Doug has also lent a hand to NEA's Emergency Commission on Urban Children to promote literacy, including reading to kids at NEA's Read-In in New Orleans in June. I do it because of the need. I do it because I have to. All of the young people I get in contact with tell me what's going on, and it's distressing. For me to have this much experience with kids and to walk away would leave me in a really sorrowful state.
Economic issues take an overwhelming amount of space in the conversation.
That's all they're focused on. Their parents are obsessed with earning, and society tells them that the people to admire are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and entrepreneurs. I tell them the importance of traveling beyond what you're exposed to, and that means meeting new people. That can be a really positive beginning to the rest of your life. I was very rambunctious.