Month: January 2019

What I learned from this project was the many things I can do in garage band. I enjoyed the process and I’m glad that we are going to be working with this again in the future. I hope I can master all the programs by the end of the semester.

Jeremy Diaz

Dr. Michael Cripps

English 110

January 31, 2019

Growing up reading wasn’t really my thing. If i’m being honest at some points I hated reading because it bored me and every time I started I just wanted to be done. Though I had such a strong dislike for reading I wasn’t necessarily bad at it. In fact, when I first started to learn how to read, I was one of the best in my class if not the best. I don’t mean to brag but it is just weird to think that at one point I was a pretty good reader even though I didn’t really enjoy the subject. The sad thing was as I grew up I started to lose all interest in reading. One of the reasons I think I may have lost interest completely was because of how good I was at reading. Since I was always at the top of the class the teachers didn’t really push me to hard because I was above where I needed to be. So I guess at that point I took it upon myself to just stop reading period.

In pre-K I had always enjoyed reading Dr. Seuss and books of that sort. As I went up in grades, I was always able to find a book series that I liked. Some of these were Geronimo Stilton and Captain Underpants. I guess I liked these because they were fictional, and the characters would do things that I couldn’t, so I saw it as an escape from the real world. Some of these characters were able to fly or were really smart and able to figure out how to get out of sticky situations. I always admired these characters and their unique abilities because in a way I wanted to be like them. But eventually this enjoyment would come to an end. Fourth grade was where I first started to stop enjoying my reading. I would fill my reading log in and just skim the pages or read the back so I could have a general understand of what the book was about. Even though my teacher never really checked up on me to see if I was doing the readings or not my

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reading level didn’t decline. The reason I knew my reading was still up to par was when we had to do in class reading assessments I always did well. I got away with not doing the work and moved on to the next year.  

Once I got to the fifth grade, I really didn’t like reading at all. This wasn’t because I couldn’t read or anything of that sort. It was because the books I was required to read started to have less and less pictures in them. For me personally I took this as some more work to do. I liked the pictures because they helped me envision what was going on in the story. It helped with my imagination and believing that some things in the story might actually be possible. That wasn’t the only reason why I chose not to read though. I did get lazy and decide that I only wanted to read books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and ridiculous books like that. My teacher whose name was Mrs. Jimenez eventually banned us from counting those books to our reading hours. By then I had almost given up completely. It eventually got to the point where I wouldn’t read books and just lied and said I did. I gave up because I thought there was no enjoyment to be found in reading. All the reading I had done in the past allowed me to be free minded and now I felt imprisoned whenever I read a book. I was in need of some big help if I was to ever like reading again.

Mrs. Jimenez eventually caught on so one day she sat me down and asked me what things interested me. I don’t really remember what I said I did and didn’t like but she told me stay where I was and returned a few minutes later with a book in her hand. This book was titled the Lightning Thief. I still remembered when I first saw the book. I was confused because I thought the cover looked boring. There was a boy standing in water with some strange objects in his hand. He appeared to be looking up to the sky scrapers and the sky. I immediately thought this was going to be awful but I gave it a shot. This was a series about a boy who was a

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demi-god and had to return Zeus’s thunderbolt back to Mount Olympus in order to save the world. I ended up falling in love with the series and I was so happy I had found it. I think it was because I felt like I could personally relate to the character since he was from New York City just like me. He was also a very determined individual and cared about his friends and others. He was an unselfish character in many ways and that is why I admired him so much. From that point on I tried to find books with characters that I personally liked. I knew that if I liked the characters then it would make the time I spent reading a whole lot easier.

I think I personally owe Mrs. Jimenez a big thank you. If it wasn’t for her then I would not have been able to get back into reading and see it from a different perspective. At the same time, my opinion on reading itself didn’t change. I still saw it as a burden in many ways. But I knew that if I found a genre that I personally enjoyed or a character I could relate to then I wouldn’t mind reading at all. That is what I took from Mrs. Jimenez and my 5th grade year. I learned to be more open when reading and not give up on a book after the first 10 pages. I learned to value the importance of reading and the knowledge that comes with it. This is a message that I hope everyone gets to learn. Sometimes reading can be frustrating to the reader but I promise if you are able to find a book about something that you will actually enjoy it while learning something at the same.

Growing up reading wasn’t always my thing, but I wasn’t necessarily bad at it either. In fact, when I first started to learn how to read, I was one of the best in my class if not the best. I don’t mean to brag but it is just weird to think that at one point I was pretty invested in reading and would eventually lose my drive for it. I don’t even remember how it happened to be completely honest. All I know was I lost interest in what I was reading at the time and almost gave up on the whole thing as a whole. 

In pre-K I had always enjoyed reading Dr. Suess and books of that sort. As I went up in grades, I was always able to find a book series that I liked. Some of these were Geronimo Stilton and Captain Underpants. I guess I liked these because they were fictional, and the characters would do things that I couldn’t, so I saw it as an escape from the real world. But eventually this enjoyment would come to an end. Fourth grade was where I first started to stop enjoying my reading. I would fill my reading log in and just skim the pages or read the back so I could have a general understand of what the book was about. Even though my teacher never really checked up on me to see if I was doing the readings or not my reading level didn’t decline. I got away with not doing the work and moved on to the next year.  

