My Love Of My Writing

Curiosity, undoubtedly, is one of the universal characteristics of a child. The innate desire to explore and understand comes just as naturally as eating and sleeping. For example, I was eager to discover how my mother was able to play such enchanting melodies on the piano. While she methodically pressed each key, I observed as the corresponding hammer struck a set of strings to produce a pleasant sound. My curiosity and the love of music sparked my desire to learn the piano; thus, leading me to learn and ceaselessly play for the past 12 years.

“Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope.” -Kofi Annan. Literacy in my family tree will never be brought back to scholars or philosophers infact Many in my family have not seeked and further education and many have not even finished high school.my love for literacy has been placed into my heart by my sister.As a child my sister has always handed me book after book each one with a smile on her face.

The first time I realized I enjoyed writing was when I read the book Coach Carter by Jasmine Jones. I know it sounds a little strange that I found out I enjoyed writing through reading, but in my mind it all makes sense. Reading allows individuals to see into other peoples lives and envision what they are living. Although I enjoy writing it was not something I was naturally very good at. However, as of right now I plan on trying my hardest to take the rules I have learned over time to apply to my writing to help improve it, along with any corrective criticism I can get. Something I find comfort in though is the idea that everybody has to start somewhere, and no matter where you start there is room for improvement and no one is perfect.

Reading was by far my favourite form of entertainment as a child. My first memories are of my parents reading to me, and then when I could read independently I constantly had my nose in a book. I remember excitedly going with my mum to join the library in town. The overwhelming shelves of children’s books surrounding me smelled like adventures not yet discovered. My only dilemma was which adventure to choose. I thank my parents for encouraging my love of reading. It is one of the best things a parent can do for their child, as it has a wide chain reaction in so many areas.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved to read. When I was younger, I would grab any children’s book I could find and ask my mom to help me read it over and over again until I was sure that I could do it on my own with perfection. As I got older, the books got harder but I never lost interest. I can’t say the same passion came for writing though. I’ve struggled with writing ever since I first started writing essays and paragraphs in 4th grade.

Ever since grade school, reading and writing have been forced upon me and many other students. Like some of my peers, I didn't enjoy having to read and write more than twice a day. Despite my long exposure to english and countless and enthusiastic approaches from my teachers, my love for english never grew. Perhaps my dislike for english began when reading and writing was more than a chore rather than a hobby. Since kindergarden, my teachers would read to us everyday until we learned how to read, then we would have to read quietly in class. These class and silent reading sessions were supposed to open our minds and help us explore the world of reading and writing to be more creative but this was not the case with me. My mind was more active during our math and science lessons but we would only have these for about an hour or less. Math and science require logical thinking and most of the time the results are very similar while english and writing are subjective and we can have different opinions on the same subject and still be correct. Personally I am more of a logical thinker than a creative one.

Music is the reason I wake up each morning; it is the reason I go to school each day; it is what I spend all of my free time doing. Since my seventh grade, music has been my passion. My parents introduced me to the joy of music at a very young age, so music has always offered me the same everyday comforts as Blue Box mac and cheese. I have been exposed to many genres of music from Classical, to Pop, to Jazz, and many others.

Felsenfeld did not come from a musical background, but took piano classes, worked at bars and orchestras and fell in love with music, especially Beethoven which had a “drug like effect on him” (p. 642) Felsenfeld only learned about Beethoven by accident when a friend “played something wild” for him (p. 641), but Felsenfeld wanted the music to keep going, to never end. Felsenfeld showed his love for music while composing in Opera, chamber music, and orchestral music. Felsenfeld followed his heart and passion and is an amazing writer/ composer.

Kumi Yamashita (Kumi): I was born in a small town not that far outside of Tokyo. I moved to the United states when I was in high school as a foreign exchange student.

The first thing that comes to mind would be my love for music. Ever since I was really young, music has been in my life. Whenever I’m down, angry, frustrated, stressed, etc… I would listen to the lyrics and it would calm me down to the point i’m happy. As I got older, I started to really listen to the lyrics. Every song i came across I would try to analyze and of why I think the songs mean. Is it about love? Depression? Maybe it’s about happiness. This gave me things to think about. I’ve recently started watching drum covers on youtube and this made me realize how much I want to learn to play one, but I don't really know where I could go to learn to play one.

I am four years old and my father is walking towards me holding a book. He has dark brown hair with gray streaks and blue eyes. He is wearing blue scrubs, as he usually does, because he happens to be an electrophysiologist (a type of doctor that fixes heart rhythms). He picks me up, sits down, and places me in his lap. He begins to read Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham to me, giving each character their own voice (which he did with every book that he read to me) as I look at the colorful pages. I later found out that he changed one of the lines to avoid upsetting me. He replaced “I do not like that Sam-I-am” with “I do love that Sam-I-am.” What he did caused me to feel special, which is one of the reasons that I love to read today.

Reading is an essential part of life and is the cornerstone of learning. Without it, you wouldn't be anything in life. Reading is one of the most valued commodities on earth. However, most people don't value reading as much as others do. When I was younger, reading was something that I valued, but the older I got the less I valued it.

Ever since I was a little girl I have avoided writing. I have always seen it as a daunting experience. I did not like writing my own stories, unlike other kids my age. I much more enjoyed reading and escaping to new realms. Writing has never interested me even though I believe I’m pretty good at it. However, as I was forced to write as I grew up I had to learn how to cope with writing and learn how to write well.

“Mom, why is the sky blue?” Questions have overtaken my life from the time I was a toddler. My younger days would start out with an overwhelming amount of questions for my poor parents. Quite often, they would have to answer with the iconic, “that’s just how it is” in order to stop my ever flowing narrative of curiosity. Like most, my childhood was filled with a natural interest in the world and how it worked. My yearning to know all not only shined through my juvenile character, but also in the amount of interest in school that I began to take part in.

My love of books and language began in an unexpected way. When I was eight years old, my sister and I switched rooms, and I was given the larger one. In revenge, my sister convinced my parents to use this room as the family library. At the time I was furious at the thought of books taking the place of my doll collection and having to move my stuffed animals to the attic. But I soon grew accustomed to falling asleep facing a wall of novels arranged in alphabetical order. And when I could not fall asleep, I played a game that I loved. I would choose a title, say “The Visit” on the second shelf, at the end of the D section, asking myself, “what visit could be so important that an entire book would be written about it?” Then it dawned on me; my parents frequently said, “Don’t rest your elbows on the table, you couldn’t eat like that if the Queen of England was coming.” This was the most important visitor I could think of. Maybe this story took place out in the British countryside and she was riding in her carriage, and decided to visit the family of a farmer. It might have been around tea time and they were eating scones and strawberry jelly...slowly I would nod off to sleep amid my fantastic adventures from “Jude the Obscure” to “Zorba the Greek.”