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Micah Vella
ENC 1101
Mainer
9/17/2023 Journeying Through Literacy

Growing up, I found myself being attracted to visuals, whether it be illustrations,

photographs, models, and more. But with the understanding and interpretation of visual imagery,

my literacy journey had to start somewhere. It began with picture books in my childhood, such as

“Goodnight Moon,” “Little Duck,” and the “I Spy” series. While these books relied on visuals,

they also told short stories that required basic reading skills. At first, my mother and father read

these books to me before going to bed, but soon I took them into my own hands. I also started to

get introduced to higher-level readings, especially considering the fact I was beginning school.

I attended a small Episcopalian elementary school from kindergarten to fifth grade. And I

mean it was small. There were only about 400 students in the whole school, 36 in my grade. Our

classes were organized into day-to-day schedules, with chapel on Wednesdays, Kingdom Theatre

on Fridays, etc. Along with these, we had our library days. They occurred every few weeks, but

the library was always generally open. Though I was already branching away from books as

simple as “Goodnight Moon,” I didn’t necessarily enjoy full-on novels. Instead, every visit to the

library for me consisted of picking out the most fun looking books that

included pictures. I began to read some of the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”

entries, becoming fond of their journal-like storytelling. I wondered if

there were any other series like it because they were very easy for me to

thoroughly understand and enjoy. So, one library day, I happened to

stumble across a series that left a pretty large impact on my literacy

journey: “Dork Diaries” by Rachel Renee Russell.

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Micah Vella
ENC 1101
Mainer
9/17/2023 Journeying Through Literacy

You could say “Dork Diaries” was the first major literacy sponsor of my journey.

According to the text, “Sponsors of Literacy,” the author states, “Sponsors, as I have come to

think of them, are any agents, 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 3). In other words, this series was the first to awaken and influence my story

writing abilities. The series followed a quirky girl in school who never seemed to be out of

trouble. She experienced drama with her friends, her popularity, her love life, and her

schoolwork, landing herself into quite funny scenarios. Did I relate to this character in any way?

No, actually. In fact, she presented herself as quite the opposite of me: very girly and often

introverted. But alas, I found entertainment in her “diary entries.” As I mentioned before, any

form of visual media piqued my interest, so the small doodles that littered every page of the

“diary” spoke to me. I continued to keep up with the series as new entries hit the libraries and

book fairs. From there, my inspiration was really sparked by about fourth grade.

This is when I began to incorporate my own existing original characters into my newly

learned storytelling elements from “Dork Diaries.” My main character, contrary to the one in

“Dork Diaries,” was a tomboy in high school. However, she faced

some of the same experiences one in adolescence would, like

popularity and relationships. Illustrating the diary entries, I made

the story come to life in a way. Looking back, for someone who

was in elementary school, the story touched on some deep topics,

mainly about identity and gender expression. I had taken my favorite series and made it more
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Micah Vella
ENC 1101
Mainer
9/17/2023 Journeying Through Literacy

relatable to me this time, demonstrating a use of knowledge transfer, where one, according to

“Importance of Transfer,” takes their practices from one context and reframes them in a new one

(Taczak 2). This series remains one of my biggest sponsors of my writing, simply because it

showed me how personal experiences can be written in a more entertaining, maybe even

dramatic way. I still enjoy this type of writing now, and even keep my own “diary” in my notes

app at college.

However, this wasn’t the only source of inspiration I had in my writing. When I entered

middle school, I began investing myself into various fandoms of books, video games, and TV

shows. One notable book series that ended up surpassing “Dork Diaries” on my favorites list was

“Warriors” by Erin Hunter. I didn’t necessarily enjoy longer

novels until I was introduced to this series online. It told tales

of a twisted world where clans of cats have marked their own

territories, developing rivalries between each other. I was

immediately drawn to its fantastical elements and interesting

characters, as I checked out a few of its books at the local

library. Each word I would read and each book I would finish

would light a true spark in me; I was inspired to produce my

own creation influenced by my favorite series once again. This

time, I designed an entirely new cast of cats and clans, putting

my own spin on the rules and system they followed. Unlike my version of “Dork Diaries,” my

“Warriors” spin-off was written in full-length books. This was when I truly began to enjoy
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Micah Vella
ENC 1101
Mainer
9/17/2023 Journeying Through Literacy

writing without the addition of images. Though my writing would be considered basic by expert

standards, there were clear signs of improvement.

