Shree Ray Ray

Professor Jan Riemann

English 1103

January 31, 2011

During the process of writing this paper, I first used an outline to

assist me in organizing my thought process. I included sponsors as

well as missing sponsors and literacies that I had wish that I had. I

really enjoyed writing this paper, because just as the title indicates, it

was almost a small stroll down my literacy lane. I want to further detail

my paper and have a lot more flowing concepts in it.

A Stroll Down Literacy Lane

“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more

that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” (Dr.Seuss). One of the most

well known writers of my times, Dr.Seuss, could be considered a

prodigy, and much more than a sponsor to many children. In my case,

it is just that. From the second I could make out shapes and pictures, I

ran around with any book of his. Each individual has their own set of

people, ideas and events that serve as a sponsor, whether it be

temporary or lifelong.

Deborah Brandt defines a sponsor of literacy most eloquently in

her essay “Sponsors of Literacy”: 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 407). This definition encompasses most every

aspect of sponsorship there is to any literacy. To fully comprehend how

these sponsors contribute and influence people of all ages, it is

important to know

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exactly what literacy is. Literacy is defined as “fluency in a given

practice.”(Brandt 407). There is more than one type of literacy. There

are literacies of religion, science, music, math, computer, reading,

writing, gaming, and many more. After examining what literacy

actually means, it is easier to see how such literacies can be sponsored

in many different ways. There are plenty of examples, which I have

studied, that show sponsors of literacy to be objects and

circumstances rather than people. For example, Malcolm X was not

mainly sponsored by a person, but rather by his circumstance in

having to sit in jail all day long. This brought him to start reading the

dictionary and reading books continuously. Not only was it the

environment of the jail, but also, his determination to express his

feelings. He was extremely frustrated at his lack of vocabulary to

communicate through letters with outsiders, and this itself served as a

sponsor in his case. While Malcolm X was forced to teach himself

because of his frustration, Sherman Alexie taught himself on the basis

of enjoyment. Alexie was of Indian descent and learned to read from

Superman comics. The Superman comic was a sponsor for him, as well

as the inspiration he received from his father. The combination of the

two sponsors resulted in the great writer that Alexie is today. 2

After analyzing what Brandt defines as sponsors of literacy, I

decided that I had my very own definition. People or events that

encourage or discourage one from furthering themselves in anything

from education to special talents, are essentially what sponsors of

literacy mean to me. From ever since I can remember, certain people

in my family have been helping me learn things from recognizing

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pictures, to learning how to spell. In the definition of sponsors of

literacy, Brandt mentions that the sponsor somehow benefits from

their sponsorship. At a first glance I disagreed because I thought about

how my parents did not gain anything from teaching me how to read.

But after I looked into the definition more, I realized that this benefit

did not have to be materialistic. In the case of parents or family

members, the benefit can be something as sly as just the delight or the

content feeling of watching their child succeed in reading.

From the day I was born, until the day I die, I will always have

sponsors coming and going in one way or another. But there are some

sponsors that show consistency in my life. My mother and

grandmother have always been literacy sponsors. Whether it be

teaching me how to spell when I was a child, or how to write in

Gujurati, the language of the culture I come from, they always helped

me to increase my confidence in myself. Even though my mom did not

know much English when I was first in school, she would sit down with

me on my dining room table and do the best to her ability to help me.

This was beyond a literacy sponsor, but also more of a sponsor of

confidence. My grandmother sponsors my multicultural literacy. She

helped me learn more about the Indian culture and language by always

speaking to me in Gujurati. It was a difficult experience, but it was

something that I will be proud of for the rest of my life. I am still

learning new things every time I spend time with my family, expanding

my knowledge so I can share with others.

Also, at a very young age, I was diagnosed with a cleft palate.

This kind of medical difficulty lead me to being appalling at speech. I

was a smart child, but was

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frustrated with not being able to say particular letters or words

correctly, making it problematical for others to understand me. For this

problem, my mother would take me to a speech therapist almost daily

from the day I turned one until my speech was almost perfect. My

speech therapist gave me so much more than I could thank her for.

She allowed me not only to be fluent with the art of speech, but also

allowed me to express my feelings without holding back. Along side

with my speech therapist, books were my favorite sponsors at a young

age. My therapist would read me books, which I would later check out

from the library and try to read myself. There are plenty of memories

that I have of myself pretending to be a teacher in a class, reading a

book aloud to all my children. Books particularly like Dr.Seuss or

Winnie the Pooh were my favorites. I would say that these were my

most fond childhood sponsors. As the definition of sponsors of literacy

states, sponsors must have a beneficial reasoning for contributing their

knowledge down to others. In my case, I suppose that my speech

therapist was merely getting paid for it, but I felt like we created a

bond by the end of the whole process, and eventually she had become

to be a mother figure in my life. My grandmother and mother

contributed their knowledge to me so that they could be proud and

take credit for giving me such a great variety of knowledge.

