English Literacy Paper

Submitted By Ridgeporter
Words: 1022
Pages: 5

James Breckenridge Porter
Ms. Moore
English 1001 Section 75
9 September 2013
When I was growing up in Miami, Florida I never developed an appreciation for reading. Living in a place where people usually vacation there was always some outdoor adventure calling your name. Rarely, would I ever find myself sitting inside for something else other then meals. Biking, boating, fishing, and playing pick up sports where just a few of activities that I would find myself regularly participating in. So, as a naïve child, I never knew what I was missing out on. I was convinced that something that couldn’t get my heart pounding was tedious and boring. However, I would soon discover that reading would have it’s own way to receive my attention. I was boarding the Southwest airlines plane to New Orleans leaving from Baltimore and I was dreading the situation. Like always, I was about to board a seemingly never-ending flight without any form of entertainment. Unable to sleep, I would sit there starring at the seat in front of me for the entire flight. Even though I was on my way to my to watch a LSU Football game, my favorite past time ever, I could never stay entertained. I noticed that everybody around me that was reading a book seemed engaged and had an energized look in their eyes. I remember wishing I enjoyed reading like these people, but never gave it a try. As soon as the plane wheels touched down I was out of my seat and urging everybody ahead of me to move faster. I had survived the torture and now I was rewarded with tickets to watch my favorite team in the world play under the lights. Everywhere I looked my eyes were flooded with purple and gold. It was game day in Baton Rogue and nothing could ruin my excitement. My Dad and I were walking to our seats when I heard some older gentlemen scream, “Get your game programs here! Five bucks and it’s yours!” My dad went over and purchased one, and I immediately began chuckling to myself. I thought for sure he had just been scammed. Why would anybody spend good money on something you have to read when you could simply just watch the game? My dad smirked and responded, “Just read it.” I could not believe that I was going to read instead of watching my favorite players warm up before an enormous conference game, but I gave it a shot. I flipped to a page with a cool picture and I was off. I quickly realized that my assumption about reading was changing right in front of my eyes. I discovered I could learn so much about my favorite players, the history and tradition of the program, and the entire game day experience. I never thought of reading as something that could be enjoyable before, rather more like schoolwork. I was enjoying every page of the game program that I had lost track of time. The loud roar of the crowd awoke me from my newfound trance seconds before kickoff. The Tigers won and I went to sleep that night reading the rest of the program I did not finish. That Saturday night in Tiger Stadium jumpstarted my reading appreciation. I slowly ventured from game programs to newspapers to sports blogs etc. I loved reading about all my favorite sports teams and all the news surrounding them. I was very emotionally evolved with my teams, and wanted to make sure I knew everything I possibly could. I would be clicking the refresh button always hoping to see a new article to read. One day I happened to stumble upon a website named Tigerdroppings.com. This forum was heaven to me. Anything LSU football related I could find on this site. Anybody with a registered email could post anything they wanted on the board. This was the beginning of my addiction to LSU sports. In school I would always be online reading