Archive for October, 2009
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
In today’s Pensacola News-Journal, columnist Reginald Dogan writes about “Whatever It Takes,” Geoffrey Canada and the possibility of a Promise Neighborhood in Pensacola:
I’m reading about Canada’s quest to change Harlem and America in “Whatever It Takes,” by Paul Tough.
The book is a chronicle of the growth of the Harlem Children’s Zone, which provides cradle-to-college educational and social services to 8,000 children in a 97-block neighborhood in central Harlem — everything from parenting classes to an all-day prekindergarten to a network of charter schools.
What does Canada, the Harlem Children’s Zone and Tough’s book have to do with Pensacola?
Quite a bit if Pensacola could become one of the lucky U.S. cities to be a part of a federal program modeled on the Harlem Children’s Zone.
Tags: Florida, newspapers, Promise Neighborhoods
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Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Tonight at 7 p.m. I’ll be reading from and speaking about “Whatever It Takes” at Books & Co. at the Greene in Dayton, Ohio.
Tags: bookstores, Ohio, readings
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
On Friday night, Geoffrey Canada accepted the Robert Coles “Call of Service” Award at Harvard University and spoke to students about Dr. Seuss and Langston Hughes.
Tags: Geoffrey Canada, Massachusetts, photographs, speeches, universities
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Sunday, October 25th, 2009
The Springfield, Ohio, News-Sun has this article about my trip there this week:
Paul Tough, New York Times Magazine editor, will address the issues of poverty, education and the achievement gap, during a special presentation, 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 28 at Springfield High School. Sponsored in part by Wittenberg University’s Institute for Education Innovation, the event will include the results of Tough’s research into Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone project.
(There’s more information here about my upcoming talk.)
In the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Aisha Sultan devotes this week’s column to “Whatever It Takes” and the Harlem Children’s Zone.
And the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reviews (briefly) the paperback edition of “Whatever It Takes.”
Tags: Missouri, newspapers, Ohio, reviews, speeches, universities
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Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
This Friday, October 23, at 2 p.m., I’ll be speaking to a group of magazine publishers and editors at the Stanley Milner Public Library in Edmonton, Alberta, in a speech/Q&A organized by the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association. AMPA interviewed me about being a magazine editor for the most recent issue of their newsletter. I’ll be in Edmonton as part of the city’s International Literary Festival.
Tags: Canada, magazines, Q&As, speeches
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Tuesday, October 13th, 2009
This week’s issue of the Minneapolis City Pages has a preview of my reading and talk this Sunday at Magers and Quinn Booksellers:
The book tracks [Geoffrey] Canada’s own tale of escaping the ghetto and attending Harvard, but the real story is his willingness to try anything to change the prospects of Harlem’s kids. His greatest achievement turns out to be the Harlem Children’s Zone, an area of central Harlem where programs educate youth and their parents, as well as prepare kids to compete for education and work opportunities. Tough will discuss his book, which notes the simple things Canada has done (encouraging mothers to read to their kids at an early age) and the more epic accomplishments (opening a school, maintaining long-term success). It is one hell of a story.
Tags: bookstores, Minnesota, newspapers, readings, reviews
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Monday, October 12th, 2009
I spent an hour this morning on “St. Louis on Air,” on KWMU Radio, speaking with the host, Don Marsh, and taking calls from listeners about Whatever It Takes. You can stream the audio here. Or download it here.
I’m in St. Louis for the reading tonight at Left Bank Books, at 7 p.m.
Tags: bookstores, interviews, Missouri, radio, readings
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Tuesday, October 6th, 2009
As previously mentioned, on October 15 I’ll be giving the “City Thinks 2009 Inaugural Lecture” in Springfield, Mass., on the topic “Poverty, Education and Hope for Change.” More details in this announcement from American International College, which is hosting the lecture:
AIC and the Springfield Public Forum Series will present New York Times Magazine reporter and editor Paul Tough. The event, part of the “Arts at AIC” series, will take place on October 15, with a reception with the speaker at 6:15 p.m. and lecture at 7:00 p.m., in the Griswold Theatre. All “Arts at AIC” events are open to the public free of charge.
Tags: Massachusetts, speeches
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Sunday, October 4th, 2009
According to an article in today’s Times-Union, the city of Albany, New York, is making a bid to land a Promise Neighborhood:
A group of educators, parents and elected officials has been quietly laboring for a year to establish an anti-poverty corridor in Albany that is based on Harlem Children’s Zone, an ambitious initiative to reach every child in a 100-block section of New York City and provide them and their families with social, health and educational services from birth all the way through college graduation. …
President Barack Obama’s administration has earmarked $10 million in its 2010 budget to plan how it will make Harlem Children’s Zone a national model called Promise Neighborhoods Initiative that will expand to 20 cities across the country. Details of the federal plan have not yet been released, but applications are expected to be accepted next year. Councilwoman Barbara Smith wants to ensure that Albany is on that list and she is not willing to wait for Washington before starting such a program here.
Tags: HCZ, New York state, newspapers, Obama, Promise Neighborhoods
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Friday, October 2nd, 2009
“Whatever It Takes” is a staff pick at the Virginia Beach Public Library, and it got a nice review on the library’s VBPL Recommends blog:
Paul Tough capably chronicles some of the stories of those who serve and are served by the HCZ. In introducing the reader to parents, staff workers and children, he demonstrates that reality is as powerful as fiction. When we meet teen parents like Victor and Cheryl (and their baby Victor, Jr.) we discover gripping drama, nail-biting suspense, engaging warmth, and sobering tragedy as the family attends Baby College, HCZ’s enormously popular and carefully designed entrance program.
Good nonfiction provides a flexible read. Whatever It Takes delivers a rewarding experience, whether it is read as a biography of a present-day educational crusader, a treatise on the clash between traditional and charter school models for public education, a blueprint for effective early learning programs, or a touching account of human challenge and triumph in urban America.
Tags: blogs, librarians, reviews, Virginia
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