Sharing stories to ‘sow positive seeds’
Real Men Read program enlists role models
As John W. Fountain walked down the hallway of Matteson Elementary School, a student noticed him. Fountain was there to read a book to students, keeping a commitment he had made a few weeks prior.
Staring at Fountain with wide eyes, the boy nearly walked into a wall.
“He was surprised to see a man, and, I think, a Black man in the hallway of his school,” Fountain said. “I decided at that moment to keep coming back to that school until it was normal to see men in the hallways.”
Fountain carried through with his commitment and eventually developed the Real Men Read program, recruiting men throughout the Chicago area to visit the school twice per year and read books to students.
Six years later, the program has now expanded to every school in Matteson School District 162. Though COVID-19 forced kids into e-learning, the Real Men Read program figured out a new way to deliver stories to students.
Instead of men visiting classrooms live on Thursday mornings, teachers now share the recorded reading sessions with their students virtually.
Recruiting male readers
During a recent recording session, a couple dozen masked men sat socially distanced in a conference room in the district 162 offices. Books in hand, they waited to read their selections while watching videographer Dave Baer record readers before them.
With a sophisticated studio setup, Baer helped volunteer Gabriel Wallace position himself on camera to read “The Champ,” a book about Muhammad Ali by Tonya Bolden.
Wallace, who is deaf, gave a rousing reading of the boldly illustrated book. Though he can’t hear, Wallace wanted to join Real Men Read and has become a core volunteer, Fountain said.
The program struggled at first to find men who would commit to reading. Using his platform as a columnist in the Chicago Sun-Times, Fountain put out a call for volunteers, men willing to devote a small amount of time to students in District 162.
Fountain’s print plea paid off, inspiring volunteers from around the region, including towns as far away as Joliet and Arlington Heights. With some additional creative recruiting, Real Men Read now has a solid group of dedicated volunteers.
“We were desperados at one point,” said Fountain, who lives in Olympia Fields. “We made signs that said ‘Real Men Read’ and stood outside the school in the morning, trying to recruit men, doing the hard sell.”
Allies of the program spread the word, as well. Among them was the late Richard Siska, of Matteson, the first volunteer to answer Fountain’s call. Siska died in late January, and a large portion of his obituary detailed his involvement with Real Men Read.
“He would go to village board meetings with this shirt on that said, ‘Ask me what I do on Thursdays,’” Fountain said. “I call Rick my sergeant-atarms.”
Why male mentors matter
When women volunteer to get involved with Real Men Read, Fountain kindly turns
them down. It’s no slight against women, he said, who are the ones society expects will read to children.
“I say, ‘No, you do enough,’ ” he said. “We need to pull our own weight and strike this balance so kids see both men and women getting involved.”
Part of the program’s purpose is providing young people examples of men who will maintain a presence in their lives, acting as positive role models.
Growing up on Chicago’s West Side, Fountain said though his father was absent, other men stepped in to show him what it meant to be a good man.
From his grandfather and stepfather, to his principals in elementary school and later at Providence St. Mel School in Chicago, Fountain said he learned a love for education and especially reading.
“These were Black men in my life who took an interest and understood the power of education,” Fountain said.
After a career reporting for national newspapers, teaching at Roosevelt University and writing several books, Fountain said he now understands why those men pushed him to excel.
Now, through Real Men Read, Fountain finds himself in the role of mentor. It’s one he actively sought to fulfill a responsibility to his community.
“We have to see ourselves as part of the village,” Fountain said. “My kids never went to Matteson Elementary School, but it’s still my school. They’re still my kids, and we have to care for them.”
Real Men Read also recruited volunteers from the Southland College Prep Charter High School, according to Monica Fountain, who is communications director for District 162 and is married to John Fountain. The high school operates in the same building as the district offices, and many students from D162 matriculate there.
“Bringing in students from Southland Prep to read made the program even more intergenerational. ‘That’s my big brother, my big cousin up there reading,’ ” Monica Fountain said.
Seeing junior and senior boys reading to them, wearing their uniform jackets and ties, makes a big impression on younger students, she said.
“We hear kids now saying they want to go to Southland,” John Fountain said. “There’s a saying that in order to aspire to something, you have to see what you want to be.”
How reading changes things
Matteson Elementary School principal Gregory Huelsman is a regular Thursday reader, and said the Real Men Read program has fostered relationships, and effectively encouraged students to read more.
Now a lover of historical fiction, Huelsman said he remembers how as a boy reading opened up the world to him.
“Books have the ability to take you places and take you farther than you thought you could go. That’s an idea that has guided me in my educational career,” Huelsman said.
While reading offers enjoyment and escapism, Fountain said most importantly, it is a fundamental tool for success. Yet, for many people, pathways for learning to read — and learning to read well and enjoy reading — remain elusive.
“The truly enslaved still can’t read,” Fountain said. “There’s a direct correlation between incarceration and illiteracy, and we have got to change that by turning our kids on to education.”
As Fountain encourages education in his work as a renowned writer, college professor and now Fulbright Scholar, he continues to believe in the simple act of reading stories to students.
“Some might say it’s minuscule, this little thing we do. I believe that when you sow positive seeds, you will reap positive results,” Fountain said. “You don’t know what kid whose day you made by being there, or who will remember that we were a presence in their lives. Who can say, ‘There are some men who care about me, who got me excited about reading.’ ”