Week 13: Literacy

Literacy is the ability to read and write. I would expand this definition to: The ability to feed a growing curiosity, satisfying it all the while. For example, I imagine walking into a library. I walk towards the nonfiction section, divided into general broad categories. What do I want to learn? There are cookbooks, which inspire me to try cooking. There are those how-to books, for practical law stuff and financial stuff, the kind of stuff that you hear about but don't necessarily understand what it is when you're so young. There are foreign language books for French, Chinese, Italian, and Spanish. There are even books commentating about current events in the US, like the war in Iraq. Upon looking at these various topic of information and more, my curiosity is ignited. It's like my curiosity is a pleasantly light stomach, ready with plenty of room to devour decadent desserts (as opposed to being so stuffed that you can't enjoy another bite). It's like, the more knowledge I "eat," the more satisfying feeling I get, just like eating 15 Reese's cups (no holding back). Getting mentally exhausted from happily reading late into the night is like being stuffed with all my favorite foods: pleasant and ready to drift off into blissful sleep.

As for the writing side of literacy, it's okay, I guess. It's the means of reading: something has to be written for it to be read. Writing is a great outlet when I write in my journal. It's fun to read back on, and a great way to get memories stored to be relived over again with each re-reading. I love reading some of the funny things that happen in life, and my comments. It is almost like enjoying a work of fiction or a bedtime story, but way more vivid, since I can remember actually being there and remember details of the 5 senses instead of just imagining. There are benefits to writing to persuade people; I'm probably biased towards reading just because writing to an audience with care takes some work.

Lastly, a strange mix of reading and writing I enjoy is reading about creative writing. Mostly, this is interesting because I like reading fiction that I enjoy, so it's fun to understand what makes fiction good for when I try to make up my own stories. It's like mythbusters in a way: learning the elements of fiction also applies to fiction on TV and in movies, so when I see really good movies, I can identify what specific plot device I enjoyed about them (although it's been a while and I can't think of specific stuff- I read about character development a bit). It's also nice to be able to understand why I don't enjoy a movie: I can say that it had a plot that relied on a coincidence (like a person dying in a car crash, being cliche) which doesn't make for that intriguing of a plot in some cases.

One of my favorite things to read about fiction is Mary Sues and Gary Stus. These are characters that seem to be "perfect" and it's pretty funny to read about them: Chances are, every writer has made a character like that before, so it's relatable. It's fun to wonder, is Harry Potter a Gary Stu? In some ways, yes. Mary Sues and Gary Stus aren't always a bad thing, but they are fun to poke fun at. :)