J. K. Rowling's Harvard Commencement Address

"...I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea." (J. K. Rowling)

On a Spring Day in 2008, J. K. Rowling delivered the commencement address at Harvard University. Her two themes were the fringe benefits of failure and an imagination.  She talked about how her parents, who shared an impoverished background, wanted her to get a "real job".  However, all she ever wanted to do was write stories.  While she wanted to study English Literature, they wanted her to study a more lucrative subject:  they settled on Modern Languages.  However, J. K. immediately switched to the Classics.  

J. K. said she didn't fault her parents for not wanting her to live in poverty.  As she explained;

"I cannot fault my parents for hoping that I would never live in poverty.  They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience.  Poverty entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand petty humiliations and hardships.  Climbing out of poverty by your own efforts that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but poverty itself is romanticized only by fools."

J. K. went on to point out that she suffered a failed marriage and ended up unemployed with a young child to raise.  She felt like the biggest failure.  However, ironically, out of her failure came her success.  She was more determined than ever to prove that she could make a success of her writing.  

"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure?  Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential.  I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.  Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.  I was set free because my biggest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea." 

J.K. went on to talk about her other point, the importance of having an imagination.  Of course, her imagination contributed immensely to the writing of the Harry Potter series.  However, having an imagination is important not only for a writer, but also for all human beings.  It gives of a greater gift:  empathy.  

"Now you might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so.  Though I will personally defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation.  In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared."

Note:  To find out how the Harry Potter series came into being, visit http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2015/10/jk-rowling-never-happier-than-when-she.html.

http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/06/text-of-j-k-rowling-speech/

Brandon Dixon is Hooked on Books

"For some reason my classmates do not believe me when I answer the question 'How did you get smart?' by pointing to the long list of books I have read since I began devouring them sometime around second grade...after truly examining my intellectual growth throughout the past 12 years, I accredit more than 50% of my knowledge to what I gleaned while reading books." (Brandon Dixon)

Brandon Dixon, a freshman at Harvard University and recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship, wrote an essay about the connection between reading and good grades.  For some reading is a luxury; for others a waste of time; for Brandon, it is a necessity.  He accredits "more than 50% of [his] knowledge to what [he] gleaned while reading books."

Brandon points out that he doesn't pour over encyclopedias or dictionaries or textbooks -- he reads fiction.  Novels serve as a gateway to the world.  They peak his curiosity, prompting him to google a topic on the Internet or strike up a conversation with a budding scientist friend.  

Novels serve as a microcosm for the greater society.  Novels speak about the human condition.  They help us understand and empathize with the characters and, in turn, with other people.     

Brandon says he has learned leadership through the heroes in novels.  He has also learned about good versus evil, about morality.  He has learned that one person's definition of morality may vary from someone else's. 

The recent graduate points out that through literature, he can do almost anything.  "I have not physically experienced a lot of things in my life, but my mind has been places my body has never been..."

One might add that it was books that paved the way for Brandon to get into a prestigious school like Harvard.  I'm sure we will hear more from this well-read young man.  

http://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2015/08/31/reflections-love-of-books-leads-to-academic-success

Does Reading Make You Happier?

"I suspect that reading fiction is one of the few remaining paths to transcendence, that elusive state in which the distance between the self and the universe shrinks." (Ceridwen Dovey)

Ceridwen Dovey felt that she lacked spiritual resources to deal with death and was referred to a bibliotherapist.  The bibliotherapist prescribed the books The Guide by R. K. Narayna, The Gospel according to Jesus Christ by Jose Saramigo and The Case for God by Karen Armstrong, among others.  A writer was concerned about her fear of rejection and was prescribed Archy and Mehitabel. A woman who was struggling to balance motherhood and her painting was prescribed Notes from an Exhibition.  Today, there is a book for just about every malady.

However, bibliotherapists are not prescribing the self help types of books but rather literary fiction.  "I suspect that reading fiction is one of the few remaining paths to transcendence, that elusive state in which the distance between the self and the universe."  Bibliotherapy boils down to the fact that books provide us with a means of escape. (http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/can-reading-make-you-happier)

Another reason that bibliotherapy works, according to Dovey is that:  "We were dedicated to fiction as the ultimate cure because it gives readers a transformational experience."  Sigmund Freud used literature during psychoanalysis.  After the First World War, bibliotherapists prescribed Jane Austen novels for veterans suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome.  The book The Novel Cure:  An A-Z of Literacy Remedies by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin recommends fiction for a plethora of disorders (http://thenovelcure.com/about).  The authors are currently working on a children's version, A Spoonful of Stories, due out in 2016.

Given that we have more self help books than ever on the bookstore shelves, why aren't we happier?
According to Dovey, it's not reading self help books per se that helps us deal with our problems.  It's reading fiction.  Dovey explains the science:  a 2011 study mentioned mirror neurons in the brain. These neurons "fire in our brains both when we perform an action ourselves and when we see an action performed by someone else."  Therefore, if we observe a character acting in a certain manner, we have the ability to put ourselves in his or her shoes.  Dovey quoted another study which revealed that people who regularly read literary fiction score higher on social perception and empathy tests
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron).

Bibliotherapists prove once again the value of reading.  Not only does reading open one's mind to knowledge, but also to empathy.  The ability to empathize can improve our relationships and can make us happier people.

https://clairehuston.wordpress.com/2015/06/11/whats-your-bibliotherapy-share-the-books-that-make-you-happy/