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Caleb Lanford Mr. Borrero ENGL 1101 02 September 2012 Literacy Defense Essay October 3, 1993 Johnnie L. Cochran defended that his client, Orenthal James Simpson (O.J. Simpson), was innocent and it is remembered by his famous quote, If it doesnt fit, you must acquit. If Cochran proved that Simpson was innocent, I definitely can prove that my genre is a clear representation of my literacy history. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, or Mr. Borrero, my client, Genretized Literacy Narrative, used a poem, a musical piece, and pictures that includes both pictures and quotes to evidently represent my literacy experience with reading, writing, and communicating. Working as a summer camp counselor for Cumberland County required me to be around many different types of children from all different backgrounds and ethnicities. The more that I interacted with them, the more I paid attention to the way that they read, wrote, and communicated; some of them mightily struggled. Seeing this, made me realize that I was raised in a good home and it made me more grateful for my family. My parents always taught me that getting a good education leads to success and in order to get to success, you will have to read, write, communicate, and stay focused. They believed that good writing should express their feelings in their writing, and if possible, it should include personal experiences. My father is a disabled veteran who served 17 years in the United States Army before being forced to retire due to the Army finding out that he was only born with one

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kidney that was currently working at 40 percent. In 2006 while receiving dialysis treatment, he had a stroke of the optic nerves and it caused him to completely lose his eyesight. The tempo of the music is Largo (slow, broad speed) it is written in A minor, and it includes a violin (a high sounding string instrument) and a contrabass (a deep, bass sounding string instrument) to make it sound sad, and this helps me remember that I should not take the ability to read, write, and communicate for granted because my father is visually-impaired and he can communicate and write, but he cannot actually read what he writes. The drum set represents my determination to stay focused. When I am given reading or writing assignments, I may not want to complete them, but my fathers condition and knowing the opportunities that lay before me, continuously keeps me motivated and determined to keep pushing. I chose to incorporate poetry within my genre because it is a text in which I can reveal the nature of my views of reading, writing, and communication. From the sixth through the eighth I attended Pine Forest Raiders Middle School located in Fayetteville, NC. When I was in the sixth grade, my homeroom teacher, Mrs. Walker nominated me to represent her home room in the 2005-2006 DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) essay contest. The topic was based on Benjamin Franklin; I had to write about several of his contributions to American culture and Society, and I had to explain how these contributions continued to influence American life today. I did not place in this event, but being the lone student chosen out of more than 20 others to participate made me feel great. I may not be the best poet, but this experience changed the way I currently approach my writings, readings, and communications; with confidence and a positive attitude because if you lack it, your paper will be deficient and the outcome will not be successful. When producing my genre, the pictures and the quotes represent confidence. The musical piece also represents confidence and to help portray that, there are roof-top accents (to

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place emphasis a note) on the first five notes and the dynamics (volume) are fortississimo (to play very, very loud). Writing music has made me realize that what one persons standard of good writing or a good book may be different from anothers standard of good writing or a good book because everyone has their own opinion. From the seventh grade through the tenth grade, I was always taught to use the five paragraph essay format on the writing tests. When I used them on the test, my results came up terrible. Nevertheless, I continued to use this format because that is what I was taught. I continued to use this structure until I reached the eleventh grade when I was forced to write an eight page research paper which contained more than five paragraphs. The first five notes of my musical piece represent the five paragraph essay and the fifth note is a falling glissando which represents the negative experience that I had with it. Music is vocal or instrumental sounds, or both to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. A picture is an external form or appearance of someone or something. Composing a piece of music and incorporating pictures was the most logical way for me to convey my narrative because Ive been reading music, communicating music through my playing since I was six years old, and I have also been composing music since I was in the eighth grade. I have also drawn many shapes and pictures throughout my life. I was in Pine Forests Odyssey of Sound Marching Band for four years and I was around them so much, that they were basically my community as shown in the picture. We were a hybrid band which means that we had the mentality of a show-style band and the technique of a corps-style band. Corps-style marching comes from a military tradition and is categorized by a still torso with fluid roll step; they tend to produce better musicians and they tend to play classical music. Show-style is steeped in African-American tradition and categorized by high-

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stepping flamboyance; they usually are more crowd-friendly and they tend to play more modern music. Both of these bands produce images that relate to the music and help draw out the show on the field. Throughout the course of the marching band season we would participate in various competitions, both show-style and corps-style, in which we would be judged. Depending on the competition style, determined the show we would perform on the field; we had to adjust to the target audience in hopes to get a superior grade from the judges. If we would have performed a show-style show on the field at a corps-style band competition, we would have received a terrible grade from the judges and vice versa. If I wrote a juvenile story and turned it in to my college professor, I would definitely feel that effects of it by receiving a bad grade. Being in the marching band has made me examine my target audience closer and from watching other marching bands, it has made me attempt to predict the point that a writer or author is trying to convey to their readers. When I compose music, I approach it the same way that I write essays. I plan, I draft, and I produce the final product. When composing a piece of music, I list the group of instruments that will be playing the piece and I determine which instruments will play which part, whether it is the melody, counter-melody, etc., as pre-writing. I compose the piece as my draft, and I get one to proofread and proof listen to get their opinion, and finally, I produce my final product. If I never joined the marching band, I probably would not have started writing music, and if I would have never started writing music, I would have never strictly enforce my writing process. During my final year in high school, my entire English IV class was strictly scrutinized on our ability to read, write, and communicate. We were told how we better drastically show a dramatic improvement in those areas because the level that we were currently at will not shift

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well in a College English class; I took it personal. Now that I am currently in a College English class, my belief from last year has changed. I was concerned and anxious about how I would perform in class, but after a few weeks of the class, I now feel a peaceful confidence towards my reading, writing, and communication. I feel that Mr. Borrero, my English Professor, not only wants his students to better themselves in reading, writing, and communicating, but he wants us to become all around, better people. The last part of my genre represents a sense of peace and this is how I currently feel about my writing; I am at peace. Ladies and Gentlemen of the Jury, or Mr. Borrero, as you can see, with the evidence that I have provided my client, Genretized Literacy Narrative, has undoubtedly represented my history of reading, writing, and communicating.