Blog 4 Literacy & Tech Narrative Final Draft

In the 21st century, I am more of a poetry writer and I love to read personal books such as advice on relationships (how to lose a guy in ten days, how to deal with children’s behaviors, how to cook…, and many more. I like to type personal essays, using the keyboard on my new laptop, that relate to my personal experiences that happened in my life. I am a visual and kinesthetic person. I prefer watching the movie than reading the book of “Nights in Rodanthe”. I love participating in group activities. I cannot sit in a classroom and listen to a professor speak for an hour and a half. I get bored and I tend to fall asleep at times but I try really hard not to. I do not like to read books for fun. I only read and write for school because it is mandatory. I’m glad it is mandatory because I can learn how to talk properly from reading and writing which are two major skills everyone needs to know to how accomplish.

Throughout my childhood development my parents and grandparents did indeed read to me. My mom likes to read for fun. She likes to read factual information and self help books but she does not like to read anything that is fiction. My grandparents also love to read for fun to expand their minds, and to develop the English language because they were born in Ecuador, and then came to live in the U.S. in their twenties. My grandparents and parents read books that included equal amount of English and Spanish literature. During childhood, I liked reading at that time because I was very young and liked seeing a lot of images in story books, and my family and teachers influenced me a lot to keep reading and writing because it is fun and important to use daily for communication purposes, and to expand my knowledge so that I can become someone who is a strong and smart professional in the future. Nowadays, on contrary, I personally do not like to read. Books do not interest me unless it is something really interesting, for example, giving advice on relationships and dating. When I come across children books, I used to read on my own when I was young; my first reaction is “Wow, I remember this book. That was my favorite. I have to read this to my future children”. I used to like to read and write on paper but as I grew older technology made everything easier and became really popular, common, and advanced. I was curious and wanted to be up to date with everyone. Therefore, I had to connect with society itself. It is more like if one is not up to date with everything that is going on in this world then that person is lost or one might say, “You are not “in” style”.

Furthermore, when it comes to writing my grandparents and my parents taught me how to write when I was about two years old. I remember each of them giving me a blank piece of paper and they let me scribble, color, and when I was in third grade I learned how to write in cursive. When I was in middle school my teachers taught me calligraphy. I love calligraphy because it is unique writing and I can be creative at the same time. When I was in third grade I used to write letters or notes to my classmates, especially about liking a first crush. My grandfather wrote poetry in his diary. When I was in high school I used to go to “Barnes and Nobles” book store and read poetry books. I loved poetry, and ever since then I started to write my own poetry. I used to write free style poetry not Shakespearian poetry, and I was so great at it. When I look back at the poems I wrote I still amaze myself. I tell myself, “Wow that was me? What beautiful deep heartfelt pieces I have written.” I used to write personal things to myself and then later wanted to show my work of art to others, and to show them that poetry was and still is a big part of my life.

Converting from print to digital technology was a big step for me. For example, I went from writing on paper to using the typewriter that I learned how to use around fourth or fifth grade because my grandparents used it for work and to write letters and so forth. Then, I had to learn how to use a computer because everyone else was using it in school and at home. I was and still am a curious person for intriguing things. And during my childhood years, I used to play a lot of video games, such as Nintendo “Mario Brothers”. I also took computer classes in elementary school (web design class), and other technology courses in high school and college. My uncle and grandmother know a lot about computers because they spend a lot of great time getting themselves involved in that field. They graduated college specializing in computer science and accounting. I also give a lot of credit to my cousin Kathy because she is the one who introduced me to aol (aim) and MySpace network. My cousin started using this site three months after it came out in the year of 2004 when she was a freshman in high school. A year later, I saw my cousin checking her MySpace page and updating her profile and background. I started to get curious and wanted to explore and learn how to get one of my own so that I can make my own profile with a nice colorful background, and then I’ll be able communicate with my friends and family as well. Then, in the year 2006 I was able to make a facebook account on my own. Nowadays, I prefer typing an essay on the computer instead of printing on a piece of paper because it is faster and my hands don’t hurt as much. I can express myself better this way. The plus side when using Microsoft word when I need to type up an essay for class is that if I misspell a word the computer automatically checks for errors. The computer also has PowerPoint presentation I can use if I need to make a presentation for class or work. I can also use the internet to research on different topics for class or publish my poems on http://www.poetry.com/, and so forth. Whereas, when I am printing I use an eraser and cut out pictures from magazines to make a presentation. I think print and/or digital gives me a chance to be creative. It is just a matter of me exploring to get the material together while keeping in mind the word “time” because time is essence. The only thing I do not like about the internet is that people can invade your privacy, such as hijackers. The internet is not as safe as one expects it to be but can be changed in the future to be safer, and some online literature can be false. But either than that having a computer is just another way to communicate with close or distant family members and close friends. I use my email accounts a lot to communicate with family, friends, and professors. I also use my phone a lot. I can not live without my phone. It is a huge part of my life. I have the unlimited text messaging plan in order to send a lot text messages to my family and friends.

Overall, my family, teachers, surroundings, and experiences influenced me to become who I am today. As said before, I prefer reading personal information that can relate to my own experiences, and I prefer typing poem and long and short essays on the computer. Even though I prefer digital than print, I still value print (writing on paper), and reading children’s books to my future children and to kids at a daycare I work in because print is the foundation that made technology. I just do not use it often as I use technology and if I use print or read an actual book it for school or work.