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Thursday, December 14, 2006

DFW literacy not so hot, compared to other big cities

By Blair Lovern

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Before we get to the numbers, here is this note from an important person, which was culled from the America's Most Literate Cities site:

This study attempts to capture one critical index of our nation’s social health—the literacy of its major cities (population of 250,000 and above). This study focuses on six key indicators of literacy: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment, and Internet resources (introduced in the 2005 study).

This set of factors measures the practices of literacy--people's use of their literacy--and thus presents a complex and nuanced portrait of our nation’s cultural vitality. From this data we can better perceive the extent and quality of the long-term literacy essential to individual economic success, civic participation, and the quality of life in a community and a nation.

As I've mentioned before, the ranking is necessarily an interpretation of data. What matters most is not whether the rank ordering changes but what communities do to promote the kinds of literacy practices that the data track.

Dr. John W. Miller,

President,

Central Connecticut State University

Thank you so kindly, Dr. John W. Miller. AND NOW! Here are YOOOURRR! TOP 10 LIHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTERRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATE CITIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!:

I need a fire siren and damn bullhorn to make this fun and I don't have them anywhere near me.

1. Minneapolis

2. Seattle

3. Atlanta

4. Washington, D.C.

5. St. Paul (c'mon, man, this can't count because of #1)

6. Pittsburgh

7. Cincinnati

8. Denver

9. San Francisco

10. Portland

Where's Dallas? They are 49th. Where's Fort Worth? They are ranked 45.5th (45 POINT 5? I know you can tie, but can you share a .5 with someone else, or is that the same as tying for 45? Why don't you just say FW was tied with Jacksonville at 45? Just wondering.)

Arlington is ranked 64.5, along with Anaheim. Stockton, Calif., is full of blockheads and ranked last at 70.

Some points about Plano: It was ranked the 25th best city for libraries. They were also rated dead last for newspapers and didn't have any data for the Internet portion of the study for some reason. They're all still using TRS-80s in Plano, I guess.

I need to finish my homework so I can watch The White Shadow.

You may fiddle around with the charts and methodology, etc., here (unless you are in Arlington, because there is no way in hell you are going to get any of this.)

DOH!

I kid the Arlingtonites or Arlingtonburgers or whatever they are.

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Comments

Mike Orren

Mike Orren Staff

I believe the Minneapolis/St. Paul part easily. Coming out of the city magazine business, I know that particular megalopolis has 3 D Magazines, 5 home and garden publications, 2 Business Journals and 2 Business Magazines, and scads of other publications -- and ALL are very successful.

I guess when it's that cold you just stay inside and read...or make brilliant music and tasty pancakes:

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Michael Davis

Michael Davis Verified

OK, I'm trying to figure out which pic was funnier... the TRS-80 or Prince serving pancakes to Charlie Murphy.

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Blair Lovern Staff

The Prince/pancakes episode was one of the most perfect things ever to be put on television.

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

C. Troy Mathis

C. Troy Mathis Verified

I 'bout fell outta the chair w/the Prince and Pancakes visual. Ha!

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Chad Jones

Chad Jones Staff

The closest we can come to pride is the fact that Austin is ranked #8 for internet literacy.

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

SocraticGadfly Anonymous

Blair, Mpls and St. Paul count as just as much separate cities as Dallas and Fort Worth.

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

SocraticGadfly Anonymous

Hey, where's the D of C?

Mission Accomplished on the Internets.

Merry Christmas and Truly Yours --

Preznit Bush

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Blair Lovern Staff

That was intended to be an overly-anal observation, SG, but I think the two Minnesota cities are much closer than D and FW? I may be wrong.

1 year, 11 months ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

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