Principal Cannon: “The more you read, the more you know. The more you know, the smarter you will become. My elementary school principal repeated this quote every morning after announcements. While most children talked and played while she said these words every day, I, on the other hand, absorbed these words and lived by them. Read, grow, learn and gain more knowledge every day. Even as a 17 year old student, this quote she repeated still stays with me and I still experience it the same way I did as an elementary school student. The personal account of my past as a reader and writer is long and detailed, mainly because I can feed my mind as much as I want and it will never be full. The uniqueness of my personality created a filtration system for everything I read and the style of my writing. As I have grown over the years, my literacy skills have improved immensely. From the first book I read to this course, it has impacted my relationship and experience with literacy. I went through a whole range of different emotions, but in short I can describe it as a love-hate relationship, with ups and downs and twists and turns. Overall, I can say that the reading and writing involved in literacy have benefited me a lot; an outlet to express myself, ways to improve myself, and material to entertain myself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay At this point in my life, I recognize that I am no longer as avid a reader as I once was. Throughout middle school, I always had a book in my hands, always waiting for Wednesday “Library Day” to discover my next read. My friends always asked me, “Why do you always read those big boring books?” » However, they didn't bore me, the young adult fiction books had captivated me; for example, my favorites were The Twilight book series and The Hunger Game book series. The fictional lives of the characters gave me an escape to live in their world and avoid my own where nothing exciting seemed to happen like it did here. It wouldn't take me long to read one book and move on to the next one. Lately, my relationship with reading has been rocky, to say the least. I think reading is essential in one sense, whether it's reading a Facebook post or a street sign, but when it comes to reading substantial things or pages, for that matter, go far and little unless necessary. At this point in my life, reading books is no longer a simple pleasure for me, I now tend to turn to news articles to read about "Donald Trump's latest crazy tweet" and local newspapers for see what is happening in my community. Although I don't read as much as I used to, I will say that reading has exposed me to different styles, genres, vocabulary and thus made me a better speaker and stronger writer. Writing is very important; it is an essential way of life for everyone, in all walks of life, including my own life. Writing is a way of communicating and connecting with those around us and that’s exactly what has helped me do that. When my cousin Bredon went to basic training last year, writing was the only way for me and my family to, as he said, “keep an eye on him” while he was away. I love writing, once I get started it becomes so easy to be captivated by the process. I acquired most of my.