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David Williams

English 3

10/18/16

Pahomov

Skateparks for Cities

For many years, skateboarding, scooting and BMX have been popular worldwide. However, skateparks have not always been around for all that glory. So, naturally, riders made the world their skatepark. As adventurous as that may sound to some, this wreaks havoc on city structures and concerns civilians. Somehow there's just something about a kid on a skateboard or a scooter that terrifies people and makes them want to call the police. It is clear that kids riding on city structures is not good for the city or the general public, but how can skateparks affect the city health and the reputation of skating? Maybe if kids have a designated place to skate, it will keep them out of other areas.

Every city needs a skatepark so riders have a place to enjoy themselves. However, many people associate skateparks with drugs and trouble. This may be true sometimes, but for the most part, this is not the case. Skateparks help riders form strong community and have a place to socialize with each other. It's  place where riders. can express themselves. They can forget about their problems and just ride. For example, the recently opened Paines skate park in Philadelphia… The paines park fund website even says that their goal is to make a skatepark available within a 10 minute walk of every skater. Their site shows how the parks can form strong communities and keep kids out of trouble and just what a positive influence it can have on everyone.

In Philadelphia, skaters loved Love park. It is considered by many individuals, “The skatepark of Philadelphia.” It hosted the 2001 and 2002 X-Games. Riders loved it so much that documentaries were made about Love park made by skaters and just people alike. To many skaters, these things became their culture but unfortunately for everyone, skating still remained a nightmare for the city. People started complaining about the drug use and destruction of property. This led to the banning of skateboards in Love Park. Police were  assigned to maintain the grounds clear at all times of the day. This hurt the city as a whole because the riders spread out and rode in even more places and some even retaliated against the police.

Obviously, riders found loopholes in this and somehow still proceeded to skate at Love Park. This also gave them motive to find more places in the city to ride at. However, something had to change, so the city began construction on Paine’s park. This was possibly Philly’s biggest breakthrough. When paine's first opened, there was a huge ceremony that just about every skater in the city attended. There were speeches about why philly really needed a skatepark in the center city area. They explained how Love Park was becoming unuseable by the public because of skaters and how paines was really needed. They even cut a golden ribbon, which showed how proud they were to have built paines park.

After paine's opened, skating at love Park began to die down. The park was so packed that skaters had to form lines to ride the park. It was a miracle for the city, because people could enjoy love park again and skaters had their place of recreation. This alone proves that something as simple as a skatepark can do so much for a city. Skaters are actually coming from other areas to ride at paines, so it has a ripple affect to areas near philadelphia. The number of skaters at love park and in similar areas had greatly decreased and paines has become a magnet for community. would see a beautiful community where almost everyone gets along and enjoys their time there. So what does a skatepark do for a city, it creates a city wide equilibrium, keeps the general public happy and keeps skaters out of trouble.

Works Cited

"About." Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://franklinspaine.com/about>.

"History of Skating in LOVE Park." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/history2.htm>.

"How Much Do Skateparks Cost?" Public Skatepark Development Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://publicskateparkguide.org/fundraising/how-much-do-skateparks-cost/>.

"The Top 6 Benefits of Public Skateparks." Skatepark Designers & Builders – Spohn Ranch. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <https://www.spohnranch.com/the-top-6-benefits-of-public-skateparks-2014-03-02/>.

David Williams

English 3

10/18/16

Pahomov

Skateparks for Cities

For many years, skateboarding, scooting and BMX have been popular worldwide. However, skateparks have not always been around for all that glory. So, naturally, riders made the world their skatepark. As adventurous as that may sound to some, this wreaks havoc on city structures and concerns civilians. Somehow there's just something about a kid on a skateboard or a scooter that terrifies people and makes them want to call the police. It is clear that kids riding on city structures is not good for the city or the general public, but how can skateparks affect the city health and the reputation of skating? Maybe if kids have a designated place to skate, it will keep them out of other areas.

Every city needs a skatepark so riders have a place to enjoy themselves. However, many people associate skateparks with drugs and trouble. This may be true sometimes, but for the most part, this is not the case. Skateparks help riders form strong community and have a place to socialize with each other. It's  place where riders. can express themselves. They can forget about their problems and just ride. For example, the recently opened Paines skate park in Philadelphia… The paines park fund website even says that their goal is to make a skatepark available within a 10 minute walk of every skater. Their site shows how the parks can form strong communities and keep kids out of trouble and just what a positive influence it can have on everyone.

In Philadelphia, skaters loved Love park. It is considered by many individuals, “The skatepark of Philadelphia.” It hosted the 2001 and 2002 X-Games. Riders loved it so much that documentaries were made about Love park made by skaters and just people alike. To many skaters, these things became their culture but unfortunately for everyone, skating still remained a nightmare for the city. People started complaining about the drug use and destruction of property. This led to the banning of skateboards in Love Park. Police were  assigned to maintain the grounds clear at all times of the day. This hurt the city as a whole because the riders spread out and rode in even more places and some even retaliated against the police.

Obviously, riders found loopholes in this and somehow still proceeded to skate at Love Park. This also gave them motive to find more places in the city to ride at. However, something had to change, so the city began construction on Paine’s park. This was possibly Philly’s biggest breakthrough. When paine's first opened, there was a huge ceremony that just about every skater in the city attended. There were speeches about why philly really needed a skatepark in the center city area. They explained how Love Park was becoming unuseable by the public because of skaters and how paines was really needed. They even cut a golden ribbon, which showed how proud they were to have built paines park.

After paine's opened, skating at love Park began to die down. The park was so packed that skaters had to form lines to ride the park. It was a miracle for the city, because people could enjoy love park again and skaters had their place of recreation. This alone proves that something as simple as a skatepark can do so much for a city. Skaters are actually coming from other areas to ride at paines, so it has a ripple affect to areas near philadelphia. The number of skaters at love park and in similar areas had greatly decreased and paines has become a magnet for community. would see a beautiful community where almost everyone gets along and enjoys their time there. So what does a skatepark do for a city, it creates a city wide equilibrium, keeps the general public happy and keeps skaters out of trouble.

Works Cited

"About." Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://franklinspaine.com/about>.

"History of Skating in LOVE Park." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/history2.htm>.

"How Much Do Skateparks Cost?" Public Skatepark Development Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://publicskateparkguide.org/fundraising/how-much-do-skateparks-cost/>.

David Williams

English 3

10/18/16

Pahomov

Skateparks for Cities

For many years, skateboarding, scooting and BMX have been popular worldwide. However, skateparks have not always been around for all that glory. So, naturally, riders made the world their skatepark. As adventurous as that may sound to some, this wreaks havoc on city structures and concerns civilians. Somehow there's just something about a kid on a skateboard or a scooter that terrifies people and makes them want to call the police. It is clear that kids riding on city structures is not good for the city or the general public, but how can skateparks affect the city health and the reputation of skating? Maybe if kids have a designated place to skate, it will keep them out of other areas.

