See Mary's essay, "Moving the Idle Masses," in Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio's incredible new book.
Link to recent interviews Mary had on PUBLIC RADIO and in HEALTH MAGAZINE
(They will pop up as you move your cursor up and down this box). Also visit the January 2010 issue of SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE online for more on American Idle.
Click on MY WORKS (upper left) to see a sample chapter.
Contact me online at collinsmae@ccsu.edu.
MARY COLLINS
College professor, book author, essayist, editor-for-hire, opinion writer, veteran public speaker, conference organizer, expert panelist and workshop leader. (Sample events: Cape Cod Writers Conference, Seacoast Writing Program, Baltimore Writing Conference)
Agent: Kathi Paton, Kathi Paton Literary Agency
Contact: Kjplitbiz@optonline.net
What's AMERICAN IDLE: A Journey Through Our Sedentary Culture about?
As Collins rebuilds her own body after a devastating bicycle accident, she goes in search of a better American "body." What needs to be done to offset not just the physical, but also the cultural, social and even moral consequences of our sedentary culture? To learn more about Collins' latest book project, click on "My Works."
ANOTHER RECENT TITLE BY MARY:
NEW MODELS FOR NEWS, Editor, Reilly Center for Media and Public Policy, Louisiana State University.
AVAILABLE NOW at www.lsu.edu/reillycenter
Where will people turn to get their print news? Some of the leading experts in publishing discuss the future of media in this collection of essays edited by Collins. For more information, click on "My Works."
DID YOU FIND THE RIGHT MARY?
If you have wandered here you are either looking for information on me or something I've written or you're lost and there are so many Mary Collinses on the Web you can't find your way from one Mary Collins to the next. If you are truly seeking the author of an eclectic mix of book on subjects as diverse as girls in the United States, a portrait of National Public Radio, and a quirky take on our sedentary culture, then you're in the right place. Perhaps you're one of my current or former students from either Johns Hopkins University or Central Connecticut State University. In either case, welcome.
I write to engage in a dialogue with a group of readers that I hold in my mind's eye. They keep me company as I look at a range of subjects, from what makes National Public Radio hum to how Americans physically move through their day. Sometimes I leave the big cultural topics and write about small things, like high school summer reading lists or our collective habit of sitting too much and the history of the chair.
In 2007 I left my writing business after more than 20 successful years to become a full-time professor at a state university, in part, because I believe the declining literacy level in our society is one of the most devastating trends of my lifetime and ranks right up there with global warming as one of the most important problems we face as a society.
We must maintain a high level of literacy among the masses or we risk, well, everything. People who read even one book a year are twice as likely to vote, volunteer in their community, visit a museum and be involved in Irish Step Dancing. Okay, the last one on that list isn't true, but the rest are, which should make you pretty scared if you or your kids or your friends haven't bothered to pick up a book in the last year. Every day that I am in the classroom with my students is another day I try to battle the crushing decline in the number of engaged readers and writers in our society.
Thanks for stopping by my Web page.
