The Origins of Rachel's Literacy

     I don't exactly recall this series, but my mother told me she had to literally hit the books to make me read.  Out of stern concern, she would hit the book presented in front of me with a ruler because all I wanted to do was play.  Ironically enough, she was studying at NJCU and couldn't continue her studies because I needed help as a 4 year old child with school.  I went to a private school where my experience with literacy was singing hymns, reading Bible stories for kids, and reciting prayers.  I knew that I had to be grateful for things, but literacy goes much deeper than being well versed in a religion as a child.  I also was given nursery rhyme books from my relatives and they were huge.  Oftentimes I'd find myself waking up before everyone in my house, and would look at the pictures or try to read the words from the sunlight that crept out of my curtains.  

    After 3 years of going to a private school, I was transferred out by my mom because she considered it a waste of money.  I practically learned nothing in a academic sense and the coins I'd save up would be given up to kids that would ask me to buy things for them. I ended up going to a public school that embarked me on an amazing literacy journey.  The annual scholastic book fair was something to look forward to every year, I had often been interested in the paranormal and supernatural.  I found myself picking up books like Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Goosebumps, The Haunting of Derek Stone, and You Can't Scare Me!: A Guide to the Strange and Supernatural. I was also into the post-apocalyptic genre and found myself having dreams of having to survive such trivial times with eccentric companions.


    Being able to read and finding a love for these types of books were only a stepping a stone for my progress in literacy.  The real work happened when I got transferred into the HOPE class. The testing format was much more harder than what I had experienced in in previous years.  The teacher had us go in pairs to help each other in writing.  I was struggling and frustrated with the work I created, but the person I was paired up with is one of my closest friends up till now.  She was instructed to show her essay that was in perfect RSSE format, which meant to Restate the question, Support the text, Support in your own words, and to Extend the understanding to your own life.  The teacher also handed us words to use in front of sentences, adjectives, synonyms, and etc. to extend our vocabulary.  

    My literacy evolved as I moved into middle school and became very close to my childhood friend from my elementary school.  Her name is Jerzel and she was ahead of everyone where we were only getting into Edgar Allan Poe, she had already been well versed in it.  She loved to write poems that puzzled other people, but whenever she got me to interpret her works I had always been the closest to understand what she wanted to portray.  She was my role model who inspired me to write poems and we often had philosophical conversations.  Middle school was when I started to feel more literate, where I talked to much older people online, and had more compelling conversations.  I loved playing games with deep narratives or this particular game that depicts the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.  Middle school was a tough time for me and I strived to find myself through being immersed in works like the Persona 4, Fire Emblem, Blazblue, Nier, and Tales of series.  Persona 4 had dealt with the Jungian psychology archetypes and coming to accept one's own shadow that we often turn our heads away from.  I had also looked into the works of Soren Kierkegaard that allowed me to push forward and apply different ways of thinking to help others.  


    I feel I had come back to my love of literacy with my roots of loving the horror genre in my interest with the works of Junji Ito or video essays of media that include fear.  I love literacy to a point that it gets me excited to talk about how fears are formed and what they can say about ourselves, analyzing characters and appreciating their duality, and much more that could keep me up all night. I use literacy to have compelling conversations with others, understand my emotions, and to have an open mind when I am comforting others.  My love for literacy continues with the Youtube channels that I like to watch like Wisecrack, RagnarRox, Daryl Talks Games, and other channels that analyze popular culture or horror.  I am really happy to have been immersed in the world of the supernatural and exploring mythologies of other cultures because it can say a lot about ourselves.  



Thank you for reading my nerdy word dump, there was so much for me to write that I couldn't go into much detail of what my origins were.  Also, this is just the start of my literacy blog so there is much more you will hear from me!


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