Two Sylvias' Weekly Muse: May 5, 2024
Issue 106
Hello, Muse Readers!
Welcome to May! We recently read an uplifting piece that should appeal to most readers/writers as it discusses the benefits of reading out loud to someone. In a New York Times article, writer and editor Jancee Dunn shatters the myth that reading aloud is primarily an activity where adults read stories to children. Dunn decided to research the positive effects of reading aloud (for both the reader and the recipient) when she had a powerful experience with her sister who suffers from migraines.
Dunn’s sister, Heather, had a month-long bout with a persistent migraine. She managed to work her day job, but when she returned home each afternoon, she had to confine herself to a dark room to help lessen the symptoms. Dunn decided to try reading to Heather over the speaker phone each evening, usually choosing short stories and creative nonfiction essays. To Dunn’s surprise, her sister’s symptoms would ease during these reading times, and Dunn realized that she, herself, bene…