Every city needs a skatepark so riders have a place to enjoy themselves. However, many people associate skateparks with drugs and trouble. This may be true sometimes, but for the most part, this is not the case. Skateparks help riders form strong community and have a place to socialize with each other. It's  place where riders. can express themselves. They can forget about their problems and just ride. For example, the recently opened Paines skate park in Philadelphia… The paines park fund website even says that their goal is to make a skatepark available within a 10 minute walk of every skater. Their site shows how the parks can form strong communities and keep kids out of trouble and just what a positive influence it can have on everyone.

In Philadelphia, skaters loved Love park. It is considered by many individuals, “The skatepark of Philadelphia.” It hosted the 2001 and 2002 X-Games. Riders loved it so much that documentaries were made about Love park made by skaters and just people alike. To many skaters, these things became their culture but unfortunately for everyone, skating still remained a nightmare for the city. People started complaining about the drug use and destruction of property. This led to the banning of skateboards in Love Park. Police were  assigned to maintain the grounds clear at all times of the day. This hurt the city as a whole because the riders spread out and rode in even more places and some even retaliated against the police.

Obviously, riders found loopholes in this and somehow still proceeded to skate at Love Park. This also gave them motive to find more places in the city to ride at. However, something had to change, so the city began construction on Paine’s park. This was possibly Philly’s biggest breakthrough. When paine's first opened, there was a huge ceremony that just about every skater in the city attended. There were speeches about why philly really needed a skatepark in the center city area. They explained how Love Park was becoming unuseable by the public because of skaters and how paines was really needed. They even cut a golden ribbon, which showed how proud they were to have built paines park.

After paine's opened, skating at love Park began to die down. The park was so packed that skaters had to form lines to ride the park. It was a miracle for the city, because people could enjoy love park again and skaters had their place of recreation. This alone proves that something as simple as a skatepark can do so much for a city. Skaters are actually coming from other areas to ride at paines, so it has a ripple affect to areas near philadelphia. The number of skaters at love park and in similar areas had greatly decreased and paines has become a magnet for community. would see a beautiful community where almost everyone gets along and enjoys their time there. So what does a skatepark do for a city, it creates a city wide equilibrium, keeps the general public happy and keeps skaters out of trouble.

Works Cited

"About." Franklin's Paine Skatepark Fund. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://franklinspaine.com/about>.

"History of Skating in LOVE Park." Ushistory.org. Independence Hall Association, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://www.ushistory.org/lovepark/history2.htm>.

"How Much Do Skateparks Cost?" Public Skatepark Development Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2016. <http://publicskateparkguide.org/fundraising/how-much-do-skateparks-cost/>.

Hayley Barci                                                                                                                     Oct.26.2016

I remember being bullied, because of the way I looked, the way my body was shaped, I was different. I was always trying to fit in with the the popular kids, with their huge groups of friends.  Meanwhile, I had one true friend, Abby. She meant the world to me. We would always play in the big backyard of her house, and have teddy bears wrapped up in between our arms. I could be whatever I wanted to be around my best friend. I can still remember all of the times we would get in trouble for silly things and how we would play witches in her bedroom, with brooms in between our thighs, flying in the magical skies.

The bullies would always bring me down, I fall, and I would stay on the ground. I would end up home, with my face, showing no emotions of the pain I suffered Every single goddamn day. I would always think of myself as an ugly person, or better yet, a thing. It was as if I were an alien, people poking at me with their sharp tools, drawing pain throughout my veins. An unbearable,  stinging, burning pain, attached to my soul. I would never tell my parents about my troubles. I kept every word inside my tight throat, it was suffocating.

“These stories changed me deeply”, the narrator admits in the beginning of A Place to Stand. I began to open my eyes, and realize that dominance is a way of life in our communities, and in our culture. It’s always the goal to be on a higher standard than everybody else, in different manners. Some nationalities have more knowledge than others, so therefore they use that supply of knowledge in order to gain more power in our nation.

I began to get older as I was starting the realize what I have and didn’t have, I was lucky enough to have all of my needs. I knew I couldn’t get everything thing that I wanted like a milion dollars, or a huge house, or a fancy car. My mother had many struggles with money, pay bills, or insurance, or medical bills. “We were poor by most standards, but one of my parents usually managed to find some minimum job or another, which made us middle class by reservation standards,” as claimed in Superman & Me. That’s that situation that certain people have to deal with in our society.    It has always been a heartache watching her struggle, meanwhile some people have all of the money in the world and have a lot of things that we need. The dominance that people of higher class posses is extremely powerful. Using it in order to receive more money from those who don’t really have it.  

This society that many people including myself are exposed to, has impacted the way we live. The amount of money that someone has can be relatable to how much knowledge you have. Sometimes people take advantage of the amount of knowledge they have against others, saying that they have more than someone else. That’s how a lot of people are today, trying to be more dominant than everyone else. That’s  what our society has become, and sadly, that the way it will be.Some people are not known for their knowledge, because others may think that it’s not as informative as their own, or not as important.

Well, after all, “if you want to be American, speak American”, stated in How to Tame a Wild Tongue.That’s often the case when it comes to knowledge, it’s like many people have expectations of you, the way to act, the way you read, write or speak. You are meant to have a higher stand when it come to literacy, and in how you interpret it. How you use the knowledge, and how much impact it will have on others.

These kinds of impacts can be positive for someone who wants more dominance when it comes to literacy and knowledge. For instance, in the United States we have the PSSA’s, PSAT’s, etc in order to measure how much structured learning they obtain. These sorts of situations occur in schools, colleges, jobs, and in multiple different accommodations. Children in many schools get bullied because maybe they don’t understand something in class, or maybe because they learned about literacy at a slower pace.

People of many backgrounds, also receive judgements for what kind of knowledge their families, or ancestors possess. In which can be an issue because you are not exactly your family members, you are not your ancestors, you have a life, and a mind of your own.

Introduction

Writing this essay has affected me in a positive way as a writer. I feel as though my writing  became better and my vision for literature had been expanded. My goal for this essay was to change the way people think what it means to be educated in literacy. I’m very proud of this essay, I think it was very well written. I’m also proud of myself for finding a larger idea to touch on in this essay. In my last essay, I didn’t really accomplish this. To improve myself as a writer, I think I should remember to not write too many unecessary words. I tcan end to write extrenuiously. Overall, I’m proud of my work and I hope you will be too.

Essay

During the good ole days of my adolescence, probably 14 or 13 years old, I was watching TV and came across a show called, “Parks and Recreation”. It was my first time watching the show, and I just jumped into the random episode that was on. I didn’t know anything about the characters, so I had to “read” them to sort of understand what they were about. For example, one of the characters on the show, named April, has very dark and I-don’t-care-about-anything attitude about her. I learned this from intensely “reading” the way she spoke, acted and carried herself. Another example from the show is a character named Leslie. After “reading” the details of the way she talked, acted and did things, I understood that this character is someone who is constantly determined to get things done, wants everyone to be happy and can be way over the top at times.

I see this moment in my life as a form literacy. As you may know, literacy is a form of education. While watching “Parks and Recreation” for the first time, I was educating myself on who the characters were by “reading” them. Most people would say that I’m not educating myself; they’d say that I’m doing nothing more than watching non educational TV. But they are wrong. By “reading” these characters, I’m educating myself on who they are and what they’re about. There is more to education than just school curriculum.

