Day 2 Agenda (Mon, Aug 30)
In his essay āMaybe I Could Save Myself By Writing,ā JosĆ© Olivarez reflects on his reading and writing experiences as a high school student and comes to the conclusion that, ultimately, he had to write for himself the stories he was ācraving to read.ā Write a short paragraph (approx. 150 words)Ā about yourself as a reader and writer. Write your response in theĀ “Leave a Reply” comment section, below this post. In your paragraph discuss the following:
- Think about the kinds of reading and writing you are drawn to, connect with, or even crave. Also, consider the type or reading and writing you avoid or dislike. Make a list of both categories.
- With your lists in mind, note patterns in your reading and writing habits. What are your reading and writing preferences and challenges? Why do you think you lean towards certain types of texts and away from others?
- How long are you able to read without thinking about your phone, the fridge, or something other than the reading? Do an experiment! Use your phone and time how long you can read without becoming distracted. (Use the Bunn essay or any other material to do this.) Mention your results in your paragraph.
A list of readings I am usually drawn to would be :
– Teen Fiction
– History (More so African American History)
– Religious Texts
– Fanfiction
A list of readings I’d usually avoid would be:
– Non-Fiction
-Sci-Fi
– Horror
– Biography
When it comes to my reading and writing habits, I know that I tend to gloss over words. It’s as if my brain decided what’s important to look at vs what isn’t important to look at. I hope that makes sense. It’s the same thing with writing. I try my best to incorporate big words that writers usually use to try a convey a more authentic message- again, that’s my mind trying to differentiate from what’s important and what’s not. When it comes to writing preferences, I definitely have different ways I go about conveying my message. The platform I’m using also plays a huge factor. You see how I’m typing up this assignment? The way `I text my friends or even email my professor would be completely different.
I know I lean toward my more favored type of text because It doesn’t bore me. For instance, back In middle school where we would take the state exam, those exams were literally constructed to make me fall asleep. The article on that paper would bore me, In comparison to some teen-fiction Rom-com- which would have my attention wrapped around it’s fingers. As for the no electronic experiment, I can hold on for quite while. I may fall asleep, but If I put my mind to it (Like I did for the Bunn Essay) I could complete the reading without touching a device or getting distracted. The real question would be whether I retained any knowledge xD.
-Vivian Uwakwe
Action-packed to comic-like novels are among the types of books that I am drawn to connect with or even want. I love reading stories in which I can see the events described. I don’t like reading novels that make me feel like I’m doing assigned work. For example, any sort of instructional books, such as historical. When someone is educating me about anything, I frequently lose interest or fall asleep. So I guess I’d say I like books that are predictable. Or, for that matter, right now. Staying off my phone for even a short period of time does not make me wicked. I’d frequently find myself attempting to multitask by switching from phone to reading. As a result, everything I’m attempting to accomplish takes longer.
A lot of what I find myself reading and enjoying is usually Poetry, Graphic Novels as well as Nonfiction. On the other hand, I find it a struggle to sit and read fiction, as well as most Playwrights. When it comes to reading it usually feels like something I do when there is really nothing else to do. When I tried to record myself I was able to reach about ten minutes before I had the urge to check my phone. Whenever I read it’s usually to find or learn something new whether it be facts or a new skill. When reading I think it’s easier to lean into some reading compared to others is usually because I can get really invested in learning or when reading something fiction I enjoy trying to find trends in the story and with books similar to what I read and usually read on to see if my prediction is correct.
I feel like I place texts into two categories, fiction and nonfiction, and then decide what I look for in each. For fiction texts what I normally like seeing is: progressing/original story, has adequate use of vocabulary, paints the setting correctly. I would read anything in the category as long as they fit these criteria. For non-fiction texts I look for: educational, engages critical thinking, news about topics Iām interested in, tells things as they are. As such, I don’t really like reading heavily biased texts, such as those with political or religious authors, since I see them as having a distorted sense of reality. Some patterns Iāve noticed are the lack of long texts, especially for non-fiction texts. Fiction is fine, as long as the length of the book or story justifies the plot, but when it comes to non-fiction there is usually no progression and the authors would repeat the same things over and over again, which might be a useful skill in public speaking but not something admirable in reading. As for how long I can read before getting distracted, it depends on my state of mind. If I feel like working the entire day, I can go hours without touching and distraction, but in situations where I would usually be relaxing I find it very difficult to even pick up a book if it’s not one that Iām looking forward to reading.
