Gilchrist

Joya' A Gilchrist
September 10, 2014
UWRT 1103
Sponsors of Literacy

We are all subconciously inclined to write, read, sing, dance, write equations, balance
equations, and all other things we are able to be literate in. From infants we are coached to
know the alphabet and counting numbers by our relatives or caretakers. As todlers we are
coached to know that a is for apple and b is for bee, and one plus two equals three. We are
taught rhyme schemes and how to get rhythm from hand games such as Mrs. Mary Mac. As
children Dr. Suess is forced upon us. Multiplication tables are taught. We are compelled from
the womb until death to be literate in an intenese amount of subjects. "Any agents local or
distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate,
supress, or withhold literacy- and gain advantage by it in some way is a sponosor of
literacy."(Brandt 407)
To me, my mother is a genius. I remember sitting beside her watching some cartoon
while she read these gigantic books. They were wider than my little palm and I just could not
understand any of the words on the back of those huge books. My mother used the most
incomprehensible words when I got in trouble. I could not even concentrate on the fact that I
was about to get a spanking because I was trying to decipher her words. I wanted to be just
like my mother; beyond intelligent. My mother is the biggest sponsor of literacy in my life.
Jarrod Neal was my arch nemesis from kindergarten up until senior year of high
school. He never even knew it. He was so smart and everybody wanted to sit with him at
snack time. He was just a regular boy, and it baffeled me as to what everyone saw in him. My
child self thought him despicable. Over the years, no matter how hard I tried, he just stayed

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five steps ahead of me. He was the best in every single subject, and was an athletic god. In
high school, he was the quarterback and the star of the basketball team, while I was the
captain of the cheerleading team. We were "destined" to be together. I detested him. He never
tried in school. He just performed well naturally. He never studied, but he was at the top. I
studied my tail off and beat him in every subject. I never dated him even though he wanted
to. I graduated in the top five percent of my class while he graduated in the top thirty percent.
Jarrod drove me to be the best I could be. He is still one of my best friends now.
Sex. No one taught me the literacies of sex. My parents never discussed the
unmentionable topic with me. My older brothers surely were not going to tell me. Here I am
now, in college, where sex is the elephant in the room where there's a male and female
breathing. As a young adult I do wish someone would have told me what to expect from men.
Not so much as sex, but the whole process. How do I know if a guy likes me for me? How do
I know he doesn't just want sex? Should I have sex? Should I wait? What if I wait too long
and he loses interest? No one wanted to answer my questions. Of course I know all of that
now, but it would have been extremely helpful had I known when I wanted to know.
I have had a copiuos amount of sponsors of literacy. My coach pushed so hard to be
literate in competitive cheer. I'm so literate that I have numerous titles to my name. Just this
year I got my last national champion title. My volleyball coach molded be to be literate in
volleyball. My daddy motivated me to be literate in technology through his own love for
technology. My pastors and my mom helped me to be literate in the bible, in my faith.
Ty'Reke and Nokolma, two of my friends that passed in a car crash in 2012, helped me to be
even more literate in my reading. I read to escape the pain of their loss, which allowed me to
do well on my SAT test. There are so many contributors to my literacy, so many factors that
pushed me.

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The access provided by my sponsors was truly adquate. To Kill a Mockingbird is my

all time favorite book. It taught me so much about myself and about the world. The main
thing I took from the book was to never conform. Never let anyone change my mind from
what I know to be right. This book was introduced to me in the fourth grade by my teacher
Mrs. Dunson, who just so happens to be my favorite teacher. Sponsors of literacy whether it
be a television show or a book, they really help to shape us and who we become.