[Last Name] 1

Commented [AC1]: Author: Krishauna Perry

Reader: Amber Cousin

Krishauna S Perry
Marcum, Ashley
UWRT 1103-065
January 29, 2016
Literacy Memoir: My Journey into Literacy
As a young girl, I always enjoyed the idea of gaining more knowledge through reading
and writing, but never once did I notice what I was getting my young mind ready for. When you
are actively engaged in reading and writing you are practicing a method of understanding not
only literal literature literacy, but you are also opening the door to many other worlds and

Commented [AC2]: This confuses me a bit. Is there

another what that it could be said?

cultures alike. With this being said, you may be wondering how something that can be so boring
and sometimes forced upon oneself can be a gateway to another world, a more literate world in
any and all terms. This is because you are now not only reading for what you may have to do and
learn but you are broadening your own experiences to those you may not even get to experience
in your own lifetime.
My first few memories of reading were getting into trouble by my own mother for
abandoning my chore of cleaning my room because I had found "Black Beauty" or "The Series
of Unfortunate Events" under my bed and once again became entangled in the world that the
authors had drawn out for me in bright and elaborate words tangled together in a carefully woven
story line. I was able to experience life as a black horse who was once free and now was friends
with a human boy, or as a child who was put through these unfortunate events of losing my
parents and getting tossed into the hands of weird and rather unpleasant family members eager to
inherit my siblings and I's fortunes. My experience with reading more likely aligned with
Sherman Alexie. Surprisingly, the same lady that fussed at me for abandoning my chores was the

Commented [AC3]: I like how you include a brief

summary of what the books were about!
Commented [AC4]: Can you elaborate a bit on how
Alexies experience compares to yours? Doesnt have to be
in depth. Just enough for an individual who hasnt read the
narrative of Alexie to actually understand your reference.

[Last Name] 2
same one who encouraged my reading and want to learn more. I guess you could say that my
mom was my literacy sponsor. She encouraged me to go beyond the limits of my small town and
poor urban upbringing. My first experience with reading was much like Alexie's in regards to the
words on each page. He described the feeling the best with "the word inside a paragraph worked

Commented [AC5]: I like how you included a quote, it

helps the reader to better understand what you are feeling.

together for a common purpose. They had a specific reason for being inside the same fence. This
knowledge excited me." Reading for me was a way to experience owning an animal that most
could never dream of, or even being a rich kid who was stuck in a series of unfortunate events.
As a child I was an outsider, I spoke standard English and felt like I did not fit in with my
peers much like Maya in Delpit's retelling of her own child's exploration into the world of urban

Commented [AC6]: I really like this. Could you even go a

bit further in bringing your ideas together? Either way, I
think this really helps you to connect with the reader because
almost everyone has felt that way.
Commented [AC7]: Can you include a transition? Just to
make it flow a little better.

English. I was often the target senseless bullying and ridicule as I was ushered into a world I
knew nothing of. This in turn took the Straight A, AG student, reading at a college level in 3rd
grade child to an insecure and rather nave little black girl who resorted to the only thing that
would teach her about the world she lived in, which were the Bluford Series books that shown a
new side of an unfair world that I was not accustomed to but the other children were so deep
into. This in return made my transition from the proper little student to a more urbanized female
who could "code switch" with a drop of a hat to fit into the world she now belonged to as a
young teenager.
After looking more deeply into Writing That Matters: A Students Struggle to Bridge the
Academic/Personal Divide Emily Strasser; I was able to break down a problem I had always had
in regards to having to write which did not share the same passion as reading did for me. It was
seen as that something to do by critical guidelines that one did not always clearly understand. It
was a subject that I could not always identify with, but as always my ever supportive mother
continued to push me to see the invisible line I had drawn between both writing and reading was

Commented [AC8]: Ahhh, I see what you did there.

[Last Name] 3
very much in fact almost impossible not to cross. It went from being a forced subject to a way to
use words to identify with feelings especially during that period of feeling entirely alone in the
course of my early junior high and high school career due to my more standardized upbringing
much different from that of even the same woman who was encouraging me to be literate in any
and every way.

Commented [AC9]: This confuses me a little. Im not

really sure what youre trying to say. Maybe too wordy, or
just too many big words together for me. Ask for a 2 nd
opinion.

My first time having a love of writing came with an assignment regarding something I
actually hated reading, which a poem, haiku to be exact. Oh how I hated the riddles and hidden
messages that weren't elaborate stories that just jumped off of my page into my movie like
mindset. My mother noticed I was once again dodging the assignment and with her own limited
literacy she engaged with me into the world of poetry. We were able to take the complex

Commented [AC10]: Niceeeeee!

metaphors that were written into small quick bursts of broken sentences and create stories that
flowed. I then realized that the blue sky could mean a literal blue sky or the overshadowing of
gloom and sadness. The sun coming out could mean a new day, whilst the clouds and storms
could show that there was trouble brewing in the paradise of the author in every way. With her
active engagement it soon became a way of writing that I would use throughout my highschool
career, even becoming a strong point when it came down to my junior writing project and my
own inclusion into a literary magazine I was given an award for a haiku I had written in the fall
of my own self esteem due to my own search for acceptance.
Reading was a fairly enjoyable task I used to express myself up until I was introduced to
the world of 'journalism' the objective writing. Why would someone want to report something
without giving an ounce of personality or even thinking to include their own opinions. That kind
of writing was such a pet peeve to me being that throughout my life I would be forced to write
more informative documents instead of being able to put my own personal spin on things which

Commented [AC11]: Confused again, maybe a period was

supposed to go here.

[Last Name] 4
made me so mad. I couldnt figure out what the documents were about or even understand their

Commented [AC12]: Why did this make you angry?

importance to my life. They were completely lifeless. Mad, I would often neglect performing to
my best ability on my homework assignments, which in turn made my mother question why my
favorite activity became one that I hated so much. I hated going to writing and reading classes all
day and half did all my papers.
After being an avid reader from elementary school to high school, to almost hating the
very subjects I once celebrated. My reading style became one of rushed overview and barely
connecting with any of my writing at all, which frustrated my mother who was wondering who
exactly her lovely reading daughter was becoming. As a fresh college student I still hated the
idea of reading and writing and it only deepened as I was introduced to my first freshman college
class reading a book called The Rites of Spring. Here I was met with a time period of events I
had no real interest or care in and completely ignored the lessons that were being taught to me,
which showed in the rushed work that I would call my first college paper. Now as a second
semester freshman, I am still greatly annoyed with the thought of having to read and write any
type of paper of any sort and whether the love for reading will come back to me is a new thing.
That has been my journey into my journey to literacy.

Commented [AC13]: Journey into a journey? Okay!

Bibliography

Commented [AC14]: Very well composed!