The Yellow Brick Road: Join Us on This Journey

​I decided, when I was very young, that I wanted to be a writer.  I didn’t know exactly what it would take to do it or even, necessarily, what it meant.  But I knew others had done it before me, and they’d made the world a better place as a result. 

My stories were not good, not at first.  They were cliché, disconnected, and one-dimensional. But they were a start.  And people noticed.  There are few things as evocative as a person who believes in their ability to do something they really, truly love and value.

By striving to be the writer I wanted to be, I had clearly and authentically defined my intention, which attracted opportunity to me.   Teachers encouraged me.  They told me about summer writing courses.  They told me about books I might enjoy, readings I could attend.  In my first year of college, I met other writers, gravitated towards professors who were writers, and ultimately a university with an excellent writing program. 

Years later, sometimes, out of the blue or when I’m driving down some country road on my own….I think--Wow, I’m a writer.I did it.  This is it.  I’ve lived a life and followed a path that has resulted in my being surrounded with evidence of my intention.  I started as a clueless kid with a desire.  And it took me all the way here. 

This is how journeys go.  You don’t always know how long the yellow brick road will be or even in which direction it will go when you start out on it.  But you follow it nonetheless because you believe in where it will take you. 

Now, I’ve started another journey, one which represents something else I am passionate about, something else I want desperately.  I want to protect the planet I love, to preserve it for the children I love, and for their children.  And much like the writing novice I was as a dreamy little girl, I am a new kind of novice today.  I’m not a scientist, an engineer, or a politician.  I’m just a writer, a member of a community, a teacher, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a wildlife advocate, and a mother.  I do not know how to single-handedly transition this city I love to 100% clean and sustainable energy by 2035.  But here are some things I do know:

These five U.S. cities are already running on 100% clean and sustainable energy. 

And these U.S. cities have committed to the transition to clean and sustainable energy. 

Others have done it before us.  And they have made the world a better place as a result. 

We represent a dynamic, evolving city, filled with people of all generations, from multiple ethnicities, who care deeply about their future and the future of their children as well as the future of their economy. 

We represent a community of people already deeply committed, in many ways, to sustainability.

We represent a community of passionate, intelligent, and creative people, who are already coming up with innovative solutions to enormous problems.  As we speak. 

And I believe in the power of setting an intention, unifying ourselves, and dedicating ourselves to the pursuit of that intention.

We are Reading, Pennsylvania.  And we are ready. 

I invite you to join me on the journey toward 100% clean energy with me.  It will be something like walking down a yellow brick road. We have set our intention.  And all we need to do now is continue moving forward, toward that goal. 

Whoever you are, whatever your gift, whatever expertise or passion or courage you might bring to this endeavor, I ask that you join me on this journey to our own kind of OZ, a city fueled by 100% clean electricity. 

One day, we’ll be there, in our green city, and we’ll realize--Wow, we did it. 

That begins here.  With us.  Right now.

By: Stephanie J. Andersen, Co-chair of Reading for 100 and Writing Instructor at Reading Area Community College