Bryan

Crutchfield
Literacy Memoir
The Birth and Death of a Passion

My ability to read and comprehend has always been one of my strong suits.
In kindergarten, I was always set apart from others and asked to read in front of the
class. I dont know for sure why this came so naturally for me, because I dont vividly
remember being read to very often as a child. My brothers and I worked together to
polish each others literary skills. My twin brother had trouble pronouncing long
words, and I always helped him sound them out. My older brother always pointed
out that I would write some letters upside-down or backwards, until I was finally
able to break free of this habit. My twin brother is left handed, so even as I got older
I struggled to help him write better. I was often complimented on how neat and
legible my handwriting was, and I wanted the same for my brother. I would write
something and see if he could mimic the neatness of it. Even after I asked him to
write slower or try a different approach, I still didnt see much improvement. After a
while I just accepted that it would take longer for his handwriting to develop,
because we were just different. As I expected, his handwriting slowly grew neater
and more legible.

I realized late in elementary school that I actually enjoyed writing. Unlike

high school and college, writing assignments in elementary and middle school were
usually opportunities to tell stories and be creative. In fourth grade, I joined a group
of friends and we wrote detailed stories about characters we created. Our stories
were always about a team of heroes that went on various adventures defeating evil.
We would write for fun on the weekends, and then come to class on Monday and

Comment [1]: Run on sentence

Bryan Crutchfield
Literacy Memoir
trade papers. Instead of listening to the teacher during class, we would be immersed
in each others stories and then talk about them after class. I paired my ability to
write well with drawing, another hobby of mine. I would grab a pencil and let my
imagination run free as my thoughts transferred onto paper. Soon we were creating
comic books and other masterpieces that other students would beg to read. It was
these experiences that caused me to enjoy reading adventure books, and I read
recreationally all school year and in the summer.

In sixth grade, I was introduced to poetry. It immediately caught my

attention because of the way it looked. Instead of long paragraphs, it was broken
down into stanzas, which were easier to digest. The best part about them was that
they rhymed, which made each line memorable for me. I was able to adapt to the
new style very quickly, and soon I was writing my own poetry. It came naturally to
me, and once again I was that kid that was constantly being asked to recite to the
class as an example of quality work. Even after I graduated eighth grade, my teacher
kept the poems that I had written to show parents and future classes. My ability to
rhyme followed me into high school, where I would rap against other students for
fun, drawing in a crowd of people (until a teacher came and shut it down).

Comment [2]: May prefer using a comma

here

My interest in reading and writing hit a sharp decline in high school. Any

time I had to write something, it would be a research paper. For me, research papers
were extremely tedious to write, and made me hate whatever it was that I was
researching. It got so bad that I would just do the bare minimum to get my passing
grade. English class was easily my least favorite class senior year. I didnt try in
anything, but still somehow managed to pass the class. College writing has been a

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Bryan Crutchfield
Literacy Memoir
similar struggle to high school, but I am more focused now than I was senior year. So
yes, I still hate writing, but at least now I put effort into it.

Comment [4]: during