In the Apartheid of Children’s Literature, Christopher Meyers finds out how old a child is just by examining his features: "I’m talking with a boy. He’s at that age when the edges of the man he will become are just starting to press against his baby-round face." Although Meyers doesn’t state the actual age of the child, his description of him entails that he is at a maturing age such as 12 or 13. In this quote, Meyers demonstrates the exact same thing that I performed when I first watched “Parks and Recreation”. In order to better understand who this little boy was, Meyers educated himself by “reading” the boy. Literacy has many forms, and being able to read people is one of those forms. This would classify as cultural literacy because culture symbolizes identity, and identity is what I was looking for when educating myself on the characters of “Parks and Recreation”.

Knowing how to “read” people, and or situations, is a great way to educate one’s self; especially if you don’t know how to read. In today’s society, high officials set the standard that being literate means just knowing how to read words. If you can’t read words, then you would be considered slow minded and unable to be educated. The fact that this is happening is unacceptable, especially when it comes to race. They are basically making them dumb by ignoring the intelligence they already possess. Just because a person isn’t literate in one way, doesn't mean they aren’t literate in another. Like I mentioned before, literacy has many forms. When Sherman Alexie was just a young, Indian boy in his story, Superman and Me, he was unable to read the words in the Superman comic book that he had. But, that doesn’t mean he was unable to read the story: “In one panel, Superman breaks through a door. His suit is red, blue and yellow. The brown door shatters into many pieces. I look at the narrative above the picture. I cannot read the words, but I assume it tells me that ‘Superman is breaking down the door.’ Aloud, I pretend to read the words and say, ‘Superman is breaking  down that door.’” (Pg 12-13) This quote emphasizes my idea that there is more to education than schooling because Sherman reads the comic book without reading the words. By “reading” the actions and situations in the comic book, Sherman then taught himself how to read. Looks like people who don’t know how to read words aren’t so slow minded as some people assume they are.

In fact it was from this point, of educating  himself on how to read, that Sherman was on the path to a bright future. Near the end of Superman and Me, Sherman grew up to become a very successful and well rounded adult: “Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised  I became a writer. I was going to be a pediatrician. These days I write novels, short stories and poems. I visit schools and teach creative writing to Indian kids.” (Pg 14)  This quote doesn’t really exemplify my claim, but it does support it. The quote points out that other forms of education, such as “reading” the world, can lead you to success just as much as schooling education.

The fact that Sherman grew up to be such a successful writer is a major feat, especially since he taught himself how to read. Like Sherman, not many minority youth are given the opportunity to get educated in literacy. So they would either learn about it in another way or not learn it at all. The high officials of today’s society, who are pre-dominantly white, set the standard as to what literacy is and who can be educated in it. When these high officials see minorities who don’t know how to read or write, they write them off immediately or give them very low quality education on literacy. Back in 2014 in an essay called The Apartheid of Children’s Literature, a man named Christopher Meyers saw the potential for greatness in young minorities, particularly black ones. He decided to educate them on a consistent issue with children’s book that is still a little relevant today. This exchange is between Meyers and a young, black boy: “‘So you’re telling me these are all the books published last year for kids?’ they ask me. ‘That’s a lot of books. That’s more books than I could read in a year.’

‘Yep, it’s a few thousand.’

‘And in all of those thousands of books, I’m just not in them?’

‘Well...um...yes.’

‘Are there books about talking animals?’

‘Oh, sure.’

‘And crazy magical futures?’

‘Absolutely.’

‘And superpowers? And the olden days when people dressed funny? And all the combinations of those things? Like talking animals with superpowers in magical futures ... but no me?’

‘No you.’

‘Why?’

‘ Because you’re brown.’”

Meyers educated this child, and most likely others, on this topic by having them “read” over the world of children’s literacy. This agrees with my idea that there is more to education than just schooling because these black kids were educated on an issue that most schools wouldn't even touch on. These kids were being taught how to be aware of the diversity issues going on in the world of children's literature.

In conclusion, the education of literacy is very diverse topic. In this essay, I focused on the literacy of “reading” people and situations; which would fall in the category of cultural literacy. Most people would say that this type of literacy is not needed or unimportant, but I beg to differ. By being able to “read” people and or situations, you acquire a skill set that is very much used in politics. Which is “reading” issues/ situations and coming with ways to improve or fix the situations. So we, as a society, need to reevaluate how we view education. Because we could just be dismissing our future politicians and presidents.

Bibliography

Meyers, Christopher. "The Apartheid of Children’s Literature." New York Times. N.p., 15 Mar. 2014. Web. <The Apartheid of Children’s Literature>

Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 1998. Web. 30 Oct. 2016. <http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/19/books/bk-42979>.

Intro: In this writing piece I concentrated on the time I found out I had dyslexia and how is was an eye-opener for me.  I also talk about how without my dyslexia, I would not be the same person.  My literacy is through my creativity.  I may not be strong in my reading and writing but I am strong in my theater and artistic activities.  My goal in writing this piece was to make people understand the different levels of literacy.  Something I like about writing this piece was I went into more detail than my last advanced essay, about what my main point was.  Something I can still work on is my grammer.  I think I did better than the last time, but that has always been a struggle.

There’s Identity in My Literacy

I was sitting in a testing room in a giant house.  Unfamiliar surroundings made me overthink all the obstacles that could happen as I sat in a chair for 7 hours in a room with glass walls.  Being asked question after question and being told to read and write this or that.  Mind slowly being winded up as the questions got harder to answer and my eyes started to stumble over the words.  I was a 7th grader with a twisted tongue while reading.  I was first told by the student council at my school that I might actually have dyslexia.  For most of my time in that school they said that dyslexia is not even a thing. Being a kid not having any knowledge of why it took me two times longer to do homework was definitely pressing.

After years of my parents fighting for the student council to realize I might actually have dyslexia, I finally ended up in a testing room.  I sat there in silence twisting my mind over the concept that I am going to finally figure out what is going on with me. I got to find out who I am and why I struggled so much.  With every question the person testing me asked, I felt like I was discoverying my identity. The only time my mind got a break was during a small lunch hour that my dad and I took.  The same time hoping I can get back to testing just so I can have that piece of my identity defined. After the break I went right back to work.

Finally after hours of testing it was finally time for results. I waited on the other side of the glass door as my dad went to meet with the instructor. I sat there thinking, finally, I get to find out what’s going on and I will be able to see a little clearer.  It felt like I was just getting my first pair of glasses.  Once I put on the lens, the blur goes away even though you know you still can’t see.  After waiting over 30 minutes, they both came out, my dad sat next to me and the lady who tested me sat across the table. The lady told me there was one good news and one bad news.  I ask her to tell me the bad news first just to get it out the way.  She told me I had dyslexia.  Even though this was supposed to be bad news, I felt a sigh of relief.  I no longer have to search for what’s going on.  I can also tell my dad was relieved too, that we no longer had to wonder and fight.  She then went on to tell me the good news... I did not have a very high diagnose and that I can get help.  She gave us options and we decided to go with a tutor that came to my school twice a week and taught me.  I would say that this moment in my literacy was a big changing point.

