![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Amanda-Gorman_web.jpeg?resize=1200%2C800&quality=89&ssl=1\")
Ms. Salinas is a perfect example of poor literacy skills. She can always prove me wrong by recording herself on YouTube or on some Fox channel reading out loud the Constitution of the United States, then follow it up by reading out loud the Bill of Rights. Dollars to donuts, she won\u2019t do it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The solution is not to ban poetry, but to encourage the reading of poetry. Many neurological studies show that poetry stimulates different parts of the brain. The reading of poetry, especially for young people, enables them to experience worlds vicariously, to imagine metaphoric, literal, or symbolic, meanings of language, or to enjoy words for their own unique mysterious emotional power. Albert Einstein once remarked that if he had not been exposed to poetry as a young person, he would not have become the scientist he became.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Language, after all, is what creates our reality, our worldview, and the better we understand how language works, especially through the process of reading, the better all of us are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, here\u2019s a question for all adults currently sitting on school boards: Is the title of Amanda Gorman\u2019s poem \u201cThe Hill We Climb,\u201d literal, metaphoric, symbolic, or all three and all at once? If an adult can\u2019t explain a poem, they shouldn\u2019t be demanding what is taught or what isn\u2019t taught.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, too many adults in this country are, like Ms. Salinas, a perfect example of the Republican mantra to keep our citizens ignorant, poor, (I\u2019m sure Ms. Salinas doesn\u2019t live in a mansion next to you know who) and powerless. Oh, they are given the illusion of power. Parents, don\u2019t kid yourself. If you can\u2019t read the legislation proposed by a cabal of lobbyists like the ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council), how would you know that curtailing reading material is meant to make your child dumber than you are?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the great Salvadoran poet Roque Dalton once pointed out: \u201cPoetry like bread is for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The recent brouhaha in Florida about banning Amanda Gorman\u2019s poem \u201cThe Hill We Climb,\u201d is actually more about the reading level of adults in this country, like Daily Salinas, who first protested the poem than about the content and context of the poem. The question that should be on everyone\u2019s mind is this: how is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":56634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[108,105],"coauthors":[23975],"class_list":["post-56538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-opinion","tag-poetry","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n