Because We Are Readers

Wallace Yovetich

Staff Writer

Wallace Yovetich grew up in a home where reading was preferred to TV, playing outside was actually fun, and she was thrilled when her older brothers weren’t home so she could have a turn on the Atari. Now-a-days she watches a bit more TV, and considers sitting on the porch swing (with her laptop) “playing outside”. She still thinks reading is preferable to most things, though she’d really like to find out where her mom put that old Atari (Frogger addicts die hard). She runs a series of Read-a-Longs throughout the year (as well as posting fun bookish tidbits throughout the week) on her blog, Unputdownables. After teaching for seven years, Wallace is now an aspiring writer. Blog: Unputdownables Twitter: @WallaceYovetich

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We are the curious ones. We are the ones who always want to know more, always more – and often more than one is willing to say. We are never let down by the words because they give us more, and they delve into places that, once on paper, can never be taken back; can never be forgotten. We underline them, we mark them with notes, we journal them, we find our own truth in them and are comforted because they found us too.

We are the observant ones. We are always noticing the way someone walks, or the fifteen different smiles they have. Everyone is a character, and we are used to paying attention; to evaluating so that we don’t miss a beat of the story, of their story, of our story. Because it is all a story, and we are the observers of the story.

We are the story makers. We look for them in every picture, every quote, every tagline. We can find them in every sigh, every shift of the eyes, every gesture. Our minds can run away with them, and the more often they do and the more stories we try the more we get it right. We pay attention and we get better with practice.

We are the readers. We are the ones who want to know more. We are the ones who observe the fictional and the real. We are the ones who create the story, even when there isn’t one there to begin with. We are the ones you write for. We are the ones who make things more interesting because we can find the story in every conversation, in every interaction. We are the ones who will never stop learning, dreaming, hoping, finding. We are the ones will never stop trying to figure it out, and will always be aware that we never will… it’s what keeps us searching, looking, wanting. We are the ones who think there is enough in one life to fill all of the libraries in all of the world. We are the ones who will read about the everyday and the miraculous because we know there is something meaningful to be found in both, as well as in everything in between. We read because we are lonely, afraid, hopeful, relaxed, curious, enchanted. We read because we need someone else inside of our heads to be part of the ever-going conversation.

 

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life; which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart
i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

 

Because I am the reader.

 

*poem excerpt from E.E. Cummings’ [i carry your heart with me(i carry it in]

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