Laker Love

Reading hasn't always been a pleasure of mine. I remember quite vividly sitting at my dining room table with my parents when I was in 2^nd grade and them helping (and forcing me) to read a book that was 5^th grade level. My elementary school was doing a contest to see which grade could read the most books and the winning grade would win a pizza party and if the whole school met the goal our principle had to kiss a pig. Well, my grade didn’t win the pizza party, but we did get to watch Mrs. Putnam (amazing woman god rest her soul) kiss a pig. Back then reading was a chore. It was hard and the words were too big and let’s face it the English language is a damn confusing language to read. But, as I got older, reading got easier and I started to love it. I remember hiding under the covers with a flashlight reading the Sabrina the Teenage Witch series, I remember spending hours in the library to find just the right book for me to read. The summer before I started high school I did a lot of reading. I would stay up all night glued to a book. That’s the summer that I really found my passion for the written word. It’s also the summer I learned I could read entire books in a day if I really wanted to. Ever since then reading has become more than a hobby to me. It’s become a definitive aspect of who I am. There’s something magic that happens to me when I read a good book. My imagination runs wild, my boredom ceases to exist, and all the petty little problems fall away as I immerse myself into another world. I find that my speech and even my thoughts become more fluid. It’s as if I create an inner dialogue in my mind because I am so used to living inside the books. There is something so romantic about a girl and good book. We fall in love with it. We wrap ourselves up in it and it becomes our primary focus. There have been many cold lonely Michigan nights that I’ve survived simply because I had the warmth of a good book to take with me to bed. I firmly believe that my ability to write as well as my ability to communicate so clearly comes from the fact that I’ve always been a strong reader. Even when I didn’t want to be. I remember being forced to read books for classes in high school and hating them the whole way through. I think the first book I had to read in my high school career was To Kill A Mockingbird and I remember our teacher Ms. Ferris (another amazing woman) telling us to stick it out because it would “get good,” and it did and it is still one of the best books I have ever read.  I remember the tiring task of reading Lord of the Flies. I hated it, but I’m damn proud to put it on my list of books I’ve read. Pride and Prejudice please, I had better things to do in high school than to read that..but now I list it as one of my favorite books of all time. When reading was an assignment I hardly ever wanted to read. I can’t be forced into doing things. No matter how much I might actually enjoy doing it. But, when it’s on my own terms… everything changes. Just like Pride and Prejudice did when I reread it with and open mind. It’s been a long time since I was in high school. In college the reading assignments changed. It was all text books and research papers and my love for reading doesn’t stem that far. However, I have been known to thoroughly enjoy reading communication research papers. But, most of the reading I’ve come across as an assignment has been something of a struggle. Beyond the academic reading I’ve done since I got to Lake State I’ve been introduced to some amazing books. Passed along by friends in the hallways of dormitories like secrets and each one of them I’ve poured over with a passion that can only be compared to the way I approach Laker Hockey. Reading is a gift. Something most people take for granted. Today most kids, be they toddlers, elementary-high school, or even college kids pass up the chance to read because there more exciting things to do. But, if it wasn’t for my love of reading I would never have met a boy named Harry Potter, I would have never fallen in love with a vampire (it was just a phase I swear), I would have never competed in the hunger games. If it wasn’t for reading I wouldn’t know what the girl cried about when the thunder rolled, I would never know what being On the Road really meant. There are so many life lessons and adventures that I have gone on all while in the comfort of my own home. So, to my parents who forced me to read that book in 2^nd  grade, I say thank you. Thank you for pushing me to do something I thought was both impossible and a waste of time. Thank you for opening up my eyes to the magic that is the written word. And, to those of you who are fellow book lovers, I say you rock, you are my kind of people. The kind of people that have experienced more adventures, laughter, heartache, and excitement that most kids will ever find within a T.V. show or a video game. Long live the readers! Long live the written word!

Books I Laker Love <---click here!