Hello everyone!
My name is Yokie Abera and I’m a Senior majoring in Film and Media Studies. Like many other people, growing up I was a pretty avid reader. I mainly enjoyed reading fictional stories targeted toward my age group. However, unfortunately, as I got older my attention span shortened significantly. By the time I entered high school, I mostly stuck to books assigned in my English classes or graphic novels. With that, my writing also revolved around assigned work.
After entering university, I don’t think much changed until recently. However, I have been reading/writing more often. Since my minor is African-American studies many of the courses I took incorporated dense readings. My writing has also been mostly academic papers that showcase my understanding of class materials.
However, last year I had the opportunity to take a screenwriting course and it reminded me of how enjoyable it is to write for fun or write for yourself. In terms of reading/writing in academia, I’m not the biggest fan of strategies such as annotating. Instead, I find that pinpointing essential moments or arguments of readings helps me understand the author’s intentions better which allows me to write a better analysis. I usually do this by reading the piece once over to get a general idea and then going back to find key details that stand out to me the second time.