Literacy Narrative Blog Post

In the beginning of my literacy narrative process, my original idea was to write about how I am just like a pencil. Thankfully, my idea changed from that a lot. My first index card was a list of topics I could of used for my literacy narrative:

 

I was really set on the idea of writing about how I am my own source of expression, which I talked about in my second index card.

                          

In my third index card, I realized that I am less like a pencil and more like a pen because everything I say is permanent and I can’t take it back usually. I feel like this is when I began getting the idea for what my final topic ended up being.

 

 

In my index cards, I really didn’t talk about what my final literacy narrative idea would be. I guess I realized afterwards “I’m like a pen,” is a little bit cheesy. I decided I still like the concept of being my own source of expression. It started making me think about how in the past, the way of used this access to speech throughout my life. It made me think about my yearbook past and how I could basically say anything I wanted about students, faculty and other events that are in the yearbook. Along with this, I started to think about my sarcasm and how my freedom of speech isn’t always the best thing for me.

So for my first draft, I kind of just started writing. I didn’t really know what I wanted to say just yet so I decided I would just type. I did my introduction last, it just works out better when you don’t know what you want to say just yet. The idea of conversational writing was new to me so I wanted to stick to the basic style of writing for my first draft. I mean, it wasn’t exciting or anything interesting but it was just what I am used to doing from high school. That’s just how we were taught.

I really wanted to switch things up for my second draft. After reading Foucualt’s pencil and Jamaica Kindcaid’s girl, I was inspired. I wanted to try their writing style with my literacy narrative. So I started out my paper with that same type of writing.

“I sat behind the yearbook computer and tapped my finger repeatedly on the space bar. Now the screen is filled with a big blank white space. Am I suppose to say how I really feel about you? I don’t think my advisor wants me to lie...But what if I say too much? I can’t say too much but I have to say something. I’m sweating. The deadline is quickly heading my way. Forty-five minutes, forty-four minutes...tick tock. Okay I’m finished. This story is going to be awful. But at least it’s telling the truth...right?”

It was definitely different using this type of introduction. I felt like if it was any other teacher, they wouldn’t go for it. I also used this type of style later on in my paper when introducing my problem with sarcasm.

“Everyone’s laughing. But she isn’t....Why isn’t she laughing? That was one of the funniest things I’ve ever said. If you don’t understand it, then there’s something wrong here. You should get it by now. You still aren’t laughing. You look mad. It wasn’t supposed to be a serious joke. You aren’t supposed to frown when I say something funny? You should get it...We’ve been friends forever. I’ve always been like this. I’ve never been serious. You know that. Please laugh?”

I felt like this type of intro was more enticing and personable. It showed more of my emotions and how I see things in the moment rather than giving a boring opening. I made a few other minor changes in the second draft like a title change. I just wanted to try something new…

In my third draft I wanted to take some of Lacy’s advice and talk a little bit more about how the issues affected me. So I added a few sentences toward the end to talk about how I am with my sarcasm now and how I learn to be more aware of what I say and how I say it. I also changed the title again because I thought “Frank & Filterless” sounded cuter.

Now this paper wasn’t easy at all. I really had to step outside my comfort zone and try new things. There are still somethings I wish I could of written better. Maybe show a little more of my personality but overall, this literacy narrative was a challenge.