Evan Miller Literacy Narrative

My history with reading and writing is a complicated one. I can’t remember being excited when I realized that I could read, I don’t remember the moment at all actually. My earliest memories of reading consist of being forced to read in school, and I never particularly enjoy something I’m told I have to do. There have been a few times that I found a book or series of books that sparked my interest in reading, but those feelings always faded quickly. Reading for the pure enjoyment of reading was never something I got into. Reading to acquire facts so that I may know more about something is the only way I can stand staring at words for a long period of time. Everything tends to interest me somehow, even if it’s just that fact that I now know more about a certain object, person, or event than I did before. My curiosity about everything is the only reason I read to this day. Reading for classes or my career is very difficult if I can’t find a way to be interested in the material. Writings that go on and on about opinions or philosophy are dreadful to read in my opinion, because they don’t offer the concrete facts I desire.

My earliest memory of reading was in the fifth grade. It’s funny than I remember more about hating to read that what it was I had actually read. The only thing I can recall reading up to that point was The Outsiders. If I remember right, I even bought the book and read it again on my own time, a very rare thing for me to do even as an adult. After that novel I tried to find others that I enjoyed. The next one was a disaster; I can’t even remember the title. All I remember about my second attempt at reading for pleasure was that I couldn’t make it past the first two chapters.

Another time I can remember reading in grade school was in eighth grade when the class read A Christmas Carol out loud. I didn’t pay attention at all unless it was my turn to read, but I do remember that I had a much easier time reading than most of my classmates. I never stumbled on a word and didn’t pause unless at the end of a sentence. That may seem like an odd thing to remember but it was a large confidence boost since I thought I was way behind. I didn’t think someone that hated reading as much as I did would be any good at it. That same course we went over “scanning” and “skimming”, two techniques on getting the important information out of a large reading very quickly. I didn’t do well, but I didn’t really care at the time either. It wasn’t until later in life that I really wished I would have cared and tried harder.

I truly don’t remember any other reading until after I joined the Marine Corps. Before the Marines, I was pretty busy in high school. I had a full time job that allowed me to go on work release from classes, so I only attended high school for about one hour a day. After my basic training however, I discovered how boring and slow life can get. A good ten hours out of everyday are extremely busy on active duty; the other fourteen consist of sleeping and fighting off boredom. There was some mandatory reading about weapons systems and general infantry knowledge, but the rest of the time was spent killing time. When you are a low rank, you don’t have many choices on what you can do. Lower ranks generally can’t go-off base until the weekend, and on-base activities aren’t too exciting. Reading typically takes up the majority of a young marine’s personal life. Some guys read books, but I got more into magazines at that time in my life. I bought the typical guy magazines: Maxim, FHM, and Men’s Health. Once again I only cared about the facts that I could extract from the articles, nothing more.

I was taking a few college classes early on in the Marine Corps, but to be completely honest, I just did the bare minimum to pass. Most classes I didn’t even open the book; other classes I slept through almost entirely. If I would have had more time I could have done better, but I was at work for a good 60 hours a week, and commuted about two hours a day. Any education I received at that time in my life did very little to encourage my reading habits.

During a deployment to Iraq in 2006, I started reading Cat and Mouse, by James Patterson. I don’t know how the book got in my possession, but once I finished it I wanted more. I ended up reading Kiss the Girls and any other Patterson novels I could find. This was the first time since the fifth grade that I found myself enjoying to read. It’s possible that if I would have had a normal deployment, I may have stuck with reading for pleasure. I can always count on one thing though, life always brings changes.

About a month before we were going to ship back to the U.S. I was wounded badly in a firefight. I don’t remember much from the few weeks that followed. There was an Iraqi back alley truck ride, helicopter ride, medical airplane, and hospital after hospital in four different countries. Reading no longer had anything to do with my life, things changed too much. The next year I recovered from my injuries, and was retired from the Marines in 2009.

Since my retirement, I have been working at getting into law school. I started at Owens Community College in the Fall semester of 2009, and received my Associates degree in Fall 2010. Since Spring 2011, I have been at Bowling Green State University, and will graduate May 2012. During my time at these two colleges, I have really improved my textbook reading techniques. At first it was difficult, but lately I have been able to read large amounts of information and retain the important items effectively. I take a lot of credit hours every semester, so this skill has become essential to my success. Despite being able to read and retain information, I have yet to get into reading for enjoyment again. There is never a day that I finish with my class work and think to myself: “Oh boy, I sure feel like reading something for fun”. The last thing I want to look at after homework is finished is another form of written work.

My latest and greatest challenge has been the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). My first attempt turned out to be average, but I know I can do a lot better. The section on critical thinking was easy enough; I almost received a perfect score. Unfortunately, the majority of the test consists of different kinds of reading questions. The most difficult section has two or three short essays that a tester has to answer eight to ten questions after reading. The problem is that there is a 35 minute time limit on every section, and I find myself having to go back to the essay over and over. These essays aren’t facts either, they are opinions and theories that I couldn’t care less about. My entire reading and writing history has loathed this kind of material. Now I have to count on skimming and scanning it as fast as possible, another thing that I’m not too fond of as I mentioned earlier.

There are a large number of law schools I can get into with my current score, but there are many scholarships that will pay 100% of my tuition if I can get ten more questions right on my second LSAT attempt. Considering that I ran out of time with about 7 questions left on each of the three reading sections, I think I may have a shot at a much better score. It has been eight months since my first try, and my courses at BGSU have only gotten harder and more demanding. I know that I will be much more prepared this time.

From fifth grade until this very moment, I have had my challenges with reading and writing. It hasn’t improved much after my early college years, military experience, or recent college attendance. Most of my problem is a mental block I have against enjoying reading. At least I’m aware of it, and can try to mitigate it as much as possible. There have been times that I enjoyed reading for fun, but they never seem to last for whatever reason. I know I will find reading enjoyable in the future, but I don’t know if it will ever be something I get into for a very long period of time.