Reading Changed My Life - Townsend Press

IntroductionThe three women whose stories appear in thisbook have never met. They live in three differentstates: Florida, Missouri, and Wisconsin. They havemade their livings in different ways: one as a farmlaborer, one as a factory worker, and one as a policeofficer. They come from three different racialgroups: Hispanic, white, and African-American.But for all their differences, Maria Cárdenas,Daisy Russell, and Julia Burney share a very importantcharacteristic. Each knows how painful it is tobe a non-reader in today’s world. Two of themknow that pain from personal experience; the thirdknows it from observing the pain of those aroundher.These three women share other qualities as well.For one thing, each of them has lived with violence,abuse, and poverty. The bad things that have happenedto them are sometimes difficult to readabout. In spite of the pain they have suffered, theyhave each, in their different ways, said, “This stopsiv