Raisin Bran and Other Cereal Wars; 30 Years of Lobbying for the most Famous Tiger in the World

Raisin Bran and other Cereal Wars;

30 Years of Lobbying for the most Famous Tiger in the World

By George Franklin

iUniverse

144 Pages

George Franklin is a friend of mine and a familiar face around Battle Creek. For many years he was the face of Kellogg and in the forefront of any local and national event the cereal giant has been involved with.  He's been the Government Relations business for Kellogg for 30 years and worked with at least five CEO's and almost became an aide for former CEO and Secretary of Commerce Carlos Guterrierz when he was selected for the post but was denied the job for entirely political reasons.  He gets into that entire episode in the book.

 

Franklin became the "Lobbyist" for Kellogg after serving as a staffer in Washington and becoming involved in the lobbying business after Kellogg's lobbyist was caught up on federal charges of dealing with organized crime. CEO Bill LaMothe took him on to operate the new Kellogg Government Relations office in Washington.  The timing couldn't have been better for the 29 year old poitical junkie.  

 

One of his first battles in Washington was with the Federal Trade Commission's unreasonable quest to breakup the food industry, namely, Kellogg, General Foods and General Mills, claiming they held a "Shared Monopoly" in the cereal business.   I remember that episode well and how absurd the notion of was of a shared monopoly, a true oxymoron.  I remember someone saying that's sort of like "common uniqueness."   Much of the book was a trip down memory lane as the details of the big issues Kellogg faced as I grew up came flooding back.

 

During those days of the Carter administration, the FTC was out of control and thought they could use the cereal business as a first stop in a campaign to break up big businesses and punish success.  As the case went on, Franklin cut his teeth on this issue.   The stories are fascinating of dealing with Congress and the press and the absurdities of their anti-business legislation.  The factor that terminated the issue was the election of pro-business president, Ronald Reagan who put the brakes on an FTC attempting to over regulate free enterprise and success.

 

Another story, Frankin discusses is understanding the connections between food producers and the sugar lobby and how how the cereal companies got caught up in more absurdities.  As the food program for schools, women and children (WIC) and other such nutrition programs were developed, many of the Kellogg products were excluded because of the bias against sugar.  Raisin Bran was excluded from the program because the added raisins increased the sugar level.  The absurdity was other propaganda the government published encouraged people to add fruit to their cereal and even had a raisin program they subsidized in California.  It made no sense that many of the Kellogg's products were excluded and Franklin teamed up with others in the food industry to fight the sugar bias.  This problem has been resurrected by the Obama administration in the recent Farm Bill and the First Lady's nutrition campaign.  This is an issue that pays lobbyists kids college bills he quipped.

 

One of the refreshing aspects of this book is the reminder of how great a leader CEO Bill LaMothe was.  LaMothe had the courage to do what was necessary on many occasions.  One of the greatest stories was his adamant stance on remaining in South Africa and opposing Apartheid when the U.S. Government was urging all American business to leave.  LaMothe would not abandon the workers at the Kellogg Plant by bowing to the political pressures to leave.  The driving force in Congress was our very own Congressman Howard Wolpe who he locked horns with on several occasions.  Wolpe, an academic, was the leading authority in Congress on Africa and believed all American companies should leave the troubled nation.  LaMothe belived Kellogg was a force for good and employed people of all races.  Leaving would simply create unemployment and chaos..  

 

One of the great stories in the book are about the politically active Kellogg South African Union Leader Christopher Dlamini.  To the South African government he a terrorist, to the African National Congress (ANC) he was a hero and freedom fighter.  One day, the plant manager called headquarters and said Christoper was missing.  Sure enough, he had been abducted by government and his life was in great danger.

 

LaMothe went directly President P.W. Botha and demanded he be released unharmed and gave Botha an ultimatum.  If he didn't release him, he would hold a press conference in Battle Creek, the heart of Howard Wolpe's district, and announce Kellogg was leaving South Africa.  It worked and Dlamini was released.  Throughout all this, Franklin had to facilitate the communications which was not an easy task.

 

The book has a lot of interesting stories about dealing with government and representing the company at the highest levels of government in both the U.S. and abroad.  One espisode I really enjoyed was the call Kellogg received from Rudy Guilani a few days after 9/11.  The mayor knew Muhammad Ali, was living in Benton Harbor and he contacted Kellogg asking if they fly him out to New York City to uplift the spirits of the recovery team AND quell some of the anti-Muslim sentiment that was plaguing the city.  Kellogg agreed and Franklin got to escort the Champ to NYC in a whirlwind tour that was humbling, enlightening and unforgettable.  Something Kellogg never really publicized, but a tremendous gesture.

