http://www.tiki-toki.com/timeline/entry/336106/Digital-Literacy-Narrative/

My experience in reading and writing could best be described as minimal. Growing up I was never too fond of reading anything. The books that I enjoyed the most were the ones filled with pictures instead of text. This is especially embarrassing because my older sister was a bookworm. She was the one reading the Harry Potter series as early as elementary school. I, of course, still read classic children’s books ranging from The Very Hungry Caterpillar  to The Berenstain Bears, but those books were nothing to write home about. 

Reading is always easier when you are interested in the content of the book. As a child I loved dinosaurs. I would always spend my time drawing and learning more about the reptilian giants. This lead to me buying a number of dinosaur-related books. Most of them were written in a factual, informative and formal manner.

I did not have much exposure to storytelling until Bionicle was released. This was a story-driven toy line that released story serials in an episodic manner on their website. Eventually broadening my horizons, I began to try and read for fun during middle school. I enjoyed the Alex Rider series as well as And Then There Were None. Having been bogged down by the boring school-required novels, it was refreshing to read something suspenseful. 

I was exposed to the internet early in my childhood. Even before getting my own I was allowed to use my father’s computer. My time on the machine was only limited by when he had to use it. As you can imagine, once I received my own I was using it non-stop. Despite being slow to pick up on social media websites I can say that I have been on Youtube ever since its conception. Bouncing back and forth between a multitude of websites, I not only enjoyed the content but also the comments people made. Behind all of the stupidity, there were some insightful and hilarious remarks to be made. 

Wanting to challenge myself, I decided to take a number of AP English courses in high school. Dozens of books and essays later, I had to take the ultimate writing test: my common application. Writing this essay took away my entire summer. I went through five different rough drafts as well as editing the final one several times.  Looking back at my reading and writing history it is easy to see why I was so worried about applying to college. I cannot say with complete honesty that reading and writing are my best friends, but what has changed is that I am excited to build upon those very skills. Months after my submission, I now sit here writing about my experience thinking of what literary challenges lie ahead of me.