- So, are you ever watching an Ellie Dashwood video
and you're just sitting there thinking,
who is this girl?
Why is she talking about Jane Austen?
What is even happening on this YouTube channel?
So many questions.
Well, that is what we're diving into here today,
some of the most commonly asked questions about me
which is yes, a very boring subject,
but you guys asked for this video
so here it is.
My name is Ellie Dashwood and this is my channel
where we talk about history and literature.
If you like either of those things, please subscribe.
So originally one of you guys requested this video
and then I put it out there on the community tab
to see if you guys had any questions you wanted me to answer
and you submitted so many questions
that I don't think that I'll be able to
cover all of them in this video, I'm sorry.
Otherwise this video would be forever long,
but I'm going to try to cover the most asked questions
because a lot of you did just
pretty much ask the same question on a slight variation.
So I think I'm gonna be able to cover a lot of them here.
And I have to say, the number one thing
that you guys asked about
in a million different ways is pretty much
how did I get into classic literature and history,
and how did my love for Jane Austen grow?
What Jane Austen book did I read first?
Seeing how that is the beginning anyway,
I guess we will start there.
So when it comes just a history,
basically, ever since I was a little kid,
history has always fascinated me
because it's a different world,
but it's still on our planet.
It was something that happened in our world.
It's like a weird sci-fi
where there was an alternate reality happening
exactly where we are.
We're only separated by time,
which is just so interesting to me.
And the number one thing
that I've always loved about history
is not necessarily what happened per se.
Like I find history classes where it's like,
in 1749, there was this battle in this place
and here's who won, really boring.
But I've always wanted to know
exactly what was it like to the fact,
and what did they wear?
What did they eat?
More importantly, what did they hope?
What did they fear?
What was this culture that ran their lives
and their hopes and their dreams.
And recently I did a video on,
Is Your Culture Like The Regency Era,
where I examined the difference between Regency era culture
and my modern day American culture.
And I think that's one of the things
about historical culture that intrigues me is the fact that
in so many ways,
it's the opposite of what I've known growing up.
And to think that there were these people that were alive
and they had this whole thriving society built around ideals
that were so opposite of what I'm used to,
it's just interesting to me and intriguing
and I would just always wanna know, why?
The deep questions of why and what was it like.
Of course, because of this love of history
definitely affected the books I read.
I would books with a historical angle to them
and of course, as a little kid,
this would be things like the "Dear America Series"
or the Ann Rinaldi books.
There were books written about like princesses.
I would always read those like real life princesses,
not the Disney princesses,
but like Victoria and Elizabeth and Catherine of Aragon
and I just loved it.
And then of course, as I got older,
I started reading classic literature.
There's this huge difference between historical fiction
and classic literature,
especially when it comes to the part of history
that I enjoy learning about, which is that world view.
Because as much as a historical fiction author might try,
they can't capture the worldview.
It's absolutely impossible for them
because they didn't live then.
It's that simple.
Their view of that worldview
is going to be skewed by their own upbringing and life,
no matter what they do to try to compensate for that.
And so I think I really learned to love classic literature
because it was the most accurate source of that world view
when it comes to fiction pretty much.
So now let's talk about reading and books
and Jane Austen in particular.
So as a kid, looking back at it now,
I can clearly see that I had undiagnosed dyslexia.
I could not read for kindergarten, first grade,
second grade, third grade,
just zero reading skills were happening there.
And I have to say,
this was not from lack of my mother trying.
My mom tried so hard to get me to read,
but I just couldn't.
And one of the biggest myths around dyslexia is that
dyslexic people just like mix up letters and numbers
or they see them backwards,
when really the biggest underlying cause of dyslexia
is the inability to connect letters to the sounds they make.
So for example, in English when a kid's learning to read,
they'll show them a picture of an A and be like aah, apple.
What sound does this letter make?
Aah.
And being able to connect that letter with that sound
is very, very hard for someone with dyslexia.
So needless to say,
reading when I was a kid was really a struggle.
Then when I was in fourth grade, something happened
which is all of a sudden,
I went from a kid who couldn't read
to a kid who could read really, really well.
I went from struggling with everything
to being the second best reader in my class.
Which I have to say,
I would have been the first best reader in my class
had this transfer student not moved in.
These transfer students stealing all my fourth grade glory.
I could also tell you the story about
how geography being stolen from me in the fifth grade too,
but we're not gonna go there.
