Please be brutally honest.
So far, I’m thinking I need to structure it into one or two more paragraphs, the three here seem too large - but I don’t want to lose anything and can’t figure out how to structure it better… all thoughts on anything appreciated.
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<h1>1: Describe your intellectual interests, their evolution, and what makes them exciting to you.</h1>
For me, there has always been a tendency to shy away from the hard and linear aspects of learning and to gravitate towards the more abstract sides of both academia and life. My passion with doing and accomplishing things differently started at a very young age. During my childhood, my love for creativity and curiosity was readily apparent - people applauded me for the games I made up, the pictures I drew, and the stories I wrote. Early on, one teacher in particular saw these qualities in me and strongly helped to cultivate them further. I will never forget what Mr. Gordon did in the 2nd grade: he had me stay in during part of recess and read Treasure Island out loud. It was a challenge.
I remember reading it with an ecstatic sort of endurance on my face. I would occasionally ask my teacher what a word meant, or how to pronounce it, and yet I was fully aware that it was the most difficult, yet engaging, story that I had ever read. At that age, I didn’t know that I could read something that was meant, for all intents and purposes of my young mind, for adults. Or, that such an enthralling thing could be held within the simple pages of a book. It was a white hot flash of literary and motivational enlightenment for me, and I have seeked to experience that rush of doing something you know is very hard, and then accomplishing it, again and again. I learned very young that all you have to do is merely take a chance and try. Because it’s not just the sense of accomplishment you achieve in the end that counts, it’s the experience and knowledge that comes along the way. I’m sure you get that a lot. But when experienced personally, it’s worth noting. When we finally finished the book, Mr. Gordon gave me a knowing sort of look and a very large smile. From then on, I was a risk taker.
When I think about my interests, I contemplate that reading and writing are fused joys. When I write, I can express myself in a way that math or science has never held for me. I am chiefly a creator and a traveller, not a manipulator. In writing, my creativity, views, and style can shine through in mere words on a page these words can say, be, or mean anything I want them to. The possibilities are endless. From a farm in Alabama one second to a supernova in Alpha Centauri the next, books can create entire worlds in one Tuesday afternoon. And it is absolutely ambiguous: when I read, my mind explores someone’s elses journey. Whether it be the history of ancient Babylon to the space school in Ender’s Game, the words on the page tap into the deepest trenches of my mind and dance with the neurons. My interests are in experience and knowing. All books are suitors of both, and my deepest pleasure lays in taking their hand.