Christian Troy Laney Professor Hofmann English 1101-005 30 April 2013 Literacy Memoir

From my beginnings, my brother and I were held to a high standard of learning and literacy. My knowledge was important to my mother, father, and both grandmothers. For they wanted to see my life lived easier. My mother completed high school, but did not continue on to college; however, she did complete schooling to get her certified nursing assistant certification. She had to work hard and work long hours, provided that CNAs are minimally paid in the healthcare field. To this day, she is still certified, but all the hard work that she input into her career has paid off. She is now self-employed and manages her own in-home care business. My mother, had she completed college, would still be as successful as she is now. I do not think she would have to work as hard, but most definitely, she would have just as many accomplishments. My mother is very competent in what she is doing, and this too shows her literacy in the healthcare realm. She has been a CNA since her upper teens, and to be able to have her own inhome care business, she has to have a strong literacy in the CNA realm of healthcare. Her interest in the healthcare field has also impacted me. I am currently a certified nursing assistant, and I have adopted her interest and literacy in healthcare. Upon entering high school, I immediately enrolled in health science courses, and I found that these courses were not difficult for me. My literacy in health care has provided me with knowledge and slang terms often used in healthcare. For example, abbreviations such as ADL (Activities of Daily Living) and qid (four

times daily) are easy to interpret when I see them, or the many others like them. I do value my literacy in the healthcare field, and I try to keep it fresh, since I am not working or taking healthcare classes. My father completed high school, and went to college but for only two semesters. He could have been an alumnus from the wonderful school at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, but the academic setting of college proved to be too much for him. My dad has always been a hard worker, born and raised in the country, farming and gardening as a boy. My great grandfather raised my father, and all they knew back then was growing their own vegetables, and growing their own livestock. My dad is able to grow gardens, grow hogs, and grow chickens. He has showed me all of these things, and he is very literate in these areas. I was able to witness him learning how to do these things, because as a young boy, he was raised around these things. It takes a lot to know what you are doing when farming. His literacy in farming is shown throughout the techniques he uses to farm. Reading the almanac, for example, is difficult for me, because my literacy in farming and reading the signs is not as strong as my fathers. When pertaining to what he chose as a career, he didnt settle with one particular career. He started out welding, and then moved into transfer truck driving. Both of these jobs require intense labor and a strong work ethic. My dad was fit for each job. These areas also require literacy in the field. My dad is still literate in welding and truck driving, of course. His hard work has paid off, because he too is self-employed and jointly runs his own trucking business. My parents are huge inspirations for me, and this is reflected in my literacy. Every opportunity to I get to write about my parents, I seize it immediately. Much of my literature has a special place dedicated to my parents, or is either influenced by them. My parents did not have to preach to my brother and me to put in our best effort in school. All of things that

we were blessed with we knew that my parents worked hard to provide it to us. This was important, because every time I went off to school, during elementary, I knew I had to learn. I learned from the best and attended the best school in the town of Lexington. My parents made sure that my brother and I was provided with the highest quality schooling. I remember it being unacceptable to bring home anything lower than an A, and it was also expected of us in school. I knew at an early age that my future was a reflection of the work I put into it then. My literacy, in education, was affected by this standard of learning. All around, I was engaged in learning school subjects, and more importantly, reading and writing was the start of my knowledge. Reading and writing was valued in a way that they were the basis of an education and learning. It is important that one is able to read and write in school, and more importantly, be above average. I was put in the position to where I should want to be ahead. Stay ahead of the game, my father always said. My literacy in education, and the many subjects was fueled by this value of reading and writing. My grandmother, on my fathers sides, established a method to improve my reading skills. Imagine your grandmother calling you, and telling you that you had to call her, 365, and read to her every night. You can only imagine how many books I read during elementary school. Ironically, I hate reading today. I can also remember the writing exercises, and workbooks that required me to answer all the EOC type questions after each story. All these little exercises prompted an even better opportunity to learn, and this is where my literacy in education initiated. Elementary school is vital to become more literate, in the academic setting. Middle school, I had to apply what I had learned thus far. My English teacher, almost seventy years old, in the seventh grade made sure that her students would leave her classroom feeling a little better or worse about his/her literacy. Every day there were writing exercises that forced me to open up another world of imagination. The prompts were difficult, and her grading was strict. It was vital

