July 22, 2005

While flipping through the photo archives at work, I came across of a smiling photo of Jack Layton at a literacy event five years ago. Back then Jack wasn’t famous — he didn’t lead a socialist party and everyone laughed at his stash. But he still cared about literacy. So did his wife who was at his side wearing a literacy cap.

Like Jack, I too care about literacy. That’s why today I joined the blogathon to raise money for literacy in Ontario. This means that on August 6th I’m staying awake to blog for 24 hours straight, one new post every half hour. And you can help by pledging for my campaign.

Literacy is in crisis right now. Over 40% of Canadians don’t have the necessary reading and writing skills to fully function in today’s society. Many of those who fell through the cracks in our education system are unable to decipher newspaper headlines, read their prescriptions, or follow directions on a map. And as I wrote before, these people aren’t stupid — they’re uncommonly intelligent, sensitive, and can improve quickly if given the proper training.

Laubach Literacy Ontario, the organization I’m raising money for, has helped over 11,000 people with their literacy problems in the last five years alone (for more details, see this powerpoint presentation).

Because poor literacy has an enormous economic toll and because literacy is a fundamental human right, I’d encourage you all to pledge for my campaign. Your donations will go directly to the charity and LLO will gladly issue tax receipts. In return, on August 6th you can come back here and watch my writing devolve into incoherence by the end of the night. After 24 hours of writing, when I’m out of things to say, I’ll even post pictures of my naked ass for your enjoyment.

And now I’m off for the weekend …