I am fairly caught up in Empire of Illusion this week (see post below) and by caught up, I mean depressed, but in a good way. Chris Hedges is an amazing writer and thinker - he connects the dots from some other books I have read (Culturally Savvy Christian by Dick Staub and Life is a Miracle by Wendell Berry).

What depresses me as a writer is the climbing rates of illiteracy and semi-literacy. As well, he pulls out a stat that 80% of U.S. did not buy or read a book last year. Can that be true??? Oh my, if it is, well... we're screwed. And by "we" I don't mean writers. I mean all of us.

I am very thankful (in the spirit of our past holiday) that I helped to create a family full of readers. It may be my greatest accomplishment.