Daily Writings

1
9/01/15
People who have helped my literacy narrative:
My kindergarten teacher taught me to read and write.
My mom and dad provided me with books to read
My brother and sister, Joe and Sarah, were always too lazy to read for themselves so
it gave me an opportunity to read to them.
The authors of the books I read convinced me that, if they can write stories, then I
could too so I have spent a little bit of time off and on attempting to create stories
because I like reading stories so much.
2
9/03/15
The couch, the one in the living room, the one where I could sit among all of the
people I loved most and then tune them all out. That is where I sat to read. It was a
comfortable place to relax and immerse myself in the world of books. I got to be
around my family and the friends of my older sister and listen to all of the
excitement happening around me and then read about exciting events and get
totally lost in them and miss everything that the people around me were doing. Half
of the time, I was so enthralled in my books that I didnt even realize people were
talking to me until they finished. I would sink so deep into the couch and the book
that the whole world around me would disappear.
3
9/08/15
Twice a year, during elementary and middle school, there was a really awesome
event. We got to get out of class and see new things and explore new possibilities. It
was the Book Fair. The library gained countless shelves and tables, each one
overflowing with interesting books and toys. I would always go straight to the
Guinness World Records books to see what crazy things people had done this time.
Then I would check out the books on space or science of some sort. I loved learning
new interesting things about the world and what lay beyond. Eventually, I got to the
fiction section with magic and mystery. I looked for new Boxcar Children and Magic
Treehouse books. Next I passed the section with all of the weird pens and erasers
and toys that light up or make strange noises. That was all I did, pass by it. That
section did not interest me. All I cared about was the books.
4
9/10/15
My favorite childhood book was any book in the Magic Treehouse series. I could
never pick one favorite. I always hated being asked for my favorite of anything
because I was so indecisive but I sure did love this series. I always wanted to read
stories that had some sort of adventure to them and I loved learning about history.
Everything in history felt so foreign yet so interesting and almost more natural that
the way we live in modern times. This made me yearn to learn about history and the
way the Magic Treehouse books were written, I was able to explore all sorts of
ancient cultures and lands like the Neanderthals and the arctic and even more
recent events like the sinking of the Titanic.

5
9/15/15
I can't remember the first time I used a computer. It could have been at school or at
home. There were computers at both places for as long as I can remember. I must
have used the one at home first just because I didn't go to elementary school until I
was four or five years old. I remember when my mom would plug in a disc to the
computer and my siblings and I were a mile to play games on it. There was this one
game that was always out favorite. It allowed us to add loads of random ingredients
to a container and then bake them into some delicious cookies. The first time I
experienced a PowerPoint must have been late in elementary school. I remember
not knowing what one was but I don't remember the first one I experienced. All I
remember is how confused I was whenever I first tried creating a PowerPoint. There
are so many options for what can be done but all of the options add up to make
things more difficult to use.
6
9/17/15
I am unable to connect to very much of The Secret Life of Bees as I have not
experienced having a dead parent, much less one that I killed, nor have I ever had
abusive parents or lived on a farm out in the country. Even so, I did grow up on a
small farm in the suburbs so I am used to spending time alone and, just being by
myself outside. In my case, unlike Lilys, I was not isolated from or shunned by the
people around me. I just liked spending time alone. I also really like the location of
this story. My grandmother lives in a small town so I have always enjoyed small
towns and would be happy living in one.
7
9/29/15
I sat at my desk, hands resting comfortably on my laptop, no longer feeling the
headphones in my ears, as I listened, spellbound to what my mother was telling me
about her great-grandfather. He was a handsome man with a thick mustache,
arrogant and haughty by many accounts, overly proud of the fact that he had paid
off all of his debts, unlike many of his neighbors. Frank Ellis, a strict and calloused
father never smiled except when playing checkers. He used to cheat, moving two
chips at once, ignoring the angry glares shot at him by those he was playing and
found the idea quite humorous.
8
10/01/15
Through speaking with family members, my mom especially, I have learned quite a
bit about my family history. Some of it seems insignificant but other stories and
events really stand out and would be very interesting to learn more about. One
thing in particular that I learned is that any names have been used repeatedly for
multiple people, the order and name choice was changed up but those names used
we're select few. This makes it difficult to distinguish between different people with
the same name when conducting research. I really like learning about the activities
that people used to go about doing. I like the idea of living in a time with simpler
technology so I enjoy hearing stories from those time periods. I also have learned
that the family sizes of my ancestors were huge and I would like to learn what it was
like growing up with so many people all in the same house and sibling that moved
out before others were even born.