Literacy in my life has taken the place of my identity.  I always searched for the answer to why I am the the way I am through my literacy.  Without my dyslexia I would not be the same person.  Even though I struggle in my reading and writing, I still am very strong in my creative side.  I am able to act, sing and do art because of my lack of expertise in reading and writing.  I would say a struggle that schools have is not knowing how to let kid’s true talents and literacy shine through.  For instance my literacy is through my creativity, schools are just so into subjects such as reading and writing.  The story, I Just Want to be Average, mentioned how it is a  problem that teachers don’t know how to engage the imagination side of a child: “But mostly the teachers had no idea of how to engage the imaginations of us lads who were scuttling along at the bottom of the pond.” pg 164  This should not be a problem, the teacher should look at the strengths of the kid and let them show their true literacy.  If the teachers do this, the student will grow as a bright individual and show their true colors.  This will also help the kid not be ashamed if they are not the best at the main subjects at school like math or reading because the teachers will be bring light to there true literacy and helping them grow in that.

I think that my dyslexia shows that I am a strong person, who no matter what, I am able to tackle the tough times and get through struggles in my life.  Literacy to others is something that is meant for school but there are so many different levels of literacy.  There is literacy in the way people talk to one another, there is literacy in the way people act, write, and learn.  We need to realize these levels of literacy before we shut someone down for not knowing the “basics” in school.  Growing up being told by my teachers that my learning disability isn’t even a thing, was hard for me.  I can tell you that my confidence level in myself was not that strong when they kept denying me.  Once I was able to figure out what was going on with my reading and writing was the day I became more confident.  That is the day I was able to look at myself in the mirror and say, “I know what I struggle with. I know where I have flaws. With this knowledge of my identity I will become more than what others expect.”

“Look, maybe there’s another way we can settle this! Isn’t this going a little too far?”

“Just hearing you talk makes me want to smash your face in!”

He served a firm strike to my lower abdomen. A gasp for air ended up becoming a gag, which transformed into a ball of saliva and today's lunch exiting my mouth almost forcefully. It hit the ground and splashed over the circulation of the feet around me. As his grip on my jacket loosened, the “flight” response in my head had overtaken my body, and I ended up home in less than a minute.

I reached for the handle as I heard my dad talking continuously with someone over the phone. I wanted to get inside as quickly as possible to tell him what had happened. I wanted him to know so he could be the father I dreamed of. The kind whose muscles bursted out of their shirts when they heard that their son had been bullied by a group of kids. I was excited to see that side of my dad for the first time. I burst through the door, my body aching from my previous endeavours.

“Yeah, I know! My son sounds like a real white man! Now all he needs is a-”

The sound of my dad was interrupted with the slam of our front door. I stepped inside, soaking wet with rain and vomit covering my body. Every breath heaved at my chest, dragging me down into the futon.

“Hey there, Sam. How was your day? Oh, yeah! Your grandma’s calling us from the plant! Come say hi!”

My grandparents worked in a plant in the Port of Tianjin. They grew up in a world filled with those like themselves, and didn’t know the world for what it was. They could only gain a few glimpses of outside reality from specific examples of media. Their views of race and social status were influenced solely on that. And it rubbed off onto everyone who they have connected themselves to, and it spread like wildfire. Their indifference to language shows how much they actually know about it.

“Hi, Grandma”, I said unenthusiastically. My breathing was often interrupted by hard whooping coughs from the pulsing of my lower body from the massive blow I received earlier.

“Oh my goodness! You sound like a ‘man’ now, huh?”, she chuckled.

My dad held in his cackling handed the phone back to my dad, clutched my bag handle, and headed upstairs in the blink of an eye. In that moment, the events that I believed I could escape at school stalked and fixed itself to my own house. I couldn’t escape the cryptic descriptions of the way I talk. The thought of ripping out my vocal reeds from my throat spun around my head until I fell asleep. “Tomorrow will be better”, I thought to myself, trying to flee the position than the voice gods had put me in. I was in a hell that caused me to be someone I'm not. Someone who I don't want to be.

“The tragedy is that you have to twist the knife in your own gray matter to make this defense work.” Adapting to the places that you are in is the only only way out of situations that you don’t want to be in. You have to attempt to make amends with a new persona to add to your arsenal if you don't feel  comfortable in a certain location. You'll have to shut down. You’ll have to reject intellectual stimuli or diffuse them with sarcasm. You’ll have to “cultivate stupidity.” “You’ll have to convert boredom from a malady into a way of confronting the world.”

Adults have lower expectations for kids education than they did in the past. This is because of the huge achievement gap, low graduation rates and less standards. Education for the last generation was different from what it is now.

The achievement gap is testing, test scores and work output amongst each different race in education. Teachers and other people have been trying to close the achievement gap since 1970. However, Progress came to a halt in 1988 because people lost interest. Standardized testing scores show that some schools have a high achievement level whereas others have a low achievement levels. Expectations for some students are lower because of the testing scores and the curriculum they teach. When parents hold their kids to a lower expectation, the kids can figure it out and don’t believe that they’re capable of a lot.

Second Reason:  But this is different for a lot of parents with kids who have disabilities or who are disadvantaged at birth.  

                                           Introduction

 This essay helped me develop a better writer. My goals for this essay was to show that language isn’t just Spanish and English. I wanted to show that their are more pieces to it . I wanted  for my audience to be able to connect these pieces through my essay and understand the bigger picture of language and why we need. Need. My goal was to be able to connect my experiences to a major theme and I think i succeeded. I’m proud that i was able to make an essay that people from all over can relate too, no matter your age,gender, or race. It’s a universal thing. The thing i could improve on though would be just making it a bit more in detail .

                 The Art of Language

 Literacy comes in all shapes and forms from political literacy, to media literacy to even visual literacy but the one literacy  that we all have in common even when we don’t know what it is, is cultural literacy. Cultural literacy “is the knowledge of one’s culture” stated by the website digital Is. There are a lot of things that surround culture from the music you play, to the clothes you wear, to the food you eat but overall language is one of the most important because language is the way you communicate with the culture. It’s the way connect within in your culture A lot of people think language is just Spanish,English,Chinese,French, Vietnamese, Italian, and so much more but truthfully language is so much more than that. You could be speaking the same language but not the same language at all. Let me explain clearly what I mean. If you speak  modern english and I speak old english, we may be both speaking English but not the same language. When I was about ten years old I actually had my very first experience with cultural literacy.

