https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj From Elementary up to Now en-us 2022-01-24 00:23:15 UTC 2026-01-06 23:59:16 UTC hello@padlet.com camador5 https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007710816 My mom read to me almost every night for these couple years. She read my sister and I stories from this giant book with known and rare fairy tales translated in Spanish. I always asked her for another story, but she always teased that I could just learn how to read for longer and I could read for myself; so I did. 

This became a very special part of my life, because it introduced me to stories. I loved the action and the characters, and these hidden worlds that existed on paper. It was also special, because at school I was also learning how to read on my own not just in English, but in Spanish, too. 

]]> 2022-01-24 00:56:31 UTC https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007710816 camador5 https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007711432 After several school library tips where we got to pick one "fun" book and one "regular" book, I wanted to read "bigger books" I told my mom. I told myself more Amelia Bedelia and Fancy Nancy books, I've seen it all. I soon learned that there were chapter books and that they could satisfy my taste. I found out that I could find even more Junie B Jones books and books by Dan Gutman at the county library. I was in heaven now. 

]]> 2022-01-24 00:57:08 UTC https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007711432 camador5 https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007712939 This is where writing became a bigger deal in the curriculum where my teachers would dread a creative writing paper where we ended it with "and it was a dream". I knew better than what to end it with, I swear, but I felt so limited when the assignment was to write a story about a never ending bowl of spaghetti. 
"Why can't it be a bowl of mac n cheese?"

"You're missing the point," Mrs. Bradburn, my fifth grade teacher told me.

I just sighed, and rolled my eyes when she didn't look. No, you are, I wanted to say. 

Anyways, it was around this time when I started taking home 15-20 chapter books at a time and reading every single one, even the ones I hated. Ever since Mrs. Bradburn said that, I wanted to write stories of my own. 

Academic writing wasn't my forte, yet. That came WAY later.

]]> 2022-01-24 00:58:34 UTC https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007712939 camador5 https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007714514 After a fight with friends, I started hanging out in the library during lunch. I loved it. The librarian loved me, and I loved her. We talked about books, their endings, and critiqued there structure and character arcs. I was still reading pretty consistently, but only took home six books from the county library now. 

I hated academic writing, especially because everyone was better at it than me. I could only get C's and B's, and some girl named Rosie from Seventh Period English got an A once and it ruined me when she asked what I got on the paper. 
"I don't know, I threw the paper away. Probably got a B," I said. I'm pretty sure it was D.

I started to read other people's papers, and started to pay attention to the language they used and suddenly I wasn't just getting an A, but an A plus. I could help others now, and that became fulfilling.]]> 2022-01-24 01:00:07 UTC https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007714514 camador5 https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007715423 I only read literature assigned in class. From Perfume by Patrick Suskind, to Night by Elie Wiesel to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. The perspectives and lenses that I learned in these International Baccalaureate English classes prepared me so well when it came to critically analyzing, discussing, and writing. 

I was so confident when it came to writing, and it followed me through college. 

I went to the library once a semester. It was so hard to read for fun on my own time, because I didn't have time. For lack of a better word, it SUCKED, yet I wouldn't take anything back. I transitioned from a passionate reader to a scholar, and it would take many years to get me back in the I'm-ten-years-old-so-yeah-I-AM-going-to-read-until-my-eyes-get-tired mood. 

]]> 2022-01-24 01:01:01 UTC https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007715423 camador5 https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007717007 Writing came easily to me. I need to write a five page rhetorical essay? No problem. Ten pager? No problem. FIFTEEN? Well, I guess I'll cancel going to the gym, because I gotta finish the paper, so no problem. The issue, really, was "Why can't the professor just give me a clear prompt? Why, oh why, must it be an open prompt? There are SO MANY OPTIONS". 

That was my only complaint, until I figured out my writing system and schedule. 

Now, reading in college was hard. I could always read academic texts with ease, understand what moves authors were pulling in literature, but reading for fun was hard. If I was going to read 20 books in a month like I used to, I'd have to quit a club or quit my job. Other things became important, but it wasn't until now that I made fun reading part of my self-care. 

It's worked so far. ]]> 2022-01-24 01:02:38 UTC https://padlet.com/camador5/wzeren47d0u73wj/wish/2007717007