I don't know whether there are hordes of bejaarden buying Dodges for nostalgic reasons, but that would mean the Dodge brand has some insane staying power. My guess would be that is absurd and unlikely.
I really dig your deadpan sprinkling of Nederlands. Some words have that etymological acuity that makes them irresistible to just deploy. I was always amazed by how many Yiddish and French words there are in Hollands.
What an inspiring way to give back, kudos. There's definitely something to be said for keeping busy, and as you allude it's that people-centered problem solving and banter that gets you that lift.
Reading TFA felt exhilarating. Like taking drugs on a thrill ride. No seriously. It's hard for me to explain, but as I read, I felt the device I was holding had turned into solid gold in my hand.
The scariest part for me:
> Cueing was appealing because they didn't know what else to do.
A whole pedagogy in the grip of learned helplessness, as if they all caught some insane mind virus, to the point they were virtually inoculated from the knowledge their methods could be considered harmful.
Think about it. When you multiply out the disadvantage to kids of a poor start in reading, the compound interest comes back as poor performance in other areas such as writing, maths, science, reasoning skills, technology use. Think it through and you realize it screws everything.
The real sci-fi question is, could it scale to bereave a whole society of its very cohesion?
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