The healing power of reading | Michelle Kuo

Reading and writing can be acts of courage that bring us closer to others and ourselves. Author Michelle Kuo shares how teaching reading skills to her students in the Mississippi Delta revealed the bridging power of the written word -- as well as the limitations of its power.

[thenia]

Books they had read together :

1) The Fire Next Times - James Baldwin
2) Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman
3) The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
4) Trees of Eastern North America - Gil Nelson
5) The Sibley Field Guide To Birds of Eastern North America - David Allen Sibley
6) The Merriam-Webster Dictionary - Merriam-Webster
7) Narrative of The Life of Frederick Douglass - Frederick Douglass
8) Gilead - Marilynne Robinson

[Namtrendingvideos]

Reading is like breathing in, writing is like breathing out

[thenia]

"Reading charged his inner life with mystery, with imagination, with beauty.
Reading gave him images that gave him joy, mountain, ocean, deer, frost. Words that taste of a free, natural world.

Reading gave him a language for what he had lost"

[ossen]

*Knowledge is potential power - Applied knowledge is true power*
Some people dive into books as a matter of escaping reality, like watching TV shows.
Be mindful of that and keep a healthy relationship to reading.

[BusinessMotivationFamily]

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies . . . The man who never reads lives only one.” – George R.R. Martin

[malapet]

I commend you lady. You're an advocate of human erichment in life

[thenia]

"The river is shadowy in some places but the light shines through the cracks of trees. On some low branches hang plenty of mulberries. You stretch your arm straight out to grab some"

Letter from Patrick to his daughter. What a beautiful line 🎈

[Highlyskeptical]

Reading helped me conceptualize how the future should be, it cuts through the endless noise of everyday life.

[JJ-kleq]

The healing power of Teding. Speaking in front of a crowd of strangers who clap graciously to your words.

[jorgeromera]

Long ago I got a crappy job. I stayed there more than 9 years because I could read. Tolstoi, Dostoievski, Gogol, Thackeray, Dickens... The salary was poor (4 euros per hour, in Spain), but man, I could read. There's only one thing better than reading: writing.

[salehqqq]

This has genuinely touched me, the speaker was steadily narrating the story, her phrasing of words was such a sweet taste to my mind.
+ i miss reading a lot so much, goddammit i hope i gain back my reading abilities :(

[ziyixu]

I do not remember when was the last time I read a book with my heart clearly. Probably when I was a junior high school student and the book was a novel written by an online writer. Even now, I am still reading that book although I almost know every detail about the book. Thanks for the Ted Talk which reminds me that I should spend some time reading and thinking. Hope I can stay away from video games and smartphones apps. I hope I could be a better person. Thanks!

[mariselalopez]

Love her book, “Reading with Patrick”
Read it for one of my English classes

[meenasalih]

I have so much respect for her, thank you for fighting for what’s right and telling us why reading is important in life!🥺💖

[Vahe]

I have the utmost respect for this lady. Chinese can be so charitable, smart and positive. You can just see the compassion in her!

[perryrobles]

Reading can also help you RELATE. Helps you find others like you.

Reading Shakespeare helped my prodigy TREMENDOUSLY.

Dante. Byron.


All of these writers PAVED my way.


Helped me to “see”.

[sumiyaislam]

Reading like talking to other people, understand them, know about them and know about your self more. Explore your self with reading . improve your self with reading.

[BiancaAguglia]

There's one more thing reading did for Patrick: it made him the hero of a touching story. ❤️
Thank you for your beautiful words and beautiful actions, Michelle. They are inspiring.

[Deba]

That was an amazing deposit of your life and depth into this young man's life that will have ripple effects! I am so touched by the sacrifice of your time and love! May God richly bless you for it!

[PoeticalContext]

Very heartfelt! Michelle Kuo is a walking example of compassion and agape love for fellow humans. Few things fuel our humanity as reading. I really couldn't say where I would be or what my psyche would be like if I was not a life-long lover of books.