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I keep seeing all these Tumblr posts about the end of Harry Potter and I'll admit, it's fucking breaking my heart.
Only a few people in RL know this, but my parents never taught me to read/write. They came to this country with a rather dodgy knowledge of English. I only realised this for a few years; I was on a ferry with friends and they (somehow) we were all talking about how parents taught us to read/write. And I realised... mine didn't. I have no memories of that. I remember my dad teaching me how to fish, baiting the hook; I have memories of a younger version of me being taught how to make breakfast by my mum, but no memories of being taught to read.
When I asked my parents all those years ago, they just looked at each other and went, "Huh, we didn't teach you how to read or speak English properly." As a kid, I watched a lot of television. God, I remember that. A lot of subtitled Disney movies and stuff like Sesame Street. That's how I learned (also why I pronounce 'z' like the American 'zee' instead of the British 'zed' to my friends' never-ending despair. I REFUSE TO CHANGE MY PRONOUNCIATION).
( this has gotten far too long so I've cut it )
So yeah, that's my story - why I secretly owe JK and these books so damned much. It might be a little dorky to have a book influence my life so heavily, but I'm kind of terrified of thinking of my childhood without it. (And Disney movies, obviously - Mulan and Beauty and the Beast were my favourites. So was Anastasia, but that's not Disney.)
Only a few people in RL know this, but my parents never taught me to read/write. They came to this country with a rather dodgy knowledge of English. I only realised this for a few years; I was on a ferry with friends and they (somehow) we were all talking about how parents taught us to read/write. And I realised... mine didn't. I have no memories of that. I remember my dad teaching me how to fish, baiting the hook; I have memories of a younger version of me being taught how to make breakfast by my mum, but no memories of being taught to read.
When I asked my parents all those years ago, they just looked at each other and went, "Huh, we didn't teach you how to read or speak English properly." As a kid, I watched a lot of television. God, I remember that. A lot of subtitled Disney movies and stuff like Sesame Street. That's how I learned (also why I pronounce 'z' like the American 'zee' instead of the British 'zed' to my friends' never-ending despair. I REFUSE TO CHANGE MY PRONOUNCIATION).
( this has gotten far too long so I've cut it )
So yeah, that's my story - why I secretly owe JK and these books so damned much. It might be a little dorky to have a book influence my life so heavily, but I'm kind of terrified of thinking of my childhood without it. (And Disney movies, obviously - Mulan and Beauty and the Beast were my favourites. So was Anastasia, but that's not Disney.)