 I hadn’t seen my niece, Destiny  in a long time. I only got to see  her every 3 years ,maybe and I know a lot has changed since then. I packed so much stuff that day, unnecessary stuff. I was only going to be at her house for a weekend but I packed like I was going to be there for  two weeks.My mom unpacked some of the clothes and gave me the stuff that was actually nessary. “Take a jacket” my mom said. I  looked at my mom “Why? It’s summer” . My mom gave me a look back “Because I said so. It’s going to rain. Now take the jacket. If you don’t need it then don’t wear it.”  She said as she walked out of the room. I put my jacket inside of my bag and soon as I did I I heard the doorbell ring. She’s here I said in my head then out loud. My mom came down the steps with me . I said Hi to Destiny and her mom. My mom and hers had a little chat before we left. We were off to quakertown. This was my very first time ever going to quakertown but i thought it be fun. When we arrived the very first thing I noticed was all the snow and i’m not  talking about actual snow. I was wondering if there were any black people?I never seen so much white people in my life but I wasn’t closed to making some white friends. My elementary school  had been with all African American students so I was looking for some diversity. Most of the day we spent watching disney movies, eating chinese food, and walking across the train tracks. It was slow but i was having a bit of fun. When nightfall came i thought  we were going to play games in the house and relax since it was 10 o'clock at night but my niece Destiny had other plans. Her and I were going to go see her friends. We left out without her saying really anything to her mom but we will be back. We went behind this shed where she met her group of friends who were smoking weed. They were a wild group of kids who all basically did whatever they want when they wanted but  that  was really none of my business if they listened to their parents or not but things got weird when i tried to talk to them and make some friends.  “Wassup?” I said to one of the white girls. “Hi she said.”  flipping her blonde hair. I tried to start conversation. “U always lived here or nah?” I was bad at it at 13 but it was my attempt. She stared at me for a while before she actually spoke “I don’t understand what you are talking about?”  she said.  “I’m  saying have you always lived quakertown.” I said rolling my eyes. She laughed with her friends. “Oh yeah” she answered.  “That’s cool I lived in Philly my whole life, that jawn sorta poppin” I said awkwardly laughing. She looked at her friends once more as if i was speaking another language or something but to them i probably was. “Why do you talk like that?” she asked. “Talk like what?” I answered. “Like a gangster” she said. I didn’t know how to respond so I didn’t At this point I  honestly thought she was trying to be racist and maybe she was  but without the knowledge I have now I wouldn’t have ever thought that maybe we just weren't speaking the same language.

 Language will always be crucial to cultural literacy, it makes up most  of the definition and whether we like it or not when we step into diverse situations we experience what it feels like and without  speaking the same language we won’t be able to understand what each other is saying. If we can’t understand what people are saying then we can’t connect  as humans and as humans we long to connect with another person that’s why Language is so important.  Language bonds us together , Language   helps make us a culture. Language is beautiful. A quote in How to tame a wild tongue reminds us of  this  it states “Who is to say that robbing a  people of their language is less violent than War? “Pg (53) Ray Gwyn. My response is  that it’s not.  If you rob a group of people of their language then you rob them of their culture.

K-Pop is attractive to American fans but why? K-Pop refers to the pop music of Korea. It can incorporates elements of western music as well. But why is K-Pop so popular with American fans who do not understand Korean? Is it because of the dance? The music? The sheer fact that it’s in a different language? KPop is popular with American fans because it is different than what they are used to hearing, yet has key elements that remind them of home.

An element where K-Pop differs from the typical American pop group is their fashion.  In fashion, there are different types of fashion.  A particular fashion is loud fashion. This means that there is so many different styles that there is a huge selection of  colors and styles that everything becomes very profound and therefore loud. America is one of these places that has the type of fashion.  Korean fashion is more relaxed due to the lack of said mixture and due to the fact that “(Korean)  Girls tend to be shorter and Korea is more homogeneous.” This causes similar fashion styles and interests. However, as said before, K-Pop is derived from their western counterparts, therefore creating a mixture of designs and fashion, such as paring a cool colored article of clothing with a warm colored article of clothing to make it really pop.  With this mixture, Americans are drawn to the new yet familiar style of fashion. An example of this is the Kpop singer Ailee in her music video “I will show you”. In the music video, she is seen in very plain and cool colors to make her fit in with the rest but as the bridge of the song comes on, she is dressed in very bright colors along with her cool colors.

Another element where K-Pop differs from American pop is their training. According to  (Differences between K-Pop industry and the American Pop industry, 2012),  “In Korea, there are K-pop training camps that kids will go and audition for to join - and everyone knows that.”  The backgrounds of how bands came together also vary a lot. Christine Choi, a K-Pop fan explained this difference using two popular American groups. She says when the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC came out, there were great efforts to make their history together genuine instead of a group haphazardly thrown together.  Compared to Asian groups who actually knew each other from the training camps. Christine gives another example with two popular Korean groups, Dong Bang Shin Ki and Super Junior. They had met in the training camps and after a while decided to combine their talents and become one big 4 person and R&B group. A harsher training and creation of genuine friendships really boosts how effectively the group works and effectively captures the attention of their American fans.

Airhead has the best candy commercial. The commercial is very effective because…..(why is it effective other than than that it’s cool and sweet, why is it cool and sweet)

Commercials and newspaper ads captivate the public's attention. These methods of advertising attracts people like magnets to buy the products being advertised.   IT doesn’t have to to depend on age, something that attract the public attention or it can be how cool the product is and does have to do with the strategies the company are using to advertise their products in effective way.

For all of these reasons, Airhead is the best candy brand commercial is effective at advertising because it cool and sweet.

Perfetti Van Melle, the company that owns Airhead influences consumers the best when advertising because...This industry is an interesting one because it came from a italian company that manufactured air head,who ever know it came from the italian because italy is pretty famous one of their cool things like taffy candy,this information is relevant it relate to how ad advertising strategy will just make its way to people's attention by unique background.  

In a 2007 Airhead commercial, the kids ate different colored airheads. Once the kids ate the candy there head’s expanded like a balloon and changed to the color of candy they ate.

The video attracted  kids to make everyone run to the airhead companies and buy piece of candy of that brand.“In this airhead ad, the use of effectiveness the air head and make everyone run to the airhead companies and buy piece of candy of that brand. here are the reasons why.

• Kids think the candy is cool because of the unique visual color and balloon

• Think it sweet because of the different flavor

• Buying this candy make kids think their cool and not boring

By their effectiveness which people used technology to broadcast this commercial air head ad was powerful and make airhead successful candy,this support the thesis because it influence people mind and advertisement to public notice make them buy the ad.

Third other people age and health the company can use that as a strategy to attract people to buy their product because that people will be interest if have effect.  for example. “According to the website onegreenplanet.org, Eating candy is one of the simple pleasures of life. Gummy or hard, sweet or sour, it’s hard to eat candy without cracking a smile. Whether you go to a candy shop or just down to the local bodega, there are bound to be tons of candy products lining the shelves. There are so many nowadays it can actually be a pretty daunting task choosing just one! And if you’re looking to keep your candy vegan – meaning no animal-derived ingredients like gelatin, carmine, or dairy”This information shows that their advertising skill is good and simple that make people attract it because candy is part our life to eat and they make if you can eat in meat product or if you are vegan to eat in vegan version.

This topic is relevant because commercial and advertisement stand out to people as attracting like manget make people to buy more of their stuff and it has huge impact multiple industry of company and products varying attracting in view of eyes.  

Works CIted

ZACHARIAS, Https://www.facebook.com/onegreenplanet NIL. "Cut Out the Dairy and Gelatin With These 15 Vegan Candies." One Green Planet. NIL ZACHARIAS, 15 June 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.

