Rick and Dolly

(THEME) 00:03

Annalise

Hi, I'm Annalise...

Hrisanthi

I'm Hrisanthi...

Rosie

I'm Rosie...

Christy 00:08

I'm Christy...

Honor

And I'm Honor... and we're the hosts of the podcast Literacy Legends.

?Host

As a Tasmanian, when you hear the word literacy, what springs to mind?

?Host 00:19

I bet it's the statistic that almost half of Tasmanian adults lack the literacy skills they need to get by day to day.

?Host 00:27

It's worrying.

?Host 00:28

So we wanted to know what's being done about it. Is literacy as big as a challenge, as they say it is?

?Host 00:37

Well, yes, it seems to be. But are there stories of hope? You bet there are.

?Host 00:43

We travelled Tasmania to find just some of the people who are working hard to improve these stats.

?Host

They're stories worth celebrating, of hope and progress, and their projects are making a real difference in people's lives.

?Host 01:05

Join us in this series about literacy in Tasmania.

?Host

Episode 2 - Rick and Dolly.

(COUNTRY MUSIC)

Rick 01:20

It's being run in Tamworth, and one of their educators has just said that children are coming to school book ready. They already understand how to read.

Honor 01:33

My name is Honor Marino, and I'm the host of this episode of Literacy Legends. Rick Martin grew up in a loving home with a mum who read to him every day and encouraged his love of reading. But when he got older, he was surprised to find out that actually his mum really struggled to read. He didn't realise because she worked really hard to hide it. It wasn't until she passed away a couple of years ago that Rick learnt the full truth from his stepdad, Ray. Turns out his mum, Rosie, was able to hide it by always being just a couple of steps ahead of him when they were both learning to read. Rick Martin and his stepdad, Ray Mostogl shared their story with me about their beloved mum and partner, Rosie - and how her story inspired them, with a little help from Dolly Parton, to improve literacy in Tasmania.

Dolly Parton 02:25

Well, hi everybody. This is Dolly. Now, before he passed away, my daddy told me the Imagination Library was probably the most important thing that I had ever done. Inspiring kids to love to read became my passion, an international program that gives a book each month to millions of children. Of course, I haven't done this alone. The real heroes of our story are the thousands of local partners and organisations who have embraced my dream and made it their own.

Rick 02:57

My name is Rick Martin, and the project we're talking about today is Rosie's Reading. Rosie's Reading... is essentially the facilitator of bringing Dolly Parton's Imagination Library to Tasmania. The concept behind the library is that for every month from the day that a child is born through to their fifth birthday, they will receive a book in the mail that is age-appropriate, has been selected by an Australian committee, sent to them with their name on it.

(VOICES RISING)

Child 03:31

Can I look in there? There's something in there, Mama, I'll open it. Inside...

I never get Rosie's reading. Rosie's reading... Oh, it's a photo book.

Rick 03:54

Now that is a gift, and they start to recognise and equate something with their name on it as something really special, but it also has tip sheets in there for the caregiver, and that's so that that parent or caregiver can understand how to read and support the child to really get the most out of that book and to really inspire the child to get a love of of learning.

Honor 04:16

Ray, you were Rosie's partner. How much did she struggle with reading?

Ray 04:20

Rose's journey in terms of reading, she was working. She wasn't even a teenager, and she was earning money. Very first thing she bought with her pay was a dictionary, and she would sit in cafes and listen to conversations, and when, when a word was said that she didn't understand, she would go away and look that up in the dictionary. So that's how she learned to read. She had an amazing vocabulary, but obviously there was a, you know, sort of held back in a lot of ways, and that there's a vulnerability that Rose had, despite her outward confidence, she was a very vulnerable person when it came to language. 

And... she achieved lots of amazing things in her life, but I think that she started from a long way back, and had she had that confidence and that, you know, the improvement in the literacy at the start, you know, I could only imagine where that would have gone to. You know, there'd be times where we'd be watching a television show or listening to something... and my heart would melt because she'd, she'd look at me and say, What did that mean? And she didn't do that very often, and she certainly wouldn't have done that in front of other people, but it just showed to me that I was taking in this information, and there was... a gap for her, you know, what was just said she didn't fully understand. So it just reminded me of just how much of life you miss out on when you... don't have that.

