The Miss America in Me

I think people, for many years, have developed a deep affinity for certain books they read or listened to during their childhood years. This has occurred in my life as I become nostalgic at times when I read or even see copies of the Magic Tree House books, the Eragon series, or a Harry Potter book. I read these books many times as a child and they became associated with positive memories from my childhood including reading several of the books with my dad. In I Was Once Miss America by Roxanne Gay she explains how she too had a similar experience. Her experience was centered around her dream of becoming Miss America and how she saw this dream coming true through her reading of series of novels about two young American girls. I thought it was interesting that her nostalgia for the books was brought on by their connection to her dream of being an all-American girl. This was peculiar to me because her nostalgia was created by a dream and not an experience. In reading this story, I too realized that I had nostalgia centered on a dream that was stoked by a set of books. This set of books was a group of books by Michael Feinstein that were about two teenagers who became star sports reporters through a contest. I knew then, when I read the books that I wanted to be a sports reporter sometime during my life. Fast-forward to today and I own a sports website that just got large enough to force a move to a private server. I might just go pick up one of the books that started my journey toward where I am today.