March 6, 2024 • 38 mins
Join us for a unique twist on food and literacy and how they have come together at Melba's PoBoys in New Orleans! Restaurant owner and author Jane Wolfe shares her secret to success combining reading and cuisine in a fun and unique way in the Big Easy. From book signings to read-alongs, literacy and good food go hand-in-hand at Melba's! Check them out: https://www.melbas.com/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Are you ready to embark on an adventure through the world of words?
(00:03):
Join us on the reading revolution and let's explore the exciting world of literacy together.
Hi and welcome to the reading revolution powered by BookVending.com.
I am your host, Josh Gregory.
We've got a great guest coming up today.
Very exciting and a very unique story about Inchi Bookworm Book Vending machines,
something that's only happening one place in the country.
(00:26):
Joining me today is Jane Wolf, co-owner of Melba's Po Boys,
two locations in the great city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
There is a unique reading program going on in this restaurant, Eat and Read at Melba's.
We're going to delve into that today.
To date, over 20,000 books have been distributed to customers who have entered this restaurant.
(00:49):
Very, very unique.
It's also attracted the attention of authors who participate in book signings
and other presentations that they do through the restaurant,
including Matthew McConaughey, the Clintons, and much more.
So we've got a lot to talk about today.
Jane Wolf, as I said, is my guest, a recent recipient of the Louisiana Endowment for Humanities
(01:12):
and the State of Louisiana Center for the Book Light Up for Literacy Award,
which recognizes those who have made significant contributions to literacy efforts.
And oh, she's a Harvard grad as well.
So we're going to touch on that today.
Jane, thank you so much for taking time out to be with us here on the reading revolution.
Yes, I just want to make sure that you understand that I'm a Harvard Divinity grad,
(01:35):
and not a Harvard grad.
That's a difference.
Close enough.
Yeah, I went to Divinity School.
So...
Well, we can talk about that as well, because you did that a little bit later in life,
and I think that's something unique to talk about as well.
So let's talk a little bit about Melba's, Po Boys.
How did the restaurant start?
Can you give us a little history of the restaurant?
(01:57):
Restaurant came about after Hurricane Katrina.
We were in the grocery business for 35 years in the city of New Orleans.
And the restaurant came about after Hurricane Katrina.
There was a piece of property that my husband recognized.
And he said, what you think about a Po Boys shop here?
And I said, wow, that'd do great.
(02:17):
And it was as simple as that.
And it was while I was in school getting my Harvard Divinity degree,
and my husband actually needed seemingly something to do while I was studying.
And he built this while I was studying.
So that's how it came about.
And it was at a beautiful location, two minutes from the French Quarter.
(02:40):
About 25,000 cars passed in a day.
It's a beautiful intersection in the seventh, eighth, and upper ninth wards.
So it's a location that many people pass every day.
And it's inside of a book desert.
So you can imagine how a restaurant became something in regard to literacy
(03:05):
because actually the area is considered a book desert.
So when this will transition into that, when you decided to bring in some literacy programs
to the restaurant, was that a passion of yours and your husband's before of just,
hey, this is a book desert.
We love reading.
How did this come about?
Absolutely.
It wasn't.
(03:26):
How did it come about?
Well, it took 43 years to come about because things that I believe are important
things that I believe things that blossom well take a lot of time to fertilize.
And that's all I can say is that the reading came about in the restaurant,
(03:51):
which is Melville's, and we have a laundromat attached to the restaurant.
And we had the laundromat association coming through town to attend a laundromat convention.
And they contacted us because they knew the laundromat was very busy.
So it's a restaurant slash laundromat slash dapper shop.
(04:11):
And when the laundromat convention came through town,
they will put little reading nooks inside of the laundromats.
So they asked us, will you spend $1,500 on a table and a bookshelf?
And then they would mail me books once a month for kids.
And I'll always remember my husband took the paper from the laundromat people
(04:34):
and gave it to me and said, you'd like to do this.
And I said, yeah, I would like to do that.
So that's how it initially came about.
Starting inside the laundromat for children to have a reading nook.
And that's exactly how it started.
And that's actually a unique take on things because I think many of us are probably
(04:57):
all of us at one point in time have been in a laundromat where they might have an area for kids,
but usually it's full of toys and maybe a TV.
What a unique spin on it to actually have books and something productive that they can do while
the folks or whoever is watching them is actually getting some laundry done.
Very unique take.
Yeah, absolutely.
I made it like a little classroom.
The area looks like a little school schoolroom and all the kids go in and play school.
(05:22):
I used to play school when I was a child.
And that's actually what happened. And we made it so pretty and so beautiful that the Clintons,
Bill, Hillary and Chelsea, who are associated with the laundromat association in regard to
their foundation, Too Small to Fail, found out how good it was.
(05:42):
And when they came through town, they made a point to come see it.
And what was that like?
I'm sure that had to have been a ton of planning.
And that's not like somebody up the street who works on the city council stopping by.
Right, right. No, actually, it wasn't a lot of planning.
Actually, they told me about three days before that, yes, they come in.
(06:03):
So they were coming through town.
Chelsea and Hillary were doing a book talk in regard to their latest book called Gutsy Women.
And they were uptown at a church or something giving a talk.
So I contacted somebody through the laundromat association and through the Clintons.
(06:24):
And I said, hey, why don't you pass by the laundromat?
And they said, we'll let you know.
And three days before they arrived, they said, OK, we're going to come.
And they said, Chelsea and Hillary are coming.
And then so we're getting all ready, just like you get ready for a party.
Right. And they said, OK, we're going to come.
Right. And all of a sudden, about 20 minutes before they arrived, they said, oh, Bill's there, too.
(06:49):
And we said, wow, we got the whole first family.
So they were really impressed with the reading initiative inside the laundromat
because all our machines of the laundromat have stickers on it.
And it's Twitter style history of people that have been born in Louisiana
and are leaders inside of the culture or inside of literacy. So the laundromat
(07:14):
really impressed them other than just the reading nook.
It was really a beautiful day. We all had fun.
So let's talk a little bit about how you came to find Inchi, the Bookworm Book Vending Machines,
which here we are at Global Vending, you know, making designing these things.
How did that partnership come up?
Well, that partnership came up because after we started doing the kids literacy inside the laundromat,
(07:42):
it moved into the Melba's restaurant and how it happened in Melba's restaurant.
I was I was in school. I'm getting to the book machine, too.
How it all it blossoms, right? It's fertilizer.
Sure. Just don't think you don't think these things up in one day.
So I was in school and my graduate advisor, his name was Jonathan Walton.
(08:06):
He had published a book and I was in his office talking about my paper
and he had a bunch of books in the corner of his office.
And it was like, I don't know, look like 40 boxes.
And I said, what's that, Jonathan?
You know, I was able to call him Jonathan because I'm an older student.
And he says, I just published a book, Jane.
(08:26):
I said, wow, you published the book.
And he said, yeah, I said, how you going to sell those books, Jonathan?
He says, I have no idea.
