Learning To Be Me

Learning To Be Me

My name is Ryan Daunt and I’m an 18 year old college student attending Stevenson university. I spend a majority of my time either  playing lacrosse or spending, what my parents would most likely say is, an unhealthy amount of times playing video games. I was born in Chesapeake Virginia but grew up in Hightstown New jersey. Another thing that not many people know about me is I harbor a very hidden love for reading. I grew up with my head in a book any free moment I had. My mom in particular encouraged this because my other two brothers dread reading like most young kids do. For me however it played a large part in my growth and my childhood. It is hard to tell my story without including this crucial piece of information. Writing on the other hand was always a struggle. I could never quite get the ideas in my head onto the page, which always troubled me because with all the reading I felt like it shouldn’t be so  difficult. Today while I am much more confident in my ability to put meaningful words on a page and to comprehend pieces of literature and writing I still know there is much work to be done and much more for me to learn. However we are focusing on the past in this piece and for that I’m going to be talking about my childhood and early life. These are influential points in my life that I can pinpoint as turning points and growing points in my development as both a writer and reader.

From a young age my parents could tell I was a reader, or at the very least interested in stories. Every night growing up, probably as early 2 years old my mom would read to me every night, until of course it got to the point where I could read myself. I probably share a common story with many other kids here when I say that the one book I can clearly remember as being read to me over and over, begging my mom to read it again was green eggs and ham. In my developing mind it was the quintessential piece of story telling, the pinnacle of human writing performance. The first hearing of this story is permanently etched into my brain. I was sitting on my mom’s bed on a breezy fall afternoon, we had the windows open and it was starting to get late. I was snuggled up in my pajamas, laying down next to my mom when she started the story. I will never forget the first time i heard “Do you like green eggs and ham?” After that the rest was history, my journey of literature had unknowingly begun. The story was the first I can remember that captivated my mind, influenced me to want to hear a story, created emotions just by hearing and seeing words and looking back now I see this as a clear starting point in my journey towards learning and mastering writing and reading. This is what inspired me to start, the rest of the journey was learning how to actually accomplish what Dr. Seuss did in this work of art.

For me now, in such a modern age where technology dominates the classrooms and writing is done largely on computers, I’m blessed to be able to hide my horrendous handwriting from the world. Young me however did not have this luxury. Growing up my handwriting left a lot to be desired, and when the teacher brought out those purple handwriting books with the large bold outlines separated down the middle by the faint dotted line, the look of absolute disgust was most likely perfectly viewable by all. For someone who enjoyed books as much as I did, the actual writing mechanic behind such things was very difficult for me. For some reason I just could not get my small hands to follow those faint, perfectly formed letters they expected us children to replicate. This was around 2nd grade, and every couple days these books would get brought out and i’d be forced to yet again put my pencil to paper and struggled through another harsh session of writing practice. It took the whole year for me to finally be able to write legibly but in the end I did it. This struggle taught me alot, more than just learning write. I know I will never forget those purple writing books and the uncomfortable brown desks that we sat in for hours on end. While torturous at the time they gave me valuable tools that I do now appreciate. My handwriting may not be much better than it was back then but simply being able to write was one of the most important thing a kid can learn. It opened up to so much more, allowed so much more growth and getting those lessons into my head was a huge point in my childhood. One that can be traced up through everything we do today pretty much, between college and social life, writing is one of the essential things that one must be able to do.  This skill was so important because it led to development into deeper, more complex ways of writing.

The next corner stone in my life was in 5th grade english class. It was the first time us students were allowed to free write, and kind of piece we wanted. I, being in love with books at this point in my life, choose to create my own. The genre that fascinated me at this time was fantasy so this story was about as fantastical as it gets. Talking animals, wizards, superpowers and some kind of plot crammed into a 1,300 word  novel, equipped with hand drawn art and all. I don’t know where the story ever ended up, probably buried under other memorabilia my mom kept over the years but I do remember the happiness, the struggles and the hard work I put into that piece. I was so proud to have written something with my own two hands, a story created by me. I put emotions, characters, places and anything I could think of. It was a culmination of all the skills I had learned up until that point, from Dr. Seuss to writing exercises I used everything I knew in that and will never forget the happiness it brought me. It sparked a passion in me and that’s something that someone never forgets. I’ve held onto this love of reading and writing ever since.

The lessons I have learned throughout my life have molded me into the student and person i am today. Writing and reading, while they may not be something one thinks about as playing an influential part in our lives, have a lasting impact on our future. Our ability to put thoughts into words and to comprehend and understand the ideas of others are essential in creating our futures. These 3 moments in my life are things that I can look back and say with absolute certainty have played a large part in my development as a reader and writer. Whether it be teaching me the basics of the tools or expanding my passion for them, they are things have and will continue to help me throughout life. The combination of all these lessons is what makes me who I am and they will serve me well forever.