[CentOS] read-only file system when trying to save files

I have installed emacs with yum and now I'm trying to create a .emacs file
and put some commands in it, but I can't type anything in the emacs
buffer.  It says the buffer is read-only.  I exited emacs and did touch
.emacs and I get a message that it can't do that on a read-only file
system.  I googled around to see why this might be, but I can't see any
links on this.  Any tips why this might be doing this?  I've heard that
centos is strict on changes, but I don't know the extent it restricts
changes.  I followed a page where I did echo 0 >/selinux/enforce .  But
this is only good until reboot. But shouldn't I be now able to make changes
in ~*

Thanks,

-wes