As I grew older, sponsors became more available to my taste,

and also became more aware of the knowledge I could gain. Teachers

were my first sponsors I think made the biggest difference in my

earlier years. They constantly were teaching me something new. The

teacher I believe who gave me the most knowledge

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was a teacher in high school who really did not focus on grading or go

by the lines. He instead focused on group discussions and opinions.

Through this class I learned about history and philosophy, which are

the two most important concepts needed to cope with society. There
were other teachers who were more repressive. In these classes, I was

forced to follow a cookie-cutter path to write papers or essays. There

was no room for creativity or expansion. The main

idea of the class was merely to pass, and to do this, taking risks of

trying something more challenging was discouraged.

My second most influential sponsors during this period of time

were my friends and colleagues. Being an International Baccalaureate

student at my school, the students in that program grew very close on

an intellectual level. During lunch, we would often start a debate, and

during these debates I learned a ton of new materials. Sometimes

though, these friends might provide wrong information as a sponsor

just to limit their competition and any threats to them being on the

top. My last, and most recent sponsor to literacy is not a person or an

idea, but rather a circumstance. With a rough past, and a even rougher

present, I decided that no matter what I have been through up until

now will not affect my future. Particularly starting this semester, Spring

2011, I have let nothing but a great run outdoors get in the way of me

working on my school work or reading in any spare time. This

experience is my biggest and most prominent sponsor yet.

The influences of the sponsors who donated their time and

efforts to me were innumerable. I was exposed to the ability to

impress people with my

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multicultural and multilingual talents as well as gaining much

knowledge during school about a variety of topics. Because of these

sponsors, today I can further my education up to any level I feel

comfortable. I finally have the ability to make something of my self, in

reference to a career or personal goal. Although I feel as if these

sponsors have helped me incredibly, and are much more than I should

ask for, I feel like at times I lacked the correct sponsorship. Sometimes

I wish that I had an older brother or

sister to help me through homework or concepts that my parents could

not. Other times, I wish that I had someone to help me with my SAT

prep, so that I could have possibly gotten into a better college. I

missed out on a lot of opportunities to become literate in different

areas, but I also gained opportunities that not many other people

obtain, such as getting taught how to read and write Gujurati so

fluently. Despite all these regrets, I am still happy with what I stand

with today, and hope to be a literacy sponsor, big or small, to many

more people.

Shree,

I’m glad that you address the idea of missing sponsorships and what

access you wished you’d had but didn’t. I think that most of us can

think of literacies we wish we had.

You do a great job here of orienting your literacy narrative in the

conversation we’ve been reading about and having in class that has

come out of our readings. You also clearly define both sponsors and

literacies early on to give your reader a clear

idea of what you are exploring. What I’d love to see you focus on in

revision is this idea of organization and how you choose to structure

your paper. Think about the purpose of each of your paragraphs,

keeping in mind that you may want each of them to address one topic

and that you want to move your reader from one point to the next. As I

read, some of your paragraphs felt too full to me and I wanted more

distinction between various ideas. Here’s a hopefully helpful link

detailing paragraph development:

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/606/01/

Please let me know what questions you have.

Hi Dr. Rieman,

I appreciate your comments and feedback. I hope to add more details

to my missed sponsorship and make my paper flow more. I want to

rearrange some of my paragraphs, and just add more flowing

concepts. I have already made most changes, but hope to make more

before turning this in.

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Works Cited

Alexie, Sherman, and Nancy J. Peterson. Conversations with Sherman Alexie. Jackson:

University of Mississippi, 2009. Print.

Brandt, Deborah. "Sponsors of Literacy." The Sponsors of Literacy. Albany, NY: National

Research Center on English Learning & Achievement, University at Albany, State

University of New York, 1997. 407. Print.

Geisel, Theodor S. "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut! | Dr. Seuss Books | Seussville." Dr. Seuss |

Seussville.com. Web. 04 Feb. 2011. <http://www.seussville.com/books/book_detail.php?

isbn=9780394839127>.

Gunderson, Jessica, and Seitu Hayden. X: the Biography of Malcolm X. Mankato, MN: Graphic
Library, 2011. Print.