occasional iceberg. I am arming them with just a little knowledge to help make important and crucial choices, which can hopefully change the course of their lives. It takes a village, but in the famous words of Bob Marley,
"Every little thing is going to be all right."
An expected dad plans on his wife delivering the perfect baby. To his surprise, his beautiful son is wired a little differently than the other kids. Scared daddy runs and hides in the closet. Literally. For almost four years he watches from the sidelines as Oliver struggles and by the end of fourth grade, he's barely reading at a kindergarden level. Eventually, Daddy Dearest decides to jump in the deep end and starts taking a course on
how to become a reading tutor. His students are all adult African Americans in their 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. These grown-ups no longer see life through rose-colored glasses and aren't looking for Cinderella endings. They're realistic about their goals and their futures. They no longer want to be President or CEO's of Fortune 500 Companies. They
now dream these things for their grandchildren. Instead, they simply want to be able to enjoy People Magazine. Read a menu. Fill out a job application. Understand the instructions on medicine bottles. Help their sons and daughters with their homework. Using unusual and unorthodox methods like the Bible, fortune cookies, horoscopes and Motown song lyrics, the adults miraculously start reading. Soon, he's ready to attack the
very reason that brought him to the Literacy Center in the first place. On a diving board at a park pool on a boiling July morning, it finally sticks. In the end, an unplanned event causes the unexpected connection between this twelve year old little boy and a classroom filled with these grown-up strangers. Together, they complete something incredible.
This is not a HOW TO book, it’s a how NOT TO book
My dad up in heaven had a favorite saying: “A little bit of knowledge is dangerous.” Truth be told, sometimes a little knowledge is all we really need. As a lawyer for thirty-plus years, I’ve seen young people from different neighborhoods and different upbringings repeatedly make the same wrong choices and take the same wrong turns, literally devastating their futures. If someone had just given them a little bit of knowledge, they could’ve avoided ever seeing the inside of a lawyer’s office. I wrote this manual to provide a map to navigate teenagers and twenty-somethings through unexpectedly dangerous waters and guide them around the occasional iceberg. I am arming them with just a little knowledge to help make important and crucial choices, which can hopefully change the course of their lives. It takes a village, but in the famous words of Bob Marley,
"Every little thing is going to be all right."
An expected dad plans on his wife delivering the perfect baby. To his surprise, his beautiful son is wired a little differently than the other kids. Scared daddy runs and hides in the closet. Literally. For almost four years he watches from the sidelines as Oliver struggles and by the end of fourth grade, he's barely reading at a kindergarden level. Eventually, Daddy Dearest decides to jump in the deep end and starts taking a course on
how to become a reading tutor. His students are all adult African Americans in their 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's. These grown-ups no longer see life through rose-colored glasses and aren't looking for Cinderella endings. They're realistic about their goals and their futures. They no longer want to be President or CEO's of Fortune 500 Companies. They
now dream these things for their grandchildren. Instead, they simply want to be able to enjoy People Magazine. Read a menu. Fill out a job application. Understand the instructions on medicine bottles. Help their sons and daughters with their homework. Using unusual and unorthodox methods like the Bible, fortune cookies, horoscopes and Motown song lyrics, the adults miraculously start reading. Soon, he's ready to attack the
very reason that brought him to the Literacy Center in the first place. On a diving board at a park pool on a boiling July morning, it finally sticks. In the end, an unplanned event causes the unexpected connection between this twelve year old little boy and a classroom filled with these grown-up strangers. Together, they complete something incredible.