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Reflective Essay: Finding Literacy In Rare Places

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Finding Literacy in Rare Places I did not find my love for reading in the same ways as many of my friends and peers did. While they found their love for reading in Harry Potter, Twilight and the Judy B Jones series, I found my love for reading in the books, stories, and news articles about a war taking place in a country I have never heard of. It was not about exploring the fictional world for me, it was about exploring the one I was already in, even though it was not as magical as Hogwarts. It all happened one day in my tenth grade year when a teacher that knew I was interested in global affairs asked me if I wanted to be involved in a video conference. I agreed to participate but as the days passed I grew more and more anxious of what it …show more content…

I spoke words about Darfur like it the last thing I would do. Unfortunately I soon realized that I could not answer some of the questions I was faced with so I began asking my history teacher named Mrs. Kerr about it. She explained that she did not know much about the subject either but she would be happy to help me find information. From that day on I began reading everything I would find about Darfur and the genocide that obviated entire villages for years without any major news stations even voicing their concerns. As I read I felt my heart scream and beg for me to stop, but my brain fought her hard to know the truth. I was shocked to find out this genocide has been happening since 2003, yet no one I spoke to has ever heard of it. I read and read for months and even squeezed a documentary into the mix before everyone I knew was tired of hearing about it. I still very much want the war and violence to cease and still bring it up in conversations when appropriate, but I have moved on. I continue to read about important subjects such as politics, refugees, new regulations and laws, violence etc, but now I also find delight in escaping from this dark and gloomy world to hop into a fictional one while reading novels filled with emotion, admiration and sometimes even a little

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