So he is a high academic at Harvard Divinity School, just publishing a book.
And I'm thinking back home how to teach what I'm learning here and bring it back home.
(08:48):
I constantly had that on my mind.
So I remember looking at the books and I turned to him and I said, well, how about this, Jonathan?
Why don't you come down to Melba's?
I'll purchase 100 books and we'll give them out for free.
So he came down with him and his family and they spent the day, they spent three or four days in New Orleans
(09:10):
and they came to Melba's and it was a beautiful moment of us giving out the books, the first book
and having people have an encounter with a Harvard professor right there in the middle of New Orleans.
So all of a sudden we start giving out books every other week with authors coming.
The authors always have to come and give out their books.
(09:33):
That's awesome.
It becomes like a book haven so people can buy books.
So I was hitting the kids in the laundromat.
I was hitting the adults inside of Melba's.
But I found that people that would come visit Melba's would not all the time walk into the laundromat,
(09:54):
even though it's connected.
So I got the kids and I was like, how can I hit the kids inside of Melba's?
The adults were getting the books and then I came across Y'all Vendor Machine
and I came across Y'all Vendor Machine probably three or four years ago.
I don't know exactly where I saw it, but I saw it online in some way.
(10:16):
And I kept on for three or four years dreaming of putting a Vendor Machine in Melba's
because we've been doing this project for three or four years.
But every time I told my husband I want to do the book Vendor Machine, he's like, that's crazy.
You don't need a book Vendor Machine.
You give away enough books.
You're giving books here.
You're giving books in the laundromat.
He was dead set against it.
(10:37):
So actually he kept me not purchasing it for two years and he's a lovely man,
but he thinks at the bottom of it.
I'm not saying he's not a lovely man.
So one day I just said, Scott, I'm getting this book machine.
Just, just we get it.
And I said, I don't need a Christmas present no more.
(10:58):
I don't need a Mother's Day present.
I don't need nothing.
I'm getting a book machine.
And that's how to book machine.
Came about because what I wanted to do when people walked into the restaurant,
I want to give the children a free book and it's an experience.
It's not just handing them a book, right?
So they go up to the register at Melba's and the parents know that when they come into Melba's,
(11:22):
they asked for a token and they get a free book.
And it's, and it's a beautiful moment to watch that in total.
And it's a beautiful moment to watch that interaction happen.
It's been one of the best things I've done because when people walk in Melba's,
they see a book machine and it really, it really shocks them.
(11:46):
It surprises them because they've never seen it before.
So it's really been, it's really been a good thing.
And it has enhanced our literacy project over there in New Orleans, for sure.
And again, what a unique interaction, as you mentioned, and what a unique way to get kids
interested in reading that this is a book that they're going to be able to take home.
(12:08):
And there's plenty of restaurants that have tchotchkes and they might get a token for a
sticker or something like that.
This is something that could possibly change their life where they're saying,
now I've got a book, I'm inspired to read even more and come back to the restaurant.
There's no doubt about it.
And I also see that the kids are, when they get the book, they've read it at the restaurant.
(12:32):
You know, they open it up and they're looking at it.
And we change the books every three, about every three weeks, we change all the books.
And no, it's really been a joy to watch the joy that happens in the book exchange.
And the parents, the parents of the children are just as excited because like I said,
(12:55):
people don't see this every day.
Right?
So it's a beautiful surprise.
And in life, we don't get enough surprises.
And this is a good surprise that people have when they walk in Malthus.
And you also are doing weekly book signings and authors are still coming into the restaurant.
If we could talk a little bit about that attraction as well, that it's not just giving out the
(13:17):
books, it's people seeing the people who are writing these books and interacting with them.
Wait, what did you say?
It's not just what?
It's not just, you know, getting this book.
It's also seeing the people who are writing the books, who are producing these sorts of
things and having the chance to interact with an author is kind of a unique experience on
its own.
Very unique.
So imagine walking into a popular restaurant and all of a sudden you see, you know, Eddie
(13:43):
Glard Jr. sitting there and he's got his book or you have Walter Isaacson or you have Sarah
Brum or you have a national award winning writers that are just sitting there very casually
and you got 100 books stacked up and you walk in and you're just not expecting it.
Right?
(14:03):
So 50% of our customers are expecting it, but 50% of our customers are tourists.
You know, New Orleans.
One of the most visited places in the world.
So when people come in and they see an author sitting there and they wanted a lucky hundred
people to get the book, it's really like I said, it's a beautiful encounter.
(14:24):
A lot of people say, we go into a Melby's event.
I say it's not a Melby's event.
Event is the old, tired name.
It's an encounter.
So they have an encounter with a, with an author at a very casual, very, very, very
casual level and they get to exchange email addresses.
(14:45):
They exchange texts.
They get to talk to the author.
So it's really a nice, what I call it is we call it in New Orleans, land yap.
We have literacy land yap and it's a word land yap, which means a little extra.
So when you walk into our restaurant, you have an opportunity to get a book once a week.
(15:08):
You come eat at a certain time and you get some land yap and you get an encounter with
an author that I would say that 80% of people that meet the author have never met an author
before in their life.
So it's all a good thing.
What's the reaction been from the community, not just the folks who are coming in and taking
advantage of the program, but we're talking city leaders, what have they thought about
(15:34):
this very unique program that you've got at Melby's?
I haven't heard anything.
I have never heard a negative word about it.
It's almost like, what have I heard?
I've heard nothing but good stuff.
And when I say good stuff, you can see when people come in and I talk to people sometimes
(15:58):
that have a business somewhere else or teachers and librarians are always coming in.
And when you can have a teacher or a librarian come into a restaurant that's excited about
education, that's a great day.
So when people come in, I can always, I can't always read eyes, but eyes are a beautiful
(16:22):
thing to see.
And when you see people come in and they are thinking and I ask them, what you think of
this?
And they say, I wonder how I can do this at home.
Or I know someone that has a restaurant.
This would be great in their restaurant.
Or I have somebody that owns, I know somebody that owns a coffee shop.
(16:42):
We wish we could do this in a coffee shop.
So the whole element of what's going on there, the literacy that's happening all over, of
which Jenna Bush has already said on today's show, fire is going on there at Melby's.
Literacy like fire is going on.
(17:02):
So the community and the leaders of the community, I can see in their eyes and they've also told
me this is really good that a business can engage with a community like this.
Yeah, it's really, it's an extension and another level of education where we send our kids
to school and we try to do the best as we can as parents.
(17:24):
But when they're seeing this in everyday facets of other parts of their life, it just reinforces
that desire to learn more, to read more.
What a great gift.
Yes.
And let me, let me tell you what else it really does.
And what I've noticed by watching people, right?
Because I've been in retail, I've been in the retail world my entire life.
When the people are waiting for their food, they got to wait like seven minutes for their
(17:48):
food and they order right by the register.
But excuse me.
But when they wait in for their food, they turn around and they see this bookcase.
We call it the golden literacy bookcase.
And the bookcase is full of books of only the people that have visited Melvers.
