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Being Read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
When I was about three years old my mother first started to read Harry Potter and the Socerer's Stone to me. At my age I was more interested in the way that she read me the story. Yes, I understood some of the story told to me, but I mostly listened to how my mother read to me. It was the inflection of her voice that I responded to more than the story itself. I also would request to see the pictures at the beginning of each chapter. It was my favorite part of the book when I was three. -
Clifford
In kindergarten we were introduced to a book serires that will haunt me for life: The Clifford books. I will never forget the moment that I realized the character in the book had the exact same name as me. We were both "Emily Elizabeth", and all throughout kindergarten of that year even my teachers would ask me if I had a big red dog. It actually depressed me a bit- because I actually didn't have a dog but wanted one desperately. It was embarassing and traumatizing for a five year old. -
First Grade
This was the first year that reading truly mattered. We were expected to read on our own for twenty minutes every other day. Most kids chose books that had pictrues in them so they could "ooh" and "ahh" and be lazy. I remember starting my first chapter books. Reading books like "Junie B Jones". Only a few other kids in class liked to read this way, one of them being my best friend to this day. -
Cursive Writing
In Second grade Mrs. Hankins was our reading/writing teacher. In that class we learned how to write in cursive. It was the most magical form of writing I have ever been a part of. I used it all the way through middle school until my teachers told me it was easier to read my print and not the cursive when we graded thngs in class or did peer projects. -
Kettle Morrained Reading
at the age of eight I was chosen by my third grade teacher to do the Kettle Morraine reading contest. I was excited. It was a chance to not only read, but work on memorization and how to perform a book in front of an audience; my voice became my only tool. I was scared being the youngest of the Delvan Representatives. And though I did not do as well as other kids my age, the experience taught me much -
Poem Book
In third grade we did our first poem books. We paid five dollars for a boklet with a design on the front. I chose the dramatic arts looking one. We learned different styles of poems and then had to put them into the booklet. it was my first time really "publishing" my own work. -
Writing my first script
My destination Imagination team did not agree with me on the direction that my character should take within our skit. As a fourth grader, I took it upon myself to write out a script with my character the way I wanted. I also wrote in action bits and crude descriptive narratives to add visuals for my fellow teammates to understand our story's atmosphere a bit better. After presenting my team with this script, they agreed to make the change in my favor. From then on I was our writer. -
Cecceti Grade I
In the summer before seventh grade I was invited into the Ceccetti Ballet Program at my studio. It was a hard program to enter, and I was put into the Grade I with highschoolers. It was daunting, and we received a booklet all in french. We were required to read the book, understand the ballet combinations all in french, recite the booklet by heart as well as discuss the basic ballet rules of Port-de-bras and foot posiitons/body positions. It wsa my first expeirence with a different language. -
Goals
The summer before my freshmen year of high school I was invited to go to Belize with my dance studio as a representatvie. Before we could go, our studio director instructed us to write goals and have goals of what we want to accomplish while we were there. She taught us about how we have to set a date for our goal, write it out the way we want to acheive it. It helped me when I went to belize and I fulfilled all my goals I wanted when I returned. It's a life tool that I use to this day. -
Rubber Ducks
My Junior year of high school we had a DI challenge to tel the same story using three different story telling methods. As the writer/director for my team it fell to me to make this feasable. I was inspired by a set of rubber ducks my mother had bought for my uncle's collection. I worked on puns such as a character called "Made in China" and "Sir Squeaks-a-lot." It ended up receiving an award, as well as our costumes that year. It continued to push me towards theatrical writing and direction. -
Emotions
In my senior year of high school I was chosen as a director for a One Act Play. My submission was the play I had written entitled "Emotions." It had been about emotions that got locked out of their box, and how they all had to work together and overcome their stereotypes and preconcieved notions. It had been my biggest triumph as a writer. I never felt more inspired before then, and the rush of hearing everyone say my play was their favorite brought it home for me. It validated my writing. -
Tumblr
My friend Caitlin introduced me to the world of tumblr roleplay. My first ever character I applied for was in a marauders era Harry Potter roleplay. I chose the character jason herbert. He was a pureblood, musically inclined, and against the war. It was an interesting experiences to fully invest myself into just one character and interact as him. I still use him to this day. I have made friends witihin the writing community and a lot of people now know my name and request to write with me. -
Play in a day
Sophomore year of college I did our campus' "play in a day". I volunteered as a writer, went in and had no idea what I would write until I was given a topic, location, director, and number of actors to work with. I was dealt with the problem of writing for four actors when I knew I wanted six characters at least. My script proved to be the funniest of all performed, as well as the most organized and well rehearsed. It was a wonderful 12 hours of writing a twenty minute play. -
Dropping out
In my fourth block of my second year at school I became stressed. My class was being taught by a visiting professor who did not know how to properly condense down a semester into three weeks like others did. I pulled many all nighters for the class, made myself sick, stopped eating. I was depressed and worried I would get kicked out for my lack of abilitiy. I realized then that I had a choice- I could stay miserable or do something about it. After my sixth thesis fail I left. No regrets -
DI Consultant
After being out of college for a month, I was put to work as a writing consultant for the Destinaion Imagination teams in my district. My mother (being the district coordinator) sent me around to teams to help them with storytelling/writing, how to organize their paperwork and write it effieciently, and how to also do blocking/staging.