Keepsort, Mc. "Candy Favorites – Wholesale Candy & Bulk Candy Suppliers Since 1927." A History of Airheads Taffy. Tom Grill, Jan.-Feb. 1998. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVS1zoQhd44

:http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/gelatin-free-candies/

:http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/history-of-airheads-candy.php

Introduction: In the making of this essay, it was very new to me. It brung me out of my comfort zone. My goal was to show versatility in my writing and do something different. I hope the reader enjoy

Til this day, I can still  remember why my voice was a burden to literacy. Times where my classmates would giggle  when I was called on to read because they thought I sound like a girl. When I stuttered while speaking about something that  made me excited but would leave feeling sad because I overheard my friends mocking me. No one could understand what i was saying and that threw a lot of problems at me. Speaking is not a strength that I would put on a job application. Throughout my entire life, my different experiences with literacy would only be defined positive if I read it clearly. My words never mattered to people but if I could get them to fall in love with the way I said those words, I’d be a master at rocket science or at least got them to forget about my lypse. Literacy is not always what you write down but how you communicate it to the listener, something I learned the hard way.

Preschool was the first time I ever knew I had a problem talking. I remember saying the “A,B,C’s” over and over again because I talked different from the rest of the kids. Another kid and  I shared a voice tutor. A fragile blonde would come every week to pull us out of class and teach us how to read words on a card out loud. I couldn't stop looking at the other boy head because he had this nasty braid on the top of his neck. In fact, I was more interested in imagining getting a pair of scissors and cutting that thing off than learning how to talk properly. The lady would put a card in my face and made weird tongue gestures at me to help me pronounciat. With word combinations like “ dirty and thirty, king and cane, trousers and trials, I designed a world of mistakes. Saying them out loud sounded like my tongue was putting two different words in a blender and trying to communicate with one.  I could never say any of those words correctly or to the standards of dominant society. In this case, the classroom because my teachers believed I had a bad lypse, forgetting the fact that I can read  the entire Dr. Seuss series without any mistakes.

That preschool experience had me really thinking that maybe I shouldn't speak at all. I was scared of reading anything out loud, especially in front of grown ups because that they felt like I didn't know how to talk.

My speaking problems followed me all the way through elementary school as that would be my first experience with reading passages. It was fourth grade, Mr. Kris class. We were  face down in our text books. Mr. Kris was randomly choosing students to read. “What if people laugh? I don't know how to pronounce this word? I hope he doesnt call on me.”, is all I kept thinking while a student was being called on, one by one. Some were reading slow, fast, and even skipping words. I tend to notice that though they all had different styles of speech, their tones were acceptable. The girls sounded like girls and the guys sounded like guys, voices ranging from squeeky to creepy. Then the teacher called on me. My eyes locked  on the words as if they were trying to hold on to a boat that is slowly sinking into an ocean full of snakes.  My mouth begin to move as if it was being directed by my view. This is not how I imagine my voice sounding in my mind. It was fruity yet shrill and I stuttered  a lot on words that I knew how to say, at least in my mind. Every word pass through my teeth as sweat fall an inch closer down my face. When I finished the section, I looked up like I just ran a marathon. We had free time after we were finish the class work. Everyone was talking to each other and not about the reading. I tried to socialize with my classmates but was quickly shut down by them. A boy asked me why do I talk like I have spit in my mouth? Then another one told me I sound like I just got finished drinking a gallon of maple syrup with a follow up question, “Are you gay?”. From then on, I never volunteered to read in class ever again.

Never truly knowing exactly why a voice can invent so much harm, I grew into a man that was expected to be raised by an stereotyped environment that reflected the  color of my skin with no self confidence. Already dealing with identity problems, words were quickly taken away from my expression. A reality that will rip away a tongue that sounds different from what they know,I had to learn to just keep it to myself. What's the point in learning literature if the way someone sounds is the key to what defines them? That question rebirthed my way of thinking for all these years. It was my reason for not pursuing excellence or speaking up for myself. Missing out on so many opportunities, I knew I had to find an answer.

Growing up in the projects, I had to learn that certain tones of voice wasn't ok where I lived. Your voice had to be deep and sound like you highest education was a mcdonald's promotion to rapper. No matter what, a guy had to sound like a guy. Since I didn't, I was consider “soft” so everyone picked on me but this soft boy fought back. My mother always told me , “Never let another man run you into your own home.” In the environment I was raised in, I had to wear her words like they were tattooed on my forehead.  It brung me enough courage to make friends. All the boys would go and play football in this neighbor’s lawn. One day, I decided to go over there to play football with the guys. Looking at a group of pit bulls and one bone,  I knew I was getting myself into a deeper pool of uneasiness. I asked one of the guys if I could play and all he said in return was, “ You sound white. Why you always talking like a girl, you faggot?”. Standing in the corner with a group of eyes staring at me and mouths that produced only laughter, I couldn't help but have flashbacks of those words being thrown at me from different voices. I was fed up and just started fighting every boy that ever said that to me. That ever  made a joke about my speech.  

I thought being a fighter would work but quickly learned the other side of kids in middle school. Going to a strict private christian school, I quickly figured that some opinions of me just wasn't going to change. From the first day, my classmates had a problem with how I talk. They thought I sounded to ghetto and even mistaken my words for cuss words so they couldn't wait to tell a teacher. I never got snitched on so many times in my entire life. I felt to poor and ghetto to be in that school. I thought I would fit in because I was too white for the ghetto but now that I wasn't even welcome here, acceptance was my only option.

Letting my voice ring through the halls and streets, I try to let go of that hatred I had for my voice. I started writing again and made sure that english was always my favorite class.  Coming into high school with a different attitude, my voice was shot down again and this time by a teacher. It was my spanish teacher. We always had to speak in different languages during the course of his class. Since my grade was a struggling C in his class, there was no question that I was one of his worst students. I couldn't understand spanish if  it was to save my life. One day in class, I raised my hand to read out my sentences for that morning warm up. When finished, my eyes slowly looked over to my friend who was fluent in spanish. He gave me a thumb up so I thought I did a good job. Next thing to happen was a rain of laughter coming from the teacher. He stared at me and ask if I was from the south. I told him I have southern roots and he responded with “ I can tell. You remind me of when I used to teach in Alabama.  You need to learn how to pronounce your words correctly and speak clearly because I didn't understand anything you just said. I hope you're not dreaming of being a reporter with that voice.” His criticism was followed by a room with eyes that covered its walls, staring through my clothes like I was naked. The only thing that I heard at that point was giggling that turned into laughter. At that moment, I just wanted  to be lifted up and flown away from  the world.

Either I talk like a girl, sound like i'm white,  or  read like I was just finished drinking a bottle of syrup. People were never interested in what I would actually say, making my opinions and statements  irrelevant in society. I felt invisible to society even though I only aimed for average because average is cool, at least in yesterday society.  Today I am fed up of yesterday’s society. I was so worried on my voice that I never got to finish that Dr. Seuss book. I never got to understand exactly how to write or tell the difference between a pronoun, adjective, and conjunction. No, I was told to be more worried about how I sound to other people. How can I truly master  one of the beauties in literacy when i'm told that the only thing people care about is my voice? “ I will no longer be made to feel ashamed of existing. I will have my voice. Just like Azadula said, in How To Tame a Wild Tongue, “ I will have my woman’s voice, my sexual voice, my poet’s voice. I will overcome the tradition of silence.” . I love everything about my cold broken voice. Through my voice is a literacy of itself  and unless you're  reading it, don't tell me how to express it.