I enjoy reading nonfiction, biographies, and Action/ adventure books. I am able to understand and read them for a much longer time period rather than fictional or science fiction books. Fictional books can get very difficult to understand as in my opinion the author is taking readers in a whole complete world that I am unable to grasp. I am not very good with bringing a book to life in my head. At times I am challenged to stay engaged with the story and become a part of it as many other readers and writers are capable of doing. With fiction books I get very confused and just end up not really understanding a whole section of the book with no guidance because it’s not like I can just easily contact the author. At times I get lost in books, particularly fiction, but not in the good way. I lean towards non fiction and biographies because I am able to clearly understand the personās life story or information as I can either relate or become more knowledgeable on the subject. It’s just an easier pathway to go down as I read. I did the experiment and I was only able to go 10 minutes without thinking about my phone or my brain wandering off. I am not a very strong writer or reader so it is something I do not enjoy doing but would love to grow to love.
When I was reading, I found that there were some books that I didnāt really enjoy, mostly historical and very long plays because I found these texts to be hard to grasp the concept of what the writer is trying to portray in their writing as well as keep me engaged. Mostly over time I became to understand why I didnāt enjoy these types of texts; it was because they really didnāt allow the read to digest the reading in their mind. So, it just comes out to like throwing a lot of information and hoping it would stick which to me clearly didnāt really work. The books that I find I enjoy reading the most are mostly fiction and non-fiction books about concepts in science, what I come to realize from reading these books is that I like books that really help the reader see the information in a visual light. Mostly with fiction books I enjoy reading because one of my strong suits when reading is that I can visualize the world just by the author using details that form that world or place, which help me better understand the plot and its characters. I also found that non-fiction books teaching us about concepts in science like to use other fundamental understandings to explain a concept it builds off what the reader already knows. Creating this sort of building block style of information learning. One that I deeply enjoy a lot because I can make do with what to do with the information. I can read for a whole 30 minutes non-stop if I can find a text or article really intriguing, and I am able to not even think about anything around me if I have an interesting article in front of me. Sometimes I would even put my phone on mute so to not break the line of concertation that I have with the text that I am reading.
I love reading science fiction and non-fiction books since i feel more connected towards both genres because science fiction brings out more of the creative side of me i love imagining about the future and thinking to myself what it might look like . I also love non-fiction because its informative allows me to get to know real people and their lives. Some readings that i dislike are Horror and auto biographys because i tend to not drift away when i read those genres they just don’t interest me to want to read more. My reading and writing preference is as i’m reading im jotting down my thoughts on each paragraph that way i stay more engaged and focus on what i’m reading. But some challenges are the length of some of the readings and i get so overwhelmed by it. If i put my phone on do not disturb i can read for about 2 hours but on a regular day it would be like 30-45mins since ,there’s so many distractions and when my parents call me . I have tried to read one of my favorite books for an hour, but it didn’t last long because i had to help my grandma and my phone was ringing .
A lot of what I find myself enjoying usually revolves around anything fiction like Greek mythologys, fantasies and mysteries. I love reading stories that display an entirely different world. And I love reading books from authors that are exceptional at vividly describing events and pointing out small details that help the overall plot or just even help to paint a better picture of the scenario. I don’t like reading non fiction stories like history , biography and academic text. I find it very difficult to sit for hours and read non fiction books because to be honest they are extremely boring. Even though they spand from events that have already taken place they tend to lose momentum that’s what makes them so difficult to read. I tend to avoid those types of books as much as possible because I get easily distracted by my phone or people around me because I’m not interested in what I’m reading.