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This excerpt made me feel inspired, it opens my mind to the dedication Malcolm X put into secure knowledge even if he wasn’t in the best environment. Malcolm X had a lot of struggles learning how to educate himself, learning new words and meanings. But he persevered through it all and pushed himself to learn and open his mind. Malcolm described it as being “truly free” even while still being in prison, reading and writing because a source of freedom for his mind. The fact that he read at 10 o clock at night, even if the lights were off, he still found a way to continue to read until he was satisfied with his reading for the day. He opened his mind to the covering of Black presence in history, showing how whitewashed it truly was. He stated that he didn’t need a status symbol and that his homemade education was very impactful on his life and how he viewed the world with the knowledge he had learned in prison.

I really enjoyed “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan because I felt like I can relate to the story. The second text I am interested in is “How to Tame a Wild Tongue” by Gloria Anzaldua. I read the first few sentences and it I think I’ll like it.

Hello, my name is Lisbeth Tenesaca. You can just call me Lisbeth, and my pronouns are she/her. I grew up in Queens, and some of my interests are exploring the city, fashion, and trying new things. When it comes to the city I enjoy trying different cafes and restaurants. As well as museums, I love to shop and search for hidden gems. Two sports I mainly enjoy playing are volleyball and badminton. A little bit about myself: I am a middle child, my favorite color is purple, I have a Shih Tzu dog (means everything to me), and I am a huge fan of horror movies. I am an introvert when it comes to meeting new people. But the more they get to know me, I am very easygoing and friendly. I am a hard worker, like taking my studies very seriously, and like to see the positive in things. My intended major is International Business and I’m excited to see how it goes! My career goal is to have my own business related to fashion. I would say my parents are my motivation to continue my studies and follow my passion. Another goal I wish to accomplish is to travel around the world, learn about different cultures, and experience different environments. 

In the excerpt “Learning to Read” I learned a lot about Malcolm X that I did not know before. I knew that he was a civil rights activist and a historical figure but not any more than that. Something I observed about Malcolm X in this excerpt is that he took an unfortunate situation and made the best of it. This excerpt is an example of “if you want it, go get it” because no matter how challenging it was for Malcolm to learn how to read and write he pushed through those challenges and gave himself an education. One thing that stood out to me when I was reading was when Malcolm said that his education gave him ” a little bit more sensitivity to the deafness, dumbness, and blindness that was afflicting the black race in America”. This stood out to me because I feel as though it does not only apply to the black race but all minorities in America. Since there is sometimes a lack of education or lack of resources, minorities can be ignorant to how America causes damage in their communities.

I found this excerpt very fascinating and intriguing. I’ve known about Malcolm X and his work but never went in depth of who and how he was as a person. My reaction to how he basically turned something bad into something good which in this case was being in prison and using his time time in prison to expand his vocabulary and ability to write was extremely inspiring. The detail from the text that made a strong impression on me was when he needed to do self improvement. To further elaborate, Malcolm was frustrated with himself because he wasn’t able to properly express himself in the letter he wrote to Mr. Elijah Muhammad. He used this frustration as motivation to develop his vocabulary and ability to write and I honestly found that motivating and beautiful. Despite being in prison and on top of that lacking the ability to write and his lack of vocabulary, he didn’t let that bring him down but instead allowed it to motivate him to be better.  What I concluded from the author’s description of “a homemade education” is that Malcolm used what was at his disposal and made it into resources that could help him learn and practice his vocabulary and ability to write hence meaning “ a homemade education”.

I found it very inspiring and interesting how he took it upon himself to learn and educate himself during his imprisonment. What is even more fascinating is what he did after gaining so much knowledge. To add on, something that caught my attention and that I found interesting was how much in the dark many African Americans were during those times and how even African Americans were hidden from the truths and realities of slavery. Moreover, i found it inspiring to see how he was exposed to all of this information and he chose to not stay silent. I feel like many people would have lacked the courage to have done so, especially as a black man during those times. When Malcom X mentions “a homemade education” I would take that as showing Malcolm X’s journey to educating himself through his own means. I appreciated the fact that he shared his knowledge around and took it upon himself to make a change in society. He never stopped trying to make a change and take initiative to alter society. Ultimately, I found all of this very brave and admirable.