 

There are many other interesting stories of dealing with the good and the bad in politics and government.  Franklin's book is concise, easy to read and offers a great deal of advice and insight for anyone studying leadership or working in government relations. 

 

Franklin points out, and rightfully so, that lobbying is an vital part of government and looking out for not only business interests, but consumer interests as well, is vital to our nation.

 

For me it was also a reminder of how much influence a company and town like Battle Creek, Michigan has had on the world.  Kellogg has produced some of the greatest business leaders in the nation.  The global reach of the company is improving the health of the world and providing employment and stability in nearly every continent of the globe. 

 

Franklin's insights are honest, insightful and fun to read.  This is a book that should be in every public relations and political science class.  I can't recommend it enough.

 

The History of Michigan Wines; 150 Years of Winemaking along the Great Lakes

By Lorri Hathaway & Sharon Kegereiss
The History Press, 2010
157 Pages

When you dine in a great restaurant anywhere in the United States today and review the wine list you are overwhelmed with the selection of California and foreign label wines.  Occasionally, and more frequently, you are finding at least one Michigan wine on those lists.

The Michigan Wine Industry is coming of age and its products are starting to get noticed as well as winning major awards.

Hathaway and Kegerreis took their passion for wine and researched all of Michigan's wineries.  But the book is more than a wine guide.  It's a geographic, agricultural and social history of everything surrounding wine in Michigan.

What most people don't know is that Michigan has a long history of wine making dating back more than 150 years.  That history, which is both economic and cultural, is extremely fascinating and parallels the tumultuous history of the state itself.

Geographically, they examine Michigan's place in the Great Lakes as the perfect setting for fruit growing.  The Lake Michigan shore provides the proper atmosphere for fruit with Michigan's "Fruit Belt" running nearly the entire length of Michigan's Western shoreline.

The Grand Traverse region in the Northwest lower peninsula, rests on the 45th Parallel.  If you look at a globe the 45th runs through the great wine regions of Germany and France and the hilly moist atmosphere is nearly identical to it's European protege.  The Grand Traverse region is well known for it's German style Riesling wines.

Historically, they examine how everything started.  It didn't all start where it is now.  You'll be surprised to learn that wine making began in Monroe County on the shores of Lake Erie.  French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de la Salle, more commonly known as "LaSalle" (who later had a winery and a car brand named for him) first took note of the geography when he was exploring the Great Lakes in the 1670's.  When he went up a tributary off Lake Erie, he was astounded by the amount of wild grapes growing it's banks.  Appropriately, he named it the "Grape River" or in French "River Raisin," which is still named today.  The River Raisin has become famous for the War of 1812 Battle of The River Raisin and today hosts the only National Park for a War of 1812 battlefield.

As European settlers began moving Westward, Detroit became the center of the frontier.  Europeans brought their wine making (and beer) traditions to the New World, much of it was out of necessity as distilling wine was much safer and healthier than drinking water.

They go into great detail on all the era's of Michigan wine making.  Detroit and Windsor became home to many wineries in the early years and a brisk trade developed as the population of Europeans moved into the era and throughout the state.

Around the turn of the 20th Century, winemakers discovered the bounty of Michigan's West side and the area's temperate climate for fruit production.  Vineyards were being established all over the Lake Michigan Shoreline, feeding grapes and fruit products to vintners in Detroit.

As the Temperance Movement gained traction, the 18th Amendment was ratified in 1919 and ushered in the era of Prohibition, intended to completely shut down all liquor, beer and wine production in the U.S.  The chapter on Prohibition is the most fascinating chapter in the book.

Alcohol production and bootlegging became the most productive enterprise in America and was likely the greatest thing to happen as the "Roaring 20's" saw wine, beer and liquor skyrocket.  In Detroit and throughout Michigan wine and liquor were flowing freely.   The Detroit River became a freeway of commerce between the U.S. and Canada and there were few who observed Prohibition and many saw it as a nuisance or an opportunity.  European descendants felt wine and beer making were their birthright and would have nothing to do with it.   Farmers in West Michigan grew more grapes and hops than ever feeding a state full of home vintners and brewers.  In Detroit, they claim prohibition never really happened.

