Truthfully, throughout middle and high school I was never too fond of writing. I personally was always more interested in STEM subjects, like math or physics. However, my idea of writing has definitely changed since then. Clubs like debate helped me learn about and become interested in philosophy, as well as develop my argumentative writing skills. I don't think I actually dislike writing, I just find writing about things I am not passionate about tedious. Throughout the course of writing my college admissions essays, I learned that writing is one of the best ways to express yourself, and it becomes much easier and more fun when you are writing about topics you are interested in. I believe that my argumentative writing skills are strong, I am good at creating clear and concise contentions, and can address and refute counter arguments well. I do think a big area where I can improve my writing lies in critical reading and analysis, as I find it hard to always see the rhetorical devices that the writer uses, hence not understanding text at a very deep level. I cannot say that I am currently an avid reader or writer, but there definitely have been times in my life where I was. I usually enjoy reading fantasy and science fiction novels, so naturally I was pretty excited when I came to know the topic for this writing 39B course. When I think of science fiction, the first thing that comes to mind is probably Star Wars, followed by space, aliens, and the future. However after some of the introductory readings from this class I have come to learn that it is much more than that.  I am excited to learn more about how modern day issues are incorporated into science fiction works, and what the genre means as a whole. Although I do not expect Writing 39B to directly translate into my other courses, as most of the other writing I do is very technical and descriptive engineering writing, but I do hope it can help me re-spark my love for reading, rather than just reading when it is assigned to me in my classes.