9
10/06/15
One of the greatest ethnic foods of the culture that I have grown up in, good oldfashion eastern North Carolina southern style, is chicken and dumplings or chicken
and pastry depending on how far out of the city you get. I dont know how to make
it except that it is best with fresh made chicken broth and chicken thrown in and
cooked all tender. I have only ever used packaged, frozen dumplings but it is best
when they are home made.
10
10/08/15
I really like Zora Neal Hurstons quote that research is formalized curiosity. It is
poking and prying with a purpose. I can really relate to this idea. When I do
research, I feel like I am uncovering deeply buried secrets and sometimes like I am
going further into the lives of some than they would have liked. But it is really
interesting to find out the crazy, in depth things that happened in the past because
history is so full of oddities. Researching allows you to channel your curiosity and
find out random information that you suddenly realize you are interested in.
11
10/20/15
There are a few things in the Family Tree Project that are causing me to struggle. I
am not sure if my PowerPoint is made up of the correct information. I am not really
sure what to put in my paper once I write that. I have not been able to start it yet. I
do have some interesting stories though, so I guess I will try to put those in the
paper.
12
10/22/15
Error free work is not something that can be easily accomplished and should not
always be the initial goal. The first part of creating or expressing an idea should be
just that, creating or expressing. Only once the idea is fully expressed should it be
cleaned up and then multiple eyes should look over it to find mistakes and issues.
The final result should always contain as few errors as possible. In high school we
had to write a big research paper our junior year and it was definitely not error free
and I did not work hard enough to get it free of errors and that cost me a good
grade on the paper.
13
10/27/15
So far in college, my most useful resource for finding information has been the
online access to the UNC Charlotte library. I have found lots of information in the ebooks available there. Other good ways to research are searching for random things
online. In the past, I think I have gotten caught up on the first research I find and do
not continue searching. I now know that I need to work harder to prevent myself
from doing that.
14
11/05/15
It seems that so often, peer review is not very useful. People tend not to give good
feedback, mostly because they just want to be finished with the process and never
look at their papers again. Recently, the feedback I have gotten has been decent

but not in great quantity. Some things said have been useful but I still feel like it
could be better. When I do peer reviewing, I try to give good feedback I still feel like
I am not the best at giving advice. I need to pay better attention to all aspects of
whatever I am peer reviewing. I still try to check for all of the requirements and
make sure everything that needs to be in the paper is there.
15
11/17/15
Because of the set of beliefs that society is currently following, we must of course
care about what just happened in Paris. Bombings and killings are a big deal and
terrorism is satisfying its goal. The purpose of terrorism is to make people afraid and
I would say that recent events are certainly doing that for many people. Situations
like this remind us that terrible things can happen despite precautions. It would be
easy for attacks to occur almost anywhere so we must worry that this could happen
to us at any time.
16
11/19/15
I cant say I have had many difficult decisions to make since coming to college. I
havent had to quit a job because I did not start school with a job. I dont have any
need for dieting. I have no reason to lie to my parents as I try to avoid getting into
situations that necessitate such actions. There was one difficult situation that
involved me but this particular thing was not my decision to make. Due to my
girlfriend being in the army, a relationship was not going to be very practical so she
ended the romantic form of our relationship. I guess another decision I have had to
make was whether to visit with my family and friends on the weekends or to stay at
school and finish projects and the likes. I had a chance to go to the mountains one
weekend but had to stay here and get work done.