Many fruit farmers went into non-alcoholic juice production during Prohibition.  In Paw Paw, the Welch's Grape Juice Company flourished and created a whole new product in the marketplace.

When Prohibition was repealed in 1933 by the 21st Amendment, Michigan was the first state to ratify it.  Now that the ban was gone, it created the perfect storm for wine making.  The depression in 1929 had slowed things down and there was a huge surplus of grapes at rock-bottom prices.  Within days of the repeal, Canadian vintners were flocking to Michigan to set up shop and take advantage of a new "legal" market.  One of them was Mariano Meconi who set up shop in Detroit as the Meconi Wine Company.

Most all of the grapes coming into Detroit were grown in Michigan's "fruit belt" on the shores of Lake Michigan.  In 1936 Meconi visited the West side and decided to move operations to Paw Paw to be closer to the grape supply and the Chicago market.  He became one of Michigan's largest winemakers under the name of Italian Wine Company, honoring his Italian heritage, and was making upwards of 350,000 gallons of wine annually.  In 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked and we entered WWII he feared a fascist backlash and changed the name to San Guliano, the patron saint of his hometown in Falieria, Italy.  Still fearing fascist overtones, he Anglofied the name and called it St. Julian which is still one of Michigan's largest commercial wineries.  There are many more stories like this throughout the book.

The book details the history and circumstances of many Michigan wineries following Prohibition and reviews every one of them operating today.  The book is full of stories on survival and the entrepreneurial spirit.

They discuss agricultural development of the state and how Michigan State University has played a role helping create the fruit and wine market.  MSU has played a huge role in horticulure by creating grape varities that have helped Michigan compete well in the global wine market.  They explore the impact the wine industry has had one nearly every facet of life in the Great Lakes.

The stories of each winery are too numerous to mention here, but is a fascinating read and you'll be captivated by the inside stories of several of Michigan's vintners.

If you want a book that encompasses political, economic, agricultural and social history, this book has it all.  You will learn things you never knew about Michigan's booming wine industry and take a look into one of the fastest growing movements in Michigan... Agri-tourism.   Since the publishing of this book, dozens of new wineries have opened and prospered in Michigan.

Once you learn all this cool stuff about Michigan and our agricultural bounty, you will want to visit Michigan wineries, with friends of course, and have a greater perspective on where they all came from and how important they've become to Michigan and the Midwest.

Oh yes, you will be looking for Michigan wines on the wine list next time you are in a great restaurant and will be pleased to see a few of them there.  Michigan is slowly gaining respect and producing world-class wines that are being noticed.

Enjoy.  In Vino Veritas!

FOURTH AND LONG; The Fight for the Soul of College Football

FOURTH AND LONG 

The Fight for the Soul of College Football

by John U. Bacon

Hardcover 339 Pages
Published 2013
Simon & Schuster

            I had the opportunity to meet author John U. Bacon recently.  He spoke to the Michigan Funeral Directors Association annual convention in Kalamazoo, Michigan as the keynote speaker.  Bacon, who is the official biographer of University of Michigan’s legendary football coach, Bo Schembechler, spoke on Bo’s Lasting Legacy and his personal character.  He gave an awesome speech and apparently absorbed some of Schembechler’s speaking skills with his enthusiastic and high-spirited excitement.  There is no greater advocate for college football; especially Big Ten football and even more especially, University of Michigan football than Bacon.

While some might think it’s odd a sports historian and commentator would speak to a gathering of funeral directors.  As it turns out, Bacon, an Ann Arbor native and now history professor at U of M, was high school classmates with MFDA’s President Dutch Nie at Ann Arbor Huron High School.  Nie now owns the Nie Funeral Home  in Ann Arbor and has been close to Bacon and the University all his life.  Bacon’s remarks on Bo’s character fit right in with the atmosphere and character of the convention.

Bacon and I shared stories on our family history.  My father and some of his friends chaired the Michigan Day Golf Outing in Battle Creek for more than 25 years and my family has been “True Blue” for decades and at least three generations and have been assiduous supports of college football.  We hit it off well.

With Author John U. Bacon

at the MFDA Convention in Kalamazoo, Michigan, May, 2014

****

Fourth and Long is a great read for any red-blooded American college football fan, regardless of your loyalty to a particular school.  As you pick up the book, the dust cover is pigskin brown with raised dimples and a lace that makes it feel you are holding a football.  Brilliant packaging from the designer and publisher!

