Soul Food and Newspapers

                As a child, I am going to be honest; I never really liked to read. When I saw books I stayed clear of them because I knew that my grandmother would make me sit down and read a book such as Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. She believed me getting a strong education, and she pressured me every day to learn something new like my alphabet and read. Me, as a young child had my own fantastical view on life. My general outlook was that I didn’t have to do anything but sleep, eat, and look at people funny when they walk in the room.

                As I grew older about the age of 5, I started school. I got into a little bit of reading here and there, but I never really enjoyed reading. I still hated reading; however I didn’t have any real problem with reading. I would gripe and complain when my grandma would turn off my television show and throw me a book and say in her demanding tone of voice “It’s time for you to read.” I had my own sneaky little trick to get past that. I would sit the book down quietly, then turn on the television and turn the volume down. Every time my unobservant grandma walked around the corner I would turn off the television and pretend that I was reading. When she left, I would turn the television back on and wait until she came back.

                As a young child, I really love to eat. I would eat and eat and eat all day long. My world revolved around food. My favorite time to eat was when my grandma went and threw down in the kitchen. She cooked all type of foods from delicious fried chicken to sweet white cornbread. She cooks what I like to call Soul Food because it warms my soul and make me want to get up and sing and dance. The food was full of nothing but love. She would put her heart and soul into what she was cooking. Some of my fondest memories came from watching her cook. Even more of them came from eating. I seemed like the only time I ever wanted to read was when I smelled the delicious aromas wafting through the house.

            As a young boy, I idolized my grandfather, so I mimicked every move he made. It was almost as if he was a puppeteer and I was a puppet that he was jerking the strings on. One cold, dreary fall day I came in to sweet aroma of soul food. My grandma was in the kitchen cooking a big meal. I was so excited to smell all the the things I loved to eat. When I walked in the kitchen I noticed that my grandpa was reading a newspaper. Since I wanted to be like him I picked up a newspaper and just looked at it for a minute. After a few minutes my grandpa noticed I was having some troubles reading the newspaper, so he helped me pronounce words. From that moment forth I was always reading newspapers with my grandpa.

            As I started to mature I started widening my variety of readings. I went from books like Amelia Bedilia to the diary of Anne Frank. In the 6th grade I started taking interest in Harry Potter books. In the seventh grade I took interest in the Hazlewood high series and the Bluford High series. In the 8th and 9th grade I started to read Jack Sparrow books and goosebumps books. Still to this day I widen my reading variety and to all kinds of books. Reading, even though I did not expect it to be, became a well liked thing for me.