that I followed what I learned and beefed up the papers at task. A five paragraph essay, with an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion, was common in the classroom. Along with essays, poetry was mixed in the bunch. This is when I adopted poetry. Poetry for me, then, was nothing more than a few lines that rhymed. I was not literate in poetry. However, my teacher assigned a poetry project that was to include about ten types of poetry that were created by me, and this attributed to adding poetry in the academic realm of my literacy. I was pretty confident in my writing, and I had always received excellent grades on writing assignments, but this poetry project proved to be a little tougher. All the works prior to this poetry project were prompts and concrete exercises that showed no creativity from me. My teacher was not convinced of my great writing skills that transpired into poetry for that project. Upon submitting my poetry project, my teacher soon proposed the question to me, Is this your work? I can remember getting the slip of paper that said, See me after class. This was the first time that I felt someone doubted my literary work. Poetry, structurally, can be pretty tough to write, but I put forth the effort to complete a product that was grade-A material. Also, I had to show creativeness when writing these poems. Poetry is art, and therefore, there has to be some form of creativeness in the poem. I still do not know why she doubted my work. Maybe, there was something that set my poems above the rest or maybe, she did not think I was able to produce such well-rounded, creative poems. Once I had explained to her that I only receive little help from my mother, she just bluntly said, Okay, as though she was a little satisfied that not all one-hundred percent of the project was my thinking. I barely ended up with the grade that I wanted, and took my poetry project home. Im still proud of my poetry project, and it lies at home, with other papers that I have kept over the years.

Early in childhood, I was introduced to a world filled with two and four wheeled objects that could light the roads in the dark, and carry me from school and back. My father grew up in the country, where dirt bikes were prevalent and muscle cars dominant. Growing up, cars soon became my world, and all-terrain vehicles became a hobby. Having these vehicles allowed my dad and me to repair or maintain them, and this is what led to my literacy in the automobile aspect. My dad and mom had cars and suvs that ranged from the sixties to the nineties. As of today, the newest car my parents own is a 2004; however, this doesnt restrict what can be learned or taught about vehicles. In fact, many components are still the same, but just upgraded with better technological parts. Anyways, helping my dad with all his automobiles, allowed me to become more fascinated with the procedures, terms, and whole new world of car literacy. I can remember picking up car magazines and mainly, looking at the photos, I read the captions too! Going to restaurants, my dad would always get an Auto Trader to read while we waited on our food. I started doing this as well, and reading all the captions, and learning which cars were good or bad, the range of gas mileage, and recognizing the options that were included on the vehicle. I soon became able to distinguish a basic car from the ones with all the options, like the ones on television, where the cars are lavish and expensive too. Literacy in automotive became of such value to me, that I did my senior project on cars. I wrote my research paper on the similarities and differences between three power-adders for an engine, and my product was a completely re-built motor for my fox body mustang. Doing the paper, I realized that I had to inquire a lot of information from my dad, because I didnt know as much as he did. I also had to revise a lot of my work, because I used slang terms that are used in the auto mechanic dialect. Words, such as spray, for nitrous, or 5.0, for a 5.0 liter Mustang were all common usages in my research paper that I had to go back and define for people that were not so literate in cars. I am

still a friend to many that knows as much about cars as I do; however, most of the time I can point out something in my friends cars, and their response is, Do what? I enjoy being literate in cars, engines, and atvs. A large contribution to my literacy in automobiles was provided by my father, and his hobby dealing with cars, and such. I am becoming more and more literate in just about anything I do. Literacy does not have a stopping place. Literacy is also not bound within certain restrictions, dealing with essays and reading Moby Dick at the age of five. I began by reading magazines about cars, that I was too young to drive, and reading every night to my grandmother. I started out in regular courses, and graduated with honor and AP courses under my belt. All these things provide an opportunity to become more literate. That high expectation and valued hobby became instruments I used to share my literacy on paper, and within this paper. My literacy will never stop growing and I will only become more literate as these hairs begin to turn grey.