So the only way you can get your book in this case is if you visited Melvers and you gave
(18:10):
away a hundred books.
And what I see forming is a habit.
The habit of reading is forming because while they're waiting for their book, they turn
around and they see nothing but books.
So biologically, I believe that the notion of reading is getting into people in ways
(18:32):
that they don't even realize.
So when they come to Melvers and they come to Melvers on a regular basis, it's one of
those favorite restaurants, you are getting hit with books in your face.
And I know it's working.
I see it working.
And it's, it's really good.
How many guest authors do you suppose that you've had come into the restaurant over the
(18:56):
years?
We've been doing this for years and I've had over a hundred, about 170 authors came to
Melvers personally.
Oh, well, we do about 30% virtual and we got into the virtual aspect of seeing the author
of having the author come during COVID.
Right.
So, so probably 30% of our authors are virtual, but it's still a face to face encounter because
(19:20):
we set up this TV screen right smack in the middle of the restaurant and everybody gets
to go talk to them face to face and they could sit and talk to them as long as they want,
just like me and you were talking.
And but we had 170 authors and we, we, we mainly deal with nonfiction and children's
(19:40):
and poetry.
We really don't deal with many, what I would describe as escapism books, all these, you
know, these, I'm not saying anything bad about escapism books, but, but our, our books are
there to teach something.
And it's a voice, it's not a bookstore.
(20:03):
It's a voice like the golden literacy case is a voice from the people who came there.
And and probably about 25%, 20% of our authors have been in a religious and spiritual realm,
which is a beautiful thing, you know, in regard to just learning about your fellow neighbor
with religion and, and learn about different religions.
(20:25):
So we've had one of the biggest authors in religion.
His name is Steven Propperow and he runs the religious department over there at Boston
College.
And we've had a lot of big time religious authors, sister Helen Creejean, we've had
sister Joan Sitister, we've had a lot of religious authors.
(20:49):
And obviously it's striking a chord with the amount of books that you've distributed and
the folks that are stopping by.
It's not just coming up with, oh, this is a neat theme that we can go with for a week.
This seems to be a pattern that is really feeding a need for the reading that people
want to be getting the books for and taking the moment reading them.
(21:10):
Absolutely.
And I see lifelong learning going on with this initiative.
So this is a literacy project of what I call a restaurant literacy project for everyday
people.
And what it's doing is it's helping lifelong learners continue to learn, even though they
do not have time to go to a book discussion or go to, you know, the university and listen
(21:31):
to a discussion or so we not a bookstore, we are a restaurant that engages with people
on a day to day basis and the community has been very positive about it.
And I love how you talk about the organicness of all this, if that's even a word, but in
being able to adapt and overcome COVID was a tough time for everyone, but you found a
(21:56):
way to keep the program going by doing it virtually.
Again, speaking to the passion that you're bringing to this, it's not just coming and
getting a book and having something to eat.
There's an experience there or as you said, an encounter.
Yes, it's an encounter.
And also, like I said, we not just giving out free, because somebody once told me, well,
what's so great about giving out just books?
(22:16):
And I said, it's an encounter.
And what's so beautiful to show you how much of the deputy encounter that's going on here.
When the author comes to give out the books, okay, we might give out 50 books in that hour,
right?
We don't give out all the books in that one hour that the author's there.
(22:37):
So we put the books behind the counter after the author leaves.
We also engage with the staff in a very unique way, if you want to talk about that.
But the cashier or the person that's running the register has about 50 books left to give
out during the day.
And we put a book on the counter after the author leaves and we put a little sign on
(22:58):
the book that says free, just ask.
So you have to ask for the book.
It's not that you come in, you make a purchase and we give you a book.
So a lot of people that know they can't make the hour that the particular author's there,
they know we have books to about three, four o'clock.
But you have to come in and ask.
(23:18):
And just right there shows the intent of the reader, right?
They want to read, they want to get the book, but you have to ask for the book.
So I do want to inquire about the staff.
But before we get to that, I'd like to talk a little bit more about the authors.
When they do come in, what are they expecting and what do they walk away from when their
(23:38):
encounter is over?
What do they tell you?
What they tell me, they tell me it's the best book event of their life.
They use the word event, but they, Sarah Broome told me, she's a national award winner writer.
She wrote the yellow house, which is the new Orleansian.
And I just spoke to her last week, actually.
(24:00):
And she says, Jane, I'm telling you.
She says, when I did this event four years ago, it was the best book event in my whole
life.
And that's what I hear, Joshua.
It's the best book time in their whole life.
(24:20):
And I'm telling you that at least 99% of people say that.
And I don't ask them to say it, they just say it because they get to talk to people
casually.
And a lot of writers are in a room by themselves trying to come up with the next beautiful
word or beautiful sentence.
And to have the writers be able to come out and share their book with people that are
(24:44):
not expecting to get the book is it's just a fun hour for them.
And they fly down here to come to the event.
They drive here to come to the hour.
And we are booked out till August.
So we will be in January.
I'm telling people more no's now than yeses.
(25:09):
We just don't have the time slots.
We can't do this every day.
We do it just once a week.
And yeah, we booked out till August, actually.
That's incredible.
And what a great testament to the program overall that, hey, August, not bad scheduling
that many weeks that far all the way into the summer.
Right.
Yeah, it's crazy.
(25:29):
How does the staff interact and what is their attitude towards the program as well?
Obviously, they've got a job to do with the restaurant.
But how do they come into play?
It's a beautiful thing because it really happened for the staff.
So initially when I was in school, I always thought about how to bring the knowledge that
I'm getting and have the blessing to get to bring it back home.
(25:52):
Because when we us in retail, when I say us in retail, because I've been in a retail environment
my whole life, we don't have time to go to these book discussions.
But when I was in school, I was getting all these discussions.
So when the author comes, we make sure that we do an introduction to the author, to the
staff.
All the staff comes around and we say, look who's here, y'all.
(26:15):
And we tell them all about the author.
And everybody takes within the hour, the staff comes out and they go meet the author.
They get the book.
And then after the events, the encounter's over, the author goes behind the counter.
We take a picture with the author.
But what's so fun is we always tell the author, the staff plays a word game.
(26:41):
It's called the word search game.
So we always ask the author, pick a word in the book that we get to search.
And we have to find the word 20 times.
And if we find the word 20 times, the staff gets a stipend or they get $50.
So it's $2.50 a word.
And the staff that does that, that engages with the book, and offers proof that they
(27:08):
engage with the book, they get $50.
So it's almost a $50 tip, right, when the author comes.
So number one, they love the author's comment on the day because it's author day.
And then they get to play the word search game.
And it just is, it's working so well.
(27:30):
I just, it's unbelievable, really.
It sounds like it's a machine at this point, especially with the staff being on board.
The community loves it.
You're booked out with these authors coming in all the way to August.
Quite a well-oiled machine you've got going on at Melba's.
I'm trying to hold on, Joshua.
I wish I was 30 years old instead of 59 years old, but that's okay.
(27:53):
That's not too old, right?