And then ever after that,
I always tested within the top 10% nationally
when it came to reading and reading comprehension.
But at the time, I didn't know why that happened
because it was literally within a matter of weeks,
I went from struggling with reading
to being really, really good at reading.
There was no obvious external cause as to why.
There was no new teaching methodologies
or attempts being made, I just learned how to read.
And something that I was reading recently is that
sometimes dyslexic's brains can adapt
to use different regions of the brain to be able to read.
And so for example,
normal people really rely on certain regions
that deal with sound and sound processing,
where people with dyslexia can adapt to use
the parts of the brains that deal with word meaning.
And if they do that, then they can become good readers.
And after that I read everything.
I was reading a book a day.
I remember I was just constantly going
to the school library, getting new books.
So I learned to read in fourth grade and in sixth grade,
I got introduced to Jane Austen
with "Pride and Prejudice" and "Emma,"
and here is the story behind that.
So when I was in school,
they had these things called Scholastic book orders,
which I assume they still have.
But basically Scholastic was a company
that would send out these little pieces of paper
home with all the students
and people could choose which books to order.
And then your books would show up at school
and you'd be like, yay, I've got books.
Anyway, I brought one of those home in sixth grade
and at the very back of the order form
after my mom had to build it out,
the order form was like,
hey, if you order anything else from our book catalog,
we will give you a book for $1.
Like you can choose between "Pride and Prejudice"
and some other random classic book,
and we'll give it to you for $1 if you order anything else.
And so my mom was like,
"Hey, do you want this like $1 book?"
And I was like, sure,
'cause again, I'm reading a book a day
like every book is great in my mind.
And she's like, "Okay, do you want this one or this one?"
And so between the two, I chose "Pride and Prejudice,"
even though I had never heard of "Pride and Prejudice,"
I had never heard of Jane Austen,
but they were gonna give it to me for a dollar.
So it was like, okay, that sounds great.
Anyway, my book order arrived
and this is what showed up, kind of.
This isn't actually the original copy.
I don't know what happened to my original copy
I got from that book order, it disappeared.
But I was at a thrift store and I found this one
and it's the same, it's like the same edition,
same thing I got as a kid.
Anyway, and it is the original "Pride and Prejudice."
People have asked me before,
if this one is a bridged or like a version for kids.
No, it's not.
It's very much the original book.
Anyway, I read it and I have to say it,
most of it went over my head.
Like so much of the manners, the customs,
the relationship went over my head so much.
I thought of it as the book about the letter
because it has a letter on the cover.
So I'm like, this letter must be vital to the whole story.
Which is then I got older and I'm like,
that letter's not that important.
And then I got older, older, and then I was like,
oh, actually that letter is in a vital turning point
the whole entire book hinges on.
But that's a whole other topic for a different day.
So I read it and I liked it
but again, it went over my head so much.
So then I was like in my intermediate school library
and I came across Jane Austen as a section
and they had "Emma."
And so I picked that up and it was like,
hey, it's that same author, I'll read this one.
I have to say that at the time I liked "Emma" better,
even though it was really, really long.
I remember thinking it was never gonna end as a kid,
like this book is so long.
But also I think I related to her a lot
because Emma's pretty much the story of this girl
who constantly makes mistakes,
and I'm like, this girl is so relatable.
Where I think "Pride and Prejudice,"
the more mature romance line that goes through that book
So that was my very first introduction to Jane Austen ever.
I think I was personally, still a bit young to understand
and fully grasp her books.
Only like a year or two later, I was in the public library
and I'm walking past the VHS section,
which just says how old I am.
Our library still had this huge VHS section
you could check out,
and they had "Pride and Prejudice" 1995.
And I could only tell because it was on six different VHS's
and all of them formed one giant "Pride and Prejudice"
sort of banner on the shelf.
And so it caught my eye and I'm like,
that's the book I read.
So I was like, I'm getting this 'cause I read this book.
So I did get home
and I'm watching 1995 "Pride and Prejudice,"
I honestly think it was 'cause I was a couple of years older
that I'm like,
oh, so much of the stuff in that book went over my head.
Like I was a kid.
And so it made me reread the book and it was at that point
that I really fell in love with "Pride and Prejudice."
Anyway, that was what really,
I think cemented my love of Jane Austen in that era.
So then of course it comes to that point in life
when you have to choose your major in college.
