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University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Literacy Project
Exploration of an Unused Mind

Cody Duvall
Instructor Ashley Marcum
UWRT 1101-010
17 February 2016

I have learned from this project that I do not enjoy writing, my writing process leads me
down a road of what feels like hopelessness, as I write this paper I fear it is wrong. I do enjoy
reading certain materials but most academic studies or stories I wish the class could do without.
Reading words I cannot pronounce makes me feel dumb sure, but when am I going use a word
like melancholia? Except when pick up a Smashing Pumpkins record, spelled Mellon Collie, or
maybe to describe my mood as Im writing this. As far as my literacy is concerned I accept that I
will not measure up to most of my peers. If I included a snapshot of my favorite or worst writing
experience I would be better prepared to explain the extent of my literacies. Perhaps, by me not
choosing those prompts explains my literacy best.
The feedback I received from my classmates was positive they seemed to enjoy my
fabricated reader and writer stories. After observing other students writing I was able to better
organize mine, seeing how others were putting their works together and how mine was a bunch
of loose papers with some words in it. I feel my snapshot of Picturing a Writer was the high
point of this project, I had the most fun in writing it because I didnt focus on me at all.
Hindsight tells me that it was done wrong, but hey I did what I did. While I was revising the
snapshots I really just focused on the order of events trying to make sure my grammar was
correct, and that I explained it enough to be close to the length of the page so I could complete
the assignment. My snapshot My Writing Process best explains my journey and hardship
completing this assignment. If I could continue to revise one snapshot it would be my Picturing
a Writer, again I enjoyed that one the most, and I do like an interesting author story.
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I am still trying to discover my writing process this is really the first time I was given a
free range write what you feel papers. I try to let the words flow but every time I see the red
squiggly line on the page I get distracted and want to fix the spelling mistake before I continue. I
then lose focus on what I was writing about and have to reread what I already wrote, sometimes
delete everything and start again. If I see that I used the same word twice to describe something
or open up with the same word I then retreat to a thesaurus web page to find a different word that
might make me sounds smarter, again this distracts me.
I tend to make one draft save it and then on the due date I will review it for errors. I never
share my work with a buddy to review unless it offers some comic relief that I want to share. I
feel stressed when writing because I only ever write on a deadline and for a grade. So I want it to
be perfect but then there is a point where I dont know which direction to go in. Do I stop here
did I get my point across? Is this what the instructor was expecting when they gave me this
assignment? All of these thoughts racing through my head as I write.
I dont usually deviate from this train of thought when I write. I believe my only
recurring writing process is when I type up emails. I feel like emails are a formal letter that
deserve special attention. I will make sure everything is spelled right, everything is in good order
make sure I attached any links that need to be sent, type and retype the introduction and casually
end in a very respectfully -Cody.
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Most of my ideas when I think of a writer is from pop culture. I flash back to all the
movies and television shows I have watched. I see them drinking scotch in an office surrounded
by wooden furniture with a stack of papers on one side, an empty page fitted into the typewriter

in front of them. A window behind them where out you see an inspirational view that represents
their writing style. An ashtray sits under his smoldering cigarette where it sat most of the night.
He hasnt seen the outside world for six days. The toaster hangs from a shower head down the
hall, bath to the brim with water. His hallway is left with picture frame scars, broken glass shards
on top of a rug that runs the length of the hall.
Damaged from last nights fight, he stands a little hunched he stumbles out the door way.
He pauses to take in the silence of it all, as he stairs out at the shattered glass, realizing only
hours ago the volume that those halls produced. His wife lay at the base of the stairs motionless,
pale eyes open staring at the ceiling. A grandfather clock past her rings on the hour, the tolls on
the bell carry the writer to the bathroom. He begins to lay in the tub as he sinks further water
overflows onto the granite floor. He takes hold of the toasters cable flashing back to what took
place. There is a tear forming in his eye, a spark of fear, he closes his eyes. Hes beginning to
believe.
I, as a writer have never been though anything like this, or maybe I have and my life is
like the movie 23. I write in a simple room, no typewriter just pen and pencil. I dont have
strange backgrounds that led me to be the writer I am today. I only write when I am required,
where I would think authors are expected to write. I dont think I can relate to this writer much at
all, his thought process develops a lot differently than my own. Where I take my inspiration from
being told to complete assignments, the author takes his from a deeper place.
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Picturing a reader I see a stereotypical book worm with glasses face in a
book, sitting or lying alone on the couch, the end table light illuminates the page.

