Project #1 How Have You Become the Reader and Writer You are Today.
There are many things in my life that have influenced my reading and writing, but lets start from where it all began. I am the youngest in my family, I have 2 older brothers and 2 older sisters who were huge influences of my reading and writing, even more so than my parents. I always wanted to be like them when I was younger, they were my idols and they still are. When I saw them reading books I always wanted to read the same book. though I was limited because of my reading ability. The closest in age was my sister who is only two years older than me but my oldest sister is fifteen years older than me, so you can see the age difference was quite significant hence the wide range of books going around my house. Though my parents do deserve lots of credit because they to influenced me in my younger years, reading me stories to bed and even giving me gift cards to Barnes&Noble. Then once I began school my teachers played another significant role in my advancement of reading and writing, that and the catholic system. I was in catholic school from k-8 then proceeded to go to a catholic high school. Basically there are many influencers and sponsors of my literacy that all together have made me the person I am today.
I remember that in grade school, we would have to take tests on books that we read and we would have to get a certain number of points and each book had different points so you could either read a very difficult book and hope to pass the test or read several easy books and get the points. Also the scholastic book fair used to come to a school once or twice a year and that was everyone’s favorite day. Not only because you get to skip class but also because we would all order new books and get to see all the new ones they had. I remember in grade school my favorite books to read were R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps, to this day my mom still has our collection of about 30 Goosebumps in our bookshelf back home. Another thing I really enjoyed reading were comic books, though they are not novels or anything of that nature, they always were able to capture my interest. In particular the marvel comics were the ones I would read, such as Spider-Man, and X-men. I still like the concept and have seen all the movies, though they did not teach me to read like Alexie Sherman I think they did help me further develop my reading and writing skills as I was growing up.
The Harry Potter series was just coming out when I was in grade school and I remember everyone would read those books, and couldn’t wait for the final one to come out. Those books showed me that reading can open up entire new worlds, the words were jumping off the page and it was the first time I would ever really get excited to read. Those books were hard to put down, especially because you didn’t want the other kids at school to ruin the ending for you.
In my high school days, I always enjoyed reading and writing and enjoyed my English class unlike most. I took AP English my junior and senior year and passed the AP exams with ease. I took my education for granted and had so much potential, but I still do and this program will help me in more ways than one. But my favorite books in high school were Fahrenheit 451 and Pipe Dreams (Kelly Slaters Autobiography). Fahrenheit 451 is a very interesting story and the concept always interest me and showed me how influential and important literature is. One of my favorite quotes from Ray Bradbury, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them”. Just reiterating the importance of literature.
But more recently I have been into novels based on true stories and autobiography’s. The most recent book I read is called The River of Doubt, it’s a narrative and true story of Theodore’s Roosevelt’s exploration of this River in the amazon called the River of Doubt which is one of the most dangerous rivers on earth.“Of course a man has to take advantage of his opportunities, but the opportunities have to come, If there is not the war, you don’t get the great general; if there is not the great occasion, you don’t get the great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in times of peace, no one would know his name now.”
But even more recently In our English 330 class we were told to read several articles and excerpts from various sources and one of which put my reading and writing into perspective was Deborah Brandt’s Sponsors of Literacy.“Sponsors seemed a fitting term for the figures who turned up most typically in people’s memories of literacy learning”. Just as I have been stating throughout the essay, each and everyone I have noted and some that I have not have been and still are my sponsors of literacy. Not only the people but also the books I have read and stories I have listened to. We also had to read a Malcolm X excerpt from his Biography which also has a quote that is very fitting.“I suppose it was inevitable that as my word-base broadened, I could for the first time pick up a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying.” Though it may seem obvious, our word base and knowledge is constantly expanding with every novel we read, and every article we skim. We are constantly learning new information. Like they say once you stop learning you start dying.
Works Cited:
Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” College Composition and Communication. 49.2 (1998): 165-185. Jstor. Web. 29 May 2015.
Malcolm X. “Learning to Read.” The Autobiography of Malcolm X. New York: Random House, 1964. Web. 29 May 2015. http://www.redwoods.edu/instruct/pblakemore/MalcolmX.pdf
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” The Most Wonderful Books: Writers on Discovering the Pleasures of Reading. Eds. Michael Dorris and Emilie Buchwald. Minneapolis: Milkweed, 1997. Web. 29 May 2015. http://www.pasadena.edu/files/syllabi/stvillanueva_39386.pdf
Millard, C. (2005). River of doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s darkest journey. New York: Doubleday.
Bradbury, R. (1967). Fahrenheit 451 (Book Club ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster.