Honor 05:53

Rick, what sort of reader was your mum?

Rick 05:55

I always thought she was superb. I I had no other feeling than that. But that's because she was always just a few steps ahead of me, and I didn't know that really until the last year or so. And then Ray shared more with me in the last couple of weeks of her life, and as she... passed on, more about the challenges that she had had.

Honor 06:24

Why did you want to start a Tasmanian branch of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library?

Rick 06:30

I've always admired Dolly Parton, and I know mum had as well, like, I know all of those songs. And the funny thing is, Dolly and mum, there's a bit about them that, you know, well, take me or leave me, and this is how I'm comin' at ya. When I saw the program, it was just that it made me just think, this is something we have to try and I think when she passed away with less than 14 days notice, it made me really think about how I was going to use my life, and I thought about something that would make me proud, but also something that... I knew I had a really personal connection with. 

Honor 07:15

So what's the research saying about the project? How does Dolly Parton's Imagination Library change lives?

Rick 07:21

It's being run as a community led sort of program in Tamworth, and one of their educators has just said that children are coming to school book ready. They already understand how to read. The World literacy foundation said that helping children become excited about learning and making sure that they don't enter school already behind their fellow classmates is extremely important for addressing illiteracy. Put simply, caregivers can combat illiteracy early by reading with their children. And with this particular program at six months, 79% of children had more than 25 books in the home, which is a figure nearly double the 44% reported in a study of nearly one million Australian children. 

So what we're focusing on is being able to create a culture of reading in the home, and Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has proven record. 240 million books now have been delivered across the world, and it really is kicking a lot of goals, and more and more studies are being done on it to show the long term effects. And I guess the wraparound aspect for Rosie's reading is that I feel that through mum's story, we can inspire parents to recognise how important it is. I want the Rosie's reading aspect and mum's story to be able to inspire parents to understand that they only need to be those few steps ahead, and that they can change their life and their future and the future of their child. 

And that's where I think mum's story, together with Dolly Parton's Imagination Library program and all of the people that we have on the board, all working together can make a difference for Tassie. And the other aspect I've seen on this is that I have never had so many doors open so quickly. And if that's a sign of things to come on this, then I think that's really great. We have literacy experts, we have educators, we have health people, we have corporates. So many people have shown and said, Whatever you need, you let us know, and I hope we can turn those words into actions and achieve exactly what we want to achieve. 

Honor

So where's the project at, Rick?

Rick

So what we're hoping to do is that we would activate this around 105 suburbs across Tasmania. We're hoping to have 28,000 Tasmanians enrolled over the time. But this is a big challenge, and we need to be able, to be bold, to shift the dial on this so we either do it properly or we don't do it at all (LAUGHS), and that's because it will shift the trajectory of the whole next generation of Tasmanians. And it's not the only program in literacy that is worthwhile. They all have to work together. There's a whole range of different programs, and there's a whole range of different programs to support the challenges that young Tasmanians face, but this is just part of it. 

Honor 10:38

Ray, what's your hope for the program's future?

Ray 10:40

I'd like to think that there will be children that don't have to experience what Rosie experienced, and that children will be able to confidently look people in the eye and not feel that they have to hold back that and that there's a vulnerability that Rose had - despite her outward confidence, she was a very vulnerable person when it came to language. And you know, when we look at children today, look at people entering the workforce today, going about their life, how many, how many people have got the same issue where they don't understand something that's been said? And we as society look at them and go, Well, gee, they're not following the rules, or they're not doing this. Well, maybe there's a reason for that, and I'd like to think that the fundamentals of this program will make that a whole lot easier for a whole lot of people.

(COIUNTRY MUSIC)

Dolly Parton 11:31

Imagine a world where every child, regardless of their background, was surrounded with books, stories and a love for reading. The first step is always the hardest, but you never really know unless you try.

(MUSIC LOWER)

?Host 11:52

We acknowledge the traditional owners of this land that we recorded this podcast on, the [?Padua] and [?Pakna] peoples in Lutruwita, Tasmania. We also acknowledge disabled First Nations people. Literacy Legends is hosted by [names], and produced by Honor Marino. It was developed in cooperation with Powerd Media and Print Radio Tasmania. 

(MUSIC ENDS)