That is the mission of art—to make us pause and look at a thing a second time.

– Oscar Wilde

A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is. You tell a story because a statement would be inadequate. When anybody asks what a story is about, the only proper thing is to tell him to read the story. The meaning of fiction is not abstract meaning but experienced meaning.

– Flannery O’ Connor

Reading brings me so much joy. Without the words of Walt Whitman on the entrance to the Dupont Circle Metro Station, to the journalism of Nicolas Kristoff, to the stories of Flannery O’Connor and Jhumpa Lahiri and the novels of Edwidge Danticat, Junot Diaz, and Jane Austen, I would not be the person I am today. Having taught adults who struggle to read even a newspaper and high school students with learning disabilities, I understand how difficult reading can be. I am an educator because I believe that everyone deserves the right to learn not only how to read, but how to enjoy reading. Helping students advance their comprehension skills and become lifelong readers are two of the main reasons why I find my purpose in the English classroom.