{"id":6168,"date":"2012-06-22T16:07:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-22T20:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=6168"},"modified":"2012-06-22T16:21:42","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T20:21:42","slug":"remembering-david-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/06\/22\/remembering-david-king\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering David King"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

David King developed a love for books and words in the final years of his life, overcoming a learning disability and years of prejudice and shame. (Photo: Mark Kurtz)<\/p><\/div>\n

In my work, I encounter extraordinary people all the time and often our paths cross in moments of great upheaval and change.<\/p>\n

They’re heading off to war.\u00a0 They’re starting a new business.\u00a0 They’re fighting for a cause they believe will make the world a better place.\u00a0 Sometimes they’re heading to prison or losing elections.<\/p>\n

Times of change are when life gets interesting, right?<\/p>\n

When I met David King a month or so ago, he told me with great candor about his particular journey<\/a>, learning to read for the first time in his late forties.<\/p>\n

“We were the retards,” he recalled, describing his childhood in the northern Champlain Valley.<\/p>\n

People had labeled David all his life:\u00a0 Retard, simple, slow. \u201cI felt like, like, you know, how can I fix myself?”<\/p>\n

With the help of a group called Literacy Volunteers of Clinton County<\/a>, David had begun using children’s books and word games to overcome his learning disability.<\/p>\n

For a journalist, it is a blessing and a privilege when someone is willing to speak openly about such painful and complex things.<\/p>\n

And in our long conversations, in person and on the phone, David showed just how agile his mind was.\u00a0 He told stories.\u00a0 He used language with incredible sophistication, describing a struggle and a hard life that would have stopped most of us in our tracks.<\/p>\n

I speak of David in the past tense, because he died suddenly and without warning on June 17th<\/a>, just a couple of weeks after my profile of him aired.<\/p>\n

“Twice a week, David gifted us with his courage, tenacity and sincerity,” wrote Norma Menard, head of the Clinton County literacy program, in a note to NCPR.<\/p>\n

“He was pleased that his story gained for us several new tutors and inspired fellow learners. I thank Peter and Hilarie [David’s volunteer tutors] for the hope, dignity and joy that David felt with every story that he read for his grandchildren.”<\/p>\n

One of the things you learn as a journalist is that things are never quite what they seem.\u00a0 There are layers to every life, every experience.\u00a0 There are always twists, ambiguities.<\/p>\n

I had hoped to profile David over the next year or so, tracking his growth, his learning.\u00a0 Instead, it turns out I was catching a glimpse of him just at the very end of his life.<\/p>\n

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to real disappointment, true sadness.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Photo by Mark Kurtz for NCPR<\/p><\/div>\n

In my story about David, I described how he held his children’s books in rough, workman’s hands.\u00a0 One hand had the word ‘hate’ tattooed across the knuckles.<\/p>\n

My reporter’s instincts tell me there were a lot more stories there to be told, and David was just honest and courageous and fiery enough to want to tell them.<\/p>\n

That won’t happen now.\u00a0 But I am glad and grateful that our paths crossed, at least for that moment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my work, I encounter extraordinary people all the time and often our paths cross […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6845,6,6842,6296,6844],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6175,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6168\/revisions\/6175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}