What Maya Angelou Taught Me.

5.) I think I could live as a mute better now than I would have been able to as a child. Eight- year old me would have talked to you about everything I liked, and every tiny event that happened throughout my day. I tend to speak way to much to people I enjoy being around (close friends, family, etc.) and I'm really reserved around strangers. I swear, I think 90% of my friends are people that I've meet introduced to by another friend. I loathe making conversation when I'm uncomfortable, like meeting a stranger for the first time. I feel like listening more would it easier to see the little details of others lives, and the parts of life that we don't usually see because we're too busy making our own details to actually notice them. I'd argue that speaking more allows you to learn more about yourself, but less about the world around you because speaking cancels out the white noise of the everyday. Sure, you can learn more from talking, but it forces you to cancel out the mundane beauty of silence and observation.
6.) I think it's absolutely amazing the Angelou is comfortable in a half dozen different languages. Actively I'm learning French and Spanish, and those are difficult enough on their own. I'm more comfortable speaking French over Spanish, mostly because I've been formally taught in a classroom for French while I've been teaching myself Spanish through the internet and books. I would like to reach fluency in both French and Spanish, and then I may eventually pick up Italian, Arabic, and German. The Romantic languages just have their own beauty to them, so I'd like to focus on those. Seeing the world, and the people that speak them would broaden both my knowledge and appreciation for the language, because I plan to travel to any of the countries that have learned the language of. It's the fact that learning about the culture behind a language gives it a new meaning.
8.) When Angelou says that "There is a world of difference between truth and fact", I think she means that the fact and the truth aren't inherently the same. A fact is based of logic, and is an undeniable piece of information. The truth is a little bit more subjective, because what the truth is in a way a fact to a person, but not necessarily . It's malleable like a sheet of copper. It depends on a person's perspective. A fact isn't really affected by a person's personal views like the truth. For example, Susie being five feet tall is a measurable piece of information. The truth is more of an answer for something that truly can't be answered by a single individual.
10.) Writing is hard work, plain and simple. It isn't always like the ideas just naturally flow out like a stream. It's more of a finely crafted quilt, with tiny little cross-stitches connecting each thread. Most of the time, a book is divided into a bunch of individual ideas that make up a larger whole. The thing that makes writing hard is connecting each sentence, paragraph, page, and chapter into one cohesive whole. Writing is about putting down ideas in a clear way, which is a huge understatement. Believe it or not, saying what you want to say and having it interpreted as such is difficult. That's what I think is the hardest part about  writing: getting the ideas across. Ideas are easy to find; inspiration can be found everywhere. It's more about actually translating your ideas into something that is comprehensible.

11.) I think that as you get older, it can be harder to learn some things, but I also think that adults are better able to focus and cut out distractions. As an example, I started piano in the seventh grade, which is much later than most students begin piano with some people starting at the age of three. However, the length of time spent isn't always a testament to skill. I know a girl that has been playing only a year longer than me that has won nationally recognized competitions in music, mostly due to diligent practice. She works two hours every day on the piano, while kids that started earlier only typically do around thirty minutes of piano a day. Therefore, I am a firm believer it's never to late to learn something, as putting hard work into something and giving it your all will get you much further than necessarily the duration of time you've been doing it.