In the excerpt “Learning to Read”, taken from the “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” I as a reader was able to gain insight on the start of Malcolm’s journey with the world of literature. Through his journey of his “homemade education” he was able to improve his skills within the English Language Arts so well that in fact many people who heard him speak at the time would have thought he received an education even higher than just the 8th grade level. This to me was very interesting to learn, as I thought it was incredible that he was able to teach himself so well despite the fact that he was in prison and mostly alone. Instead of simply giving up on himself and wallowing in pity during his prison sentence, he decided to make something of himself and better himself so that he could help his fellow black citizens. Something interesting I found in the excerpt was how Malcolm reveals how his drive to attain writing and reading first started at Charlestown Prison when his jealousy over a fellow inmate, Bimbi, motivated him into wanting to speak with grace and assertion Bimbi had when speaking. And the only way to do that was to learn more words, and following that, to learn more words he had to improve his reading skills. What also caught my attention and left a strong impression on me in the text was Malcolm’s realization of the “whitened” history he was taught in school, as I also agree that school tends to erase some of the “ugly” stories in history that do deserve to be told. I believe that when the author calls his education “homemade” he means that everything he has learned, was either self taught or was taught to him by figures he looked up to, such as with him learning new words and improving his penmanship by copying pages of the dictionary. 

My reaction to the text was impressed and interested. I observed how Malcolm X was annoyed at the inconvenience of not being able to effectively communicate. Details from the text that made a strong impression on me were the details about how he educated himself all by himself without the use of any teachers or classical, formal, normal old styles of education. Another item that made a strong impression on me was how he spent his time in prison so productively instead of being bitter and wasting his life inside there doing useless things that would be of no benefit to him. The author’s description of “a homemade education” is learning from reading as many books as he can. Also, he copied and wrote down definitions of words from the dictionary in order to expand his vocabulary to greater depths. I can identify with the elements of this narrative such as the author’s fascination with being an obsessive reader along with being intrigued in increasing my vocabulary.

A reaction I had while reading the excerpt was how Malcolm X dedicated his imprisonment to reading books, gaining knowledge, and learning how to become literate. It was surprising to know that he didn’t let anything stop him from reading and it was shocking to know that he would copy every single word from the dictionary. The detail that stood out to me and made an impression is how he describes the joy reading brought to him. While reading you can almost feel emotion coming from and how grateful he sounds to gain that knowledge. When the author mentions “a homemade education” I would describe it as Malcolm X’s journey to teaching himself. When he became imprisoned it was just him and he didn’t really know much. Just the basic knowledge and even with that he still didn’t know a lot of words. He used his time wisely in jail and chose to build on his education with the resources he could find. He wanted to become someone just like Elijah Muhammad and Bimbi. It was his way of teaching himself.

• Read Malcolm X, “Learning to Read”, an excerpt from his autobiography.  You can find the reading under the “Texts” tab at the top of our blog.  In a short blog post (150-200 words), share your reactions and observations about the text.  What details from the text made a strong impression on you?  What do you make of the author’s description of what he calls “a homemade education”? Could you identify with any elements of this narrative?  Please share your response before our class on Wed. Aug. 30th.  Bring the hard copy of the text with you to class.
• Create an introductory post on our class blog. In approximately 300-400 words, describe yourself.   It’s up to you to decide what you’d like to share; please also let us know what name you’d like us to use to address you in the classroom and on the blog and what pronouns you’d prefer.   Include an image that represents or captures you in some way, and explain why you chose it.  This could be a photograph of you, or it could be an image of something else that speak to you and reflects some aspect of your identity.  Please post your introduction by Friday, Sept. 1st.
•  Using the information I provided on the syllabus, please purchase the electronic textbook we will be using this semester, Join the Conversation.  Once you have access to the book, please look through the table of contents, introduction, and any other part of the book that captures your interest.  In a comment on this post, please share one observation about Join the Conversation.  This could be a general observation about the text, or a specific article that caught your eye. Please do this by Monday, Sept. 4th.
•  Replace your “Bearcat” icon with a picture of yourself in your blogs@baruch account.