My relationship with words
I have always felt a special bond with words, I learned to read at three because my older cousins teased me and called me a baby when I couldn’t. My maternal Grandmother taught me to read by reading me bible scriptures like Deuteronomy and having me read them back to her. I wasn’t the first child Betty-Jean Johnson taught to read. She worked in the Pomona Unified School District for many years in various capacities and literacy especially with young black males was always a focal point of hers. My paternal Grandmother was also an educator with PUSD and I always got books for Christmas and my birthday. Growing up reading wasn’t just encouraged it was expected. At a family event grown ups would ask me what books I’d read lately or what I was working on in school. Once I began writing reading became an escape from my own words, it turned into a way to refresh my creativity and foster new ideas. I can only remember reading children’s books for a short time. They just never really interested me I read the paper I read the books on black history and culture that my step-dad kept around the house. I read sports magazines, and hip-hop magazines, I read song lyrics, and album covers. My literacy style is a big part of my identity, because as far as reading went nothing was off limits so I was allowed to explore and figure out who I was.
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