Colored Caps, long itchy socks, gloves, hotdogs, flags, screaming parents, the American pastime. These mark the earliest memories for many young boys. They plague my first memories. They're not all bad. First lessons of working hard to get an applause, or working at all to earn a snowcone or coke. This sets the stage for my first passion for literacy:

Ear to Cap to wrist to watch, a swipe across his chest, wink, and pounding fist together. "Base hit! Make contact with the ball," Coach would exclaim. Cap was the indicator. The signs were unlocked; wrist? means nothing. Watch? Watch! Watch means bunt. Show time!

Reading my coaches signs from homeplate was fun yet challenging, like a mental puzzle. If I unlocked the puzzle correctly, I got the opportunity to lay down the perfect bunt, or steal second base. The rewards were fame in the eyes of the lot of parents, respect among friends.

Upon entering middle school, I also entered percussion. After learning the mechanics of using drumsticks properly, the literature followed. I honestly don't remember the difficulty of learning to read music. I do remember the fruit of being able to, a lifetime of music. Whether on the drumset, timpani, or marimba, sweet music flows from my ability to look at a page of music and breath life into it, a miracle.

I walked into my first serious literature class my sophomore year of high school to read these three lines on the board:

If this makes sense raise your hand.

If you do not regularly read novels or books of any kind, put down your hand.

If your hand is up, you can read.

This professor turned out to be the best I have ever had. Through this exercise, he revealed that even if we have the ability to put letters together to make words, not using the gift voids the very ability; if we do not use the gift to read, it's as if we do not have the ability. Well his conviction gave me the push to read for knowledge and pleasure, and ultimately to writing for the same reasons.

From baseball to drums to reading, I like to think of myself as literate.

Two Stunning yet Too Short Stories

This past fall I read at the least forty stories in Dr. Aycock's short story class. English 3389 was very enjoyable. Two stories standing in my memory above the rest, ones that would also help us in view of the goals for this course are:

"Respectability" within Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio.
"Respectability" is a great short story, one to register in the hearts of all who read it.

and

"The Kugelmass Episode" by Woody Allen.
"The Kugelmass Episode" is a magical story by way of content and in light of the author's creativity.

Check these stories out if you have the internet and a spare 30 minutes.

out.

ground zero

Hey, I'm John from Sugar Land, Tx. I'm an English Major, Secondary Education Minor of course. As if I needed any other reason to not feel like an individual; this class is filled half full of future English Educators, ones (future tense) to take the future job I desire. Interesting facts about me? I'm a Christian, and a pansy for not telling the class at the opportune time. I settled for the less exciting truth that I'm a writing tutor on campus. What do I hope to gain from this class? Knowledge and degree credit.

Cliche I know.

out.