But yeah, it's a, we drive in this car, so to speak.
And I do see this in other restaurants across America.
One thing I see this going, we did a special thing with the New Orleans Saints.
So the dream is to put this at one restaurant in every state in the United States.
(28:15):
So 50 of these we see.
But I also see ways the NFL can engage.
So we did a fun thing during the Saints season.
And the fun thing was, if the Saints win, you bring in a old book to Melba's restaurant
and we'll give you a new book from our case.
(28:38):
And not only that, if the Saints win, you get a free turkey leg with it.
So we did this this season.
And so many people came in and they brought an old book.
They got a new book at our case and they got to walk out with a turkey leg that feeds two
people.
So I foresee this possibly in NFL cities at one special restaurant in an NFL city in ways
(29:05):
that the NFL can engage with literacy.
And you talk about fun because the fun part is people are watching their TV and they've
already told me they said, man, I wanted the Saints to win so I can get my turkey leg and
my new book.
So I'm smiling.
The reason I have such a big grin on my face is our directors and content guys are smiling
(29:25):
at me.
I am probably one of the only Saints fans you will find in Western New York since I
was a kid.
So you are a Saints fan.
And now I'm looking at go, why do I live in Buffalo and I could live down there and get
free turkey legs and books every week when the Saints win.
But let me tell you, it was so successful that I didn't realize it was going to be this
(29:47):
successful and this is the idea of fertilizer.
Nothing happens overnight.
We said, wow, let's just try this.
So we tried it.
But now next year we're going to contact the owner of the Saints and we're going to say,
Gail, would you like to underwrite this?
And who knows?
It might go to a bunch of cities.
And that might be what Melba's Eat and Read literacy is.
(30:08):
Who knows?
Again, great story extending outside of the city of New Orleans.
Yeah, a program like this could work anywhere.
I wanted to ask you about the Light Up for Literacy Award and obviously you're a recipient
of that.
Can you tell us a little bit about that and what it was like to receive such a prestigious
honor?
(30:29):
Well, that award was, well, that is an award that I never in my wildest dreams thought
I would even be in contention for because inside of the business that I'm in, right,
in retail my whole life.
(30:51):
So in the grocery business my whole life and also now in the restaurant business, I never
thought that education and reading and literacy could mesh inside of retail, right?
So for the Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities to recognize what we're doing is like in my
(31:14):
view a perfect public-private partnership working together.
Private, public, and educational partnership working together and I think that is what
is being told from the mountaintops in regard to them giving us this award because it's
(31:38):
never been done before, right?
Education usually stays in a little education bubble.
Religious books usually stay at the Christian bookstores or the church bookstores.
Authors usually stay at bookstores, right?
So to have a restaurant mesh in all of this is quite unique but for them to give us the
(32:08):
award, it tells me we're on the right track, right?
So for them to recognize us and it tells me keep going, keep going, Jane.
Y'all keep doing what you're doing.
And also it's going to help hopefully with grants and foundations helping us with this
(32:29):
project.
100%.
I do want to ask you on a personal note because we've talked a little bit about it earlier
about Harvard Divinity School.
You went back at a later age and what was the genesis of that?
Why did you decide to say, hey, you know what, I would like a degree from Harvard Divinity
School?
I never thought, well, there's nobody in my family that has ever went to a quote unquote
(32:55):
Ivy League school like that, right?
That's all that I guess, Joshua, what I can say about that is as a woman, as a mother,
young mother, you just got to keep walking your walk in life, right?
And it's the same thing about the fertilizer, how things come about.
(33:15):
You just got to keep walking your walk and doors will open.
And it's really good if you can recognize when the doors open and how it came about.
I had my two kids out the house.
They were in college and I just sat around a dinner table one day and said, I think I
(33:37):
might be getting too old to go to college, right?
Because I only went to the 10th grade.
I got a GED and I was in business for all these years and at 43 years old, I started
thinking I missed the moment.
And my son turned to me, I remember it's the first time that my child told me something
that I knew was right and true and he was teaching me.
(34:00):
And he said, mom, you know, you're going to be 50 years old with a degree or not.
It's up to you.
And that's how I started.
The next day I went and signed up for a class.
It was at Tulane University.
I went through the school of continuing studies program and I took a class and I fell in love
with the class.
It was called American government.
(34:21):
And then the next month, next semester, I took two classes and I took three classes.
Then I became a full time student at Tulane and lo and behold, at 47 years old, I had
a professor that told me Jane, because I started digging into religious studies and I started
learning about the historical significance of religion.
And I had a professor that believed in me.
(34:42):
And he said, Jane, you can get into any graduate program you want.
He said, you ought to go to Divinity School.
And I didn't even understand what Divinity School was.
And he said, you could probably get into Harvard Divinity School.
And I was like, Harvard has a Divinity School?
And that's how it all happened.
So I just kept walking and I kept my ear to the ground and I let my professors guide me.
(35:08):
But I was old enough to understand when they say something to you, I could tell if it was
really truthful.
Right?
So, yeah, that's how it happened.
And before I knew it at 50 years old, I had exactly what my son said.
I had a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School and this whole literacy project came
(35:31):
about because of the connections I made there.
And people sharing their willingness to come down to talk to what I call everyday New Orleansians
like myself.
So it's all been a good walk, Joshua.
And there's all just it's all inspiration.
(35:53):
This is what's going to happen.
We're going to allow it to happen.
And now you get to sit back and watch it just continue to bloom, both in personal life and
in business.
Well, I'm not sitting back.
There's no sitting back, Joshua.
Well, this has been great.
So where can we find more information about Melba's and the Eat and Read program at Melba's?
(36:14):
You can go to Melba's.
Just Google Melba's Literacy.
And you can go to Melba's Literacy.
If you just Google Melba's Literacy, it'll go to the page and then you go to the Melba's
Literacy page and then you press the Literacy Press page and it'll show all the press that's
come about as we've been doing this.
(36:36):
And I'll tell you one thing that's been beautiful about the press is that when I was in the
grocery business for 35 years, we always had to push, push, push, advertise in a way that
was aggressive, get people in.
What's been great about this is that I'm at an age now where I'm not pushing.
(36:57):
I'm just walking and people are recognizing it so I don't have to advertise it.
It almost, they come into us because they see the uniqueness of it.
So that's been really nice in the advertising element.
So all those things that are on the press page, people came to us, which is good.
Well, I will say this.
(37:19):
Now when I can say who that, I don't just talk about the Saints.
I can talk about Jane Wolf at Melba's.
It has been awesome.
Thank you so much for being with me here today.
All right, Josh.
It's nice talking to you guys.
Thanks so much.
Have a good day.
Okay, you too.
Take care.
And that'll wrap it up here for this episode of the Reading Revolution.
If you have a suggestion for a guest or someone that you would like to hear featured on the
(37:42):
Reading Revolution, email readingrevolutionpod at gmail.com.
If you have any other concerns or comments, we'd love to hear from you as well.
Please like, share and subscribe to this channel and find us on social media at bookvending.com.
