Month: September 2021

1. “When I had progressed to really serious reading, every night at about ten P.M. I would be
   outraged with the “lights out.” It always seemed to catch me right in the middle of something
   engrossing”. This descriptive detail from X’s narrative that especially stands out to me, Because of his use of the word ‘Outraged’, this one detail made me think he really made reading a part of his life. And then he goes on to describe how he keep reading, even if there was a little bit of peripheral light.  After his eyes got used to the light, he would sit on the floor, watch the guards, and sacrifice his sleep time to keep reading. Because I’m also someone who give up my sleep time for something I love to do, I can sense his love of reading, so that spirit moved me. The widening of his idiolect while incarcerated, The inspiration for me is that write about your own experience so that the reader can relate to it. Also, the relationship between his personal writing ability changed and this is a common way for literacy narrative, from not knowing till knowing.
2. Manson’s focus on silence and not-quite-readiness is what I want to imitate in my own literacy narrative. Manson first described her ability to express herself and organize her words as terrible. But through a series of events (her experiences), she decided to change herself. Although she didn’t change much in the end like many other author, but she expressed herself and told the reader that she was trying. This more life-like example and style appealed to me. I will use a similar technique to write my narrative, from denying myself to slowly accepting my inadequacies.

1. Baldwin’s argument is the sole fact that even though languages can sound similar, the context behind the words is as different as it gets. This is due to the fact a language can seem universal, however it does indeed affect the different areas it is spoken in which essentially leads people to perceive it differently than others. For example, slang within a certain language would not be understood by someone who also speaks the same language but lives elsewhere, which means that sometimes geographic barriers can play a role in perceiving it differently. Baldwin makes his argument credible when he states “A language comes into existence by means of brutal necessity, and the rules of language are dictated by what that language must say.” This quote brings me back to my point about geographic barriers within a language. For instance, here in New York City, we tend to use the word “dead” a lot when we’re talking about something serious. This word in context would be “Your mom is dead outside”, which basically means “Your mom is outside, i’m not kidding”. However, if someone from Europe or elsewhere were to hear that, they would perceive it as someone actually being dead. Baldwin’s argument also connects to Belmihoub and Corcoran’s ideas of translanguaging because they both talk about how language isn’t just about how and what we speak, it also affects how we as people act and behave. They both also talk about how you have to properly understand the meanings and uses in order to utilize the language in a proper way. If you only understand the pronunciation without its context, it could lead to misuse of the language. Gloria Anzaldua is a writer that we have read so far that touched on the terms translanguaging and idiolect when she mentioned how languages can be perceived differently in different countries. She provided an example when she mentioned the difference in how Spanish was spoken in the United States as opposed to Mexico.
2. A piece of advice on responding to student work in Straub’s essay that is new and helpful to me is to always give the writer genuine feedback. You don’t necessarily have to point out everything that’s wrong with their work, but you should give them honest feedback that they can use to build their writing on. It’s good to start off with telling them something good that they did in their writing, however, it should be accompanied by clear advice on how they can improve. Also giving them suggestions or even questions is good feedback, so that the writer has something to lean on when they feel stuck while writing.

 

1. “As you can imagine, especially in a prison where there was heavy emphasis on rehabilitation, an inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusually intense interest in books. There was a sizable number of well-read inmates, especially the popular debaters. Some were said by many to be practically walking encyclopedias.” I was quite surprised to hear prisoners be so passionate about reading and education. I liked how it went against the stereotype of prisoners lifting weights all day.
   Being a part of this kind of discourse community has probably led to Malcolm X developing his thirst for knowledge. 
2. I suppose I would want to imitate Malcolm X’s style of writing. Since I’m planning to write on the same topic as him, I’d figured there’d be a lot to learn from his writing. I want to emulate his style of portraying his relationship with reading, the amount of details and story-flow. I also want to imitate his manner of writing. I like how he doesn’t sound too casual or too formal.

