Exposed to Many Useful Sources of Inspiration

¶ … exposed to many useful sources of inspiration and opportunity. I truly embraced all of the diversity that existed in the highly urban melting pot in which I was raised. As a result, I was able to learn a great deal about numerous other cultures, cuisines and lifestyles. Many of my friends did not share my own ethnic background and so it was a continuously educational and didactic growth experience. Additionally, my home and upbringing certainly helped in the creation of my lasting passion for education and knowledge. My family was very supportive of my goals and childhood activities. They were also avid readers and insisted that I learn to read and write at a young age (much younger than any of my peers). I soon developed somewhat of an addiction to books and journals. I can remember many a rainy day spent buried in a good book or short story. Nevertheless, throughout my youth I also had a strong love for sports and was chronically involved in some type of extracurricular activity. My love of the outdoors and competitive sports also carried over to my reading and writing habits as a young man. I found myself looking over the sports sections of my father's magazines and newspapers on a regular basis and can remember handing in many written assignments about heated sports events that took place in my neighborhood.

As I grew and matured, so too did my love of reading. I found myself delving into the classic books on my parents' bookshelves and becoming increasingly engulfed in the stories. Authors like Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Vonnegut, Wells, Faulkner and Twain were all responsible for this rapid and comprehensive expansion of my imagination. I began to dream about these timeless tales and picture myself in the words. On several occasions, I found myself waking up late for school with the light on and an open book in my lap. Not surprisingly, this lack of sleep and newfound propensity for imaginative daydreaming spawned a decline in my overall scholastic performance. It was difficult for me to focus on subjects like mathematics, science and even history. This was not the case, however, when it came to literature studies and creative writing. I thrived in these educational environments. With the encouragement and helpful direction of my teachers, my writing abilities seemed to improve very rapidly. I quickly developed a love of creative writing and began filling notebooks with my stories and poetry. This passion caused me to apply for a position in my high school's newspaper during my sophomore year. My experience writing creatively about countless topics was certainly invaluable to the true emergence of my literary talent. I found myself gravitating to my work for the paper and procrastinating in my normal studies. This experience also helped me develop my love of periodicals, current events and research. I truly enjoyed conducting my own research for stories and transcribing my findings imaginatively.

My love of reading and writing continued after high school and I dove headfirst into the literary side of social media. And even though I knew it would not be read by many or published in any newspaper (high school or otherwise), I began to blog in an attempt to feed my yearning for literary creation. This has helped me to stay sharp in my writing and continuously learn of new creative outlets.