Who am I? I'm not even sure I know.

I do know that my name is Kristen.  I was born and have lived my entire life in Corpus Christi, TX with the exception of a 6 month jaunt to Berne, Indiana a few years ago.  I like long walks on the beach and comedy movies... Just kidding. :)  I'm a writer.  I mostly write novels. I have completed 2 fiction novels that are still in the editing phase.  In the past year I have developed a love (and hopefully a small talent) for writing poetry as well.  I dabble in short stories and creative non fiction when the mood strikes.  I promise there is a point to this part of the story.

I don't know what I hope to gain from this class.  I do know that my entire life I have been interested in literacy.  My father's family are avid readers, white collar workers, and having spent a majority of my childhood among them, I too found a love for reading, so literacy was never really questioned in that side of the family.
My mother's family are mostly uneducated.  I have a few great uncles who don't know how to read or write.  My mother's family were the kind of people who became contractors, blue collar kind of people.  You don't have to read very well to know how to paint a house or install cabinets.  They have always fascinated me because they aren't stupid people.  In fact, they are very smart and have talents and abilities I myself would love to have but... I have watched them struggle to write a sentence, and it is odd because it is polar opposite of what I do (being a writer, told you there was a point to the first part of this post).  I have seen what illiteracy can do to a person, how it can change who they are fundamentally and I have always been interested in the idea of literacy in the community because my own private community was so very diverse.
I look forward to this class.