We'd love to hear from you in any manner.
Find us online.
Everyone, thanks again for joining us.
(38:03):
We will see you next time here on the Reading Revolution.
Are you ready to embark on an adventure through the world of words?
(00:03):
Join us on the reading revolution and let's explore the exciting world of literacy together.
Hi and welcome to the reading revolution powered by BookVending.com.
I am your host, Josh Gregory.
We've got a great guest coming up today.
Very exciting and a very unique story about Inchi Bookworm Book Vending machines,
something that's only happening one place in the country.
(00:26):
Joining me today is Jane Wolf, co-owner of Melba's Po Boys,
two locations in the great city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
There is a unique reading program going on in this restaurant, Eat and Read at Melba's.
We're going to delve into that today.
To date, over 20,000 books have been distributed to customers who have entered this restaurant.
(00:49):
Very, very unique.
It's also attracted the attention of authors who participate in book signings
and other presentations that they do through the restaurant,
including Matthew McConaughey, the Clintons, and much more.
So we've got a lot to talk about today.
Jane Wolf, as I said, is my guest, a recent recipient of the Louisiana Endowment for Humanities
(01:12):
and the State of Louisiana Center for the Book Light Up for Literacy Award,
which recognizes those who have made significant contributions to literacy efforts.
And oh, she's a Harvard grad as well.
So we're going to touch on that today.
Jane, thank you so much for taking time out to be with us here on the reading revolution.
Yes, I just want to make sure that you understand that I'm a Harvard Divinity grad,
(01:35):
and not a Harvard grad.
That's a difference.
Close enough.
Yeah, I went to Divinity School.
So...
Well, we can talk about that as well, because you did that a little bit later in life,
and I think that's something unique to talk about as well.
So let's talk a little bit about Melba's, Po Boys.
How did the restaurant start?
Can you give us a little history of the restaurant?
(01:57):
Restaurant came about after Hurricane Katrina.
We were in the grocery business for 35 years in the city of New Orleans.
And the restaurant came about after Hurricane Katrina.
There was a piece of property that my husband recognized.
And he said, what you think about a Po Boys shop here?
And I said, wow, that'd do great.
(02:17):
And it was as simple as that.
And it was while I was in school getting my Harvard Divinity degree,
and my husband actually needed seemingly something to do while I was studying.
And he built this while I was studying.
So that's how it came about.
And it was at a beautiful location, two minutes from the French Quarter.
(02:40):
About 25,000 cars passed in a day.
It's a beautiful intersection in the seventh, eighth, and upper ninth wards.
So it's a location that many people pass every day.
And it's inside of a book desert.
So you can imagine how a restaurant became something in regard to literacy
(03:05):
because actually the area is considered a book desert.
So when this will transition into that, when you decided to bring in some literacy programs
to the restaurant, was that a passion of yours and your husband's before of just,
hey, this is a book desert.
We love reading.
How did this come about?
Absolutely.
It wasn't.
(03:26):
How did it come about?
Well, it took 43 years to come about because things that I believe are important
things that I believe things that blossom well take a lot of time to fertilize.
And that's all I can say is that the reading came about in the restaurant,
(03:51):
which is Melville's, and we have a laundromat attached to the restaurant.
And we had the laundromat association coming through town to attend a laundromat convention.
And they contacted us because they knew the laundromat was very busy.
So it's a restaurant slash laundromat slash dapper shop.
(04:11):
And when the laundromat convention came through town,
they will put little reading nooks inside of the laundromats.
So they asked us, will you spend $1,500 on a table and a bookshelf?
And then they would mail me books once a month for kids.
And I'll always remember my husband took the paper from the laundromat people
(04:34):
and gave it to me and said, you'd like to do this.
And I said, yeah, I would like to do that.
So that's how it initially came about.
Starting inside the laundromat for children to have a reading nook.
And that's exactly how it started.
And that's actually a unique take on things because I think many of us are probably
(04:57):
all of us at one point in time have been in a laundromat where they might have an area for kids,
but usually it's full of toys and maybe a TV.
What a unique spin on it to actually have books and something productive that they can do while
the folks or whoever is watching them is actually getting some laundry done.
Very unique take.
Yeah, absolutely.
I made it like a little classroom.
The area looks like a little school schoolroom and all the kids go in and play school.
(05:22):
I used to play school when I was a child.
And that's actually what happened. And we made it so pretty and so beautiful that the Clintons,
Bill, Hillary and Chelsea, who are associated with the laundromat association in regard to
their foundation, Too Small to Fail, found out how good it was.
(05:42):
And when they came through town, they made a point to come see it.
And what was that like?
I'm sure that had to have been a ton of planning.
And that's not like somebody up the street who works on the city council stopping by.
Right, right. No, actually, it wasn't a lot of planning.
Actually, they told me about three days before that, yes, they come in.
(06:03):
So they were coming through town.
Chelsea and Hillary were doing a book talk in regard to their latest book called Gutsy Women.
And they were uptown at a church or something giving a talk.
So I contacted somebody through the laundromat association and through the Clintons.
(06:24):
And I said, hey, why don't you pass by the laundromat?
And they said, we'll let you know.
And three days before they arrived, they said, OK, we're going to come.
And they said, Chelsea and Hillary are coming.
And then so we're getting all ready, just like you get ready for a party.
Right. And they said, OK, we're going to come.
Right. And all of a sudden, about 20 minutes before they arrived, they said, oh, Bill's there, too.
(06:49):
And we said, wow, we got the whole first family.
So they were really impressed with the reading initiative inside the laundromat
because all our machines of the laundromat have stickers on it.
And it's Twitter style history of people that have been born in Louisiana
and are leaders inside of the culture or inside of literacy. So the laundromat
(07:14):
really impressed them other than just the reading nook.
It was really a beautiful day. We all had fun.
So let's talk a little bit about how you came to find Inchi, the Bookworm Book Vending Machines,
which here we are at Global Vending, you know, making designing these things.
How did that partnership come up?
Well, that partnership came up because after we started doing the kids literacy inside the laundromat,
(07:42):
it moved into the Melba's restaurant and how it happened in Melba's restaurant.
I was I was in school. I'm getting to the book machine, too.
How it all it blossoms, right? It's fertilizer.
Sure. Just don't think you don't think these things up in one day.
So I was in school and my graduate advisor, his name was Jonathan Walton.
(08:06):
He had published a book and I was in his office talking about my paper
and he had a bunch of books in the corner of his office.
And it was like, I don't know, look like 40 boxes.
And I said, what's that, Jonathan?
You know, I was able to call him Jonathan because I'm an older student.
And he says, I just published a book, Jane.
(08:26):
I said, wow, you published the book.
And he said, yeah, I said, how you going to sell those books, Jonathan?
He says, I have no idea.
So he is a high academic at Harvard Divinity School, just publishing a book.
And I'm thinking back home how to teach what I'm learning here and bring it back home.
(08:48):
I constantly had that on my mind.
So I remember looking at the books and I turned to him and I said, well, how about this, Jonathan?
