Personal Literacy Narrative

            Since I could remember, I have always enjoyed the pleasure reading and writing has given me. Granted, I am not the best writer and I still stumble upon some words every so often it did not stop me on furthering my education. The idea of having a college education has always been in my mindset at an early stage in life because it was greatly stressed in my family that not only myself, but also each of my siblings should strive for the best and achieve any goals we had in our future. Even though I am content on where I stand on my style of writing, it has drastically improved throughout the course of the years from the help of my English teachers, watching the news, the different genres of music I listened to, as well as the help of my family and peers.

            My life has entailed a seemingly long journey, which has lead me to the point where I am now. I am a first year undergraduate student here in the home of the hornets. Currently I am interested in becoming a criminal justice major but nowadays it seems like everyone wants to be involved in law enforcement that the odds are not really in my favor. Despite it being an impacted major it does not slow me down one bit, on the contrary it does the exact opposite it is my motivation and makes me work ten times harder then most; it is my strive, it is my dedication, it is my future. Without pushing myself everyday I would not be here writing this essay nor would I have accomplished half of the goals I achieved throughout my life.

            I could still hear the ringing in my ears from the alarm clock my mom would set every morning at 7:00 am, not a minute late nor a second early would it start going off. Even though at the time I was not old enough to go to school I would wake up and start getting ready to walk with my mom and drop my sisters off at the bus stop. Every time I would see the bus fade away in the distant a wave of sadness would overcome me because I would think to myself that I wanted to be sitting on that bus too. So being the great mom that my mother is she would make me sit down in the kitchen table and start writing in a composition book, dotting my I’s and crossing my T’s, she would not let me leave the table until I filled up as many pages as I could for what seemed to be a lifetime to me at the time but in reality, it was only ten minutes. Though every time I would finish filling up the pages my mom would look at me, smile, and say “Mija, Tu vas a ser una mujer muy inteligente cuanda estas grande.” Then she would put a sticker on my page, getting a measly sticker is nothing now but back then, I felt as if I was the smartest 5 year-old ever.

 I have grown a lot from my past experiences; I prefer reading over writing any day though. Although I do enjoy jotting down my thoughts and bringing to life a story; reading novels, short stories, poems, etc. eternally have a special place in my heart. Mr.Wakely, my freshman year English teacher, helped me better my writing skills by constantly preparing us for not only the annoying star tests we all were forced to take in school but for what was in store for us inside and outside of school. However, Mr.Wakely’s class was not just a regular old English class, he wanted us to look beyond the walls of the classroom and start thinking outside the box to prepare us for whatever writing assignments that were thrown our way. He encouraged us to start watching the news to expand our vocabulary and also listen to different genres of music to find the message that lied behind the lyrics. He opened my eyes in ways that no one had done before and till this day when I get my occasional writers block I just close my eyes, take a deep breath, and try to think outside the box.

            I blame my oldest sister Angelica for my love of books, if you did not know any better you swear we were cut from the same cloth because we both equally share a passion in getting lost in a book. At first, I could not stand reading at all I would get lost in thought every time I would read a sentence that by the time I was done reading a page I would just put the book down because of how uninterested I was in reading anymore. Now I get what you are thinking, how did someone like me go from not wanting to read the rest of the first page go to staying up all night finishing a book in three days? Angelica taught me that the key to reading a book is not just flipping through the pages but to actually visualize the text in any way that it seems fit. To put yourself in the characters shoes she would tell me, she made me think of it as if I am rewriting the novel using my imagination that I feel would work best from the words in the passage and from using that technique my sister taught me made me get lost within the pages of the book because of how deep I was hooked. However, I do not have the time to be spending my time reading anymore due to how busy college has made me but on occasion whenever I do manage to squeeze the time to read, I love reading my all time favorite and thrilling murder mystery novel In Cold Blood By Truman Capote. Now that is a book that I will get lost in every time I open to the first page.  Both of these methods that Mr.Wakely, Angelica and as well as some of my peers that greatly educated me helped better my knowledge and also changed my perception of the world. Not everyone has the privilege to have such resources to their advantage therefore I vastly appreciate the time that these individuals spent on me because of them I am a better reader and writer today.

            The purpose I believe that reading and writing will most likely serve for me now as well as after my college graduation is that with each technique that I acquired throughout the course of the years will help me with future essays that I will be assigned as well as my future career in being involved with law enforcement. In law enforcement the writing portion is an essential part of the job because if one does not jot down each specific detail that happened during the time of interrogation with certain witnesses or suspects when the case goes to court the prosecutor will be the first one to come after you and eat you alive if you miss one thing. Therefore, writing will definitely help me out in the long run once my career is in full swing but with the love I have for reading now will definitely carry on through out the years and one day when I hope to have a family of my own I will carry on the technique that worked so well for me to my kids that I hope they will pass on to their kids and for the next generations to come. My reading and writing is still changing and evolving with each passing day and though my reading and writing level will never be 100% perfect I am content as to where I stand as of now in both of those subjects.