Teen pregnancy: not a popular situation in America today. in general, parents do not want their teens to become pregnant before being able to provide a life for their child or being able to give themselves the best life possible. But what can be done to avoid it? Many Americans believe that the best way to prevent teen girls from getting pregnant is to convince them to not have sex. The belief is that teen pregnancy rate has dropped significantly because more education and resources are being provided, as opposed to still promoting abstinence which  makes teen pregnancy rates increase.

Teen pregnancy is easily avoidable, and there are many accessible resources for families and young girls. A resource that serves 1 out of 5 women in their life is Planned Parenthood. PP has been providing STD screening services, general healthcare, and abortion services for 97 years. From 2013-2014 pregnancy rates dropped 9%, and from 1990 teen pregnancy rates have dropped 50%. Planned Parenthood was able to decrease pregnancy rates because they provide different forms of birth control. They provide the daily pill, implants, or abortion services. PP providing these services lets girls know that they are safe and have these preventative methods. Each year PP prevents 216,000 unwanted pregnancies each year.

Many states across the country provide their students with sex education, ranging from abstinence, sex ed, and HIV. Different states have different requirements to meet, such as that 28 states require courses on healthy sexual relationships. The University of Washington paired with the Center for Disease Control, conducted a study comparing young adults who received comprehensive to sex education to those who did not. The results concluded that educating kids in school greatly helps bring down teen pregnancy rates because knowledge is power. The young adults who had received proper education, had a 50% lower rate of teen pregnancy. Once these kids are given the proper knowledge, and taught that sex is not a taboo, they will stop feel like having sex proves them to be a rebellious teen.

The Federal Government conducted a research study on determining the effectiveness of teaching abstinence only programs. Abstinence only programs teach that students should not be having sex until marriage, and provide no information on Birth Control, STD’s, or HIV. Schools and programs believe that teaching abstinence will decrease the amount of sexual partners children chose to have and amount of sexually active teens. This study concluded that youth enrolled in these programs were no less likely to become sexually active, and it did not provide them the necessary resources to make informed decisions later on in life.

A resource like PP is necessary for young girls, and should be continued to receive funding because it clearly does an effective job.Knowing key statistics and the proper way to approach sexual education with young adults is essential to lowering teen pregnancy rates. This is significant because we need to be able to take care of our youth, including teens and newborns. Teens having newborns can cause many complications and hardships, to those surrounding them,and  those who take care of infants when situations are not ideal. Maintaining a persistent sexual education program has been proven to lower teen pregnancy rates, and is essential to maintain. Not every teen pregnancy can be avoided, sex is apart of life, but those who find themselves in situations of unwanted pregnancies should have the information and resources.

Works CIted

"Pregnancy and Childbearing." Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, July 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

"By the Numbers." Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Jan. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

"Sexual Activity." Statistics. Resource Center for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention, 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

"Support SIECUS!" SIECUS. Sexual Information and Education Council of the United States, Mar. 2008. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

Writing this essay wasn't easy because it was a bunch of ideas stuck in my head. Although, I was able to come up with the ideas and put them all together. This essay fits my development as a writer because it connects with who I am as well as having another side of the story having the same significance things as mine. My goals in this essay was to speak who I am, what I want to become, and how I became who I am, connecting with things that's outside of my own concept. I am proud of how I used significant words in my writing and how I can continue as a writer is keep reading and keep writing!

May 1st, 2000 8:31pm I was born. I don’t remember but I looked at my mother, father and sister. Crying was a sign to my family that I was alive and hungry, it was at that moment that I was added to the little family and my name was Nathaniel. To me, Sherman Alexie’s notations helps connects within literature and its deputy. It also connects with the views in my life: “I first understood, with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph. I didn’t have the vocabulary to say “paragraph”.  This scene of memory is a point of view that changed my life forever. A bit complex, but a complete transformation. Remembering as if I was able to take my first steps. First taught my theoretical ideal of my religion, Christianity. It didn’t start off simple, very confused and concerned. But on the contrary, I’d worship it’s tenacity and beliefs as well it’s commandments. As the years go by, my intelligence increased, able to get a good sense of it’s diversity. What’s right and wrong, what to agree and disagree with, even even the repulsion and the temptation. But most importantly, to believe in my own potentials through the power of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Nonetheless, learning multiple concepts of religions had me thinking, “What if my religion isn’t right? It may be false.”

My mother knows my trouble, telling her what was on my mind. The world was corrupting my mind, like grabbing a butterfly and picking it’s delicate wings. She told me to believe in what she taught, I asked her, how do I know if this religion is true? She told me “you don’t” you just have to have faith and believe. With the amount of questions that was going through my mind, I knew there was no use asking them. My mom somehow had an answer, she knew the very next thing I was going to say. So the trust in her was within me, from my first steps, to my first words. Trying to develop the words inside my mind but it’s not coming out right. “but I realized that a paragraph was a fence that held words. The words inside a paragraph worked together for a common purpose.” She watched me grow up for 8 years. I relied on her very much. Of course, it was still tough for me, the work was stressing me a little bit, and the bullying wasn’t any help. You can say I was like a mime, my actions always spoke louder than my words. When the good things happen, the bad always seems to be on top every time. Told myself, nothing else to turn to but the Bible.

Sin. It’s one of the most brutal things that’s in this world. I also knew that sin started with Adam & Eve, the first 2 human beings that were put on earth created by God, and he told them they can go eat any tree, except for an specific one. The Snake had tempted Eve and she had gave the fruit to Adam. They were both naked, and God came, that moment is the reason where there is sin in the world, why there is temptation, lies, deceiving, hate, violence. All the negativity in the world exists because of it. Although, realizing the potentials in myself is indescribable. An African American kid who has christianity as its protection is nothing more than love and power. Realizing I am blessed. Even though I believe that God has my side, the sin will never stop in this world. It will develop inside of me, try to find ways to make me turn to who I am not, and reading the phenomena of Alexie’s piece shows me the difference between virtue and sin. “I refused to fail because I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky.” Finally realizing that this is who I would be and this is something I will soon have to accept.

What is Literacy? Literacy is the ability to read and write. But not just that, literacy develops the way you describe what your saying, even though our actions speak louder than our words, readers can’t see our actions, but they can always read our actions. Literacy matters most in my life because it shows dedication and an deep depth of knowledge. “The differences in reading ability between five-year olds and eight-year olds are caused primarily by the older children's possessing more knowledge, not by the differences in their memory capacities, reasoning abilities, or control of eye movements.” Ed Hirsch Jr.  There are many forms of literacy. There is knowledge, proficiency, cultivation, and education. But each one comes in different structures, from the tip of our hair to the bottom of our feet we are all created differently, but equally. No one is better than the other, we are all the same being. Whether we have different opinions, all of them matter, because one will be right. It’s not always by what we believe in either, but by what we choose to believe in. Because we all come in different shapes and sizes, and we all come in different race and ethnicity, you could even say we come with different emotions.