And I was like, you'll give me scholarship money
for the reading books for four years,
I'm definitely becoming an English major.
And so of course that's what I did.
I talk more about being an English major in my video
"Is It Okay To Like 'Pride and Prejudice' 2005?"
And so I'm not gonna really go into that too much here.
I do wanna address this issue too though,
which is that I've had a few people
sort of like reach out to me or comment on the fact that
I don't draw attention very much
to the fact that I went to college for English.
Should be like, I went to college for English,
that's why you should take me seriously.
And I just don't feel that way
and one of the main reasons is this is YouTube.
And I feel like the amazing thing about YouTube is that
it's not about degrees, it's about passion.
And really the reason I have this channel
is not because I went to college for English,
it's because I love Jane Austen,
I love history, I love literature.
And it's that love that drives my channel versus my degree.
And it's like, yeah, studying English definitely affects
the content I put out on my channel.
It affects how I analyze and look at literature,
the way I research, the way I even format my material.
However, I would hope that even if I hadn't gone to college,
I would still have this channel.
And two, I feel like
there's enough imposter syndrome in the world
and I don't need to contribute to it for anybody else.
Because I would never want one of you guys out there who say
you have this dream of having a channel
about "Anne of Green Gables" and you're like,
I wish I could have a channel about "Anne of Green Gables".
That would be so cool,
but I didn't go to college for English.
I mean, Ellie Dashwood can only have her channel
'cause she went to college for English,
but I didn't so I don't get to have the channel
about "Anne of Green Gables".
Like I would never want to make anybody out there
feel like that.
If you wanna have an epic channel
about "Anne of Green Gables,"
go and have that channel.
Because again, like I said,
I really do think that YouTube is about passion
and not about degrees.
It's about normal people sharing what they love
with other people.
That was my random thoughts on degrees and YouTube and life.
So speaking about following your dreams
and not letting anything hold you back,
I was a kid who didn't know how to read
and then I learned how to read
and I went to college for English.
Now I have this YouTube channel
about history and literature.
So I didn't let dyslexia hold me back,
but I definitely could have.
And I'm only saying this because statistically,
one in five Americans are affected by some form of dyslexia.
Which means that thousands of you guys watching this video
probably are, and dyslexia has so many stigmas around it.
The vast majority of people with dyslexia
hide it from their employers
and they don't like talking about it
because it is so stigmatized and seen as a negative.
And I know in my own personal life,
I've had people treat me very poorly because of my dyslexia
when I say words wrong, when I read words wrong,
when I get the grammar wrong.
Once I even had a teacher in high school
who refused to let me join the high school newspaper
because I said a word wrong in front of her.
And she was super, super rude about it,
even though I was only like a teen kid
hoping to be on the newspaper staff.
And I do think that shows people sometimes get caught up
and they're very superficial when it comes to language.
So I just wanna have like this dyslexia awareness moment
of one thing which is that dyslexia is a different way
of seeing and processing the world and thinking.
And while it's weakness,
obviously it can be struggling with reading,
it has so, so many strengths that go with it.
Or sometimes dyslexics will test above average
in things like critical thinking skills, logical reasoning,
being able to see patterns,
being able to see things visually,
simplification of complex ideas, and communication skills,
and so, so, so much more.
So I just wanna say
to all of you out there who are dyslexic,
you have an amazing brain and you can do so many things
and don't let anything,
like people making fun of your reading hold you back
because no matter what you do in life,
haters are gonna hate.
I'm sorry, it's a true fact.
Believe me, every YouTuber on the planet
knows this fact so well guys.
(laughs)
And don't let that hold you back
because there are many, many people
who will appreciate what you have to contribute to the world
with your own unique skills and abilities.
And with that being said, I just have to say thank you
to all of you totally awesome subscribers
here on my YouTube channel.
I have no clue how there became this many of you.
It was like one day I had one subscriber,
it was called my mom
and then now there's like over 30,000 of you
as I record this video.
It was so cool that we have such a great
and awesome community of people who love classic literature.
So thanks for being here guys.
Anyway, I hope this video has helped answer
some of your most frequently asked questions about me.
Yes, I know there are so many other questions,
I'm gonna have to do a follow-up video
because this video is already super long
and I still have so many questions to go through.
But anyway, I hope you guys are having an awesome
and amazing day and keep being awesome.
Bye.
(upbeat music)