By Makenna Lewis
To begin, a thought: “Words have no meaning unless there is someone present who can understand them.” That’s from Babel, a historical fantasy novel by R. F. Kuang. In the context of the story, it’s referring to translation—unless you can truly, deeply understand the words spoken in another language, they are irrelevant to you. But, I would say, it can also apply to general language. As someone who spends nearly all of their spare time reading and writing, I think about words a lot. I find them extremely important—something small that can make an enormous difference. Why would someone say one thing instead of another? Why do people toss words around like they mean nothing at all?
For the purpose of this blog entry, that’s mostly beside the point.
Outside of school, I, as mentioned before, spend my time doing two things—the first of which is reading. Yes, I know; I spend all day reading for class, only to do it even more when I’m finished. To me, however, reading is a chance to see a new place, to live a different life, if only for a few days or hours. I read constantly, and in all different genres—fantasy, historical fiction, sci-fi, mystery, and old literature classics written by the likes of Jane Austen, the Brontë Sisters, and Oscar Wilde.
Besides reading, I write. I enjoy writing poetry, which I’ve always found beautiful, and fantasy, which was the first genre I was ever truly fascinated by. At the moment, I’m writing a novel with poetry embedded in it. I usually write during the day when there’s not much work to do for my classes, or at night when there’s less chance that I will be disturbed. The activity itself has always been meaningful to me because it gives me space to express feelings that I can’t describe in the moment, and it allows me to explore every part of myself.
While I do plan my school days, I don’t plan what I will do during my spare time. It’s sort of unpredictable because the choice of what I do varies based on some indescribable, out-of-reach feeling—an itch in my fingers to begin typing, a lull in my mind to read feverishly. (Unfortunately, though, classwork has to be the first priority.) Being at ASU Prep gives me more time for my interests since the day is essentially structured whichever way I’d like, and the coursework is interesting enough to keep my mind occupied and focused.
Yet, as anyone will tell you, it’s important to take time for yourself and not devote it all to school. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a bit of one thing to make room for another. Sometimes you have to put the schoolwork aside, too, because the things we find joy in are the things that make us feel—the things that make us human.
