The first week I started selecting content I remember choosing a public release about a herpes outbreak among horses in the Flathead Valley and thinking “Oh god, I hope that doesn’t end up on the kid’s page.”
It didn’t. It ended up below the Passages column.
But since that week I’ve been very mindful of what I add to the top of that page. I’ve opted to use stories about public parades or about the schools because I feel that it’s an almost sacred space. Literacy is something sacred to me, and as a writer it is something I want to keep sacred for others.
I would like for someone to get to spend their childhood on that page.
I guess what I hope is that a child can spend their early years on those puzzles and activities while their parents read the articles above and as the children grow older and learn to read some words at school they can slowly start to look north of the cute animals and games, and find words that are welcoming and appropriate for them.
For the time being I’ve recruited some friends of mine.
My friend, Chris Shields, who wrote film reviews for the Montana Kaimin during my last semester at the University of Montana, has agreed to send me any unused reviews for movies rated PG-13 and under. He has a wealth of knowledge of film history and technique and his reviews are quite light-hearted and funny. I think that kids can find reviews of movies they are curious about and adults can find honest reviews of what they might find enjoyable as well. I hope this can help families find films to watch together that aren’t unbearable for either demographic.
I’ve also brought my childhood friend, Nina Dubois, to write reviews of children’s books. She’s a librarian for a very small town library back in Vermont. Pawlet is very much like Condon, and she has agreed to give us reviews of books she selects for her children’s reading group there. Anything selected and reviewed in that section will be great reading material for kids to take on as their first challenges when they gain the vocabulary to go beyond the paper.
If I can be party to inspiring even one child to explore the written-word then that would be a height of accomplishment for me.
I don’t have children, and I don’t really plan to. But I do believe that children deserve every opportunity and chance to become whatever kind of adult they want to be. I do hope this paper can be a part of that process.
I do hope it clarifies some of the consistent changes I have made to that page.
Happy children make better adults. Happy adults make better children.
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