Three Inspirations
During my twenty-two years, I have been involved and transformed by literature, the arts, and music. Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894), a Scottish writer, guided the way to a further developed good sense of imagination. Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), an American painter who created over four thousand illustrations in a seven-decade career enriched my values, thoughts, and future education. Clay Aiken (1978-present), an American music artist, in my mind, conveys dreams and hopes. For me, these three men, portrayed in mass media, have been inspirational.
Bedtime, when I was little, was quite an ordeal. Mom would try to start early, maybe around seven or eight. Of course, like most children, I wanted to listen to at least one story, often poems by Robert Louis Stevenson were added into the mix. In the elementary years, obviously my main reading material was the type of books my friends and I comprehended; such as, teen mystery writers as in R.L. Stine. My mom thought I should expand the horizon by looking for other genres and authors. By sixth grade, my heart clasped madly in love with the world of literature. At that time, I practically lived at the school library. For me, it was a fanciful realm that I could escape to any time and place. Everyone loved that I liked reading, especially family and teachers. So, I became the type of person who is commonly referred to as "a bookworm." Basically, I can just sit enjoyably reading for hours upon hours.
It was in a serene environment that my mind began to be involved with the classics; such as one of my favorites, Stevenson's Treasure Island. "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest, Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!" (Stevenson 2). Adventure stories are most intriguing, especially with pirates. I admire a writer who can create an entire world of characters that experience human emotions and courageously face dilemmas. For several years, I've been collecting images, dolls, figurines, et cetra that deal with the theme of pirates. Granted, I don't agree with some particulars of the pirate's lifestyle, but my admiration is for certain character's that represent the kindhearted ruffian.
In high school, one of my English teachers gave me a list of novels and/or authors, many classics, that colleges expect students to have read. At that moment I decided to start collecting used copies and reading works from the list. Today, in my own library, I have over a hundred and forty literature pieces and I'm still working on absorbing the material.
Stories are a powerful tool by influencing thoughts at an early age in life. There are many types of tales that a person can relate to or just have fun experiencing. The imagination may be used to create a movie in the reader's mind. One of my dreams, as a youth, was to become a writer; in which, Robert Louis Stevenson played a part in teaching how one can use their own mind in a creative way with instruments called words. Over the years, I have written poems and a number of essays or reports. Currently, I'm in the midst of writing a twenty plus page report about four William Shakespeare plays. During this fall quarter, the paper is divided into four separate essays containing at least five pages each. Eventually, I'm to connect them together into one term paper. My creative solution is to write a sonnet between each of the essays. From Stevenson, a key word I learned is imagination. If it is seen in the mind, it could actually live on paper. For me, a writing assignment is not just work, it is a labor of love.