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Interconnections of a Southern Family and Literacy

A community that I am a member of is my Southern family. The family that I primarily

see and interact with the most often is my mother and my father, but I also have adopted

relatives that are not blood-related. I am originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but my parents

and I moved to Florida when I was ten years old. We lived on a street with neighbors that all

became family during the time we lived there. This is my Primary Discourse because this group

is the one I first used to make sense of the world and interact with others (279 Gee). The

values of my Discourse are faith, compassion, gratitude, and unity. We are comparable to a wolf

pack. We tend to stay together when we need each other, and I am grateful for this bond. The

reason why my primary family has adopted other relatives into the family is that we share the

same values as those people. Our primary way of communication is through texting since we are

a distance away. Through technology, we are able to talk to each other like we are not that far

away. The age range of my Discourse is eighteen to seventy. Even though there is a significant

difference in ages, we do not treat or talk to each other like there is an age difference because we

share a mutual respect for each other.

Literacy Sponsors in the Community

My main literacy sponsors, agents, who enable, support, teach, model, or suppress

literacy, were my parents because they wanted to establish beneficial literacy habits that would

be carried throughout my life (Brandt 72). According to my mother, she and my father began

reading to me when I was born. My parents and I would read together every single night when I

was a child We read every single Arthur the Aardvark book, Magic School Bus book, Franklin

the Turtle book, Scooby-Doo books, and even seasonal books. My favorite Christmas book was
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Cajun Night Before Christmas which one of my neighbors used to read to me. I started to believe

that Santa had alligators to guide his sleigh instead of reindeer because thats what the book

illustrated. By being exposed to this book at an early age, later in my life, I could connect with

my Southern heritage, such as by bringing old folktales into my Mythology English class.

Another book that influenced me was Franklin Goes to the Hospital. I always had a fascination

about hospitals and doctors ever since I read that book when I was little. This book is about an

anthropomorphic turtle that cracks his shell and must go to the hospital. The book influenced my

current career choice to a limited extent due to the exposure by my main literacy sponsors. I am

thankful that my parents could afford many childrens book series that allowed me to have early

exposure to much different life events and to explore different topics.

Discourses

My community uses the same Southern slang when we are talking to each other. We

never try to act more Southern around each other. We do not force our Southern charm to be

portrayed when talking; it just comes out of us. Being Southern means that we tend to talk

louder and laugh harder while using common colloquial expressions, such as yall, madder

than a wet hen, bless your heart, fixin to, etc. I believe that the South was built on

storytelling as well as fast talking. People do not want to listen to a story that is boring and

extremely long. The Southern Language frequently uses similes (to make a description more

vivid) and contractions (the combination of two words while eliminating some letters and using

an apostrophe) of words that are not proper English. Speaking proper English can push a person

out of the Discourse because it is not just what you say, but how you say it. (Gee 276). My

community gets loud when we are together because we love to out tell each others stories and
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have an enjoyable time. This is a main value of the Discourse. We like to make each other happy

while looking out for each other.

Rhetorical Situation

Since my community is not in the same geographical location, we have to mainly

communicate through literary activities, such as social media (Facebook), texting, and emails.

We also send each other postal cards for special occasions, such as Birthdays or Christmas.

Another type of card we send each other is Thank You cards. My mother always taught me to

write handwritten Thank You notes to anyone who gave me a present or did something nice for

me. The exigence, the matter and motivation of the discourse, for these notes is to show

appreciation by taking the time to handwrite a letter and send it via postal services instead of just

simply emailing or texting someone thank you (Grant-Davie 490). The audience is the person

who did something exceptional for me; therefore, they are the audiences addressed. This person

is the audience that the writer seems to have in mind (Grant-Davie 497). The rhetor(s), a

person responsible for the discourse and its authorial voice, are me and the people in my

community. The process of writing a Thank You card usually starts by thanking the intended

person for whatever act of kindness they did. Then, if they gave me money or a gift, I talk about

how I would use it and how much it means to me. At the end, I tell them how much I miss them

or how we should get together again. A constraint I have when writing a Thank You note would

be how much I can write while staying in the space given on the card. Writing to someone in my

community can be different from writing a doctor a thank you note after shadowing him, the way

I address them can vary because I must say or write the right thing in the right way while

playing the right social role (Gee 277). If I am being too casual while addressing a professional,

it can hurt my chances in trying to get into another Discourse. For example, if I use the word
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yall in a Thank You note to a doctor I shadowed, it would appear as if I am unprofessional

and I am not suited for the medical field. Being in this community and Discourse has taught me

to know when to be casual and when to be professional while sometimes being both casual and

professional in order to be charismatic.

Personal Writing Process

When I get an essay prompt, I make a mind map. I start with the essay topic and try to

find various connections between the main foci and interdisciplinary associations of the paper.

Following the mind map, I then start handwriting a skeleton outline with topic sentences and

my primary evidence from the text that we are reading in class. After I have written my outline

based on the rubric given, I type my outline on my computer and add more detail that comes to

my mind. I take that typed outline and form my essay around it by adding in analysis and more

detail. I sometimes prefer to write my conclusion first so I know where my paper should end. If I

can see the connections to the end, then writing the filler information is easier for me to do. I try

to come up with topic sentences that connect with each other and relate to my thesis and

conclusion. By having these transitions and connections already built into my paper, I can focus

on the content and analysis. From my community, I have learned how to view my overall writing

as the big picture. When we tell stories either verbally or nonverbally, the rhetor knows how the

story ends. It is the process of writing the beginning and the middle that causes the outcome of

the story. To improve my personal writing process, I could read the essay topic before going into

a unit if there is a topic available. That way I can plan my essay and clarify any issues and

concerns before constructing my rough draft and to avoid being blindsided by a paper. I am

guilty of procrastination, but I tend to thrive on pressure and stress because I have no choice but
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to do the task at hand. I enjoy planning and organizing, but I usually do not leave enough time

for me to efficiently plan and organize my writing; therefore, I should start working earlier.

Influence of Community on Writing

I can say that being around my family and community has made me a better storyteller

because I grew up hearing stories that always had a moral and a point. My family has always told

stories about their lives and gave advice regarding making smart decisions to me since I was the

only child in the community. Their advice has helped me through demanding situations. When

telling me their advice, they give in an informal essay format. The verbal aspects have translated

to my writing. The stories have both a positive and negative influence on me because the

Southern slang is very conversational and not grammatically structured. I have had to develop a

method of switching my styles of writing from conversational to structured. In stories, I can be

more conversational, but in analysis and informative papers, I need to write like an academic

scholar. Another positive and direct influence my community has had on my writing is how to

write a Thank You note. I realize that one note could make a significant difference when people

are accessing my social skills and credibility.

My Southern family made up of relatives and non-relatives taught me how to speak and

write using the values of faith, compassion, gratitude, and unity. By discovering a fine line

between being professional and being colloquial through my Discourse, I am able to incorporate

the right writing style for an assignment and everyday literacy activities. I am also capable of

communicating ideas while also being compelling, yet informative. Even though my Southern

family is in separate locations, through literacy activities, we can stay connected through our

technology and family values.

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Works Cited

Wardle, E., & Downs, D. (2017). Writing about Writing: A College Reader (Third ed.) Boston,

MA: Bedford/St. Martins.