To some extent all the doom about the printed word is a class thing. Wealthier kids who can afford their own phones and computers are probably spending more time online and in some cases, less time with books, but the kids we work with are honestly pretty enamored of books and newspapers. It means a lot to them to have their work between two covers, an actual book that they can see on a shelf next to other books. There’s a mystique about the printed word. And the students who come into 826 every day really read… They really have a thing for print. And I do too. I fear sometimes we’re actually giving up too soon. We adults have to have faith.
– Thank goodness for Dave Eggers! This fellow, so humble and true, is a one-man bailout plan for post-Katrina New Orleans, the Sudan, print media, the youth of America, and who knows what else. He reveals all this and more in a long, juicy interview with The Rumpus: he doesn’t print galleys of his own books, he shuns profit, and he seems to have a plan for solving all the world’s problems. Phew, we’re glad someone does.