Constant Reader

Even for someone who doesn’t necessarily believe
that children are intrinsically interesting, it was completely
adorable: Last Saturday, kids gathered at 826 Seattle in Greenwood
to read their letters to President Barack Obama. The reading was part
of a release party for Thanks and Have Fun Running the Country,
a collection of letters written by children from seven cities across
America (including Seattle); sales of the book go toward 826 National,
an organization “dedicated to helping students, ages 6–18, with
expository
and creative writing.”

There’s no political agenda to these letters. They range from advice
(“Meet with your helpers. Get a puppy. Talk to America. Make a speech.
My name is Matthew Wong.”) to important questions (a 5-year-old
writes, “Do you work with Santa Claus? Can I meet you in your house?
Can I say bye to you after I meet you? And then can I meet you again?
And then again after that?”) and demands (“let kids visit the Oval
Office, but don’t make it boring” and “I want a gasoline card”).

Watching the kids read their own letters was enlightening and
hilarious and sometimes sobering. Henri Fitzmaurice offered his opinion
of the state of the union: “The economy, it is bad.”
Eleven-year-old Justine Cameron gave a heartbreaking assessment of the
way things are at Washington Middle School:

The neighborhood has a lot of crime. Almost every week we have a
lockdown. (A lockdown is when there is a crime happening around the
school, and we have to lock our windows, close the shades, and lock our
doors just to be safe.) It is really scary, and everyone gets really
freaked out.

But the mood was mostly hopeful. Students read brief letters that
the audience had dropped into the “Hope Hat” at the entrance to the
reading (“I hope you inspire kids to embrace their inner nerd”), and
there were red, white, and blue cupcakes and milk in champagne glasses
for everyone in line as the authors signed the books for their adoring
fans. It was hard not to imagine Rush Limbaugh violently puking his guts out in the face of all the nascent liberal joy.

The book is a real pleasure to read, and it’s also an interesting
peek into the way urban American families talk about politics when
pollsters aren’t around. “Fire the governor of California,” one student
pleads. Many want immigrant rights. Some students insist that lowering
the price of gas is imperative, others rail against SUVs. Plenty of
kids claim ownership of the administration in heartening ways: “You
are just like a big me, because I am from Chicago and I am biracial
and have curly hair.” As we acclimate our hopes to the reality of an
Obama presidency, it’s inspiring to see evidence that real change has
already
happened.