Brandt

Before You Read

In the summer, my school would encourage us to read at least two books. I always ended up liking the books because for the most part they were on the best seller list. The english department at my high school strongly encouraged reading, along with all my other teachers. They stressed that unless we read our text books, it would be hard to get the A that we all wanted. 

Summary

Literacy is something that many people take advantage of. There is a huge problem with people not being literate just in America, and this is what Brandt stresses in the article, "Sponsors of Literacy." She begins to explain the problem and then goes on by showing examples to better get her point across. 

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
I feel that this is true to a point. It is hard to think that we are at the will of someone else completely when it comes to making sure that our nation has a high literacy level.	"Neither rich nor powerful enough to sponsor literacy on our own terms, we serve instead as conflicted brokers between literacy's buyers and sellers." (348)
It shows just how important literacy is because literacy does not simply just mean being able to read and write, there are many other situation where literacy is a big deal.	“Literacy looms as one of the great engines of profit and competitive advantage in the 20th century: a lubricant for consumer desire; a means for integrating corporate markets; a foundation for the deployment of weapons and other technology; a raw material in the mass production of information” (333).
This is a good way to look at it. It is important to stress literacy but at the same time students are going to do something that they want to do. When someone feels more motivated to do something they are going to put in more time and effort to get it done.	“In bringing attention to the economies of literacy learning I am not advocating that we prepare students more efficiently for the job markets they must enter. What I have tried to suggest is that as we assist and study individuals in pursuit of literacy, we also recognize how literacy is in the pursuit of them” (Brandt 348).
Everything helps. I think that these two things do help but it is not all.	“Rather, these developments should be seen more specifically, as outcomes of ongoing transformations in the history of literacy as it has been wielded as part of economic and political conflict.” Pg 342
Yes there are going to be changing requirements. Sometimes when new rules are enforced, old ones get pushed out of the way, this is simply what happens.	"Sponsors enable and hinder literacy activity, often forcing the formation of new literacy requirements while decertifying older ones." (344)

My thoughts

There is no arguing that it is a big problem when looking at the facts. I feel that they way she conveyed her thoughts really brought forth emotion and made you want to help in some way. I don't usually think about the fact that there are so many people that are not able to read, and this may have to do with the type of community that I grew up in. 

Alzaldua

Summary
Alzaldua explores art and writing by looking at art and her writings as pieces of art. She describers her writings as things that have minds of their own at times and build themselves up. Art is a major part of the writing, looking at the different styles and how these modern styles can relate back to writings. With art, comes expression, which is a major part of not only art but writing as well. With the various cultures discussed, she is aiming to educate the white american about the other cultures that are found in America and how their works educate those who do not know a lot about them.

Synthesis
The first artist I thought of while reading Alzaldua was McCloud because of the stress that is being placed on both art and expression. Another author that came to mind in the article was Smitherman. A big part of Smitherman's article dealt with culture and how these have a major impact on the style of writing. Finally, Elbow is easily relatable to Alzaldua because identity and voice are both major components of the two pieces.

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
I found this quote to really set the mood for the whole article. It made it relatable and added a family outlook on it.	“I preferred the world of the imagination to the death of sleep. My sister, Hilda who slept in the same bed with me, would threaten to tell my mother unless I told her a story.” (220)
I feel like this happens for a lot of writers. The minute that you start putting things together the story begins to write itself.	“The whole thing has had a mind of it’s own, escaping me and insisting on putting together the pieces of its own puzzle with minimal direction from my will.” (220)
Painting is something that has always been a hobby of mine so to see familiar terms that I have studied being used in the text it helped me to connect more. I also find a great interest in learning about other cultures so my interest was kept.	“Modern western painters have ‘borrowed,’ copied, or other-wise extrapolated the art of tribal cultures and called it cubism, surrealism, symbolism.” (221)
Writing can definitely lead to having to look at who you are more carefully which is hard for some people.	“Writing produces anxiety. Looking inside myself and my experience, looking at my conflicts, engenders anxiety in me.” (224)

My Thoughts
I found the article to be easy to read. I loved how she opened the story by starting off with describing how she used to read under the covers with her flashlight. I felt like the piece was easily relatable because most people have family ties that are based in other parts of the world, and I also know how language can be hard especially when in different settings. When I went to Spain, it was very hard to try and speak the language to people who are completely fluent because I did not want to mess up. More people need to be open to learning about different cultures and I do think one of the best ways is to study art because then you can see people expressing themselves, who are in their element.

