Odds and ends

Over at fade theory, they're currently reading Living to Tell the Tale (Edith Grossman's translation of Vivir para contarla): García Márquez's memoirs. Originally, it was to be the first installment of a trilogy, but this may be it for now. Maybe I should finally crack open my own copy...

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Matthew Cheney interviews Samuel R. Delany on the release of a new edition of The Jewel-Hinged Jaw: Notes on the Language of Science Fiction.

(via Light Reading)

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This makes NO sense. Reading Rainbow Reaches Its Final Chapter:

Grant says the funding crunch is partially to blame, but the decision to end Reading Rainbow can also be traced to a shift in the philosophy of educational television programming. The change started with the Department of Education under the Bush administration, he explains, which wanted to see a much heavier focus on the basic tools of reading — like phonics and spelling.

Grant says that PBS, CPB and the Department of Education put significant funding toward programming that would teach kids how to read — but that's not what Reading Rainbow was trying to do.

"Reading Rainbow taught kids why to read," Grant says. "You know, the love of reading — [the show] encouraged kids to pick up a book and to read."

But apparently, "research has shown that teaching the mechanics of reading should be the network's priority" (forget about giving them any reason to do so in the first place).

(via Enter the Octopus)

UPDATE (31 Aug.): Bookninja directs us to Mediabistro's efforts to think of ways to keep it going in another form.