Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Kaylee Miller
English 1102
February 2, 2011
orld of Literacy
Deborah Brandt defined a sponsor of literacy as ³any agent local or distant, concrete or
abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold
literacy- and gain advantage by it in some way´ (Brandt 407). My interpretation of Brandt¶s
definition is that a sponsor is someone or something that teaches you a language or introduces
you in to a culture that you can only learn by being taught with their help and by immersing
yourself in to the literacy. There is not only reading and writing literacy, but a person can have
literacies in many different fields. According to Brandt, literacy is a given fluency in an area.
People can be literate in sports, art, music, as well as the literacies in their community or
household. A sponsor introduces and teaches a literacy, by doing so they increase their
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community and may learn new things about the literacy that they had not already known.
Throughout my life I have been introduced in to a variety of literacies and interests. Some of
the primary areas that I am literate in is softball and in the agriculture community. I have had a
variety of sponsors who introduced me in to these communities and helped me to become literate
in each of them.
One of my most proficient literacies that I share with my family is in softball. In order to
fully understand what is going on in the softball world and what people are talking about you
have to be a part of it. My parents got me involved in playing tee ball when I was five and then
softball when I was seven. They coached me when I was younger and paid for me to take hitting
lessons and travel when I was older. My mom and dad were my primary sponsors for my
literacy in softball. They provided the means by which I needed to grow and learn. At
tournaments my dad talked to coaches and other parents who introduced him to new teams and
gave him tips on helping us improve. His outgoing personality and willing to approach people
helped us find out about better teams and various opportunities to improve and play at a higher
level. Along with my parents I played and worked with several different coaches of different
backgrounds throughout my softball career. Monty Sherrill is considered one of the best high
school softball coaches in the state and in 2006 his former team, Central Cabarrus Vikings, were
ranked number one in the nation. By going to Coach Sherrill¶s camps and knowing him and the
team, personally, I learned even more aspects of the game. Most people would not know what it
means to ³bat wrap´ or what ³bat lag´ meant unless they were a part of the softball community
that grew up with the techniques Coach Sherrill taught. My younger sister and I played on
various teams which helped us get to know more people in the softball community. By having
these connection within the sport we were able to learn more about getting help to improve and
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who we needed to know in order to go to college or find a new team. All of the news and events
are spread by word of mouth or posted on message boards. The way to get in to college is to
email coaches, attend camps, play for the right tournament teams, and show you strengths on the
field in showcase tournaments. You have to know how to work the system and who to talk to in
order to get where you want to go. Personally, I realized after several injuries and putting most
of my life into softball that playing college ball was not for me. My overall literacy of the
softball world comes from what the various sponsors I had introduced me to in the world of
softball. This spring I will begin playing for UNCC¶s club softball team. UNCC has became a
sponsor to me by offering clubs and funding the expenses for me to play. Softball is my passion
and without the amazing sponsors I had I would have never succeeded as well as I did in the
sport.
Another literacy I have is in agriculture because of the FFA. The FFA, formerly known
as Future Farmers of America, is the largest student organization in the country that educates
students about agriculture and provides leadership and career experience opportunities. As a
former FFA officer at my high school I got to learn a lot about the agriculture opportunities and
issues going on in the world. At FFA Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana I was introduced to
problems the agriculture community was facing and how the FFA was taking their part in
helping improve conditions for farmers, as well as educating citizens on where their food comes
from. By having a literacy sponsored by the FFA I not only know the background behind the
famous blue jackets, but I also have been given the opportunity to learn about the new
technologies being used to improve the food supply and how farms operate. A particular issue
that appeals to me is how the animal rights groups fight to set regulations for farmers when it
comes to using animal products and caring for animals. Most animal rights activists have a lot of
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criticism for the farming community; however, they do not have a true insight on how farms
operate. After becoming active in the FFA I have learned enough about farming to factually
back up my argument against many of the animal rights groups. For example, at the FFA
National Convention in 2009 Mike Rowe, host of ³Dirty Jobs´, explained how animal rights
groups had set standards for the correct way to calfstrate sheep. According to P.E.T.A, the
farmer needed to rubber band the sheep¶s testicles so that they would eventually fall off. The
farmer that Mike worked with demonstrated this technique and then went on to show his own
way, which was chopping off the sheep¶s testicles. The sheep that with the rubber band hovered
in a corner and could not walk; however, the other sheep went back to eating and walking around
as it had before. Not only did this give me an example to back up my argument against animal
rights group, but I also learned that what is ³by the book´ is not always what is best. The FFA
along with the advisors and people I have met in the agriculture community has taught me and
showed me more information about what we eat and how complicated the agriculture system is. I
am a proud member of Hickory Ridge¶s FFA Alumni Organization and hope to play my part in
Although, these are two of my main literacies there are many other communities and
things that I am literate in. I also hope to learn about new things and become literate in other
communicating within their community, we all have literacies that make us unique as well as
bring us together. Our different literacies, and the sponsors who gave us the knowledge of them,
shaped the people we are today and by learning new literacies we are growing in to the people of
tomorrow.
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