Why don't you come down to Melba's?
I'll purchase 100 books and we'll give them out for free.
So he came down with him and his family and they spent the day, they spent three or four days in New Orleans
(09:10):
and they came to Melba's and it was a beautiful moment of us giving out the books, the first book
and having people have an encounter with a Harvard professor right there in the middle of New Orleans.
So all of a sudden we start giving out books every other week with authors coming.
The authors always have to come and give out their books.
(09:33):
That's awesome.
It becomes like a book haven so people can buy books.
So I was hitting the kids in the laundromat.
I was hitting the adults inside of Melba's.
But I found that people that would come visit Melba's would not all the time walk into the laundromat,
(09:54):
even though it's connected.
So I got the kids and I was like, how can I hit the kids inside of Melba's?
The adults were getting the books and then I came across Y'all Vendor Machine
and I came across Y'all Vendor Machine probably three or four years ago.
I don't know exactly where I saw it, but I saw it online in some way.
(10:16):
And I kept on for three or four years dreaming of putting a Vendor Machine in Melba's
because we've been doing this project for three or four years.
But every time I told my husband I want to do the book Vendor Machine, he's like, that's crazy.
You don't need a book Vendor Machine.
You give away enough books.
You're giving books here.
You're giving books in the laundromat.
He was dead set against it.
(10:37):
So actually he kept me not purchasing it for two years and he's a lovely man,
but he thinks at the bottom of it.
I'm not saying he's not a lovely man.
So one day I just said, Scott, I'm getting this book machine.
Just, just we get it.
And I said, I don't need a Christmas present no more.
(10:58):
I don't need a Mother's Day present.
I don't need nothing.
I'm getting a book machine.
And that's how to book machine.
Came about because what I wanted to do when people walked into the restaurant,
I want to give the children a free book and it's an experience.
It's not just handing them a book, right?
So they go up to the register at Melba's and the parents know that when they come into Melba's,
(11:22):
they asked for a token and they get a free book.
And it's, and it's a beautiful moment to watch that in total.
And it's a beautiful moment to watch that interaction happen.
It's been one of the best things I've done because when people walk in Melba's,
they see a book machine and it really, it really shocks them.
(11:46):
It surprises them because they've never seen it before.
So it's really been, it's really been a good thing.
And it has enhanced our literacy project over there in New Orleans, for sure.
And again, what a unique interaction, as you mentioned, and what a unique way to get kids
interested in reading that this is a book that they're going to be able to take home.
(12:08):
And there's plenty of restaurants that have tchotchkes and they might get a token for a
sticker or something like that.
This is something that could possibly change their life where they're saying,
now I've got a book, I'm inspired to read even more and come back to the restaurant.
There's no doubt about it.
And I also see that the kids are, when they get the book, they've read it at the restaurant.
(12:32):
You know, they open it up and they're looking at it.
And we change the books every three, about every three weeks, we change all the books.
And no, it's really been a joy to watch the joy that happens in the book exchange.
And the parents, the parents of the children are just as excited because like I said,
(12:55):
people don't see this every day.
Right?
So it's a beautiful surprise.
And in life, we don't get enough surprises.
And this is a good surprise that people have when they walk in Malthus.
And you also are doing weekly book signings and authors are still coming into the restaurant.
If we could talk a little bit about that attraction as well, that it's not just giving out the
(13:17):
books, it's people seeing the people who are writing these books and interacting with them.
Wait, what did you say?
It's not just what?
It's not just, you know, getting this book.
It's also seeing the people who are writing the books, who are producing these sorts of
things and having the chance to interact with an author is kind of a unique experience on
its own.
Very unique.
So imagine walking into a popular restaurant and all of a sudden you see, you know, Eddie
(13:43):
Glard Jr. sitting there and he's got his book or you have Walter Isaacson or you have Sarah
Brum or you have a national award winning writers that are just sitting there very casually
and you got 100 books stacked up and you walk in and you're just not expecting it.
Right?
(14:03):
So 50% of our customers are expecting it, but 50% of our customers are tourists.
You know, New Orleans.
One of the most visited places in the world.
So when people come in and they see an author sitting there and they wanted a lucky hundred
people to get the book, it's really like I said, it's a beautiful encounter.
(14:24):
A lot of people say, we go into a Melby's event.
I say it's not a Melby's event.
Event is the old, tired name.
It's an encounter.
So they have an encounter with a, with an author at a very casual, very, very, very
casual level and they get to exchange email addresses.
(14:45):
They exchange texts.
They get to talk to the author.
So it's really a nice, what I call it is we call it in New Orleans, land yap.
We have literacy land yap and it's a word land yap, which means a little extra.
So when you walk into our restaurant, you have an opportunity to get a book once a week.
(15:08):
You come eat at a certain time and you get some land yap and you get an encounter with
an author that I would say that 80% of people that meet the author have never met an author
before in their life.
So it's all a good thing.
What's the reaction been from the community, not just the folks who are coming in and taking
advantage of the program, but we're talking city leaders, what have they thought about
(15:34):
this very unique program that you've got at Melby's?
I haven't heard anything.
I have never heard a negative word about it.
It's almost like, what have I heard?
I've heard nothing but good stuff.
And when I say good stuff, you can see when people come in and I talk to people sometimes
(15:58):
that have a business somewhere else or teachers and librarians are always coming in.
And when you can have a teacher or a librarian come into a restaurant that's excited about
education, that's a great day.
So when people come in, I can always, I can't always read eyes, but eyes are a beautiful
(16:22):
thing to see.
And when you see people come in and they are thinking and I ask them, what you think of
this?
And they say, I wonder how I can do this at home.
Or I know someone that has a restaurant.
This would be great in their restaurant.
Or I have somebody that owns, I know somebody that owns a coffee shop.
(16:42):
We wish we could do this in a coffee shop.
So the whole element of what's going on there, the literacy that's happening all over, of
which Jenna Bush has already said on today's show, fire is going on there at Melby's.
Literacy like fire is going on.
(17:02):
So the community and the leaders of the community, I can see in their eyes and they've also told
me this is really good that a business can engage with a community like this.
Yeah, it's really, it's an extension and another level of education where we send our kids
to school and we try to do the best as we can as parents.
(17:24):
But when they're seeing this in everyday facets of other parts of their life, it just reinforces
that desire to learn more, to read more.
What a great gift.
Yes.
And let me, let me tell you what else it really does.
And what I've noticed by watching people, right?
Because I've been in retail, I've been in the retail world my entire life.
When the people are waiting for their food, they got to wait like seven minutes for their
(17:48):
food and they order right by the register.
But excuse me.
But when they wait in for their food, they turn around and they see this bookcase.
We call it the golden literacy bookcase.
And the bookcase is full of books of only the people that have visited Melvers.
So the only way you can get your book in this case is if you visited Melvers and you gave
(18:10):
away a hundred books.
And what I see forming is a habit.
The habit of reading is forming because while they're waiting for their book, they turn
around and they see nothing but books.