 Bacon, a huge advocate and promoter of University of Michigan football is also a staunch defender of college football itself and the Big Ten.  The book takes a broad look at all college conferences and delves deep into the history of the Big Ten and each member school.

Bacon, a professor of sports history at Michigan, is also a professor at Northwestern University and has spent a great of time around the Big Ten.  He has been close to all the athletic directors, coaches, players and even Presidents in the Big Ten.

Fourth and Long focuses primarily on four of the legendary programs in the Big Ten; Michigan, Ohio State, Northwestern and Penn State.  He even includes a chapter on Michigan State and the contributions MSU has made to the conference since joining.  He was especially generous with his praise of former MSU President John Hanna who built the school with the GI Bill following WWII, getting veterans on campus.  Hanna was also one of the biggest advocates of MSU football and made it into Ripley’s Believe it or Not by attending every MSU football game, home and away, during his tenure as President.  He also explains why there is so much rivalry and tradition in every state between the University of _______, and ______State University, something the common college football fan hasn't really pondered.

Not to worry Fighting Irish fans, there are also several quips, history an anecdotes on Notre Dame and the great rivalries they've had with the Big Ten over the years.

Early on, he writes about how the Big Ten conference came to be and why it was formed in 1896 (when the President of Purdue, James Smart, called a meeting of several presidents in Chicago to gain control of college athletics) -- the first name of the conference was actually Conference of Faculty Representatives of Midwestern Universities. No wonder they shortened it to Big Ten.  It was the nation’s first athletic conference. It was a collection of Midwestern schools, centered around the Great Lakes, who were alike academically.  The University of Chicago was an original member, but dropped out when they abandoned athletics altogether and focused on being a purely academic school. 

He also points out how important the City of Chicago is to the Big Ten.  He makes the point that no other conference has a city where alumni of each of the conference schools gather.  It seems everyone in the Big Ten gravitates to Chicago and that makes it the “Capital of the Big Ten.”  You can go into a bar in Chicago and meet up with graduates of nearly every Big Ten college.  An observation I never really made.

For a good part of the book, Bacon embedded himself in the Penn State program immediately following the ugly Jerry Sandusky travesty and chronicles the first season back following the NCAA sanctions and the effort to maintain and rebuild the great Penn State traditions.  He got close to everyone in the program, especially the players who he credits the most for saving Penn State’s great traditions.

Following the Sandusky and Paterno tragedies, the NCAA pretty much declared “open season” on Penn State players.  They were free to go anywhere they wanted and coaches could pursue the players with no limitations.  Bacon gets to the heart of the matter and that Penn State mattered to the student-athletes.  Only a small handful left the program.  Most of the team valued a Penn State education and, refreshingly, that’s what they came for, most of them wanted to be part of the new Penn State and preserve the great traditions of the past.  Above all, they sought a Penn State diploma.  Those players elevated the status of student-athlete by staying put, something the major sports media has failed to recognize.

Getting Bill O’Brien, or any coach, to Penn State was no easy task.  It was a hot potato and with bowl bans and restricted scholarships who would want it?   But as fate would have it, he was the right person at the right time.  Bacon chronicles how O’Brien had to win the confidence of the team and get the alumni and supporters back into the fold it wasn’t easy.

Without going into too much detail, Bacon had many frank conservations with the Penn State student-athletes and was privy to many tense meetings with the team and experiences all the emotions surrounding the “comeback.”  It was compelling to peek inside one of the biggest comebacks in college football.  It left you feeling good about what college football is all about.

Bacon also spent a great deal of time with Ohio State and their former coaches Earle Bruce and John Cooper.  He got close to Urban Meyer, an Ohio son who stepped into another troubled program as OSU faced sanctions following the departure of Jim Tressel under very bad circumstances.  Bacon also documented the history of Ohio State, revealing many facts about their traditions and history that most college football fans never knew.  I probably learned more about OSU than any other Big Ten program and it made me respect the Michigan-OSU rivalry even more.  Or should I say TTUN (That Team Up North) as the Buckeye faithful refer to Michigan.

Northwestern is an anomaly in college football, but fits well in the Big Ten.  As a private school, it has different problems than its conference brethren.  Undoubtedly the most academic school in the conference, it has always had trouble attracting good players who can cut it in the classroom.  For a while, they just didn’t take football seriously.  He alluded to the ten year stretch where they won only six games.  During that time he stated that only one team in America had a worse record than NU, the Washington Generals who were paid to lose to the Harlem Globetrotters!  He talks about how they got their groove back and made it to the Rose Bowl with a lot of insightful stories.

