Literacy is something most people take for granted. Not everyone gets to learn how to read and write, and even less people get to use computers, and learn how to write on and for computers. I have grown up in a generation on the cusps of technology. So while I have experience with computers and technologies, I started on paper and pencil like the generations before me. I think it’s important to look back and think about where you’ve come from to really appreciate and strive for where you’re going. As I advance in my college career I took this opportunity to look back on my education and evolution through literacy to gain appreciation of all I have learned and all I still have to learn.

My memories of writing begin with reading really. When I was younger I was always trying to get my older brothers approval, so when my dad would read him the first Harry Potter book until he went to sleep, I would help myself to the story time and sit on my dads lap. I was memorized by the words on the page and could listen to my dad turn the ink to sound endlessly. I wanted so badly to produce words that could tell a story. I was obsessed.  When I finally got old enough to learn to write for myself, I was an unstoppable machine. I remember those papers with the bold blue top and bottom lines and the red dashed line through the middle. I remember the top of the page having the example of how to draw the letters which we traced and then tried for ourselves. I remember handwriting was my absolute favorite time of the day. Learning to write letters fascinated me, I was just sketching with a pencil different shapes and with these sketches of weird shapes I was able to produce letters, sounds, and words. After being introduced to those, my house was littered with sketchy drawings of letters. Each week I would learn a new letter and write them over and over until I didn’t need to look at the how to example anymore. My parents would help me until I was making them perfectly. I started writing words soon after with the help of my parents. Cat, dog, my name, my siblings names, the list goes on and on. I would write with pencils, with pens, markers and crayons, too. I just loved to write as much as I could and loved writing with as many different mediums as possible. I even tried writing with an etch-a-sketch.

My dad started reading to just me at night sometimes, and would tell me soon I would be able to write stories just like the ones he was reading me. And though he wasn’t exactly right, by First Grade I was writing silly little short stories about my pets and I was so proud of myself. Writing at school at this point was a little difficult because the time was rather structured and free writing wasn’t really included. Not to mention the teachers had a limited amount of time to help twenty plus students, and since I was a little ahead of the curb I didn’t get much assistance. As I grew up though, that changed. We had free time in Third Grade which I remember specifically because I wrote a story about a girl and her new dog. I filled one of those black and white composition books with big shaky words and would call every three pages a chapter. At the time I felt like I had written a novel and should be published in a matter of days.  My teacher was really impressed with it so she told me to take it to the library to get it “published”. They typed the story up for me and let me draw pictures for it, and they laminated it and had it on display in the library for awhile before giving to me to keep. That was probably the biggest defining moment for me at that point. Even though it was actually only a few sentences stretched over about 10 pages with some very rough drawings, it was mine and I had finished it. I loved writing.

One night, my mom found her collection of Edgar Allen Poe works and read me The Raven. Suddenly I became obsessed with writing dark poetry and occasionally short stories. One night I read one of the poems to my best friend Melanie over the phone and she told me about a website that people posted their writings on and could get feedback from other young writers. This was probably my first moment with digital literacy. We had worked in computer labs occasionally in school but like I said earlier, when I was growing up technologies weren’t nearly as important as they are now. Anyway,  Melanie was a huge supporter of my writing and I think really helped me grow as a writer. Even though I moved and we lived 800 miles apart, she would read my writings and edit them, comment on them, and constantly tell me how good they were. When they weren’t good, she would tell me what wasn’t good, how to fix them, and if it was just a difference in taste or if it was something that needed to be fixed. She and I both made an account on the website and would post regularly and comment on other peoples writings. It was the first time I had really written on a computer, I had mostly kept to paper and pencil. I absolutely loved it. I loved sharing my writing and hearing what other people thought of it, and seeing how other wrote. I started to pick up on writing styles each person had and learned my own sort of style. I don’t remember the name of the site anymore, but it was a wonderful experience. After using that website, I began writing online more. I would make blogs and post my writing on there, and sometimes even post on Facebook for all my friends and family to read. That was the hardest thing I did. The other sites were all anonymous, Facebook was not. I was so afraid people would make fun of me, especially for my poetry. But no one ever did, and some people even told me how much they enjoyed reading my poetry. It meant so much to me to have everyone’s support. People who don’t allow their families and loved ones to look at their creative side, or just something they produced organically, wouldn’t understand the fear and excitement it evokes in a person.

Once writing became more structured for school I stopped writing for fun so much. I was mostly writing papers analyzing a book I read, or research papers about a specific event in history. I was writing with paper and pencil less and less and my writing pretty much lived on the computer. Word count and page length became important factors and writing became less organic feeling and more like I was pushing out papers like a factor rather than like an artist. Creativity became almost unnecessary and it was all about citing and producing certain information.  I began to struggle to get the thoughts that were in my head on to paper, and nothing sounded as articulate as I wanted it to. I felt like my writing was really immature and lacked the sophistication school required. I hit writing blocks left and write and really struggled turning in papers I was proud of. I hated writing in school, which was weird since I had loved writing so much. I felt fake. I didn’t have my style, I didn’t have my voice, I felt like I was just producing product like a machine, not something handcrafted. I still face a lot of that frustration today. I’ve noticed though, I feel revived when I do write for fun, and I think that shows in the papers I turn in for grades. If I can somehow release my creative writing, I can do better producing something more structured for school. My favorite though, is when I get to write somewhat freely in school. For example, I love doing research papers on things I’m interested in because I can still add a lot of personality to something I care about. The good thing about writing for school is I feel like it has really helped me grow as a writer. I’ve had to write so many different types of papers over the years that I feel like I could handle writing about anything anyone threw at me. I have become very flexible in my writing and more comfortable sharing my writing with the world. I’ve also turned paper and pencil writing into my safe haven. Computers are a place for producing what’s necessary but when I write by hand, it’s mine and there are no rules, no subjects, and no guidelines. I’ll do most of my rough drafts in paper and pencil just so I can have some free writing on the subject before I have to produced the structured information school requires. It helps get out a what I want to say without the pressure of typing it up. I don’t know why that is, but I think it’s because I associate typing on a computer with necessity and it puts a lot of pressure on me while when I just write with paper and pencil its usually just to get thoughts out. 
Writing is so important, and so beautiful. There are so many forms and subjects and perspective, and an endless amount of creativity, even when you’re writing because you have to, not because you want to. When you sit down to think about what writing is, what literacy is, its amazing. Words are just letters put together to make sounds, and letters are just random shapes that we as humans understand to mean a specific thing. We assemble these words and produce thoughts and we read them and understand them. We can read what the writer thought. It’s incredible to think about.  Now, people can share their ideas and thoughts and perspectives with nearly the entire world just by typing in a url and making a page or note. That’s insane. We push these keys on this board and all of our thoughts appear on the screen in front of us and we hit submit, or send, or upload, and everyone can see what we were thinking and feeling at the time, or how we see the world. We have this tool and rarely take the time to appreciate it. Not just digitally, but writing and reading in general. Not everyone gets the chance to have this beautiful tool, and even less people get to appreciate the digital medium in which we can practice this tool. It’s important to look back and appreciate what we have and how we got here to really embrace where you’re going. It’s even more important to think about where you are now and how lucky it is to be here.