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Sarah Woodall

Professor Jan Rieman

English 1103-002

Full and Significant Life

Aldous Huxley said, “Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to

magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full,

significant, and interesting.” Before a man can have a full life by reading, he needs to

learn how to read. Deborah Brandt calls the people in your life who help you become

fluent in a given practice as reading “sponsors of literacy”. “Sponsors,” explains

Deborah, “are any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support,

teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy.” In Brandt’s

essay, literacy is much more than just being able to read. It could be anything from

learning music, technology, or some other fluency you might posses.

Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie are good examples of this quote. They both

learned to read, and it changed their lives completely. While Malcolm X was in prison,

what most would consider a bad time in his life, he not only taught himself to read, but

found a love of reading that he carried with him for the rest of his days. He was his own

“sponsor of literacy”. He inspired himself to learn which no one else had previously done

in his life. Malcolm X said about reading, “months passed without my even thinking

about being imprisoned. In fact, up to then, I never had been so truly free in my life.” He

used the knowledge he obtained from books and was able to become one of the most

influential African Americans who has ever fought for human rights. Similarly, Sherman

Alexie’s life is filled with books. He is a writer, poet, and filmmaker. His love of books
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began very early in his life. His father loved to read, and that made Alexie want to follow

in his father’s footsteps. His father would be considered as one of his sponsors.

Throughout his writing career, he has drawn from his own experiences of growing up as

an Indian on a reservation. He now speaks to his fellow Indians and encourages them to

step out and read. Malcolm X and Sherman Alexie both had a passion for reading and

helping people.

I have been lucky to have had many sponsors in my life. I would say my dad is a

major reading sponsor, but in a different way than just making me read a book. He seems

to always be reading or has a book with him. When we were younger, he would read to

me and my sisters every night before we went to bed. He would read chapter books,

series, award winners, anything really. Though I was not the one reading, he was the one

who made me love stories. My love of stories makes me want to read now. I completely

immerse myself in a story and do not put the book down until I am done. My parents

have always encouraged me to read and write.

My parents would also be sponsors in my life in a religious way. My parents were

missionaries in Honduras for twelve years. When we moved back to the United States

about eight years ago, they continued ministry by working with a UNC Charlotte student

Christian organization called Chi Alpha. After a few years, both of my parents began

working at the Christian school that I attended from fifth to twelfth grade. My father also

became the ‘outreach’ pastor at the church connected with the school, and we attended

every Sunday. I have been surrounded by Christianity and ministry my entire life.

Because of my background and my parents’ example, I will always have a heart for

missions. I see how important faith is in someone’s life and how it can effect your
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choices. With the experiences of my past, I have a fluency in missions and Christianity.

Another area I have had many sponsors for is sports. I played sports all through

middle school, high school, and even the little while I have been in college. I attended a

small school, so I was able to try and participate in many different sports. I played

volleyball from seventh grade until I graduated. I played basketball from the sixth to

tenth grade. I played soccer in eighth grade and then again in eleventh. I was able to

cheerlead my senior year. Throughout the years, I have had good coaches and bad ones

and was able to learn how to respond to them and respect them even when they did not

always seem to do the same. I was able to learn how to process constructive criticism and

allow it to truly help me. My peers and I were able to push each other, and get better

individually and as one team. I learned how to work well with my peers as a team, and I

also learned how to lead a team. This fluency can translate into all other areas of my life

such as interacting with people at work.

One strength that I wish I had is in the arts. I think it would have been extremely

exciting to have taken a dance class or continued with my piano lessons. I took piano for

about a year and a half, but stopped after that. I was in drama classes in middle and high

school, but I would have liked to take acting classes outside of my school. I wish I had

found more sponsors in that area in my life.

Having sponsors and literacy in anything is a powerful possession. The amazing

thing is that once somebody has learned something, no one can ever take that from her.

They can never send her back to where she once was. I will always have what I learned

from my parents, teachers, coaches, and peers. With those skills I have gained, I have had

and will always have a full and significant life.

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Works Cited

Brandt, Deborah. “Sponsors of Literacy.” Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Eds.

Wardle and Downs. Boston: Bedford, 2011. 406-26. Print.

Malcolm X. “Learning to Read.” Autobiography of Malcolm X. Published in 1965.