While discussing all the football programs and traditions, Bacon also discussed the structure of each Big Ten school and how their governance has affected athletics over the years.  It was an interesting study in the fact that if the president isn’t behind it, they just didn’t succeed.  He parlayed that into the present day dilemma where the football coach has grown more powerful (and better compensated) in the institution than the president and how that has affected the school.

Tradition is a huge talking point in each of the school’s he chronicles throughout the book.  The location on a college campus, not in a big city make it special.  Stadiums are set in lush green campuses and not in a sea of concrete.  The college stadiums are built over time and reflect the identity of the school and its traditions.  Unlike the NFL who typically build stadiums at the tax payer’s expense with little or no traditions and tear them down and rebuild in twenty years.

He has quite an oration on how college football is superior to pro football which I especially enjoyed!

Some of his observations are; Colleges are a connecting place to multi generations and something you have in common with your great-grandparents.  No NFL football team has a marching band.  No NFL team has a true rival and parity has given any franchise a shot at the championship.  College has no pre-season and every game matters.  Pro players are inaccessible.  You run into college football players in class or at the bar.

Bacon also devotes a great deal of time and effort to other college traditions which make college football so special.  He even devotes quite a bit of time to the “trophies” in college football; the “Little Brown Jug”, the “Paul Bunyan Trophy;" the "Old Oaken Bucket" and about a 150 other seemingly irrelevant items rivals play for and the traditions and stories behind many them.

The parting thoughts of his book deals expressly with the growing menace of money in the college game.  Too many of the storied programs are driving away fans and especially students, and pricing them out of the market.  Television is now driving much of the game scheduling and creating problems for the fan.  Having to endure twenty TV time outs destroys the pace of the game and drives fans (in attendance) crazy.  Every Big Ten game is now televised and the Big Ten Network has grown into a behemoth which jeopardizes all the traditions everyone has built over the years.  Talking heads yuck it up at halftime rather than showing an outstanding band performance.

Maryland and Rutgers were recently added to the Big Ten so the network could reach an “Eastern” market.  The two schools have nothing in common with the geography or traditions of the Big Ten.

He’s made it his personal crusade to preserve the game of college football with all its traditions.  We are rapidly turning it into a big business that will go bust because they have sold out the essence of what made it great in the first place, a Saturday afternoon game between rivals which means something to everyone involved.

Bacon continues to turn up the heat with his columns and has taken UM’s AD Dave Brandon to task for killing off the student support at games and making it inaccessible for the longtime fan.  He talks about a friend who’s giving up attending games because it’s now a $500 event to take his family to each game.  It’s easier to watch it on TV with friends in a comfortable setting, every game is now broadcast.

            Bacon is compelling in his argument that college football is an institution worth saving and leaves you longing for crisp fall afternoons watching your team take your rival to the cleaners. 

No book has ever captured the spirit, history and traditions of the college game better than Fourth and Long.  It’s a must read for those who truly care about game and reminds us of not only what makes college great, but also what makes education great.

THIS LAND THAT I LOVE; Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie and the Story of Two American Anthems, by John Shaw

THIS LAND THAT I LOVE;

Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie and the Story of Two American Anthems

By John Shaw

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published November 5th 2013 by PublicAffairs

            For my first review I’m introducing a book actually penned by my cousin, John Shaw which is achieving great critical acclaim.  It’s also the most recent book I’ve read!

John now lives in Seattle and grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  He graduated from the University of Michigan and has been a livelong devotee of music, been an amateur musician and has even written original scores and lyrics.

            In high school he was part of a rock band that performed around the region.  For one of his gigs I took them to the party in our funeral limousine, the band made a grand entrance and wowed the crowd.  His love of music is apparent throughout this book and the work itself is a true labor of love.

            First off, I’ll admit I’m bias on this one, but the work is exceptional.  John worked hard, did an enormous amount research, including many trips to the Library of Congress and doing personal interviews with other authors and researchers.  The book was released late in 2013, just in time for Christmas.  He literally hit the jackpot when Public Affairs Publishers took on his work and it was published nationwide as a true work of American History.  Since, it hit the shelves, he’s been reviewed by the New York Times and many other major media reviewers and has been celebrated in music and literary circles. As a history junkie, I couldn’t put it down. 

