When I think about my literacy, I think of when I learned to read and write.  I mean, sure, I’m good at other things too, but I’m an English major.  The last three years of my life have been defined by READ THIS and WRITE ABOUT THIS!  I started thinking about our upcoming paper and got a little frightened, to be honest – what if all I know is how to churn out an academic, university-level analytical paper?!  Where’s the JOY?!  Have I seriously become this uninteresting?

Then I had a revelation: there is nothing shameful in being an English nerd.  It’s something I am proud of, actually.  I love reading, and secretly I feel a little thrill of joy whenever I get really into a paper, or I finish a paper I’ve been struggling with, or I make a good point in a paper, or really any time I am writing anything.  (I am feeling a little thrilled right now!)  I know that the writing center is very interested in integrating non-traditional forms of literacy into its knowledge and operational bases, and I think it’s an incredibly valid point.  We all write and do what we know and what we know best, and reading and writing is not it for most people.  However, I realized that while every other class member may be covering an ‘out-of-the-box’ sort of literacy (I’m excited for turfgrass and cooking!), maybe it’s a good idea to hang on to our roots as well, and have someone talk about, simply, When I Learned to Read.  If we don’t know where we came from, we can’t know where we’re going!

Having said that, I think someone needs to write their paper about learning to write.  I changed my mind – I’m doing the literacy of navigating another culture, which I learned when I spent five months abroad.  I am nothing if not unconventional.  Plus I couldn’t just let everyone else go around having all the non-traditional fun!  It’s too good an opportunity to pass up, and who has pictures of themselves spelling their first word, anyway?!