From Reading Averse to Bibliophile Anarchist

Greetings, Steemit community.

My name is Andrew, I’m 30 years old and I have zombified Disney princesses tattooed on my arm.

---

One fact about me: I hated reading.

My teen years consisted of skipping school, playing in a band, dropping out of school, and binge-drinking. Fight Club was my favorite movie which compelled me to eventually buy the book by Chuck Palahniuk. This reading thing isn't so bad, I thought. I then bought another Palahniuk book Invisible Monsters. And another Haunted. I found myself tittering in the middle of the night while reading Palahniuk’s short story Guts. For each page and every paragraph, this insidious physical discomfort accompanied my stifled laughter. I somehow identified with the mortification--simultaneously grimacing, snickering, and holding my tensed-stomach for dear life. I was seduced. Captivated. Enthralled. Sentence by sentence…word by word…until I exploded with laughter, literally guffawing with absolutely no awareness of anything outside of this story. I won’t include spoilers if you haven’t read it. For those who have, calamari broke me.

What amazes me to this day is the fact that ink arranged on sheets of leaves can elicit physical reactions; moreover, these symbols can change the way you think, the way you feel, the way you live. I hated reading. Absolutely hated it. It took fifteen minutes for that to change. Little did I know, everything else in my life shifted alongside that simple opinion. I quit my band, took the GED a few weeks later, and enrolled into college in less than three months. Meanwhile, I read everything that I could grasp.

I did the college thing and loved it. I met so many interesting people through my travels to Vermont, Nevada, and Jamaica (yes, for school).

I loved it so, so, so much…until I didn’t. I’m now both a high school and graduate school dropout. My plan to become a tenured collegiate professor cannonballed off a cliff once I saw behind the curtain of the proverbial ivory tower. I made the choice to adhere to my principles and not fund an institution that promotes harmful ideologies.

I discovered Ayn Rand, however, during my college years. It didn't take long before I educated myself in anarchist philosophy, Austrian economics, and cryptos. That old joke holds true: what's the difference between a libertarian and an anarchist?

Currently, I’m learning to code because I love the art of creating…and I want to contribute to the abolition of central banking. I also want to be a perpetual traveler.

---

Other things about me:

I ran with the bulls in Spain.

---

I climbed the Great Wall of China.

---

I met the man who sparked my love for printed words.

---

Despite my conflicted college experience, I still enjoy picking stories apart and unpacking their essence. Whether it’s discussing transformative literature, confessing my own ridiculous stories, delving into crazy ideas like freedom and voluntaryism, or documenting my travels, I’m excited to share with you all.

Have any of you read Palahniuk? What authors/works have changed your life?