***

THIS LAND THAT I LOVE, tells the story behind two of America’s most beloved musical anthems; Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America” and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land.”   He also delves deep into both Berlin’s (born Israel Beilien) and Guthrie’s biographies and features biographies of other influential songwriters of the era who influenced both men.

Berlin composed God Bless America as a tribute to the freedom and opportunities America gave him.  Berlin and his family fled Russia as the Pogroms were driving Jews out of Europe in the late 19^th Century.  Initially homeless as a child and young man, Berlin found opportunity and success in the United States and went on to a legendary musical career, penning many of the greatest ballads of the 20^th Century.

As Kate Smith sang his God Bless America, it was an instant hit and was played constantly over the radio waves.  American’s couldn’t get enough of it.  It drove Woody Guthrie nuts.

Guthrie was down on his luck and grew up in the dust bowl days of Oklahoma.  He was struggling to make it as a musician just didn’t identify with the America Berlin was celebrating.  Guthrie composed This Land is Your Land as a rebuttal to Berlin’s view of America.  It characterized the rambling spirit of vagabond in the wide, open spaces of the Midwest. 

John goes into great detail analyzing the lyrics and explaining the meaning behind all the stanzas we know and love in both songs.  It’s a real eye-opener.  He reveals the deep meanings of each line based on the opposite experiences of both men.  They both came from the same humble beginnings and had a profoundly different American experience.

The book also discusses and interprets our great American music heritage and were many of our most beloved tunes came from and the circumstances that created them.  It was fascinating to learn that Katherine Lee Bates, who penned America the Beautiful, was inspired to write the poem, which later became a ballad, based on her observations in a train trip across the young nation heading to a job at Colorado College.  I was fascinated to learn that the lyrics from that song, “Thine Alabaster Cities Gleem” actually is a reference to her visit to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 and is a reference to the “White City” of that Great Columbian Exposition at end of the 19th century.     

You probably have forgotten that Martin Luther King Jr., cited lines from My Country Tis of Thee in his 1963 “I Have a Dream Speech” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  The book is full of “gee-whiz” moments like this you probably thought you knew, but really didn’t.

It is also a rich study of musical genres.  From ragtime to folk, from patriotic to gospel, and from country to rock; he explains nearly every era of American music and how it came to be.

Toward the end he looks at some more current tunes such as Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA and how it was inspired by Berlin and Guthrie.  He also talks about how music from Roger’s and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma, and other classic musical’s, was influenced by both men.  Most of the music from that show was based on people’s experiences in Westward expansion.  For example, “The Farmer and the Cowman” highlights the struggle between how ranchers and farmers got along while competing for land.  He points out that much of our musical heritage is directly based on shared cultural experiences.  Music is a reflection of who we are and this academic work goes directly to the heart of what it means to be American.

Without spoiling too many secrets, it’s a great read for anyone who appreciates music and American history.  It’s amazing how our collective history parallels our music.  He does a superlative job of bringing it all together and making us feel great about our nation.  This book should be included in any academic history curriculum.

If you need a “feel good” book about America, this is one you absolutely need to read. 

Readers are Leaders

I'm kicking off this blog; a new adventure for me, as an effort to escape the confines of electronic media and get back to the joys and simplicity of reading books.  This is something I've neglected dearly since middle-age arrived and I'm making an effort to actually spend more time with real, hand-held, manually operated books.

I'm calling it the Reluctant R(L)eader for two reasons.  It goes back to my childhood in Battle Creek, Michigan were I spent countless hours in one of the greatest book stores in the world...Read-Mor Book Store.  Their slogan which was on their sign and on their bags was "Readers are Leaders."

It was on the block in downtown which is now occupied by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.  It was more exciting...and current...than the local library and better lit as well.  It also had nearly every magazine published in that day and they could order a special magazine if you asked.  The store pre-dated Barnes & Noble and all the other big name book stores by years.  They were truly ahead of their time, but time marched on and urban development took over the entire block and it faded from memory.

Their slogan, "Readers are Leaders" has always stuck with me and I believe it.  My goal in this blog is to do "Book Reports" and reviews of books I've read and share the knowledge and highlights.  It also forces me to do more reading to keep up with this, thus the "reluctant" part.

So, as I start this endeavor and learn the nuances of blogging, I hope you will bear with me.  I'll post my first review soon.

In the mean time...Read-Mor!

T. R.