Good Stewards of Words and Ideas

Marilyn McEntyre's book,  Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies is a wonderful contribution to the reclaiming of language and literacy. The chapter titles give you a good sense of the strategy she has to care for words.

Love Words

Tell the Truth

Don't Tolerate Lies

Read Well

Stay in Conversation

Share Stories

Love the Long Sentence (a hard chapter by the way)

Practice Poetry

Attend to Translation

Play

Pray

Cherish Silence

This book is probably not for most people. It is not a "how to" book. It is a well written series of essays that explore the what and the why of caring for words and using words.

Communicators may be interested in it. We should at least be interested in the subject.

For most of us, here is a simple "how-to" program.

• Watch less TV every day.
• During that saved time - READ.
• Interact withthe book - write, underline, jot down observations (in the book, or at the back of the book where there are often several blank pages).
• Look up words you don't know.
• Reflect on anything that grabs your attention.

If you are not a reader, set a goal to read one book a month. This is a very doable goal. If you spend 30 minutes a day, you can do this . . . easily!

Choose a book that is of interest to you.

Make sure it is not too difficult or too long.

You want to get several "wins" and "successes" before you start trying harder books.  Reading several basic books will help you strengthen your reading muscles.

And here is a huge idea. Get a notebook or a journal of some sort and keep track of your "learnings" as you read.  Write down interesting words, phrases, quotes, illustrations.

It will take some effort for us to care for words and use them well.

Brian Rice

Leadership ConneXtions International