Soledad O'Brien: TV a cross-cultural challenge to parents
 |
Soledad O'Brien
Story Tools
| ON CNN TV |
CNN's Soledad O'Brien interviews First Lady Laura Bush 7.30a.m. ET Wednesday
|
|
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- First lady Laura Bush arrived in Moscow Tuesday, where she will attend a book fair hosted by her Russian counterpart, Lyudmila Putina.
Mrs. Bush has focused on education and literacy during her five-day overseas tour, which included a stop in Paris.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien is traveling with the first lady and filed this report.
O'BRIEN: Mrs. Bush made her way into Moscow today by motorcade. It was kind of interesting. Generally the way motorcades work is that authorities block the roads that the motorcade would use, but in Moscow, apparently the motorcades just drive into oncoming traffic.
It was sort of a hairy way to start our trip into Moscow, because you go at a very high rate of speed into oncoming traffic and they just pull over and move out of the way.
So we were just very glad to be in the press bus at the very back of the motorcade.
When we arrived at the Kremlin, the first lady met with the Russian first lady, Lyudmila Putina, and with the first ladies of Armenia and Bulgaria.
She started by showing off some of the treasures, really, Russian historical artifacts that included Anastasia's diary. Anastasia, of course, was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Russian tsar, and also [she showed] the first newspaper ever published in Russia.
Then they sat down at a round table and Mrs. Putina said, 'Listen I want this to be a dialogue, I want it to be informal,' and she had the directors of the various libraries around Moscow and also a couple of academics, researchers joining them at the table.
Really, it was kind of interesting to see that in all of these nations, their biggest concerns when it comes to education and getting children focused on reading was how to get the kids to turn off the television or move away from their computers and be motivated by books.
It was interesting to hear each person speak about that problem and that challenge, including Mrs. Bush, who said that she felt that children in America are addicted to TV and it is always a great challenge to find books and things that interested them.
This is her last stop. She's in town for this book festival Wednesday that Mrs. Putina is hosting, and today's round-table was sort of a lead-up to that.
Before she heads out of town on Thursday, she will have a quick meeting with Cherie Blair, British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife, who is also attending the festival. Then it's back to the United States – so it's a relatively quick trip.
