Statistically, every person in this world has roughly 6 doppelgangers. Though that may be true for outward appearances (I’ve had quite a few people tell me that I look like Maia Shibutani; I don’t see it at all, but that’s besides the point), I am convinced that I have at least 6 million doppelgangers in terms of who I am as a person on the inside— there is quite literally nothing distinctly unique about me; I have never once in my life had an original thought or idea cross my mind. In all honesty, I am pretty much a carbon copy of the stereotypical teenage girl, and that’s precisely why I enjoy reading.
Instead of viewing the world through my own lens (and consequently, a very monotonous lens), I much prefer to look at things from an entirely new angle. In novels and literature, the author and characters tend to bear viewpoints that vary so greatly from mine; seeing the world from their perspectives sheds light on an idea that was initially seemingly one-dimensional to me. When I read, I’m able to gain some insight into a whole new universe of thought, one that my own brain never would have been able to come up with. In the past few years, being able to learn new things through books has been the main reason why I read, but before high school, I used to read for an entirely different reason.
When I think back to my childhood (many, many decades ago), I would acknowledge that I’ve always been quite the voracious reader. In my elementary school days, I used reading as a form of productive procrastination from my actual schoolwork. Instead of diligently working through my single-digit multiplication tables or practicing my cursive lettering on the lined paper worksheets, my parents would come home to find me sitting cross-legged underneath the kitchen table, flipping through the pages of a book. When they reprimanded me for not focusing on school, I would make up some halfway believable excuse that reading was part of my homework.
And it was! I did in fact have routine reading logs waiting to be filled out and turned in every Monday, but I doubt my teacher expected to see my weekly 15+ hours of reading. Looking back, she probably thought that I was just woefully bad at lying and was making up the numbers as I went. Ms. Manade, if you’re reading this, I swear I genuinely was just a bookworm back then!! (Also, I did just search you up on Facebook to verify that I spelled your name right, and a very belated congratulations on your retirement.) For my younger self, though, reading wasn’t something that really held a true purpose for me, and simply served as an escapism from my actual responsibilities. Regardless, reading has always been something that I enjoyed, and continue to do so now.
On the other hand, writing has been more so of a struggle for me than reading. For me, it is much easier to make something out of an already existing object or idea, instead of making something out of nothing. When I was younger, I wrote relentlessly; I had documents upon documents of fictional short stories with nonexistent plots. But, none of these ever ended up being completed works, having been abandoned just days after their initialization.
My parents called it the “3-Day Curse”, where any of my writing was sure to be forgotten after a maximum of three days. This phenomenon of losing interest in my work so quickly was often accredited to me being so young and sporadic, but in a more analytical sense, I think it happened because of my love for perfection. Even though I knew that editing was an option, I refused to write anything that I didn’t deem to be completely flawless. Ten years later, this is still something I tend to struggle with. However, I’m slowly but surely learning to rid myself of that mindset of always having to be perfect; perfection is not an immediate result, but rather a continual work in progress.
And there you have it, folks! That’s my (relatively boring) journey with reading and writing. There’s no grand, catalytic moment in my journey to appreciating the art of either, but it is something that has shaped my life in small but meaningful ways, and I hope to continue working towards bettering my relationship with both.
2 thoughts on “Benefits of Being Basic”
Bibiane, I’m amazed by the amount of detail and humor that you have incorporated into your literacy narrative. A lot of the feelings that you describe towards reading truly describes how I felt being a reader as well. At a young age just like you, I was a strong reader and would use reading as an excuse for homework. I used to love reading as a kid and would spend my weekends waiting for the chance to go to the library. Your story really hit close to home as I was able to relate to several of the developmental stages that you had as well.
I enjoyed seeing your overall development into becoming a more confident individual towards the end of your literacy narrative. Specifically when you mentioned that it’s OK to not be perfect and to embrace who you are as a person. I like that you mentioned that “perfection is not an immediate result but rather a continual work in progress”. I think that this is a really accurate statement and can be used towards several students not comfortable with the current place they are with reading or writing.
One thing I’d like to say is that you should have more confidence in yourself. From reading your story from the beginning, I always saw that in your style of writing you always seem to doubt yourself and bring yourself down. From reading this literacy narrative, I can tell you that you are a great writer and the more you doubt yourself the more this negativity gets in your head and makes you want to become worse of a writer. I think that right now you are an amazing writer and the story that you have written has really connected with me as a reader. Just believe in yourself and your capabilities just like you believed in the creativity that came out of reading at such a young age and stick with your gut!
First of all, I love your take on “interest doppelgangers”. It reminds me of the idea that even when you think you’re the “only person” who is interested in something or has a different viewpoint, there is someone, somewhere who has the same opinion. Or the idea that there is someone, somewhere who understands what you are dealing with. I also like how you talked about the idea of “metaphorical escapism” through reading, but also real-life escapism through reading. It’s one thing for reading to “take you to a new world” but using it to avoid other work is next level. Overall though, I’m just really glad you’re becoming more comfortable with the idea of progress instead of trying to reach perfection the first time! Good timing too, since we’re going to be doing so much writing over the next few months!
ldhood (many, many decades ago), I would acknowledge that I’ve always been quite the voracious reader. In my elementary school days, I used reading as a form of productive procrastination from my actual schoolwork. Instead of diligently working through my single-digit multiplication tables or practicing my cursive lettering on the lined paper worksheets, my parents would come home to find me sitting cross-legged underneath the kitchen table, flipping through the pages of a book. When they reprimanded me for not focusing on school, I would make up some halfway believable excuse that reading was part of my homework.
Bibiane, I’m amazed by the amount of detail and humor that you have incorporated into your literacy narrative. A lot of the feelings that you describe towards reading truly describes how I felt being a reader as well. At a young age just like you, I was a strong reader and would use reading as an excuse for homework. I used to love reading as a kid and would spend my weekends waiting for the chance to go to the library. Your story really hit close to home as I was able to relate to several of the developmental stages that you had as well.
I enjoyed seeing your overall development into becoming a more confident individual towards the end of your literacy narrative. Specifically when you mentioned that it’s OK to not be perfect and to embrace who you are as a person. I like that you mentioned that “perfection is not an immediate result but rather a continual work in progress”. I think that this is a really accurate statement and can be used towards several students not comfortable with the current place they are with reading or writing.
One thing I’d like to say is that you should have more confidence in yourself. From reading your story from the beginning, I always saw that in your style of writing you always seem to doubt yourself and bring yourself down. From reading this literacy narrative, I can tell you that you are a great writer and the more you doubt yourself the more this negativity gets in your head and makes you want to become worse of a writer. I think that right now you are an amazing writer and the story that you have written has really connected with me as a reader. Just believe in yourself and your capabilities just like you believed in the creativity that came out of reading at such a young age and stick with your gut!
First of all, I love your take on “interest doppelgangers”. It reminds me of the idea that even when you think you’re the “only person” who is interested in something or has a different viewpoint, there is someone, somewhere who has the same opinion. Or the idea that there is someone, somewhere who understands what you are dealing with. I also like how you talked about the idea of “metaphorical escapism” through reading, but also real-life escapism through reading. It’s one thing for reading to “take you to a new world” but using it to avoid other work is next level. Overall though, I’m just really glad you’re becoming more comfortable with the idea of progress instead of trying to reach perfection the first time! Good timing too, since we’re going to be doing so much writing over the next few months!