The title of this post sounds like a hyperbole but books actually do change lives in a literal way in the suburbs where I grew up. This is a picture of my friend Richard Tregear, Australia's longest serving youth worker, and one of the kids he looks after, Tahlia, who are both featured here:
Sometimes, you have to labour to write the perfect conclusion to your article. But when I interviewed 16 year old Tahlia, she gave it to me. She said, "I write quotes down in my diary. Do you want to hear the latest one? Okay, here it is: 'It's okay to be a glow stick. Sometimes you've got to break to shine."
This is from a longer article found here.
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John Kerr (Thursday, 04 February 2016 02:13)
The longform article was shown to me on a phone by way of answering my question at a lunch table, 'Who is Richard Tregear?' First, your account was riveting and I congratulate you on the cunning - in the old meaning, of craftsmanship - of your hand. I have never read anything that so seemingly effortlessly evoked the West, despite the tiny print and so on. Second, congratulations on the choice of subject. Too few go there, and Richard strikes me as a thoroughly admirable man. From the sound of him, Mahatma isn't too strong, just too Indian, too Twentieth century. But Great Soul fits. Please go there again and beat your most excellent drum.