So biologically, I believe that the notion of reading is getting into people in ways
(18:32):
that they don't even realize.
So when they come to Melvers and they come to Melvers on a regular basis, it's one of
those favorite restaurants, you are getting hit with books in your face.
And I know it's working.
I see it working.
And it's, it's really good.
How many guest authors do you suppose that you've had come into the restaurant over the
(18:56):
years?
We've been doing this for years and I've had over a hundred, about 170 authors came to
Melvers personally.
Oh, well, we do about 30% virtual and we got into the virtual aspect of seeing the author
of having the author come during COVID.
Right.
So, so probably 30% of our authors are virtual, but it's still a face to face encounter because
(19:20):
we set up this TV screen right smack in the middle of the restaurant and everybody gets
to go talk to them face to face and they could sit and talk to them as long as they want,
just like me and you were talking.
And but we had 170 authors and we, we, we mainly deal with nonfiction and children's
(19:40):
and poetry.
We really don't deal with many, what I would describe as escapism books, all these, you
know, these, I'm not saying anything bad about escapism books, but, but our, our books are
there to teach something.
And it's a voice, it's not a bookstore.
(20:03):
It's a voice like the golden literacy case is a voice from the people who came there.
And and probably about 25%, 20% of our authors have been in a religious and spiritual realm,
which is a beautiful thing, you know, in regard to just learning about your fellow neighbor
with religion and, and learn about different religions.
(20:25):
So we've had one of the biggest authors in religion.
His name is Steven Propperow and he runs the religious department over there at Boston
College.
And we've had a lot of big time religious authors, sister Helen Creejean, we've had
sister Joan Sitister, we've had a lot of religious authors.
(20:49):
And obviously it's striking a chord with the amount of books that you've distributed and
the folks that are stopping by.
It's not just coming up with, oh, this is a neat theme that we can go with for a week.
This seems to be a pattern that is really feeding a need for the reading that people
want to be getting the books for and taking the moment reading them.
(21:10):
Absolutely.
And I see lifelong learning going on with this initiative.
So this is a literacy project of what I call a restaurant literacy project for everyday
people.
And what it's doing is it's helping lifelong learners continue to learn, even though they
do not have time to go to a book discussion or go to, you know, the university and listen
(21:31):
to a discussion or so we not a bookstore, we are a restaurant that engages with people
on a day to day basis and the community has been very positive about it.
And I love how you talk about the organicness of all this, if that's even a word, but in
being able to adapt and overcome COVID was a tough time for everyone, but you found a
(21:56):
way to keep the program going by doing it virtually.
Again, speaking to the passion that you're bringing to this, it's not just coming and
getting a book and having something to eat.
There's an experience there or as you said, an encounter.
Yes, it's an encounter.
And also, like I said, we not just giving out free, because somebody once told me, well,
what's so great about giving out just books?
(22:16):
And I said, it's an encounter.
And what's so beautiful to show you how much of the deputy encounter that's going on here.
When the author comes to give out the books, okay, we might give out 50 books in that hour,
right?
We don't give out all the books in that one hour that the author's there.
(22:37):
So we put the books behind the counter after the author leaves.
We also engage with the staff in a very unique way, if you want to talk about that.
But the cashier or the person that's running the register has about 50 books left to give
out during the day.
And we put a book on the counter after the author leaves and we put a little sign on
(22:58):
the book that says free, just ask.
So you have to ask for the book.
It's not that you come in, you make a purchase and we give you a book.
So a lot of people that know they can't make the hour that the particular author's there,
they know we have books to about three, four o'clock.
But you have to come in and ask.
(23:18):
And just right there shows the intent of the reader, right?
They want to read, they want to get the book, but you have to ask for the book.
So I do want to inquire about the staff.
But before we get to that, I'd like to talk a little bit more about the authors.
When they do come in, what are they expecting and what do they walk away from when their
(23:38):
encounter is over?
What do they tell you?
What they tell me, they tell me it's the best book event of their life.
They use the word event, but they, Sarah Broome told me, she's a national award winner writer.
She wrote the yellow house, which is the new Orleansian.
And I just spoke to her last week, actually.
(24:00):
And she says, Jane, I'm telling you.
She says, when I did this event four years ago, it was the best book event in my whole
life.
And that's what I hear, Joshua.
It's the best book time in their whole life.
(24:20):
And I'm telling you that at least 99% of people say that.
And I don't ask them to say it, they just say it because they get to talk to people
casually.
And a lot of writers are in a room by themselves trying to come up with the next beautiful
word or beautiful sentence.
And to have the writers be able to come out and share their book with people that are
(24:44):
not expecting to get the book is it's just a fun hour for them.
And they fly down here to come to the event.
They drive here to come to the hour.
And we are booked out till August.
So we will be in January.
I'm telling people more no's now than yeses.
(25:09):
We just don't have the time slots.
We can't do this every day.
We do it just once a week.
And yeah, we booked out till August, actually.
That's incredible.
And what a great testament to the program overall that, hey, August, not bad scheduling
that many weeks that far all the way into the summer.
Right.
Yeah, it's crazy.
(25:29):
How does the staff interact and what is their attitude towards the program as well?
Obviously, they've got a job to do with the restaurant.
But how do they come into play?
It's a beautiful thing because it really happened for the staff.
So initially when I was in school, I always thought about how to bring the knowledge that
I'm getting and have the blessing to get to bring it back home.
(25:52):
Because when we us in retail, when I say us in retail, because I've been in a retail environment
my whole life, we don't have time to go to these book discussions.
But when I was in school, I was getting all these discussions.
So when the author comes, we make sure that we do an introduction to the author, to the
staff.
All the staff comes around and we say, look who's here, y'all.
(26:15):
And we tell them all about the author.
And everybody takes within the hour, the staff comes out and they go meet the author.
They get the book.
And then after the events, the encounter's over, the author goes behind the counter.
We take a picture with the author.
But what's so fun is we always tell the author, the staff plays a word game.
(26:41):
It's called the word search game.
So we always ask the author, pick a word in the book that we get to search.
And we have to find the word 20 times.
And if we find the word 20 times, the staff gets a stipend or they get $50.
So it's $2.50 a word.
And the staff that does that, that engages with the book, and offers proof that they
(27:08):
engage with the book, they get $50.
So it's almost a $50 tip, right, when the author comes.
So number one, they love the author's comment on the day because it's author day.
And then they get to play the word search game.
And it just is, it's working so well.
(27:30):
I just, it's unbelievable, really.
It sounds like it's a machine at this point, especially with the staff being on board.
The community loves it.
You're booked out with these authors coming in all the way to August.
Quite a well-oiled machine you've got going on at Melba's.
I'm trying to hold on, Joshua.
I wish I was 30 years old instead of 59 years old, but that's okay.
(27:53):
That's not too old, right?
But yeah, it's a, we drive in this car, so to speak.
And I do see this in other restaurants across America.
One thing I see this going, we did a special thing with the New Orleans Saints.
So the dream is to put this at one restaurant in every state in the United States.
