Shree Ray Ray

Professor Jan Riemann

English 1103

January 31, 2011

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 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

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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. 1 While Malcolm X was forced to teach himself

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

of enjoyment. Sherman 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

Sherman Alexie is today. 2

After analyzing what Deborah 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 pictures, to learning how to spell. In the definition of

sponsors of literacy, Brandt mentions that the sponsor somehow

benefits from their sponsorship. At the 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

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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 to me was beyond a literacy sponsor, but also more of a sponsor

of hope and confidence in myself. 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 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 sponsored to me so

much more than I could thank her for. She allowed me not only to be

fluent with the art of

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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 repressive to the knowledge I could gain.

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

the second half of my earlier years. They constantly were teaching me

something new. The teacher I believe who gave me the most

knowledge 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

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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 that donated their time and

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

impress people with my 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

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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

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

Please let me know what questions you have.

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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.