Another Day in the Country
Remembering Dick and Jane
© Another Day in the Country
Perhaps you have been to downtown Salina recently, and seen new stores cropping up, interesting art on sidewalks and murals on sides of buildings.
It’s an attempt, I think, to recreate a social hub in the center of town, somewhat like Ramona, circa 1940, where on a Saturday night you gathered at Strickler’s Store to get groceries, trading them for eggs maybe, then went across to get something at Georgie’s Cafe (or Betty’s Cafe, depending on what era you lived here) or stopped to see what was new at Tatge’s Motor Company, meanwhile seeing a lot of your friends for the first time all week because you’d all been busy.
That was a long time ago and a very long sentence.
One of my favorite new stores is a bookstore in downtown Salina with shelves, tables, and walls full of books.
When I go in there, I wish it were closer to where I live and I could attend special events they offer. Alas, it is too far away, and the events always at night, so that would require us dodging deer on the way home.
If you love books, going to a bookstore is like eating a banana split or a hot fudge sundae for an ice cream enthusiast.
I can hardly control my glee at seeing so many books. I’d like to have a whole lot of them but I limit my purchase to one — maybe two — for the budget’s sake.
I laugh a lot when I go into a really good bookstore because it is so much fun seeing creative titles and cover art of new books, discovering what pulls you to pick up a certain volume and ignore another. Getting you to choose is a science!
Quite a few who read this column grew up with the “Dick and Jane” books in first grade. We were all initiated into the word game by enjoying the antics of Dick, Jane, and their dog Spot.
You can imagine my delight when at the bookstore I saw a book with a drawing of a little boy running with his dog on the cover and the title “Don’t be a Dick.” The illustration caught my eye and the title made me laugh.
I bought the book! This is a book, written by Meghan Doherty, on manners for what I assume are teenagers, though we all might benefit from reading it.
I’m always looking for little things to mail to my grandson and I thought this might be a useful, fun way to learn about relating to other people, especially because he’s an only child who’s grown up around adults.
This all happened a couple of years ago. Dagfinnr was starting high school — maybe a good time for a book on etiquette but, then again, maybe too late. Would he read it?
He usually had his nose in a computer, playing games. So, I didn’t give the book to him. I held onto it, wondering whether that particular book was the right fit.
When I got it home from the store, I started reading the book myself, laughing as I read because it is funny at times.
“Maybe Clayton is more the right age for this book,” I thought, but I’d have to wait for him to get a little older. Then again, was he really one to pick up a book or be out playing ball with his friends?
Alas, these kids growing up now don’t know about Dick and Jane. They wouldn’t get the sly humor in the title. I’d have to explain it to them, and something would be lost in translation. I held onto the book.
This summer, now I’m dealing with a 17 year old. I’m hesitant about the book being something he’d pick up to read, but somehow it happened.
I did explain to him about the importance of those Dick and Jane reading books we had in 1943 and how well we all learned to read, “Run, Dick, Run.”
He laughed at the joke, and we went on with summer activities until it was time for him to go back for his senior year of high school.
“Which of these books can I take?” he asked.
“Any of them,” I answered.
He chose the one on manners.
Flash ahead and it’s November. I’ve just returned from Mexico, and my grandson texts me a question.
This summer we’d been discussing college applications and an essay he needed to write about himself.
“I don’t know what to write,” he’d said.
He labored over this all summer long. Now, several months later, his parents asked ME to write something, and I suddenly knew how this kid felt.
That was quite a job. I was afraid I’d do it wrong or say the wrong thing.
“I think you are over-thinking this,” Richard said.
“So what’s new?” I laughed. I over-think everything.
Then my grandson asked, “How do you feel when you write? What is your relationship with writing?”
I texted back: “What an interesting question. I’m curious: Did you come up with that question on your own or did you read it somewhere?”
“It’s my question,” he answered, “and, I’m practicing asking open-ended questions.”
The last time I read about open-ended questions was in the 1980s when I was reading self help books, trying to raise two kids.
My college-bound grandson was still typing
“You know that book, ‘Don’t Be a Dick?’ ” he wrote. “Well, I was reading it, and they said that you need to learn to ask open-ended questions of people you meet, queries that can’t just be answered with a ‘yes’ or a ‘no,’ if you really want to get to know them.”
It’s another day in the country, and the holidays are upon us. If you are wondering what kind of presents to get for those people you love, how about a book?