Once I got to the fifth grade, I really didn’t like reading at all. This wasn’t because I couldn’t read or anything of that sort. It was because the books I was required to read started to have less and less pictures in them. For me personally I took this as some more work to do. I liked the pictures because they helped me envision what was going on in the story. It helped with my imagination and believing that some things in the story might actually be possible. That wasn’t the only reason why I chose not to read though. I did get lazy and decide that I only wanted to read books like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and ridiculous books like that. My teacher eventually banned us from counting those books to our reading hours. By then I had almost given up completely. It eventually got to the point where I wouldn’t read books and just lied and said I did. I was in need of some big help if I was to ever like reading again. 

My teacher eventually caught on so one day she sat me down and asked me what things interested me. I don’t really remember what I said I did and didn’t like but she told me stay where I was and returned a few minutes later with a book in her hand. This book was titled the Lightning Thief. I still remembered when I first saw the book. I was confused because I thought the cover looked boring and I didn’t want to read it at all. This was a series about a boy who was a demi-god and had to return Zeus’s thunderbolt back to Mount Olympus in order to save the world. I ended up falling in love with the series and I was so happy I had found it. I think it was because I felt like I could personally relate to the character since he was from New York City just like me.  

If I’m being honest, my opinion on reading itself didn’t change. But I knew that if I found a book that I liked or a character I could relate to then I wouldn’t mind reading at all. I learned to be more open when reading and not give up on a book after the first 10 pages. Of course, there would occasionally be a book that I didn’t like but I’m glad my teacher sat me down that day and showed me how to appreciate reading again.

By the time I got to high school I didn’t really read much at all. Readings would get assigned and I would just let the book collect dust or just read the SparkNotes to get by in the class. Once I reached my senior year, I was able to choose my English class. I noticed that there was a class with the title Sports Heroes. This class immediately called my name. Sports was always something I could relate to and I figured that if I took this class then I would be able to understand the characters situations and relate to them. The class was also with one of my favorite teachers so that was a bonus. I ended up doing the best I had ever done in English. I never missed a reading assignment, I got 100’s on all the reading quizzes and I even got an A on the final paper. This taught me many things. First, I knew that I was capable of doing all the work in any English class and that I needed to take this mindset into my future classes. It also reminded me that if I were to find something that I liked reading then I would be successful. I am glad I took that class because from then on, I tried to put that same effort in all my classes, and it helped me a ton.

Once I got to the fifth grade, I really didn’t like reading at all. This wasn’t because I couldn’t read or anything of that sort. It was because the books I was required to read started to have less and less pictures in them. For me personally I took this as some more work to do. I liked the pictures because they helped me envision what was going on in the story. It eventually got to the point where I wouldn’t read books and just lied and said I did. My teacher eventually caught on so one day she sat me down and asked me what I liked. I don’t really remember what I said I didn’t like but she eventually came back with The Lightning Thief.  I still remembered when I first saw the book. I was confused because I thought the cover looked boring and I didn’t want to read it at all. This was a series about a boy who was a demi-god and had to return Zeus’s thunderbolt back to Mount Olympus in order to save the world. I ended up falling in love with the series and I was so happy I had found it. I think it was because I felt like I could personally relate to the character since he was from New York City just like me. From then on, my opinion on reading itself didn’t change. But I knew that if I found a book that I liked then I wouldn’t mind reading at all. 

When I heard Angela Davis was coming to campus, I knew she’d bring many of her beliefs and opinions with her. I was excited to see where she would take her talk and what specific ideas she would mention throughout. She mentioned a lot of the history during the early to mid 1900’s and the struggles that she as well as countless other had to endure. She also did not fail to mention about how Dr. Martin Luther King gave a speech on our campus many years ago. I wish that I attended UNE during that time because who knows the things he talked about and the stories he shared that day of his personal trials and tribulations. Angela did not fail to mention the positive ways in which our country has moved forward since the segregation period. She talked about how our country currently has more women in congress than ever before and how she personally saw this change happen over her lifetime. Angela went even more in depth on Women’s rights and when talking she said some quotes that interested me. One was “we shouldn’t say black lives matter, we should say all lives matter.” Personally, I know many that wouldn’t agree with this quote. This is because they feel that minorities, Blacks and Hispanics in particular, are targeted and not put into the same situations for success as others receive. While I don’t disagree with what Angela said I do believe that sometimes it is harder to be successful in my shoes than it is for some of my other friends. Another thing Angela mentioned was that people who go to prison become more violent when in prison. I once read somewhere that it costs more to keep an individual in prison than to send a youngin to school. I think we should shift our focus from all about keeping the country “safe” to educating our young citizens. The more educated we are as a people to more we can continue to walk in the right direction. I am thankful that I got to witness such a great speech and I hope we can continue to bring individual such as Angela Davis back on campus. 

I don’t remember not being able to read I just know I learned how to read when I was three years old. My grandmother told me a story about how I used to turn on the computer in the house and read things off the screen. I was really just going on to play games but I would read words like loading and occasionally some of the dialogue that characters used in the game that I was playing. It used to amaze her from what I have been told. Even though I don’t recall that specific memory I do remember some of the process I went through in learning how to read. My teachers Ms. White and Ms. Williams taught me how to read. I remember when I was in Pre K we would all sit on the carpet and read a book as a class. Some of these books I can still recall the names of like Miss Wishy Washy or The cat in the hat. We would also put up flash cards of words, colors, numbers and other things to help with our vocabulary. Another thing I remember using is a phonics book. I enjoyed doing activities I this book because I felt like I was learning which I clearly was. Sometimes I wish I could go back to those days because I felt like I picked up on things a lot faster than my classmates did. This memory is important to me because I was able to improve myself in a certain category and I even received a reward for being the best male reader in my class at the end of the year. I made my mother proud which is something I still strive to do till this day and that is probably the earliest recollection I have of it.