I don't understand how people can disconnect politics from daily life, because that's how politics count. We're daily life people and that's where po… - Naomi Shihab Nye

Give up the annoying question, "How long does this have to be?" Just wonder-how long does it need to be? Then try to find out.

It has become very clear to me over the years that Americans, especially young Americans, need to be encouraged to listen to voices from elsewhere. Some of us grow up with the mistaken idea that ours is the only reading and writing culture, and that we are the only literary people in the world. Of course, the United Stated has one of the shortest literary histories in the world, so we need to be reminding children and students to be alert for voices from elsewhere

"Look at something ahead of you in the distance, then look at it when you get right up next to it, then turn around and look at it again when it is behind you." (p. 108)