Dante Brodie

Professor Cassandra Blandford

UWRITE 1103
19 October 2015
To me, literacy is something that is valuable in everyones life. Literacy
is a quality that we all need, but sometimes forget about. Also, I see the
affects that literacy (or a lack thereof) can have on different people. We all
deal with literacy in our own way, and I think it has a way of dealing with us
as well. Having confidence in your literacy can make all aspects of
knowledge easier. When you have a clear understanding of literature, you
can better form knowledgeable opinions and be able to interpret and
facilitate knowledge with others. In my opinion, literacy is the ability to
comprehend, analyze, and share knowledge in the form of literature. When I
create or read a piece of literature, I look for something to make me or the
readers feel. Regardless of how something makes you feel, the potential to
influence through literacy is part of what makes it so important to us all. I
think the possibilities that lie within our own imaginations are what drives
literacy. Thats what makes something interesting, or boring, or exciting: the
emotion. Every time we can put true feelings into something, or can take
some kind of feelings from a literary work, we experience literacy in some
capacity.
I was introduced to literacy in a normal household, using normal
methods. I had books read and shown to me as a baby, and I took very well

to books at first. As I learned how to put letters and words together, as well
as form ideas of what different pictures meant, I started to read on my own. I
began to read early, when I was around 4 or 5. Of course these were picture
books and interactive teaching books, but I was still ahead of the curve. At
this time, I was starting school so all the other kids were slightly behind.
Even outside of school, things advanced faster when it came to reading
because my love for literacy was growing fast. A year or two later, I started
to read real stories on my own and I was introduced to my literary first
love: comic books. My dad bought Spider-Man books for me and my brother
to read. He would probably give us 10 at a time and in a week, we both
finished all 10. Spider-Man gave me a jumpstart in my journey with literacy
because I transitioned from Old McDonald and the ABCs to something that
had a real storyline. I was really into breaking and fixing things (mostly
breaking), as well as trying to solve problems and help people. It just
happened to turn out that Spider-Mans job was similar to mine. He would
see a problem, and he would fix it right away, even if he wasnt supposed to
be fixing it. Ever since being introduced to Spider-Man, I was interested in all
kinds of action-packed stories. I also think thats why Ive always been
interested in literature. My early experiences with my dad and my comic
books have definitely helped in shaping who I am as a person when it comes
to literacy.
Throughout my life, Ive heard a lot about building a strong foundation
for my education. To me, that foundation is literacy. As a student, everything

I do is focused on being able to understand, comprehend, and apply my own

ideas to different situations. So, starting at a young age, I was encouraged to
learn as much as I could. With reading and writing obviously being main
necessities of early education, they were both emphasized in my household
daily. Education has become more relevant to society in recent years, so as
Ive grown up, education has also become more important to my parents.
They still emphasize learning and make sure that my education is a top
priority. Also, neither of my parents went to college, which made them much
stricter when it came to education. They understand what its like to
compete against people with college degrees, and they didnt want their
children to go through that. Ive learned so much over the years about life
that I would never learn in school and I appreciate being able to use their
stories as motivation. My older sister was also instrumental in my household
as a teacher and motivator. She taught me a lot of stories that were relevant
to my life, even when I didnt realize it. I remember one specific experience
that turned out to be way more influential than I wouldve ever thought.
When I was 8 years old, my older sister asked me and my brother what we
knew about slavery, and naturally we told her what we learned from school.
It wasnt much, but we felt that we were educated on slavery and knew
plenty about our history. Then, she sat us down and taught us about the
Willie Lynch Letter. It might have been 8 or 9 pages, and we were forced to
read all of it, not thinking it was all that significant. As I grew and became
more literate, it occurred to me that something I read and understood in the

fourth grade was one of the most important documents in black history and
also something that people still dont know about to this day. I didnt want to
read it, but I can definitely see now that it was something I should be aware
of. Pieces of literature such as this are what made me see how important
literacy is to every aspect of our lives. I still draw knowledge from many of
my early experiences with literacy because they were mostly educational.
Even though I didnt always want some of the early lessons, they have
proven something similar to Sherman Alexies quote in Superman and Me
when he said a smart Indian is a dangerous person. A smart African
American is also very dangerous.
The lessons I learned from home were also instrumental in my
creativity, within my literacy. Focusing more on myself, my household was
very big on using literature as a way to express yourself. I used to draw a lot
when I was little, and that was something that taught me about being
creative and literate at the same time. Of course, I didnt think of it then, but
it was another one of those experiences that helped build a foundation for
literacy. Also, I was mostly free to read the books and watch shows on tv that
I wanted. My parents made me want to make my own literature by allowing
me to choose my interests and explore those interests at such a young age. I
appreciate the people around me having such a positive view on literacy and
creativity because it helped me do more than just watch, read and listen.
From the freedom I had, I found out that I can have an impact on other
people, just as certain authors and speakers impacted me. It also taught me

that I should use literacy to paint vivid pictures and stories through my own
words. Even though I had freedom, it was still well known that there were
limitations when I was still very young. When my mom watched soap operas,
I had to leave. When my dad watched shows like Jerry Springer or movies
like Blood and Bone, I had to stay out of the room until I was a little older.
They wanted me to have creative interests and use my imagination as much
as possible. From my current perspective, these limitations were pretty
practical because those things wouldve made me neglect my imagination.
By not exposing me to literacy so real, I grew on my own time into the
person I am today.
I enjoy being able to use my literacy in my own way, putting a personal
spin on what I read and hear. To me, thats what literacy is about: being able
to make whatever work of literature youre with your own in some way.
Thats mainly why I like to write, because its a way to express yourself and
put your own thoughts/ feelings on paper as well as leaving it open for the
interpretation of others. Coming up, my experience in school was a good
example of how I expressed myself with literacy. As I mentioned before, I
was a student that was ahead of many of my classmates. I was in a program
called AIG in elementary school, and many of my classes were accelerated.
We read books that were 2 or 3 grades above what we were supposed to. So,
throughout the years, I did more work than some of my friends. I got used to
being one of the smart kids and developed a higher standard for myself.
While my friends were taught to write paragraphs that were 5 sentences, I

was taught to write 8-10 sentence paragraphs. Even though it was

something simple, it made a big difference in my literacy. Over time, I
maintained and had to uphold that standard that I set for myself. Now, as I
grow into adulthood, literacy is an important part of my life and I plan to
continue using it as a educational, creative, and social tool.