Summer Application.

How do I answer this question without sounding cliche? Do I say, "Learning to read was like learning to breathe--one doesn't really remember how, but simply always has?" I have memories I could tell you.

My mother and I would go to the library and fill up our tote bags with chapter books every week. I would take them home and lay out in the grass--these were the lazy summer afternoons of childhood.

In school we would get a brightly colored pamphlet full of the new children's releases. Every month was different. My blood rushed as the pamphlets were passed out, row by row. Some books were only 99 cents. Others were $4.99. Do I dare ask for a $7.99 book? "There are worse things you could be asking for," my mother said, as she glanced at the circled pages.

I was a child of the Harry Potter franchise. My fourth grade teacher read the first three books to us. Every day we spent a half hour laying in bean bag chairs, some of us knitting, some of us with our eyes closed. Listening to her read was comfort and excitement all at once. That is what it is like to be read to. What comes next? Please don't stop. One more page.

In high school I took almost every English course that was offered, finishing my senior year with 4 English courses per day in my schedule. There was no other option in my head than being an English Major in college.

Bethel University honed and sharpened my love in academic ways. I learned to appreciate the story on a whole new level--the context, the symbolism, the philosophy. Reading now had two levels to it. You could read for enjoyment and read for deeper analysis.

I tried to never stop reading for enjoyment. During college, one of the best books I read was Annie Dillard's "An American Childhood." It is a collection of stories from Dillard's childhood. The prose is rich and beautiful. The stories are simple yet full, as growing up often is. It taught me that everyone has a story to tell, and that life can provide rich learning opportunities in the most common situations.

And now, here I am, in graduate school, learning and thinking more deeply than ever, but still studying what my four year old self loved.

You asked, "Please describe yourself as a reader and how you became one." This seems like the most important question I could answer in my life, because the answer should describe and explain...me. Reading and literature are fields I have devoted my life to. I can't think of anything I would rather be a lifelong learner and teacher of.