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They read some future fantasy novel to escape into another world different from
their own. Theyre dressed in what they wear to bed, bare feet protruding out of
long johns maybe. Or an old man sitting at a desk reading a classic book that he has
been reading since he was young. Some college kid reading up on his study
material in a library trying to catch up before finals. Now I would think it would be
common for most people to read texts or articles on their phone opposed from a
newspaper.
Me as a reader I tend to do it when I have down time and have nothing to do.
For a while I used to bring a book with me to the laundry mat plug in some
headphones to drown out the sounds of the tumbling machines and read until my
laundry was done. If I was at work and there was nothing to do I would pull out a
book. More or less it would be a military survival manual.
I think of most readers setting aside time to read, like an hour a day, or just
before sleep reading a chapter and then pass out. There are very few books that
have kept my interest and that I actually made time to finish reading. My ideas
about readers would be from movies and television. I didnt have a family that like
to read I would never see anyone with a book in hand. I often recommend books to
my family now, I tend to buy books and then give them to the family to distribute
among themselves, most time I find them unread where I left it, so sometimes I
wonder why I even bother.
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My favorite reading experience is not necessarily the book that I read but the
events that led up to the reading. It was my first night at work as operational

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security forces in the United States Air Force. It was snowing that day so we were
told to not travel as much with our vehicles to avoid accidents. I was posted 12
hours on the flight line with a stranger. I was expecting the worst because he was a
seasoned Airman and it seemed like I would be do all the working that night. After
he gave me the tour of the flight line and cutting donuts in the snow down the
length of the taxiway, we finally stopped the truck and let the engine idle. It was
when we were sitting there that he pulls out a book and tells me that he will read a
chapter outload and then I would read a chapter, back and forth until the shift was
over.
The book was I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max. The book is a
compilation of autobiographical stories from him in college and abroad of his friends
and his adventures of drugs and sex. Some of these stories that I have read were
extremely funny. I didnt know that funny books existed. I have always hated
reading because I could not find anything that caught my interest and that shift I
found it. I borrowed the book and finished it in a couple days. I returned it and he
told me about another book that was coming out of his Assholes Finish First which is
the first book I ever purchased for myself.
From there I began to read other books, I was told Fight club was a book, so I
read that and continues to read three other Chuck Palahniuk books. It opened up a
new world of reading to me when I could compare books to movies and express the
phrase the book was better than the movie, I never understood how. If I wouldnt
have been reading that book that night I probably would have given up on books by
now.
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While I was in the military I encouraged a lot of my troops with acts of
sponsorships one in particular was for them to study their training material. I was a
very young staff sergeant and often I would be asked how I made it so far in such a
short time. The response was simple I studied. Every test I took, every exercise they
put me through I was prepared. Now there is more to promoting then just studying. I
had to keep my nose clean, work to be recognized but none of that would have
happened if I was not first recognized in the class room.
Most of my troops studied as they should have and most went on to have the
same levels of success as myself. I know when I joined I did not have this mindset of
studying, all I wanted to do was party and get paid. It took my first supervisor to
drag me into the office every day after work to study one on one for my upcoming
qualification exam, I hated every minute of it. I felt it was a waste of time because I
could already recite everything in the study material after the first week.
The material was easy it was just the repetitiveness of it drove me crazy. He
would ask me questions one after the other, then do it backwards then jump around
the pages randomly the same questions the same answers. It was really just a
memory game, but if I had not done that I would not have been as proficient as I
was the day of testing. I would not have been recognized and I would not have
studied as vigorously for my future exams. It also reduced the time it took me to do
quizzes and test while everyone was spending hours on the test it took me half the
time.
If time machines existed and they might, I would return to 2009 Korea and
thank my supervisor. My hope is that those troops I left in the service continue
teaching this lesson to the younger generations and his impact becomes the

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standard for many. I try to uphold this model of thinking, to stay on top of my
schoolwork, though sometimes I stray from the path.