Project 3

Link for Prezi from Project 3
http://prezi.com/rozo3gylcwkc/health-literacy/?kw=view-rozo3gylcwkc&rc=ref-20990717

Project 1 Introduction/Synthesis

You are standing alone in a room full of people trying your best to look comfortable and not at all awkward. You are playing with the straw in your drink, looking down into the glass, when someone finally comes up and starts up a conversation by asking who you are. Obviously you will introduce yourself with your name; this one name that is more than just a few letters strung together, it is who you are and what you identify yourself with. The same can be said when writing. You identify yourself through your text, and no one else will be quite able to mimic who you are as a writer, some can try but will never be able to master it. Keeping this identity is important to do in all writing, no matter if it is a fictional story or a documentary, you need to remain who you are. There will be a number of moments where instead of being yourself, you will create a character and look through the eyes of his or her character, but still certain aspects of who you are will remain in the writing. It is inevitable.

There are several known authors who have taken on writing about personal identity in a paper. Two very well known writers include Roz Ivanic and Walker Gibson. Roz once stated, “Writing is not just about conveying content but also about the representation of self,” and this one sentence really defines the importance of one’s personal identity in writing. Not only does personal identity help the author represent themselves in text, it also allows for a better connection between the author and the reader, allowing for something a little more personal, yet at the same time, there is information being put forth so that the reader has the benefit of both connecting and learning at the same time. 

3 Library Tutorial

How to Find a Book:

When finding a book in the library instead of trying to find it in the library, it is possible to use the online website to find it instead. By going on Alice and searching, one can enter a book title and find quick results. Then, by adding different words to the search to help limit the search, one can find several different books that are within the same topic. The site also adds the possibility of looking at a map in the library and finding exactly where the book will be based on the blue print provided by the site.

Finding Full Text from Citation:

            When having the actual citation for resource with the actual author, one can use this to find the full text for this article. By going on Alice and changing the search to periodical title, one can then generate a search to find exactly the article that they are looking for. After hitting search, different records will come forward allowing the person to locate exactly the source that they are looking for. After clicking on the record, one can locate several of the different databases that are offered. The only thing to make sure to have while searching is the author and any other helpful information from the works cited.

How to Request a Book:

            Sometimes the library will not have the book that one is looking for. Luckily, the Alice website can help with that by providing a way for a student to order a book and receive it by three business days. By using Alice, you can enter the title of the book that you need and find the book from different libraries. By saying that you go to Ohio University, the book can be delivered easily. This way, even though the library itself does not  have it, there is still hope that the book can be found and the student will have it within a few days. 

Viewpoint

Definitions
Whiteness: white: quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (breading the least resemblance to black) wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

Marginalized: to relegate to an unimportant or powerless position within a society or group
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/marginalized
Another definition: (to regelate to a lower or outer edge, as of specific groups of people) "We must not marginalize the poor in our society"
http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=marginalized&sub=Search+WordNet&o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&h=000

Heterotypical: Derogatory term for attitudes and behaviors typical of straight people and straight culture. (Obviously a play on the world "stereotypical".) It can either refer to a gender-schematic view of the world or to conservative attitudes about sex and relationships.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=heterotypical

Dialectical Notebook

Response	Quotation
There is a struggle with men because as women have gained more and more in history, there has been that final goal that women are looked at as equal to men. For me it is hard to always see women and men equal in power only because I grew up in a home where the male is served first, the male has the power.	“I write this as a woman, toward women. When I say ‘woman,’ I’m speaking of woman in her inevitable struggle against conventional man: and of universal woman subject who must bring women to their senses and to their meaning in history.” (247)
I feel that this is a bit rash. I understand that she is saying that instead of writing as a woman that is trying to not write entirely like a man, a woman has to simply write as a woman, but it is not that easy, especially when much of what is written by women is written in a way to make sure not to sound like a man.	“I write woman: woman must write woman. And man, man.” (248)
I feel like since this article was published there has been a major turn for women in writing. Women have made a major impact with writing, for me when I think of a writer I think of a woman.	“It is time for women to start scoring their feats in written and oral language.” (250)
She is taking such a strong stance that it is almost hard to agree with her at this point.	“We musn’t leave them a single place that’s any more theirs alone than we are.” (254)
A woman does not have to be powerful to prove that she is not afraid, however, men do have advantages that women do not have so women may have to fear that they will have to work harder.	“The woman who still allows herself to be threatened by the big dick, who’s still impressed by the commotion of the phallic stance, who still leads a loyal master to the beat of the drum: that’s the woman of yesterday.” (258)