Sheila's Reading (event)

Let’s be honest, I’ve never been to any sort of reading by an author, and I’ve never had anyone read something they have personally written to me. Walking into class Thursday morning, I had completely forgotten about having someone come to our class to talk and read to us. I was wondering what we would be doing that morning, because I didn’t receive our usual email detailing the events occurring in class. However, I was delighted to hear that my teacher would be reading to us – not only because it meant that I would be done with my outside event requirement, but also because I was truly intrigued to hear some of Shelia’s writing. I had thoroughly enjoyed her memoir when she read it to us in class one day, so I was interested to see what the morning would bring.

The first thing Sheila mentioned was that she had never read these particular works to anyone before. I thought that was pretty cool – we were the first ears to hear these writings. She began with a lyric essay titled “Self Portrait with Roller Coaster.” I think this particular work was my favorite out of all the ones she read to us. I loved how she used the theme park to allow the reader to get to know the young girl, who turned out to be Sheila. During the question and answer session, Shelia told us some silly stories about an amusement park she went to as a young girl. I could tell that the memories from those places are fond for her.

I also enjoyed the single happy poem Sheila read us titled “On Maui in Praise.” I thought it was hilarious how she described why the poem was happy – “because everyone is getting some!” It was a very interesting story, with her parents walking into the ocean fully clothed. I definitely like how Sheila writes about her family. I feel like I know so much about her life.

Overall, I really enjoyed having her read to us in class. I had no idea there were so many different types of poems, and she read us examples from many different kinds. I enjoyed each story and poem, and I’m very glad that Shelia decided to share her writing with us.