Literature Autobiography

Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Literature Autobiography

I remember when a man in uniform dropped off a load of boxes at my house. At that time I had no idea what an encyclopedia was. I just remember the Time to Read series my father had my older sister read to me. She spoke Greek to me, and I started at the pictures. My second vivid encounter with reading was in Mrs. Weidman’s 4th grade class. She offered stuffed animals for the top accelerated readers every month. The reader with the most points at the end of the year would get a giant stuffed moose. I guess at that time in my life all those stuffed animals were equivalent to the Saints winning the Super bowl, because I almost read every book in my library. The Amelia Bedelia series, The B.F.G., and the Spooksville series were a few on my favorites.

Reading just vanished after Mrs. Weideman’s class. Maybe it was that I earned five hundred twenty points. Whatever the reason was reading was no longer on my agenda. I found out that in middle school AR points were no longer required. It might have been the thought of no longer getting those mini pizzas from Pizza Hut anymore. Then again maybe not, but whatever the case was I stopped reading. In seventh grade I had a really strict teacher for English and I don’t remember her name I just remember dreading English. It wasn’t until I entered high school and had all those required summer readings for my pre-ap classes that made me start reading again. I didn’t immediately like reading though. With books like The Grapes of Wrath that dedicated an entire chapter to a turtle crossing the road. It is easy to see why students can get traumatized when teachers say the word Read. In high school there was only one book that I read and was not a required text. The name of the book was Speak. I liked it. It’s safe to say that I do not love reading. I don’t really struggle reading words, but even as a toddler English has always been a difficult subject for me. Math is my favorite, history follows leaving science and English as my least favorites.

My senior year in English and first two years of college made the Damian Zuniga in Mrs. Weidemans 4th grade class come out again. It started with Oedipus Rex, Hamlet, Macbeth, and other articles my AP teacher would assign to us. Then in college my history teacher assigned a book titled The Jungle and Nickel and Dimed. I got so into the books that every time we had to read chapters I knew that it meant a trip to Starbucks, or time to practice my coffee brewing skills in my dorm. I prefer reading out loud even though it consumes more time.
Literatures denotation is something along the lines of “the body of written works of a language, period, or culture.” My definition of the word literature would be something along the lines of books, poems, and plays. That is my definition of literature.

My literature autobiography would have to end on a positive note. When I walked into 7:45 TR English class my very first year of college I was convinced that I was the worst writer in that classroom. As time progresses I realize that English is growing on me. Whether it’s because I want to argue about gender bias, the linear and recursive method of learning, or have a conversation about the fallacy dealing with teaching first year comp to college freshmen in two semesters. Who knows maybe this is the start of a beautiful relationship that will end in a minor in English.
Posted by macaDamian at 4:21 PM
Labels: Damian Zuniga