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Sarafina Joseph

ENC 1101- 0M05

October 16, 2017

The Ups and Downs of Reading

Since I was young I never had any preferences or likes but like everybody else, I found

something that piqued my interest. For me, that was reading as it helped expand my imagination

and made me really understand the power of words. The type of readings Ive done have

transformed over the years from fictional to non-fiction to medical books. At first it was a trivial

enjoyment of a child but as time went on I had to sacrifice the enjoyment I gained from it as I

entered adulthood. It all started off as a source of pleasure but now it is my pathway to success to

say the least. My journey starts off from my entrance in middle school all the way into now as I

still must deal with what was left off from high school.

As I entered a new middle school, I came across two individuals known as Ruth and

Jasmine that had a hobby of reading Young Adult novels, mostly supernatural and fantasy. Yes, I

am sure everybody knows about the teens that go through the phase of vampires and werewolf

and whatnot. However, I wasnt interested in the romance aspect like the Twilight goers but the

creativity that the author puts into the story. I remember a series called Fallen that took place in a

modern day age where the story focused on the fallen angels of heaven and their issues caused

by Lucifer himself but the story manages to make you empathize with the antagonist even

though hes the cause of all the trouble. The details that was put forth in front of me made me

believe the unthinkable of how words can produce images just by speaking it aloud. It even got

me into writing stories of my own that was told in the same atmosphere as the stories I read, even

though I can never bring it to surface. I was reading way more than I ever thought possible and it
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even influenced the way I spoke to people. Finding out reading was my go-to escape, it gave a

whole new meaning to my life.

Afterwards, I went onto high school and every summer, including the one before entering

freshman year, we had to read a novel that was chosen by the school and write a dialectal journal

on the different quotes or events that took place in the story of the book. At first, I wasnt into it

as I entered the school. I wasnt interested in the assignment and the book about Greek

mythology but as I read into a specific goddess, Artemis, I gave a hint of curiosity but only just

for a second. I wasnt into the whole gods of lore and the stories told for centuries about them.

It just wasnt the type of genre I was into or maybe the fact it was a sort of biography that

seemed quite bizarre even though it was quite hypocritical of me think that way based off of

what I use to read. It may have been nave of me to stick to only what I preferred and be stubborn

about the readings chosen for me but as time went on my pickiness on novels changed as my

perception of life evolved as well.

It was my sophomore year that I really got into the idea of expanding my knowledge

from my own cultural standpoint. We read a story called Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by

Suzanne Fisher Staples and it was about a girl named Shabanu, a Muslim girl, that had to deal

with the ways of her family like being married off to a man she did not want to be with. It

showed me the perspective of the difficulty of someone elses life and how some have their own

life predestined before they are born. It opened my eyes to the differences of life one may have

depending on the family you are born into and the struggles you may endure. Another great read

was called Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and it gave the story of a world where books were

outlawed. It made me think about if in our world, books were outlawed and we were hunted

down like savages. It shows the power that books can have over an individual. Books have the
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power to captivate people in many ways and that is what the characters in the book feared the

most. They felt like the books gave people individuality and knowledge and wanted to contain

that in any way so they set out to destroy every book out in the world. The main character, a

firefighter whose job was to burn books, dwells into the forbidden world and gets branded as a

fugitive. I could relate to him in many ways as books are meant to satisfy a persons thirst for

knowledge. One must do anything in their power to obtain the necessary information needed to

advance in society and the mere thought of it being taken away got me really intrigued with the

novel and it made me appreciate the access to books I have today.

As another year passed, in junior year, the type of books I was reading at the time, was

the most difficult I had to deal with at a younger age than some. My school was a technical

school where students had to apply for into a certain academy of their choice. I had my eyes set

on the medical academy since I was in elementary so that I can get into the practical nursing

program and when the time finally came, the whole program changed into a two-year plan. I

thought it would be a breeze and I could easily accomplish the task, no sweat. I didnt heed the

warnings previous students gave and came into the class with no worries, thinking my

knowledge at the time would help me throughout the course. However, being a nave child, I was

suddenly dealing with a foreign type of information about taking care of other individuals and

the diseases the human body can obtain. It was chapter after chapter of information thrown at us

with the hope that by the end we would obtain our license to work as legal nurses at the age of

