I am one of the people who "dragg[ed] themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix." I watched in the shadows as a ghost pleaded with his son to avenge "his foul and most unnatural murder." I am, simply put, a reader. As a reader I explore new worlds, look deeply into the past, and fly off into the future. Why do I not stay here on present day Earth? One of my favorite authors, Ray Bradbury, sums up the answer perfectly with his quote, "You don't have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them." Coming from a mixture of many cultures, books allow me to learn and remember various aspects of my heritage. When I lived on the Texas-Mexico border books taught me the legends and traditions of the area. Books from the Caribbean showed me all the different kinds of customs and holidays that my parents grew up with. These stories also made me different from everyone else. When I was growing up other kids would rather play video games or do other things than read. I was an outsider. In Texas I was one of the few kids who did not speak Spanish. I would stumble around the words and make a fool of myself when I would miss use a phrase. To my peers I did not fit in, but I became friends with other outsiders. Fortunately being an outsider is not a terrible curse. It led me to be different and an individual instead of just being another face in the crowd.