March is National Reading Month, and like other ongoing seasons of discipline, Reading Month reminds us not only of the importance of reading itself, but of the value of literature, expanding our perspectives, making time for quiet and stillness and stretching our mental capacities.

As the remaining weeks of March progress, the Leader Publications team encourages all those who have put off getting into the habit of reading to slate some time and choose a book or two to establish a regular practice.

Depending on who one had for guardians or English teachers, reading may have been portrayed as an endeavor into new worlds and adventure to far off places, or it may have been described as a drab activity for the boring. An avid reader will know the experience of reading largely depends on the book, but, like anything else, one’s perception can be influenced by early life environments and input.

Reading involves more than sitting silently and staring at some pages and letters. It takes intentional focus, cognitive energy (which ultimately is physical energy) and imagination — the ability to create imagery and characters purely with the mind.

Reading is mental aerobics, an immediate portal to far off places and the lens for seeing the world through the eyes of others. What one might do for personal practice for a sport or an instrument or honing a craft, the reader does to sharpen the mind to become quit of wit, fast on the draw with knowledge and facts and well versed in a subject.

Like any episode of Reading Rainbow or the New York Times Book Review podcast will convey, the diversity of reading material truly lends itself to any kind of reader, from the most obsessive to the irreversibly uninterested. Mystery, biography, romance and fantasy are just the top shelf selections of an otherwise endless storehouse of literary flavors. The possibilities of niche subgenres are numerous, as are the variations of stories within them.

The encouragement, then, is to put your procrastinations, preconceived notions, or even fears aside, do some exploring online or in a bookstore, and of course, set aside time to actually open the pages. As the 21st Century is undeniably the time of great excess not only in consumption and leisure, it is for constant work and packed schedules as well. The Leader Publications editorial staff knows that reality too well. The call of journalism does not sleep or relent, even in the rural Midwest.

Even so, the individual staff members make time to read and some of their current selections and recommendations include: “The Radium Girls” by Kate Moore, “Detroit: An American Autopsy” by Charlie LeDuff, “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “The Handmaids Tale” by Margaret Atwood, “Beloved” by Toni Morrison, “The Book Thief” by Marcus Zusak, “Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens, “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas, “Wonder” by R.J. Palacio, “Common Sense,” by Thomas Paine, “Arguably: Essays by Christopher Hitchens,” “They Say, I Say,” by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, “Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie” by David Lubar, “Fear” by Bob Woodward, and “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” by J.R.R. Tolkien.

The subversive message of that list is, “If we can find time to read, you can probably find time.”

Make your March a period of renewal and recommitment to fresh ideas and perspectives and mental exercise. In the information age that coincides with easy accessibility and intellectual laziness, it is imperative that all thinking people are taking advantage of the information and accessibility and combating their own complacency of thought. The brain is a muscle, so what better way to stretch it, shape it, strengthen it and use it than with a few dollars, a few minutes a night and a few page turns?

Opinions expressed are those of general manager Ambrosia Neldon, managing editor Sarah Culton, sports editor Scott Novak, and reporters Kelsey Hammon and Adam Droscha.