I often reflect on the many promises of the Internet left unfilled. There was a time when the Web was hailed as a coming revolution in education, communication, and accessibility to resources of all types. The form that revolution has taken is not exactly what a good number of us anticipated. Yet some of the promises are being kept.

One example is the proliferation of resources for families, particularly children. This week I came across a couple of sites I consider of value. The first is Storybird, an interactive site where families and friends can write and share stories. Yes, it does have its commercial side, offering artists and writers an opportunity to sell their work, but the obvious theme of the site sets the tone for clean, educational fun.

Another site is Storyline Online. The site is presented by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, and features SAG actor-members reading children’s books “out loud” via video streaming, accompanied by activities and lesson ideas. I really enjoyed To Be a Drum, read by James Earl Jones (yes, I’m just a kid at heart).

What makes these two sites effective (and others, if you search for them) is their interactivity, collaborative nature, and appropriately themed presentations. Kids, and families, can both benefit from and enjoy wholesome content, and participate in the notion that “the best education is a fun education.”

Yikes! I had no idea it had been so long since I’d written a post. My goal is to write three a week. But this is my thesis year and it’s already demanding a lot of my focus. Add to that a hectic schedule of running a business, managing websites and blogs, my quest for an MFA (ergo the thesis), ballroom dancing several nights a week (hey, a guy’s gotta stay in shape), walking the dog and . . . well, you know the drill. It’s no different for you, I’m sure.

And while you are celebrating the holiday weekend I am, against my will, revisiting a personal and heartbreaking memory now attached to that holiday (that’s all I will say about that).

Yet from both circumstances I can escape . . . into a book! Lying in bed last night with Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s latest novel The Angel’s Game, I realized I’ve been doing this for nearly 50 years. And how well it has served me. Whether during difficult or better times this simple pleasure has been available to me. And more often than not I feel revived and soothed after my time hiding in a book.

It may sound as though my personal escapism only masks reality but reading is real, stories are real, and they affect greatly the reality of our everyday lives. Thanks to reading (referred to as a gateway skill), I have learned to write, converse articulately, perform at complex tasks and projects, find and keep a job that’s interesting; all these things and more are tangible constituents of what we call reality.

Enjoy the 4th! It’s time I made my escape.