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Article: All astir.(Moby Dick Project, literacy and outreach program)(events and news of the Melville Society Cultural Project)
- Article from:
- Leviathan
- Article date:
- March 1, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Blackwell Publishers Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Ricardo Pitts-Wiley rubbed his eyes, passed his hands over his face, held them there for an intense moment, then looked up at the group assembled around the conference table, and said slowly and with emphasis: "It's simple. We're saying, if you read Moby-Dick, you will be better." Mr. Pitts-Wiley is not referring to scholars or teachers or college students. He is talking about young people he knows in prisons and gangs, on streets and in schools in Pawtucket, RI. Young people who do not always read much. Whose parents do not always read much. When he gives them Moby-Dick, they come back shaking their heads and saying, "Rick, man, this is hard." He tells them to keep ...