Posted on 04/18/2015 1:11:19 PM PDT by real saxophonist
The first efforts of TV star LeVar Burton’s attempt to re-envision “Reading Rainbow” for the digital age go live at the end of this month.
The cellphone. The tablet computer. E-Readers.
Decades ago, technologies that today feel second-nature were nothing but nebulous concepts in the imaginations of science fiction authors and screenplay writers. When those ideas were broadcast into the homes of America’s children via television, however, generations worked to bring them into reality.
“That which we focus our imaginations on is what we tend to manifest in this realm,” said television star LeVar Burton at a Friday evening speech at the Riverside Library & Cultural Center, 3700 Golden St., in Evans. “If we can think it, we can do it.”
That was the central message from Burton, the longtime host of the children’s television show “Reading Rainbow,” which for more than 30 years aired on PBS with the goal of sparking kids’ interest in reading.
The show went off the air in 2009, and on Friday, Burton spoke primarily of his recent work to resurrect the program for the digital age so it can spark the imaginations of a new generation of children. Burton has been speaking around the country after raising more than $5 million in a web-based crowdfunding effort to do just that.
“Our mission has always been to let kids know that they can pick up a book and go anywhere in the world in their imagination,” Burton said. “You only have to be exposed to enough before you discover that with which you resonate.”
Burton told a crowd of about 300 people how his own love of reading began with science fiction novels when he was a child, and how his mother set a good example for him by constantly reading herself. Adults therefore have a fundamental role to play in encouraging children to read and inspiring their imaginations, Burton said.
“The power of storytelling is irrefutable,” he said. “I genuinely believe we have spent way too much money on war and machines of war, and we have left our children behind, and that is not OK.”
In “Reading Rainbow’s” current iteration, children can watch videos and read books on the Internet with smartphones, tablets or computers. Those devices were chosen over television, Burton said, because that’s where children are spending their time today.
Entertainment media have always played a role in indulging imaginations, Burton said, as he was inspired by Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the “Star Trek” television series. Burton himself had a starring role in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” a spinoff of the original series.
“It was certainly uncommon for me when I was reading those science fiction books when I was a kid to encounter heroes who looked like me,” Burton said. “Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future was one that embraced me. That vision where people have resolved all of our issues of race and class and sex and economy.
“It was the kind of world I wanted to live in when I was a child, and it’s still the kind of world I want to live in now. And I believe it all begins with a relationship with the written word.”
Are they going to use Jimmy Fallon’s Doors-esque interpretation of the old theme music . . . ?
““I genuinely believe we have spent way too much money on war and machines of war, and we have left our children behind, and that is not OK.”
I genuinely believe we have spent way too much money on Leftist idiocies, and we have left our children behind, and that is not OK.
Geordi La Forge... :)
Who’s Lavar Burton?
Well we have to teach kids to read stuff like the Constitution, gun manuals, tactical methods, preppers manuals, etc. so it is a good thing.
He was a star of the tv hit mini-series “Roots” back in the seventies. I think he’s been on some other tv series since then, but I don’t what they are.
You know, this kind of talk always rubs me the wrong way. My heritage is Mexican and I look it. But being born and raised in this country (as was my father and his parents), I never felt like my heroes had to look like me (or vice versa). I read the same books, watched the same Westerns and Sci-Fi and super-hero TV shows, and idolized the same Rock stars as everyone else and never once thought, "Gee, it should would be something if some of these heroes looked like me!" The thought never entered my mind.
He’s a TV star! (Can’t you read the title?)
“The power of storytelling is irrefutable,” he said. “I genuinely believe we have spent way too much money on war and machines of war, and we have left our children behind, and that is not OK.”
What does the first sentence have to do with the second?
And BTW, history is composed of wars, why they happened, and how they affect us to this day.
Maybe cracking open a book will reveal to LeVar just WHY we have to spend money on war and war machines.
Kunta Kinte.
Also played former Detroit Tiger, Ron LeFlore in a made-for-TV movie.
Who is "we"? Who is stopping kids from reading? Plenty of books out there, plenty of libraries and used book stores. Stop blaming "The Man" for all the problems in the world, and maybe you can make some progress.
Ping
Nope. Toby Waller.
He hosted Reading Rainbow, which ran on PBS for about 20 years. Each episode centered on a theme from a book, or other children’s literature, which was explored through a number of segments or stories. The show also recommended books for kids to look for when they went to the library.
I imagine The Rush Revere series is a part of that?
Yeah, I don't think so either.
One of Rushes callers should put these guys on the spot by publically donating his book to them.
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