Simultaneously, I was juggling my original series and my English classwork. Like

anyone, receiving an essay writing assignment would have my eyes rolling to the back of my

head. However, this was only due to the fact I would be tied down to writing about one topic

chosen by my teacher. In the class, I didn’t have the freedom to participate in more creative

writing, where I could let my imagination do all the work. Though, I did take a class called

“Critical Thinking” that almost resembled a Composition class. It dealt with the analyzing of

other works and the production of our own. There were countless projects where my teacher

allowed me to be as creative as possible. She never once assigned a basic essay, but instead,

various multimodal projects that utilized my natural skill for art and my developing skill of

writing. With these multimodal assignments, which according to “An Introduction to and

Strategies for Multimodal Composing,” combine more than one form of communication or

medium into one (Gagich 9), I was able to enjoy writing even further and actually look forward

to my classwork.

My transition into high school’s literary standards went smoothly, thanks to all the

practice I had previously. But high school also became quite serious. The workload gradually

became more and more rigorous, and I unfortunately was never offered a fun and creative class

like Critical Thinking. I instead was coerced by my mother into taking Journalism, simply

because she enjoyed it back in her high school

days. It didn’t seem like that awful of an idea,

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Micah Vella
ENC 1101
Mainer
9/17/2023 Journeying Through Literacy

but I was already indifferent to it. Upon stepping into the first day of the class, I realized it was

far from fun and games. Unlike my middle school journalism classes, which involved the

production of video and digital media, this class required a

paper every single week. My writing had improved

tremendously, especially since I was introduced to writing

websites like Wattpad and Archive of Our Own, where I

read others’ works and published my own, but much of this

wasn’t necessarily beneficial. Journalism introduced a

whole new approach to writing, which admittedly was

quite boring when I really thought about it. There was never much creativity, and my writing

seemed to hit a plateau.

Despite passing the class with an A and the label of “favorite student” from my teacher, I

rarely look back on the class as a positive sponsor for myself. In fact, I felt like I had broken free

from the chains of it after the year had ended. It took me a while to get back into the swing of

things, but I soon continued my journey of creative writing. By this time, I had dedicated my

efforts into an original book series called “Empathy,” a mystery novel told from the perspective

of a victim kidnapped by a gang of criminals living in the city outskirts. This was by far my

biggest project, as I worked on a draft of it for a year, writing about 14 chapters until I scrapped

it and completely started over from the beginning. I was determined to make this book perfect,

developing my characters and their lore down to the most minute detail. As an aspiring I.T nerd,

I even designed a website featuring my own art to assist readers in understanding the story,
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Micah Vella
ENC 1101
Mainer
9/17/2023 Journeying Through Literacy

almost like a Wiki page. Unfortunately, I’ve seldom worked on this project any further, but I may

pick it back up in the future, as it was a demonstration of my greatest abilities in writing.

Though I’ve been regarded as more of “the art kid” my entire life, I want to make it clear

that it will always go hand in hand with writing and literature. I never would’ve thought one

hobby of mine would spark another so greatly. As I’m faced with more papers to write and more

research to partake in during college, I will never push my true passion for creativity aside.

Instead, I’ll take advantage of these abilities to make my writing enjoyable for me and for others

reading, even if the topic is mundane.

Works Cited
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Micah Vella
ENC 1101
Mainer
9/17/2023 Journeying Through Literacy

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” College composition and communication 49.2 (1998):

165–185. Web.

Gagich, Melanie. “An Introduction to and Strategies for Multimodal Composing.” Writing

Spaces: Readings on Writing, Volume 3. Anderson, South Carolina, USA. Parlor Press LLC,

2020.

Taczak, Kara. “The Importance of Transfer in Your First Year Writing Course.” Writing Spaces:

Readings on Writing, Volume 4. Parlor Press LLC, 2021.

Images Cited

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/journalism-tactics-

60812472af9db.png

https://www.themorgan.org/sites/default/files/images/exhibitions/hawthorne-sophia.jpg

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/817/236/6cd.jpg

https://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9781416980087_p0_v12_s1200x630.jpg