A long time ago - I'm not sure at what age and in what context - I started asking questions. Initially, these questions were basic. Why? What? Who? As I got older, those questions morphed into something more substantial about the world I lived in. I clung to questions so I could survive in a world that seemed, at times, harsh, uninviting, and alienated. As long as there were still things to ask, still answers to find, and still fundamental truths lingering just beneath the superficial surface, the world as I knew it was still a worthy and dignified place. to cope with the questions that simmered and boiled inside me, I turned to literature. Poetry. Novels. Short stories. Drama. If there were words to say in a new and unique way, I found them and devoured them, hoping to instill in me the knowledge contained in the texts I devoured. Szymborska's ironic precision. Whitman's visionary scope. Didion's incisiveness. These were not mere words on a page, but rather subtle dreams that arose from the minds of individuals who dared to dream the brazen dream. Maybe if the people who came before me, the men and women of letters, could perform that magical task, take seemingly banal words and transform them into a transcendent experience. Maybe I too could change a person's mood by encouraging them to see what I feel or see what I see in a given moment. It was at this point that I began to write seriously. My writing began in self-recognition. Those who had paved the way before me, I told myself, had good ideas, but maybe so did I? For me the main motivating force behind my research is writing and... the medium of paper... Then, almost quickly, he will notice more about the world around him. Prismatic dew drops on thin blades of grass. Blue jays dancing in and out of oak trees. Smiles breaking out on the faces of passers-by. When that happens, he will read more. The glorious tradition of the written word established by the literary visionaries whose work graces our library shelves is a story of call to action, desire to connect, incitement to thoughtful dialogue between parties who have been made aware of writing and its ability to serve as a masterful instrument of unification and solidarity. The unabashed dream comes true when we, as human beings, as writers, as creators, reject the forces of complacency and exult in the little wonders of the universe, but also recognize how much further we still have to go. I can only hope to one day become an unabashed dreamer myself.