Kevin Wetherall Dr.

Griffin ENGL 1102 1/17/13 The Cultivation and Amelioration of the Scholarly Mind There are many accounts of frustration and stratified emotion, when looking back on my development of my reading and writing skills. There are occurrences that sanctify and legitimize my love for the two, but I can remember a time when this was not so. The beginning days of life never administer any such passion for neither writing nor reading. All too often I look at the dreary raining days of past not as a time for leisurely coursing my way through the still vivid pages of a wondrous novel, but more so living my life under the influences of naivety. I remember my days as a child thinking, to sit still for a number of hours only staring at the tedious charcoal words on the clean white pages (of what I considered only to be nothing more than a door stopper) was nothing short of madness. A life of existential freedom in the crisp animated world is the life I wanted to be in; not stuck inside reading a moldy book that gave me paper cuts any time I attempted to maneuver my way through its contents. To access information that would better me for the future was not something that really resonated in my heart in those beginning moments. Not until sanity finally drifted its way into my mind, at a later age, would I finally realize what it was I had been missing. As the memories re-administer their presents, I recall only knowing the titles of those few books that truly spoke to me, giving me the ability to bear through the eye-bleeding pain of reading and let the novel encompass my mind. They were books like, The Thief Lord, Sea Legs, and The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, that to this day I can still recollect the basis of each one of their subjects. However, I can honestly say if it was not for my mother, I myself would have

never read a single line for pure enjoyment. She gave me a starting point into the adventures of the dramatic, often comedic, lives of those who lived in the smooth comforting pages of books. I often times forget her teachings, but I definitely, when need be, quietly thank her for wise knowledge I have been given. Others that have also impacted me on my journey of knowledge are people like Stephen Fry, Richard Feynman, John Green, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Ray Bradbury, who through their extensive knowledge and teachings have led me on a path to selfenlightenment. In the same way, through the development of my writing, the individuals I previously mentioned have credibly impacted countless numbers of my workings. If given the ability, my gratification would be administered in any way possible. The only difficulty being the majority of people that I dearly care for, and have helped me through many a suffering occasion, are dead; nevertheless, my thanks and praise still stand. When it comes to writing for pure enjoyment, it is difficult to understand my reasoning as to my way of thinking. For the majority of the time, when I choose to write it is in the happenstance that I have something to write about. In the same sense, I must have the urge to release the word building tension that fluctuates its waves among the inner most workings of my philosophical ocean of a mind. I never write for enjoyment, unless it is some type of poetic form. I try to administer some type of intellectual thinking in the minds of the reader that is more than just belligerent or tedious dribble on a page. I write only because I hope some other being absorbing my works will be able to develop themselves for the future. Whether positively or negatively, my aim is to guide individuals to magnifying reason, and hopefully, through the words I write, give them the opportunity to understand the world in which we live in a new perspective. In terms of what I wish to develop through this course, I mainly want to focus on developing

discussions between characters in novels, so that I may better my writing for the future. Also, an extensive continuance of word and grammar knowledge is always a good refresher, not only for me but Im sure others in the class. It is all too often the transition from class to class and through our daily lives leaves us forgetting the basic structure of our English language. Apart from that and having an adamant amount of discussion on the work we develop in the class, there is nothing else that I wish from the class. If the professor is extensive in their knowledge, guiding us through our own learning hardships with the use of their own knowledgeable teachings, I think everything will be fine.