Growing Up Among Word Nerds
My mom double majored in math and English. Interesting combination, and it brought about interesting dynamics at my house. When we brought home “essays” as homework in elementary school, she would gush over how much she loved to write. When we had math homework, she taught us “fun” ways of doing the problems that always seemed to make more sense then how the teacher explained it. In this, I have been very lucky. Growing up in a home that valued education, and different kinds of education, I think I learned a love of learning before I actually ever learned anything.
Growing up, I learned to write from my mom. It was just something that I picked up as she helped me write my papers when I was little, and I always knew she could and would edit them as I grew up. It’s the sort of house where you can announce that you learned a new word when you walk in the door, and people will stop to listen. Nerdy, I assure you. It’s been years since I’ve gone to my mom for help on a paper, but for years she was my help on papers. I do not recall any teacher or professor explicitly explaining how to write a paper, but I have a blur of memories of my mom explaining about paragraphs and main ideas, and later thesis statements and comma splices. More importantly, I have a blur of memories of my mom gushing over word choice, sentence structure, and the idea of writing in general. I grew up with the idea that reading and writing are fun…No wonder I turned out the way I did…
That being said, my brother is two years younger than me and he feels none of it. He never reads unless forced, and he would be ecstatic if he never had to write another essay. He grew up in the same house, with the same mother delighting over numbers and words at every turn. He’s not a half bad writer when he gives it half a chance, but I don’t imagine him ever calling it fun. It would make sense to think maybe he rebelled against the nerds, but it’s more that he’s indifferent. I love to read. I love to write. Remembering my brother helps me to relate to those who don’t share my fervor, and realize that you don’t need to be overjoyed at the idea of writing a senior thesis-which I am- to write a good paper. For me, writing was a life long process of gleaning information from another word nerd. I failed to pick up my mom’s love of numbers; I never questioned that writing was the cool thing to do. Nevertheless, working with my brother has helped me related to all those normal people out there who don’t understand.
Growing up, I learned to write from my mom. It was just something that I picked up as she helped me write my papers when I was little, and I always knew she could and would edit them as I grew up. It’s the sort of house where you can announce that you learned a new word when you walk in the door, and people will stop to listen. Nerdy, I assure you. It’s been years since I’ve gone to my mom for help on a paper, but for years she was my help on papers. I do not recall any teacher or professor explicitly explaining how to write a paper, but I have a blur of memories of my mom explaining about paragraphs and main ideas, and later thesis statements and comma splices. More importantly, I have a blur of memories of my mom gushing over word choice, sentence structure, and the idea of writing in general. I grew up with the idea that reading and writing are fun…No wonder I turned out the way I did…
That being said, my brother is two years younger than me and he feels none of it. He never reads unless forced, and he would be ecstatic if he never had to write another essay. He grew up in the same house, with the same mother delighting over numbers and words at every turn. He’s not a half bad writer when he gives it half a chance, but I don’t imagine him ever calling it fun. It would make sense to think maybe he rebelled against the nerds, but it’s more that he’s indifferent. I love to read. I love to write. Remembering my brother helps me to relate to those who don’t share my fervor, and realize that you don’t need to be overjoyed at the idea of writing a senior thesis-which I am- to write a good paper. For me, writing was a life long process of gleaning information from another word nerd. I failed to pick up my mom’s love of numbers; I never questioned that writing was the cool thing to do. Nevertheless, working with my brother has helped me related to all those normal people out there who don’t understand.
posted by Michelle Jeffs at 7:01 PM
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