Win one of Curtis' Cookbooks!
Curtis will be reviewing
visitors questions weekly about cooking, meal planning and other food related topics. If
your question is selected you will receive a personalize e-mail response from Curtis as
well as has have your question and answer posted here! Also, we will be selecting
one question per month as our "winner" and the contributor will receive one of
Curtis' great cookbooks!
Click
here to submit
your question!
Here are some Photos
from the St. Petersburg
Literacy Workshop 4/15/00
Curtis and Dick Cripper,
the announcer for the
Tampa Devil Rays
review a Florida Fried Rice recipe
Curtis and St. Pete Literacy Council's
Fred Gould share the joy of learning
to read with a demo audience
Photo credits:
Nanette Dolby and Alexis Shuder
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Curtis G. Aikens was 26 years old when he learned to read. Six years
later, he had become a published author. How did this charming articulate man get by for
so many years? How does an adult manage to be successful in business when he's illiterate?
Moreover, how did Curtis Aikens make that long journey to literacy?
When racial desegregation finally came to Georgia, Curtis was a
second-grader at an all-black school. Despite his youth, he was well aware that something
had always been missing from his education "It wasn't learning" he recalls,
"It was babysitting." His life changed when he was given the choice to transfer
to Pine Street Elementary, a previously all-white school. However, this second chance was
in some ways too late; Curtis was hopelessly behind his classmates. Reluctant to be
discovered, Curtis channeled his ample talents into a charade of literacy. His keen
intellect helped him remember everything he heard in class. Forced to take a test, he
would scribble illegible answers--when the teacher asked for a translation, he could
answer orally. Curtis' appealing, likable personality caused people to be predisposed to
helping him out. No one wants to see a nice guy fail. And so, Curtis Aikens made it
through high school, into college, and actually owned his own business without ever really
knowing how to read.
In the early 1980's, Curtis moved to California, finding work in the
produce business. From 1981 to 1986, he operated his own successful produce company,
Peaches. He learned to speak correctly by watching television, but he was still haunted by
problems of illiteracy. Success scared him. He developed a pattern of destroying what he
had achieved, for fear his illiteracy would be discovered. "I thought I was too
stupid to succeed," Curtis remembers. "I felt I didn't deserve it."
Then one day, while watching television, Curtis Aikens saw a
commercial for the Marin County Free Library Literacy Program. He decided to get help and
at age 26, he finally learned to read. Today, he is a popular television and radio
personality, a celebrated chef and culinary consultant, and the published author of three
books: Garden Grocer's Guide to the Harvest, Curtis
Aikens' Guide to the Harvest and Curtis
Cooks With Heart and Soul. His fourth book, titled Recipes to Weight Loss and
Its Control was published in the fall of 1997.
Now an outspoken advocate for literacy, Curtis shares his story with
schools and literacy groups across the country, and donates a portion of his royalties to
literacy programs.
Visit your local library to find out how
you can support literacy projects in your area!
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Curtis Hugs
Julia Hochschwender
a tireless crusader for
Literacy concerns in the Akron, Ohio area
Curtis and Library Manager, Elaine Birkinshaw, remind us that we are born to read.
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