Dear Humans,

I told my daughter that personal reading should take precedence over schoolwork. Not finishing your homework because you were staying up late finishing a book is the ultimate academic flex.

Because when you’re in college or life, people won’t care what you scored on some test many years ago; but they might care that you’ve read a lot of John Steinbeck books. Because you don’t carry that old test around with you in your head. But you will carry around scenes, lines, and sheet-metal memories of Cannery Row. 

Reading old books (and new ones), watching weird movies, writing stories and poems that no one ever reads, having deep (and dumb) conversations with friends–that’s how you really learn about this world and form a mind that’s prepared to take it on.

Sincerely,

Mr. Curt