INTRO

This essay allowed me to dive into a deeper part of writing. As I wrote this I had to challenge myself writing so that I could make my transition somewhat smoother and more understandable. Writing in English with a Portuguese mindset can be slightly difficult. My goal of this essay was to explain my experience trying to find my true language. I am proud to have properly finished this. I was hitting roadblock after roadblock, however, I was able to go around these roadblocks and continue on with the writing. This Essay has taught me that there are different ways to writing. I wish to learn ways to properly write more difficult things that are understandable.

ESSAY

There is no such thing as correct literacy. The correct literacy is the literacy that you are most comfortable with. This is something that I tell myself every time before I speak today, however, I wish I told myself this years ago. I remember sitting in the front of my class willing to learn every English word that I could. My mind was a black hole that devoured knowledge at every chance.  One way that I would try to expand my knowledge of the English language, would be by comparing the sounds of the English words to the Portuguese words, and seeing if it sounded the same. Of course, this didn't always work, however, it provided huge support to my younger self in lust for knowledge and improvement.

Thankfully, my hard work not only improved my English, but it also allowed my little brain to keep up with my Portuguese as well. However, not everyone was fond of my way of learning and my way of speaking.  As I would try to sound it out loud in class, the teacher would always lose her temper, “You are disrupting the class! Please speak English!” She would say with an annoyed look as she turned the question to someone else. I never understood how trying to learn was disrespectful, or why it was a bad thing. I was also powerless as I was just a student. In chapter two of Freire’s “Pedagogy of the oppressed”, he states, “The teacher disciplines and the students are disciplined” So many teachers let this get into their heads, which causes them to be ignorant to their student’s opinions as if they expect them to be stupid.

Maybe she felt threatened, that I went against her beliefs. She expected me to be like the other students in the classroom who answer questions like mindless zombies and were never willing to learn.

After diligently learning English, I was finally able to answer the questions without disrupting the class. As time went on, I spoke English full time and I began to neglect Portuguese as if it was something I no longer needed. The only other person who spoke Portuguese was my mother, however, she was always at work, therefore, I had no one to speak to in Portuguese adding salt to the wound. It almost felt like Portuguese was becoming my second language. All of my memories, dreams, and cultures, were quickly being dubbed to English like a foreign movie trying to appeal to the American audience.

That summer I visited my family members back in Brazil. Something strange happened. One of my cousins said something that I just couldn't understand. “Pivete” What is that? I asked myself. I felt lost and alienated as I was unable to understand what they were saying. The word, “Pivete” threw me off completely making me completely unable to understand anything else. In the book, How To Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua, at page 54 she says, “The first time I hear two Puerto Rican women and a Cuban say the word, “Nosotras” I was shocked. I did not know the word existed.” This relates perfectly to me. Neglecting Portuguese Caused me to completely forget the basics. It felt like I was pulling my own roots from the ground.

I was so focused on learning English that I forgot about my own language. Or was it my language? As I tried to continue speaking to my cousins, like deja vu something happened. My heart raced, “Did I just said an English word while speaking Portuguese?” I began to sweat profusely. My biggest fear was being labeled an “Americano” or a “Gringo.”  I was ashamed. I was so angry that I allowed myself to stray from my roots and focus on something else. Was this my own fault? This quote from How to Tame a Wild Tongue by Gloria Anzaldua at page 56 perfectly answered my endless questions, “What recourse is left to them but to create their own language?” It wasn't my fault.

My language wasn't the same language that all of these people were speaking. Neither it was the language that my teacher spoke. It was the language I was comfortable with. The language I created. After a while, I began to care less and I began to embrace my new language. I was no longer looking for the language that fitted me best, I had it within me all along. Gloria Anzaldua perfectly touches upon this at page 54 oh How to Tame a Wild Tongue, “My home “tongue” are the languages I speak with my sister and brothers, and friends.” The shame was no longer there and my language became the one I understood and felt comfortable with them most. The language my friends and family are used to. My own language.

Introduction:

Writing this essay was a major accomplishment for me as a writer. I am very confident with this essay. My goal for this essay was to explain how literary information was consumed by me. People often take the amount of accessibility to information we have for granted, I wanted to express how that can shape a person, also how it shaped me. Another goal I had for this essay was to mention the school system and how I perceive it. I am proud of my in-depth scenes of memory, I feel like they contain a good amount of detail. Something I can improve on as a writer are my transitions and staying on topic, I often mix a lot of unrelated ideas that don't necessarily need to be in the essay. In my future essays I want to state an idea and write only about that so things will be more neat.

Essay:

When I was in kindergarten, being special was one of my believed qualities. Not special in a bad way but special as in different. Reading was something that commonly occurred during my idle time. It wasn’t specifically books that I would enjoy reading it was everything I could comprehend. I remember reading a lot of labels, the thrill of reading at the time came from my ability to look at a word and correctly pronounce it aloud or in my head. So, when I was with my father he would point to objects with words on them and ask me “what does that say?” and I would look at it and say the words aloud. Sherman Alexie had a similar experience in The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me where he states “I read the backs of cereal boxes. I read the newspaper. I read the bulletins posted on the walls of the school, the clinic, the tribal offices, the post office. I read junk mail. I read auto-repair manuals. I read magazines. I read anything that had words and paragraphs.” I felt really good knowing that I could comprehend these words that were at the time new to me, I felt very intelligent for my age and I thought I was ahead of the class. Now,when I went to school I was never the super arrogant, smart guy who answers every question and corrects the teacher; I was a shy little dude and very observant. My mind was constantly racing. I remember sitting in class, my hands folded atop the desk, my back pressed against the chair, and my eyes glued to the front of the classroom where my teacher was. No matter how focused I was, my thoughts were in nonstop motion. I see this as a curse and a blessing; I get easily distracted but it’s by my own thoughts (which sounds strange out loud) but if my mind wasn’t as active as it is, would I be the person I am today?

Back then, information was consumed willingly, not that knowledge is getting shoved through my skull now but there was more of a longing for learning new things. Currently, I feel as if the only purpose of going to school is to get good grades so I can assumingly have a better future. The younger me didn’t know as much so the level of curiosity was combated against new information taught in school. That curiosity is long gone and now school feels like a chore instead of a resource. My argument is that if school was only about learning, grades wouldn’t exist.

New words became my favorite thing to learn about in the 3rd grade. We had a different set of vocabulary words every week. Throughout the week my classmates and I had homework with these vocabulary words such as definitions, sentences, and organizing. The way it was set up, the homework we had to do with the vocabulary words spread across three days. Eight year old me wanted to maximize my playing time so when we got the vocabulary words on Monday, I would do all the homework that same day so I would have two free days with no homework to do. That became my go-to strategy for completing homework and enjoying my youth. I was doing what I was supposed to do and what I wanted to do.

In 4th grade comic books and cartoons were my favorite. I felt so inspired at the time which lead me to begin making my own. Being only 9 years old with the limited knowledge about computer softwares, I hand-drew all my comics in a notebook I had for class. All the characters were developed by me and I was single handedly crafting scenes and plots. My creativity was fueled by comics and cartoons and I soaked up the interesting things and began doing my work using these things as tools of influence.