Learning to read was and is my greatest accomplishment because it brought me into a whole other world; a world of knowledge. I learned to read with a National Enquirer magazine. I do not remember what specific issue it was or which celebrities were being harped on. What I can remember is when I was six years old I watched a lot of television and became fascinated with popular icons. In the late 1980's/early 1990's most of the pop icons were movie stars and rock stars such as Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Madonna and Michael Jackson. Even at age six I was attracted to beauty and glamorous/rich lifestyles. .
I can remember the first time I saw the National Enquirer magazine. I was in the grocery store with my mother at the check-out counter. I was helping my mother put the groceries on the conveyer belt. When all of the sudden I looked up and there laid a magazine with all of the celebrities/pop icons I had been seeing on television. I could not read so I didn't know what the magazine had written about them but, all I knew is that I had to have that magazine. I pointed to it and told my mother that I wanted it. She said "you want that; national enquirer?" I said "yes mommy, can I have it pretty, pretty please?" My mother said "ok you can have it; I will buy it for you". From that day forward my life has never been the same.
I brought the magazine home and looked at all the pictures of my favorite celebrities such as Michael Jackson over and over again. I wanted really bad to know what the magazine had written about them. All I saw were a bunch of letters and spaces. I starred at the letters and spaces for a long time. Then I started to remember from my then current kindergarten class with teacher Mr. Tenney what sound each letter makes. After that I put all the sounds of the letters that were between the spaces together and came up with an actual word. I can't remember the exact word. The letters between the spaces became words to me and the words became sentences.