Reading, reading and more reading. We read a lot, not to copy, but to know what has been written. If there was anything I wish I could do better with my time spent in graduate school, it would be to read properly early. My reading habit was to read for the story and forget it. It is changing to a partnership, a discussion and direction.

As I go along this journey of study, I am beginning to empathize with writers. How they must have toiled to package the books I see around. Reading has become a responsibility, to understand the context of the writer, to get the message being passed across and look for ways to identify applications or add to newly found topics. This leads to focus.

Initially, I thought that I was on a new path and no one had conceived my dreams. I don’t know why, it felt good to dream of things undone and changing the world, maybe. Reading has shown me that people of like minds have trod this path before me and I can only find out how far they have gone by reading some more.

It feels good to belong to a tribe of like thinkers. The pressure to deliver literature changes to curiosity in finding out the next steps. What might the future hold for us who think that so and so are possible?
Reading in a very wide field means dedicating time to a lot of topics. This seems like being tugged in many directions. As research takes longer the reading gets deeper into refined topics. Getting defined leads to more refined literature. Filtered, focused and foundational writings that reveal gaps for future studies.
 
---Patricia Kio
Patricia Kio is a Doctoral student in the College of Architecture