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    Eli Yarborough Yarborough 1

    Professor Jan Rieman

    English 1101

    February 10, 2013

    This paper was a good exercise in tying together what we have read about literacy and

    its role in society so far this semester. I think I had a solid first draft, which helped me when

    revising my paper later on. My paper was structured in a fairly chronological order, but I

    separated the two components of literacy, reading and writing, then brought the two ideas

    together in my conclusion in talking about my future plans with literacy. While I think the

    examples of my progression through literacy complemented my paper well, Im not sure I

    avoided the clich laundry list of literary experiences. Everyone reads and writes; I hope my

    experiences help exemplify my individuality as a reader and writer, and how my experiences

    have compelled me to follow a career as an aspiring copy-writer.

    From Elementary to ADDY

    The One Hundred Book Club. My elementary school teachers really knew how to

    motivate us to read. Give us membership into an exclusive club, entice us with super stylish t-

    shirts, throw in a pizza party for the whole class and you can get 120 kids to suddenly put down

    the basketballs, get off the swings and start reading during the coveted 30 minute recess. This

    wasnt my first reading rodeo, but it certainly helped me develop my philosophy towards

    reading: read a book and collect my reward.

    I carried this philosophy with me for a long time, always expecting some tangible

    compensations, be it grades or pizza, from reading. I guess this is why I didnt do very much

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    pleasure reading as a child, because I didnt get any self-satisfaction from completing a book

    on my own. In lower school, each class had a big, colorful chart on the wall with all of our

    names on it. When we finished reading a book, we got put a shiny gold star next to our name. It

    was a cut-throat competition; some of my peers were even accused of fudging the numbers so

    to speak.

    This was one of my earliest exposures to the world of reading. It was a social activity,

    similar to Jhumpa Lahiris experience. It was a way of connecting with my fellow students

    discussing the adventures of Jess and Leslie in the Bridge to Terabethiaor Georges mischievous

    curiosity in Georges Marvelous Medicine. It was through these connections that the foundation

    for my interest in reading was established. Although there was still that incentive of the reward

    motivating me to read, this social aspect added an element of enjoyment to reading.

    In my family, we also had some traditions involving books. For example, every

    Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember, my dad would read The Night before Christmas to

    my sister and me. We would gather in our living room, the warm glow of the fire creating sparks

    of excitement in our eyes. My dad, as if possessed with the spirit of Santa Claus himself, would

    read us the story in a low, slightly raspy voice. As he read, I could almost hear the faint jingle of

    sleigh bells in the distance, slowly approaching our house. This tradition made me believe in the

    magic of a good story.

    While my mom did play a major role in my love of reading, her biggest impact was in

    writing. She majored in English at the University of South Carolina and got her masters degrees

    in American Literature at USC and Languages and Linguistics at Georgetown. After completing

    all the education she could handle, my mom used what she had learned and her love of barbeque

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    and wrote a book calledHog Heaven: A Guide To

    South Carolina Barbecue. I thought it was so cool

    how my mom got to travel around eating barbecue

    and then writing about it. So I decided to try my

    hand at it.

    My parents loved to travel and instilled that

    enthusiasm into me at an early age. I began

    chronicling our adventures into a travel journal (a

    pre-PC equivalent to a blog). As I read through

    a few of my journal entries, I found a particularly

    funny one. In this I write, When I awoke, we had

    arrived in New York City. My parents, sister, and I

    had to endure a half an hour taxi ride through trafic [sic], bumps, even a median. Finnally [sic]

    we arrived a [sic] the apartemt. [sic] 580 Central Av., 10 th floor. After we got settled down we

    went out for a bite to eat. Of course when you have a 16 year old sister, it means stoping [sic] at

    every clothes store we pass. All of a sudden my eyes met a b-e-a-uatiful [sic] sign BURGER

    HEVEN [sic].

    I would like to think that my writing, especially spelling and punctuation, has improved

    since then. But it illustrates a passion for writing that transcends the classroom. In addition to my

    travel journal, I also attempted to write fiction. In the fourth grade I wrote a 35 page book titled

    The Magic Monkey (I already had a knack for alliteration). Whether it is journaling about travel

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    or writing about fictional fantasies, these types of writing exemplify how my upbringing and

    cultural context has shaped my literacy.

    Poetry has always interested me as well. When I was younger, my sister and I would read

    Shel Silverstein poems to each other. Silverstein was able to tackle some fairly heavy issues

    through his poetry, but in a way that is kid-friendly and easily relatable. Take The Giving Tree

    for example. It is a rather deep and even dark discussion of the stages of life: the innocence of

    childhood, the responsibilities of adulthood, and finally the solemnity of elderly life. As a child, I

    didnt quite understand the deeper narrative, but the exposure to these themes and messages

    helped develop my aptitude for critical reading later on in life.

