How to tap into the transformative power of reading (with Michelle Kuo)
How to Be a Better Human
TED
4.1 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 May 2021
⏱️ 34 minutes
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Summary
When was the last time you got lost in a book? If it’s been a minute, today’s guest might recommend you visit a local library or bookstore ASAP. Michelle Kuo is a teacher, lawyer, writer who is passionate about reading in communities with other people, whether that's through book clubs or in prisons. In this episode, we talk about how reading skills reveal the bridging power of the written word -- as well as the limitations of its power. In 2017, she released “Reading with Patrick”, a memoir of teaching reading in a rural county jail in Arkansas. The book explores Michelle’s relationship with a former student, Patrick, whom she wrote and read with, prompting questions about what we owe each other in a world where economic and racial inequality determine life outcomes. You can follow Michelle through her newsletter at ampleroad.substack.com To learn more about "How to Be a Better Human," host Chris Duffy, or find footnotes and additional resources, please visit: go.ted.com/betterhuman
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Ted Audio Collective. |
| 0:02.0 | Audio Collective. |
| 0:04.0 | I'm Chris Duffy and this is how to be a better human. |
| 0:11.0 | On today's episode, we are talking about the power of reading. One of my |
| 0:15.4 | absolute favorite things to do is to get lost in the story of a really good book. |
| 0:19.4 | It is something that I love to do when I have a free day, but sometimes it's also the only thing that will really let me escape fully if I'm in a particularly stressful time. |
| 0:29.0 | Reading is access to knowledge, it's access to different places and people and ideas and experiences. |
| 0:35.0 | And in case you can't tell, I was an English major. |
| 0:38.0 | That's what they teach us in those classes is how to sell other people on books. |
| 0:43.9 | Not any other practical information other than that. |
| 0:46.4 | But look, whatever you studied and whatever your relationship is to reading, whether you love it or |
| 0:50.6 | you dread it, I am excited for you to hear from today's guest, Michelle Quo, who, in addition to her work as a lawyer and an educator, she is the author of a beautiful book about a former student of hers, Patrick. Patrick was involved in a tragic crime and he ended up incarcerated. |
| 1:07.6 | Michelle visited him in prison regularly and they would sit, reading together, |
| 1:11.8 | or Patrick would write letters to his daughter. Here is how Michelle described |
| 1:16.0 | those moments in her TEDx talk. Reading also changed our relationship with |
| 1:20.9 | each other. It gave us an occasion for intimacy to see beyond our |
| 1:25.6 | points of view. And reading took an unequal relationship and gave us a momentary equality. |
| 1:34.0 | When you meet somebody as a reader, |
| 1:37.0 | you meet him for the first time, newly, freshly. |
| 1:42.0 | There is no way you can know what his favorite line will be, |
| 1:46.0 | what memories and private griefs he has, |
| 1:51.0 | and you face the ultimate privacy of his inner life and then you start to wonder well what is my |
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