Literacy Snapshot, Jamie Patton

I really enjoyed this assignment and I learned a lot about myself as a literate individual. I started to read a lot more over the summer because I had a job where I was able to sit around and read (and get paid for it!). I really got into Chuck Palahniuk books (don't ask me how to pronounce his last name because I can't) and plan on still trying to read a few for pleasure during the school year. That is, as long as my eighteen credit hours don't weigh me down with too much textbook reading.

But besides the readings I have to do for my classes (which I often find interesting anyway), a majority of my day-t0-day literacy is done through technology. Of course, I check facebook (way too much) and rely on it to keep in constant communication with my friends. I also use my phone to text message and send/receive e-mails. I used to be horrible about checking and replying to e-mails. I would get messages that would sit in my inbox for weeks before I ever read them. But, I finally got my e-mail sent to my phone and now it's much better, thankfully. Another source of "reading for fun" that I put on my poster were some magazines. I read Cosmopolitan religiously and have saved every issue I've ever read since I was a sophomore in high school. The heaviest box I had to move down to Bloomington when I came to school was filled with nothing but magazines!

Over all, I think the biggest thing I realized while doing this project was that I have a very literate lifestyle. I am able to keep in almost constant communication with my friends, family, and professors thanks to new technology. I am also fortunate enough to be able to balance my reading so that I can squeeze some "fun reading" into my workload. Luckily enough, I tend to enjoy the readings I am assigned for homework as well. Of course, there are always some articles or chapters that seem to drag on and on but I would say that the majority of things I read for class are really interesting to me. A large part of why I believe my literate life to be so enjoyable is because I truly enjoy what I am going to school for. Enjoying what you do and what you read can make your life much more entertaining.