18. It was huge hardship but it was a wonderful experience to learn about the difficulties that

adults go through this route of education. As time went by, I learned how to take care of other

individuals in nursing homes and apply the knowledge I read throughout my junior year. It was a

handful to say the most but the year after was just full of tribulation.
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When senior year came, I never thought I would be dealing with a problem that would

derail my plans. My professor had maternity leave at the end of our junior year and we didnt

think that it would hinder our progress but towards the end of our senior year we found out that

we hadnt accrued the number of clinical hours required to pass the program since we did not

visit the nursing home as often as we shouldve. Our program year was on the verge of being

closed and it seemed hopeless in the end. However, with a few strings pulled by the principal, he

managed to come to an agreement with a technical college to continue the program but that

meant we were not going to be able to finish by graduation. We had to continue into the summer

after graduating and we didnt appreciate the fact that we had to put triple the effort in a brief

period when we all looked forward to a break. We were then placed in a new land called Lindsey

Hopkins Technical College with a new professor named Sherry. It was very strange just from the

fact that we had had to suffer from not completing our clinical work because of the fault of

someone elses error. Even though we had voiced our complaints we were still stuck with the

only option left to us.

As our reformed program started March of 2017, we had to spend extra hours from

school and take more tests often. I thought the course was rigorous but this was outright out of

control. I never had to read so many pages of different subjects such as Medical-Surgical or

Pharmacology within three days about the mental health of patients or the type of diseases that

can take place within our body systems. I had to analyze the situation and reform my own study

habits. Reading was the only skill I had as that was all I could do at the time. Everybody else has

their own study habit of taking notes or making flashcards but it wasnt what I was great at

doing. Reading was my power and others in the class didnt understand how thats all I did

during those times of struggles. They may not understand but reading was the only skill I tried to
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develop the most over the years. It was my only pride and joy as it gave me the opportunity to

dig into a world of knowledge and imagination; and I took advantage of that and tried to use that

skill to the best of my ability. But, my love of reading decreased as the time went by as it was no

longer a fun hobby but an obligation that I was forced into doing daily. It wasnt a path I chosen

but I had no choice in the matter. If reading my way through the program was my option in the

end, I had to change my ways as it goes. I still must deal with this situation while handling my

college courses but its already having a detrimental effect on my well-being. That doesnt mean

that I will give up on obtaining the knowledge and reading all the information I need to obtain

my license. I cant say my enjoyment in reading is the same as it was five years ago but if

reading is the way to obtain the knowledge I needed through forceful reading, then Ill do it no

problem. I cant waste those two years of reading chapters about information that had no value to

me in the end. The skills I got from learning to breakdown whatever information was placed in

front of me was the only thing that was worth the struggle. It pains me to know that reading isnt

something that can be as entertaining as it used to be when you grow up, but there really isnt an

option in the matter as knowledge is the gateway to power and power is based on what the

beholder believes it to be. If knowledge is something that you have to do regardless of what you

like, I think you should still put forth every effort you have to obtain it no matter the

consequences.

Over the years of reading many medical information, I had to provide information about

different medical-related information in the form of research papers. This of course, required a

ton of reading different medical articles. My first paper, called Midwife Dreams, was about my

future career which was simple enough but for the following years I had to write medical-based

papers, called Dissociative Identity Disorder and Ectopic Pregnancies, about distinct functions
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and diseases within the medical world. I had to read about different information that I wasnt too

familiar with but the outcome of it was the knowledge that came out of it as I learned about the

body and how it can drastically turn against itself. I learned about the viruses and mental health

issues that can take place within this world and applied it later in life once I got into my nursing

program. All the knowledge I got from the research helped me have a base knowledge of health

and nursing facts that other students didnt themselves. I would research even articles that had no

purpose in my paper. I learned medical terminology and how the body works on its own and

every piece of information that I could get into my hands. I will admit that I felt the power of

knowledge that I was receiving and I felt unstoppable towards my goal. I knew if I continued my

path it would all come into play one day and hope all the reading that took place will help me

succeed in my career path.

Reading has gotten me far and honestly, I dont know how it worked out in its own way

but it did. I wont question the outcome it has helped me obtain but I will try to understand the

benefits it creates for me. I realized in the end that reading isnt something you can always enjoy

as there will be issues that approach you and youll have to put yourself out there, struggle or

not, to obtain what deems necessary for your future. Just like in Fahrenheit 451, sacrifice is the

key to knowledge and reading is the gateway towards it. Reading is one of the main abilities used

in my current classes and using the skills I developed to comprehend what I am learning is

something I need to hone while I continue my education.