So we do not have reading for this week and I will be honest this blog post may not be my best one yet seeing as I wrote about 30 pages this weekend and read well over 100.

It is nearing the end of the semester. We have read many wonderful readings so far, and some not to wonderful (i.e. Why Johnny Can’t Write) for this class. As i reflect on the ghosts of readings past I am trying to see how i have changed as a student through this class. From Ms. Deborah Brant I learned to reflect on those people who i have been blessed to call sponsors throughout my life as well as those who I have had the privilege to be a sponsor for. This past weekend I had the great honor of being invited to one of my camper’s, let us call her Anna, Urban Impact Choir concerts. As the semester has progressed I have seen many ways that I have been a sponsor of her literacy. It all started back in the middle of summer when I had Anna at Pine Valley Bible Camp for one week. She was a very homesick camper who could barely sleep through the night without crying about missing her mom. It was at camp that I taught Anna to write a letter home. During rest hour each day we would sit near her bunk and work out a simple letter home to her mom explaining what she did that day and how much she missed her family. I did not realize at the time how big of an impact I had on Anna’s life.

Anna writes me letters about once every two weeks. She is nine years old and lives in the North Side of Pittsburgh. She does not go to a really good school and therefore does not get to do a lot of creative writing. It has been incredible watching Anna improve her writing ability just in our biweekly letters. They get longer, more personal, and better in terms of grammar and spelling. When I saw Anna this weekend, I was so proud of how much she has changed since I last saw her at camp. Not only is she taller and has longer hair now, but she is really developing into an incredible young person. She is learning more each day, and I have the unique opportunity to help her grow as a child of literacy.

So my question for you dear reader is do you have an “Anna” in your life? If so please write about it in the comments.

I found this article interesting that once more it is talking about twelve year olds in the year when I myself was about thirteen years old. Once more it is projecting what life will be like when people my age hit college, and I must say I was disappointed in how little hope this article seemed to portray for my own future, but at the same time I believe I have as little of hope in most of today’s young people (kids around the age of twelve).

When I first read this article I was displeased because yet again, this was another article saying that what my brain does on a daily basis is impossible, making me abnormal. It disproved the ability to multitask. I for one am a very gifted multi-tasker. And no I am not just saying I can listen to music while I study (which I can do no problem). I am saying that I can have three conversations at once. Granted only one of them is real and the others are just in my head, but still I find that to be pretty impressive.

As far as this article goes, it says that students no longer have the capacity to read full books. I can read an Edith Wharton novel while one of my “neighbors” is belting his guts out singing yet another Broadway show tune. I can fight to the death over whether or not I am allowed to eat on any given day while pouring through a book of poetry. I am far more capable than for what this article likes to give me credit.

Now I know my case is different. Most people my age do not struggle with this, but I am curious as to whether or not this article makes others feel slighted or overlooked.

I find it very interesting that there is no national language of the United States of America, but all of our legal documents are written in English. In Kate Elizabeth Vieira’s article “American by Paper” she brings up issues that immigrants have with this concept in America. My roommate immigrated from the Philippines when she was one year old to Maryland. When she went to kindergarten she met another Filipino girl who spoke the main language of the Philippines, Tagalog. They instantly bonded over their bilingualism and decided that they would only speak in Tagalog with one another. Their teacher told their parents that if they did not stop talking in a different language with one another they would have to go to English as a Second Language classes.

From that point on her parents only spoke in English in the home until young Jefi learned to speak only in English. This pleased her teacher but made Jefi a very angsty pre-teen. She hated that she was forced to assimilate. She could only understand her grandmother speaking in Tagalog, but could not speak her first language back to her. This summer Jefi went on a mission trip to the Philippines where she was the only one who could speak to the people in the village, but realized her vocabulary was about the same as her favorite three year old.

So I ask you fellow classmates, is this not truly a travesty? Should we learn from the error of our ways and tell kindergarten teachers to let their students speak whatever language they are most comfortable with? Or will those children fall behind in school because they are not learning to speak proper English with superhero like grammar and punctuation? How will it end?

In Akinnaso’s work, “Literacy and Individual Consciousness,” he tells a short story about his childhood in which he recalls the time before his village was “literate.” However I am quite taken aback by this statement because his neighborhood is clearly far more literate than he gives them credit. Earlier on in the article he mentions an extended definition of literacy, which includes “perceiving, thinking, speaking, evaluating, and interacting with a characterized group of individuals and set them apart from others.” How on earth can he imply that his village cannot read nor write when he comes from a culture of diviners? Diviners in my personal opinion are some of the most literate people to exist. This could just be the Religious Studies major in me, but someone who can read signs from a supreme being is far more literate than myself. They are perceiving, thinking, speaking, evaluating, and interacting with gods! Seriously, how can they not be among the literary elite? The mere plebeian that I am can only read and write what is human and common, while these extraordinary (let’s assume they are all) men are going beyond the physical world and reading the words of the metaphysical gods who are far greater than our reality.

Like Peter Pan and the lost boys, I never wanted to grow up. I was “that kid” in my family that refused to learn to read because that would mean I was getting older and slowly reaching the scary world of adulthood. However my parents persisted in teaching me by sending me to preschool and reading to my sisters and I every night before we went to bed. I do not recall learning to read but I must have before kindergarten, because I was placed in the special group of students who already knew how to read. This relates to how I felt about literacy, because I never really felt literate or illiterate. I never really thought about being one or the other. I simply read and wrote and never gave much thought to literacy. However two summers ago, I worked at a summer camp for inner city kids where a surprising number of our campers were “illiterate,” meaning they could not read or write in their native tongue. It was here that I learned how devastating illiteracy could be and how frustrating it can be to not express yourself in the written word or comprehend what someone else has written.