(28:15):
So 50 of these we see.
But I also see ways the NFL can engage.
So we did a fun thing during the Saints season.
And the fun thing was, if the Saints win, you bring in a old book to Melba's restaurant
and we'll give you a new book from our case.
(28:38):
And not only that, if the Saints win, you get a free turkey leg with it.
So we did this this season.
And so many people came in and they brought an old book.
They got a new book at our case and they got to walk out with a turkey leg that feeds two
people.
So I foresee this possibly in NFL cities at one special restaurant in an NFL city in ways
(29:05):
that the NFL can engage with literacy.
And you talk about fun because the fun part is people are watching their TV and they've
already told me they said, man, I wanted the Saints to win so I can get my turkey leg and
my new book.
So I'm smiling.
The reason I have such a big grin on my face is our directors and content guys are smiling
(29:25):
at me.
I am probably one of the only Saints fans you will find in Western New York since I
was a kid.
So you are a Saints fan.
And now I'm looking at go, why do I live in Buffalo and I could live down there and get
free turkey legs and books every week when the Saints win.
But let me tell you, it was so successful that I didn't realize it was going to be this
(29:47):
successful and this is the idea of fertilizer.
Nothing happens overnight.
We said, wow, let's just try this.
So we tried it.
But now next year we're going to contact the owner of the Saints and we're going to say,
Gail, would you like to underwrite this?
And who knows?
It might go to a bunch of cities.
And that might be what Melba's Eat and Read literacy is.
(30:08):
Who knows?
Again, great story extending outside of the city of New Orleans.
Yeah, a program like this could work anywhere.
I wanted to ask you about the Light Up for Literacy Award and obviously you're a recipient
of that.
Can you tell us a little bit about that and what it was like to receive such a prestigious
honor?
(30:29):
Well, that award was, well, that is an award that I never in my wildest dreams thought
I would even be in contention for because inside of the business that I'm in, right,
in retail my whole life.
(30:51):
So in the grocery business my whole life and also now in the restaurant business, I never
thought that education and reading and literacy could mesh inside of retail, right?
So for the Louisiana Endowment of the Humanities to recognize what we're doing is like in my
(31:14):
view a perfect public-private partnership working together.
Private, public, and educational partnership working together and I think that is what
is being told from the mountaintops in regard to them giving us this award because it's
(31:38):
never been done before, right?
Education usually stays in a little education bubble.
Religious books usually stay at the Christian bookstores or the church bookstores.
Authors usually stay at bookstores, right?
So to have a restaurant mesh in all of this is quite unique but for them to give us the
(32:08):
award, it tells me we're on the right track, right?
So for them to recognize us and it tells me keep going, keep going, Jane.
Y'all keep doing what you're doing.
And also it's going to help hopefully with grants and foundations helping us with this
(32:29):
project.
100%.
I do want to ask you on a personal note because we've talked a little bit about it earlier
about Harvard Divinity School.
You went back at a later age and what was the genesis of that?
Why did you decide to say, hey, you know what, I would like a degree from Harvard Divinity
School?
I never thought, well, there's nobody in my family that has ever went to a quote unquote
(32:55):
Ivy League school like that, right?
That's all that I guess, Joshua, what I can say about that is as a woman, as a mother,
young mother, you just got to keep walking your walk in life, right?
And it's the same thing about the fertilizer, how things come about.
(33:15):
You just got to keep walking your walk and doors will open.
And it's really good if you can recognize when the doors open and how it came about.
I had my two kids out the house.
They were in college and I just sat around a dinner table one day and said, I think I
(33:37):
might be getting too old to go to college, right?
Because I only went to the 10th grade.
I got a GED and I was in business for all these years and at 43 years old, I started
thinking I missed the moment.
And my son turned to me, I remember it's the first time that my child told me something
that I knew was right and true and he was teaching me.
(34:00):
And he said, mom, you know, you're going to be 50 years old with a degree or not.
It's up to you.
And that's how I started.
The next day I went and signed up for a class.
It was at Tulane University.
I went through the school of continuing studies program and I took a class and I fell in love
with the class.
It was called American government.
(34:21):
And then the next month, next semester, I took two classes and I took three classes.
Then I became a full time student at Tulane and lo and behold, at 47 years old, I had
a professor that told me Jane, because I started digging into religious studies and I started
learning about the historical significance of religion.
And I had a professor that believed in me.
(34:42):
And he said, Jane, you can get into any graduate program you want.
He said, you ought to go to Divinity School.
And I didn't even understand what Divinity School was.
And he said, you could probably get into Harvard Divinity School.
And I was like, Harvard has a Divinity School?
And that's how it all happened.
So I just kept walking and I kept my ear to the ground and I let my professors guide me.
(35:08):
But I was old enough to understand when they say something to you, I could tell if it was
really truthful.
Right?
So, yeah, that's how it happened.
And before I knew it at 50 years old, I had exactly what my son said.
I had a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School and this whole literacy project came
(35:31):
about because of the connections I made there.
And people sharing their willingness to come down to talk to what I call everyday New Orleansians
like myself.
So it's all been a good walk, Joshua.
And there's all just it's all inspiration.
(35:53):
This is what's going to happen.
We're going to allow it to happen.
And now you get to sit back and watch it just continue to bloom, both in personal life and
in business.
Well, I'm not sitting back.
There's no sitting back, Joshua.
Well, this has been great.
So where can we find more information about Melba's and the Eat and Read program at Melba's?
(36:14):
You can go to Melba's.
Just Google Melba's Literacy.
And you can go to Melba's Literacy.
If you just Google Melba's Literacy, it'll go to the page and then you go to the Melba's
Literacy page and then you press the Literacy Press page and it'll show all the press that's
come about as we've been doing this.
(36:36):
And I'll tell you one thing that's been beautiful about the press is that when I was in the
grocery business for 35 years, we always had to push, push, push, advertise in a way that
was aggressive, get people in.
What's been great about this is that I'm at an age now where I'm not pushing.
(36:57):
I'm just walking and people are recognizing it so I don't have to advertise it.
It almost, they come into us because they see the uniqueness of it.
So that's been really nice in the advertising element.
So all those things that are on the press page, people came to us, which is good.
Well, I will say this.
(37:19):
Now when I can say who that, I don't just talk about the Saints.
I can talk about Jane Wolf at Melba's.
It has been awesome.
Thank you so much for being with me here today.
All right, Josh.
It's nice talking to you guys.
Thanks so much.
Have a good day.
Okay, you too.
Take care.
And that'll wrap it up here for this episode of the Reading Revolution.
If you have a suggestion for a guest or someone that you would like to hear featured on the
(37:42):
Reading Revolution, email readingrevolutionpod at gmail.com.
If you have any other concerns or comments, we'd love to hear from you as well.
Please like, share and subscribe to this channel and find us on social media at bookvending.com.
We'd love to hear from you in any manner.
Find us online.
Everyone, thanks again for joining us.
(38:03):
We will see you next time here on the Reading Revolution.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!