Seattle most literate US city: study WASHINGTON (AFP) - Seattle, the west coast haven of coffee, culture and the Arts has been named America's most literate city. A study put Seattle directly ahead of Minneapolis, Washington D.C., Atlanta and San Francisco in terms of literacy, which researchers said was critical to a city's long term economic and social success. Researchers at Central Connecticut State University surveyed the literacy of 69 of America's largest cities in terms of newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and internet use. Author Dr. John Miller said the purpose of the research was to help improve the quality of life in American cities, noting that El Paso, Texas, had launched a literacy program after faring poorly in the survey a year ago. "I hope other cities follow suit, invest in libraries, and do other things to promote literacy," he said. "At the family level, even the simple step of turning on the closed captioning of TV sets can significantly improve literacy." LINK: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051204/ts_al...HBhBHNlYwM5NjQ-
It spreads out beyond Seattle to the entire South Sound ( for those of you I am speaking of Puget sound ) and a bit north too!
Sorry, old chap, what were you saying? I was in the middle of juggling David Copperfield, MAKE Magazine, and this week's New Yorker. Pay No Attention to the episodes of South Park on my TiVo!
well shur butt wat duz that sae about those uf os who dont liv in seatle? BTW the way, being able to order a venti mocha frappuccino doesn't make you bilingual so can get down off that horse!
yaaa, but I'm reading a bunch of books right now, so Minneapolis will be back on top soon, you betcha. uffda! rpm
It probably has more to do with living in a city with sucky weather and being holed-up inside for vast periods of time with nothing better to do. Overall Ranking Seattle, WA 1 Minneapolis, MN 2 Washington, DC 3 Atlanta, GA 4 San Francisco, CA 5 Denver, CO 6 Boston, MA 7 Pittsburgh, PA 8 Cincinnati, OH 9.5 St. Paul, MN 9.5 http://www.ccsu.edu/AMLC/Overall_Rankings/Top10.htm Not a San Diego or Honolulu to be found. No thanks.
I listen to audio books during my commute. I might not be as literate but I'm a darned good listener.
An excellent point, and definitely a major reason (I think) that Seattle did well. One of the reasons the Seattle International Film Festival continues to be the biggest film festival in the country -- in terms of total number of people who attend (watch movies) at the festival -- is the usual rain during the May-June time period. (Though Atlanta and Washington DC, which are high up on the list, don't have bad weather (certainly better than Boston.))
Could it have something to do with the mayor as well? Chicago has pretty lousy weather most of the year and it's ranked, what, 46th? However, I happen to know our mayor neither reads nor writes, so......
Washingto DC weather link: Friday: Periods of snow, freezing rain and sleet before 9am, then a chance of snow, mainly between 9am and noon. High around 33. Breezy, with a north wind 10 to 13 mph increasing to between 18 and 21 mph. Winds could gust as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Do we really need to talk about Hotlanta’s weather? Seattle is freakin’ paradise in comparison.
But I thought for sure the standard Chicago attitude towards literacy was to read early and read often.
Well, I'm not sure if Seattle's mayor Greg Nickels can read or write... ...I just know he can eat! (Admittedly, I'm not a Nickels fan.)
