The written word is what drives our society forward by giving us a means to transfer information between generations. It is what separates us from the other species on Earth. Books and other documents have played a large role in history. For example, the Declaration of Independence and the Bible are two of the most impactful literary pieces in history. Even though I am young, there have been several literary events in my life that have changed me as a person. They might seem subtle or even silly at first, but they have affected me immensely. The most significant literary events in my life were when my mom's friend gave me her college Anatomy textbook, when I first read my favorite book series Percy Jackson, when my writing was recognized in …show more content…
In class, we were shown a video showcasing various books and genres. The second the Percy Jackson trailer started, I was immediately drawn into the plot and the the characters. That night at home, I begged my mom for enough money to buy the Percy Jackson series. I could not wait to read them, and when I got home, I immediately sat down to read for what seemed like hours. Before I knew it, I was on to the last book in the series. The Percy Jackson books are about Greek mythology, which is my favorite genre of literature. This book series inspired me to look deeper into Greek history, which led me to amazing books such as The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer. Greece also has a special interest for me because I went there when I was 5. Rick Riordan, the author of the Percy Jackson series, also wrote book series about Roman, Egyptian, and Norse mythology. I have read these other works, but the Percy Jackson series really spoke to me and affected my literary …show more content…
To date, this has been the hardest class I have ever taken. Our first paper was an investigative journalism piece about a topic of our choice. Since I am really into sports, I picked concussion protocol. I labored for hours each day to find reliable and interesting information. I interviewed several local sports coaches and even managed to get one of the leading concussion researchers in the world to answer some questions. When Mr. O’Malley gave our papers back, he said that he wanted to share one of the best papers he has seen in the past couple years. I was thinking to myself, “Wow, that's pretty impressive. I wonder who it is.” When he said my name, I basically went into shock. I knew that it was one of my best papers, but I never thought that it was going to be the best in the class. After he finished reading, I realized that I would have to put this much care and effort into all of my papers from this point forward. My paper also impacted the local lacrosse team. My dad is on the board and when he read my paper, he brought it to the rest of the board to discuss their concussion rules. I helped make the league safer. This paper significantly shaped my literary skill set by demonstrating how hard work and dedication pays off when writing. I also learned that my writing could have a positive impact on society. Before this event, when I would write, I wouldn't try very hard. I would just blow