1. Baldwin argues that although languages may sound similar they are completely different. People create world languages and some interpret them differently than others. People in different environments are influenced by the language spoken around them, it can either influence them negatively or positively depending on how the language is interpreted and if it is done correctly. Baldwin’s argument relates to Belmihoub and Corcoran’s ideas of translangauging because they both mention how language isn’t just something that is spoken, it is something that impacts the way people act/behave. It is very difficult for someone to learn a language unless they are faced with it. Both Baldwin and Belmihoub and Crocoran mention how in order to learn a language you have to know the MEANING of those words, not just how they sound or how they are spoken, because if not then the language will be used in an improper way. A writer that we have read so far that that refers the terms translanguaging and idiolect is Gloria Anzaldua. She describes how different languages can be interpreted different in other countries. She mentioned how when she heard others speak Spanish in the US it was very different from the Spanish spoken in Mexico.

2. A piece of advice that is new and helpful from Straub’s essay is, to always be honest when you are responding to someone else’s writing. Don’t sugar coat things because it will not be helpful to the writer at all. It is better to be clear and honest with the advice that the reader is giving as well as praising the writer from time to time. A piece of advice I wish a previous teacher has commented on my writings are questions about my writing/topic. I find it very helpful when readers respond with questions about my writing it helps me think further about my idea, which is needed when writing a lengthy piece of work.

1. How have anxiety and aversion been barriers to your writing in the past, and what is one way you plan to adopt Eickmeyer’s skills and strategies in writing your literacy narrative?

In the past, I’d always ask myself, “how is this going to help me in the future?” every time I had to write something about a random topic I wasn’t interested in. If I didn’t like the topic, I’d do it last minute because I knew I barely had any knowledge on it, so it wouldn’t make a difference if I started working on it a few days in advance. Similarly, I’ve always disliked history, so when I had to write a paper for that class, I’d leave it till the night before. I’m also a perfectionist, so I knew no matter when I wrote that essay, it needed to be perfect, and it was tough to do that when I left the assignment till the very last minute. This overwhelmed me so much that I couldn’t even focus on the task, and I’d just begin to write random stuff without breaking the assignment down. I would just start to make up worst-case scenarios. Instead of focusing on getting the assignment done, I’d just think to myself, 5% off my final grade for lateness can’t be that bad. I’d look over a paper and know that I could have done much better if I had started working on it earlier, but I’d hand it in regardless because something is better than nothing. One way that I plan to adopt Eickmeyer’s skills and strategies in writing my literacy narrative is by “breaking down the steps of the process into discrete tasks” (JTC 23). Doing so will help me focus on what I want to write about instead of just taking a few hours to write about random things. I will do so by organizing my notes first, then creating a rough draft, revising it, then when it comes to the final piece, it would be much easier to put it all together. I also wouldn’t feel so overwhelmed because I’d be doing one small task at a time instead of just cramming everything up together.

2. Thinking of Ku’s example literacy narrative (written while a freshman at Baruch), what are two worlds you exist between? Describe a moment where those worlds met, collided, or pulled you in different directions.

My situation is somewhat similar to Ku’s situation because it deals with culture. I lived in Lebanon for about three years, and I still wasn’t Arab enough for my family members and everyone else living there. Most of the time, they would refer to me as a foreigner, which disappointed me because even though I wasn’t born in Lebanon, it was still my country, and even though I speak Arabic fluently, no amount of Arabic was enough for them. They’d always tell me that I spoke Arabic fine, but it didn’t sound like everyone else’s Arabic. I also wasn’t American to everyone else I knew in New York. I was born and raised in New York, but I’d always get comments like “where’d you learn to speak English?” This didn’t necessarily bother me, but it annoyed me because it never felt like I belonged anywhere, whether it was in Lebanon or New York. I would always try to prove myself to both worlds, reminding people in New York that I was born here and reminding everyone in Lebanon that I went to school there for three years, and just because I wasn’t born here, it doesn’t make me any less Arab. My situation pulled me in different directions, and I realized that I needed to stop proving myself to everyone. I accepted that no matter what I did, I was still a foreigner to both worlds.