In our last episode we left reading and writing in the plight of many marriages: can’t live with them and can’t live without them.  We saw that many who call themselves “readers” resist the name of “writer,” but that the writer enriches the life of the reader. Thus, the question persists: Can this marriage be saved?

Many adults, who would be humiliated to confess they could not read, might freely admit they could not write.  And not because they couldn’t fill out a traffic accident report, but because they could not write with flair and conviction and grammatical precision. Such writing would be for the chosen few. On the other hand, to read meant to understand important information and to live a fulfilled life. The option of not reading at all would be unthinkable.

In contrast, writing has always been attributed to professionals whose living depended on writing. The writing process was considered mysterious.  Grammar and style were viewed as arcane subjects best left to experts.  Probably the most memorable declaration of the ground-breaking reform document The Neglected “R” was “Writing today is not a frill for the few, but an essential skill for the many” (11).  That was a consequential pronouncement.

Recognizing that our jobs often required a different kind of reading than our personal lives, theorists combined the many forms of literacy in the term “lifelong literacy,” with the goal of reading to become “lifelong readers.”  Reading has played so many roles on the stage of life, that to confine it to functional literacy, critical literacy or personal growth missed the point.  Reading was pervasive, and the way we read shifted relentlessly in the kaleidoscope of 21st century literacy.

A lifelong reader understands that reading impinges on every moment of living, from reading the side effects of the pill taken after breakfast to deciphering the manual for a new cell phone to reading a favorite political writer in the online edition of the newspaper.   Reading pervades life and has become indispensable in a literate culture.

In contrast, writing has been regarded as a skill of the workplace. Even the groundbreaking The Neglected “R” and its successors described writing in its public roles: in school, in business, and in government. These reports raised the profile of writing as a tool of productivity, but not as an essential  part of living. Reading has continued to overshadow writing in the realm of “lifelong literacy.”

Why should we care whether writing is number one or number two or equal in significance to reading? Primarily because reading and writing are less efficient as singles than as a couple. It is a little like consumption and production in the economies of life. One must offset the other. Or to return to the competitive and noncompetitive sports analogy (see yesterday’s blog), we have to nurture both kinds of urges, the competitive and the noncompetitive, and not let one overwhelm the other. So, if we are planning to be lifelong readers, we should also put lifelong writing on the agenda.

To gain “lifelong” status, writing has to be acknowledged as pervasive and self-fulfilling in the same way reading has been.  More than for its art and for making transactions, writing has to make a case for enriching the lives of literate people in the same way reading makes this claim.  Traditionally writing has not taken this central position in life, unless in the lives of writing teachers. And writing teachers struggle to sell this image of the “lifelong writer” to their students.

According to Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell (Guiding Readers and Writers, Heinemann 2001), lifelong writers exhibit certain social and personal characteristics:

• Writers write voluntarily and often
• Write in a wide variety of genres
• Have confidence in themselves as writers
• Present themselves as writers to others
• Use writing as a tool for thinking
• Write to communicate on personal and professional levels
• Write to share experiences or information with others
• Are sensitive to other writers, noticing techniques and styles
• Invite comments on, responses to, and critiques of their writing
• Draw on literary knowledge as a resource for their writing
• Use  organized sets of information as a resource for their writing
• Explore favorite topics and genres

Starting with “Write voluntarily and often,” these characteristics suggest daily living outside of the workplace, and such traits as “communicating,””sharing,” and “exploring” suggest self-fulfillment rather than productivity. Although these traits are integral to many K-12 school curricula, it would be overstating their importance to say they pervade the lives of average citizens. Becoming a lifelong writer is hardly a shared value of literate citizens in the United States. Me, a writer? Are you kidding?

So, as we leave the aging couple, lifelong reader and lifelong writer, we see that one (the reader) is much more prepared for retirement than the other (the writer).  The writer is infatuated with productivity and his or her role in the workplace, while the reader believes that reading is a continuous, pervasive activity from workplace to self-fulfilling recreation.  This is not merely an issue for retirement, but an issue of balance and compatibility. The question persists for another day of our lives: Can this marriage be saved?