    I attempted to write poetry at an early age.

    In the second grade I wrote a poem titledBooks.

    This acrostic poem is appropriate for my literary

    memoir. While my thoughts and abilities were quite

    primitive and simple back then, it was a foundation

    from which I could grow and develop.

    More recently, my favorite poets are Robert Frost and Edgar Allen Poe. I have always

    had a fascination with Poe. There is a restaurant near our beach house on Sullivans Island called

    Poes Tavern which my family and I frequented. We would read Poes poems written on the

    tables and walls and discuss their meaning. Robert FrostsMending Wall is my favorite poem.

    While he is not known for his humor, I find the line good fences make good neighbors both a

    funny and an intriguing thought.

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    I have not tried much poetry writing since high school, but I dabbled in writing music,

    which is just poetry set to musical notes. Music has always been my biggest passionsome

    might say obsession. My sister has been a big influence in my love of music. She started writing

    song reviews for a wel- known music blog several years ago. Since then, I have found myself

    reading and dissecting lyrics and analyzing the musical components of songs.

    As I continued my education and matured, my literary interests developed as well. I

    began reading Hemingway, Ayn Rand, and Thoreau. One of my current favorite authors is Silvia

    Plath. Although her themes are rather dark, she is an amazing writer with a fascinating yet tragic

    life. Her novel theBell Jaris an intriguing portrayal of a young womans struggle with mental

    health issues and depression. While it is very loosely based on Plaths own experience with these

    issues, I still find it so interesting how much the book reveals about Plaths internal struggles and

    throws so many red flags to Plaths eventual suicide.

    Because I have always been interested in famous authors lives, for many years I wanted

    to literally be exactly like Earnest

    Hemingway. He was able to do the two

    things I love: travel and drink coffee, and

    write about his experiences, of course. I

    have been lucky enough to visit the Caf de

    Flore and Les Deux Magot in Paris where

    Hemingway, and other famous writers,

    actually sat and worked on such classics as

    The Sun also Rises andA Farewell to Arms.

    http://eatseedoblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/cafe-de-flore-paris-anne.jpg
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    I feel incredibly fortunate for the opportunity to have visited such historic sites around the world.

    In addition to reading literature, I have also starting reading the newspaper every day. I

    have read TheWall Street Journal every morning for the past two years. Not only is it a good

    exercise in mental dexterity, it also keeps me informed about current events. I very much enjoy

    politics, both reading about it and debating my views. TheJournal is an excellent source for

    political news and learning about developing issues in the political environment, both

    domestically and internationally.

    These experiences have had a profound impact on my journey as a reader and a writer.

    My literacy is ever changing and growing. It cannot be defined by any one concept. However, I

    do know what feelings reading and writing evoke in me. These experiences have allowed me to

    realize what I want to do in the future. I have been fascinated by advertising for as long as I can

    remember. I think that it is amazing how a few words or a picture can convince someone to buy a

    product or service. Advertising is the manipulation of language, resulting in the audience either

    consciously or unconsciously purchasing the product, service, or supporting the cause.

    My entire literary career has led me to pursue this dream of becoming a copywriter

    (someone who creates ads). Without the influence of my family, teachers, and other literary

    sponsors, I would still be searching for my calling in life. Now that I know what it is, I can work

    on making my dream a reality by continuing my literary education and practicing my writing

    skills in order to improve my craft.

    Advertising has as much to do with reading as it does writing. Without the creative

    inspiration that comes from reading, one can never be successful in the advertising industry, no

    matter how good he is at composition. Reading, not just from books, but blogs, news of current

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    events, magazines, and social media, is a great source of creative inspiration. Without literary

    skills, it is hard to recognize new trends and fads. I believe that my entire reading and writing

    history, as well as my continuing literacy education, will allow me to be successful in advertising

    and all other related aspects of my life.

    Eli,

    Your narrative shows your appreciate for the power of the written word, the glorification of

    writers, and a recognition that literacy development is ongoing. All good things. Ive listed a

    number of questions in the margins that I was thinking about as I read. Your self-assessment

    notes how you look at both reading and writing and then combine your examination of both at

    the endan effective strategybut Im left curious about your shift in attitudes about reading

    and when they changed. Read through my comments and please write a talk back in response,

    using the Word function and uploading that talk back to Moodle. I look forward to hearing what

    you think and some ideas you have for revision.