Fort Worth & Other Texas Town's Low Literacy Ranking

Last night I learned from Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, that a new police and firefighter training center will soon have her town being the Envy of the Nation.

This morning I learned, via the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, in an article titled Texas cities fare poorly in measure of literacy, that Fort Worth's level of literacy will not be making this town the Envy of the Nation, coming in at #52, five ranks less literate than Dallas at #47.

The most literate city in Texas is Austin, at #23.

The most literate city in America is Washington, D.C., with #2 being Seattle, in the other Washington.

No mention of this literacy ranking was seen this morning in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I highly doubt the mayor of Seattle will be opining that Seattle's high literacy ranking has made Seattle the Envy of the Nation.

Because making such a claim would be seen as really really goofy when made in an extremely literate town.

While such a claim can be easily made in Fort Worth.

Does making a goofy Envy of the Nation claim, about something in Fort Worth, not cause much local eye rolling because of the town's relative illiteracy? One can only wonder.

This America's Most Literate Cities study is a product of Central Connecticut State University. The study ranks cities with populations in excess of a quarter million, focusing on six key literacy indicators, those being the number of bookstores, Internet resources, library resources, the population's educational attainment, newspaper circulation and periodical publishing resources.

With most of my existence spent in the highly literate Seattle zone, then being exiled to the much less literate Fort Worth and Texas zone, it sort of explains one of my problems I encountered upon arrival in Texas.

I found I could not speak at the speed level I was used to using in the Pacific Northwest. I'd get in communication situations where I found myself not being understood. I soon learned to drawl my speaking speed down, at times.

There have been many times where a Texan has asked me if I am from England. Or Canada. Just last week, whilst depositing a check, the bank teller asked if I was from Boston. Boston? Why Boston I asked? Because of your accent, said he. I don't think this guy knew what a Boston accent actually sounds like. A Pacific Northwest accent is definitely not a Boston sounding accent.

Now to be fair, and Lord knows I am all about being fair, I have met many totally literate Texans. Gar the Texan comes to mind. Yes, I did find myself having to slow down my speaking speed to be understood, but not all that much. Elsie Hotpepper is another extremely literate Texan, albeit with a much more pronounced drawl than Gar the Texan.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Bud Kennedy is a highly articulate, very literate Texan. But, in my experience in Texas, for every literate Texan Bud Kennedy there have been 3 or 4 Texan Dud Kennedy's who could have benefited from spending more quality time in school. And maybe reading something, somewhere, every once in awhile....

The Last Friday Of The First Month Of 2012 Wondering Why Texas Towns Are Not More Literate

Looking out my primary viewing portal, on this last Friday of the first month of 2012, it appears to be very dark, this morning, in the outer world, with my swimming pool the brightest thing to be seen.

I am very pleased, this morning, to find that all the symptoms of an incoming cold, that I have been experiencing the last 48 hours, have abated. No headache, no sneezing, no stinging watery eyes.

I heard from Stenotrophomonas this morning, with a Tandy Hills Report, telling me that the heavy rains of the past couple days have predictably washed out the recently installed creek crossings and that on Thursday, around 4 in the afternoon, the Tandy Highway was a raging river, with some of the liquid provided by overflowing sanitary sewers, adding a special perfume to the water, as it flowed over the roaring Tandy Falls.

I forgot to watch last night's CNN Republican Debate. It re-ran at 10, so I set the DVR to record it, in case the morning news indicated I'd missed anything entertaining. The morning news indicated that, predictably, Newt and Mitt continued their cat fighting. With Newt ending up seeming subdued. A subdued Newt sounds depressing.

Speaking of depressing. This morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported on the shocking news that in a literacy ranking of America's Top 75 cities, of Texas towns, Austin was the only Texas town not to rank in the bottom half of America's most literate cities with a population of 250,000, or more.

Even though Seattle ranked #1 in various aspects of this literacy survey there was no mention made this morning, that I saw, in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, No article saying that towns far and wide are Green with Envy due to Seattle's literacy ranking.

I wonder if there is some correlation between a town's literacy level and a town's newspaper's tendency to use embarrassing verbiage like " Green with Envy  ?"

I was surprised that the Star-Telegram printed the following, which is unusually accurate and not the usual phony, chamber of commerce boosterism, based on delusional nonsense, that the Star-Telegram is prone to....

"Quality tends to be associated with quality, and highly literate cities often rank high in other quality of life metrics: Cities ranked in the top 10 most literate tend to offer the most active singles' scenes (Boston, Seattle, Washington and Atlanta), are safer (Minneapolis, Boston, Seattle, Portland, Denver and Cincinnati), more walkable (Seattle, Washington, D.C., Portland, Boston and Denver), and healthier (Washington, D.C., and Denver)."

Perhaps Fort Worth should send out a task force to these other towns and find out what it is they are doing different than Fort Worth that makes them actual top notch cities, rather than make believe wannabes.

I've got a big hint for you. None of those top-ranked towns have any projects going on as goofy as the Trinity River Vision Boondoggle. None of those top-ranked towns would instigate a big public works program without the public voting on it.

But.

How can you have the public vote on public works projects, in a town, where, apparently, way too many people are illiterate?

I'm guessing there is a correlation between level of literacy and a town's mileage of roads without sidewalks.

I doubt any of the highly literate towns would get away with allowing gas drilling companies to take over their town and poke thousands of holes in the ground.

Most-literate cities

1. Washington, D.C.
2. Seattle
3. Minneapolis
4. Atlanta
5. Boston
6. Pittsburgh
7. Cincinnati
8. St. Louis
9. San Francisco
10. Denver
22. Austin
46. Plano
51. Dallas
54. Fort Worth
60. Houston
64. Arlington
66. San Antonio
73. El Paso