En Los Dos Idiomas: Literacy Practices Among Chicago Mexicanos

"Therefore these men were motivated to to learn to write because of a combination of factors: first, those with whom they wanted to communicate were in another country: second, they felt a personal obligation to maintain these relationships and to maintain them personally: third, a cultural tool, writing, was available for this purpose; and fourth, others were able and willing to share their knowledge of this cultural tool."476,En Los Dos Idiomas: Literacy Practices Among Chicago Mexicanos,Marcia Farr. This essay is about the study of a social network where the
Guanajuato rancho means that those, who are over 35 years old learn to read and write, overcoming many barriers. Their motivation leads the members to use the literacy learned for religious, and personal to communicate with family and friends who still live in Mexico. This desire to learn to read and writing skills leads these older men and other members of the social network to Ifrico -to learn on their own outside of formal schooling or to learn to speak, read and write English on their own from many personal teachers who offer the opportunity to learn. This learning by Mexicanos here in America is wonderful.

How and why is writing a technology?

Ong said , "Although we take writing so much for granted as to forget that it is a technology, writing is in a way the most drastic of the three technologies of the word. It initiated what printing and electronics only continued, the physical reduction of dynamic sound to quiescent space, the separation of the word from the living present, where alone real, spoken words exist(22). This quote explains that writing initiated all of the new technologies. Thewrittenwordbegan the forward movement of technology, the progress the the human race has made in language and communication begin with the writing down of the alphabetic to form words. Using the sound of our voices we created speech, and using these words we now listen to hear what others are trying to communicate. We now have language and begin to tell each others stories which become our history. This new history is memorized and now we start to record history. From the words that we speak we create an alphabetic and now when this spoken word is placed on an object that we can all read, this object being paper, fur, etc. We now have a way to recording our thoughts. We can now communicate with others with this new technology the written word.

From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies

"Andrew Sledd (1988) pessimistically views the computer as actually reducing the amount of literacy needed for the low end of the workplace: "As for ordinary kids, they will get jobs at Jewel, dragging computerized Cheerios boxes across computerized checkout counters".83,From Pencils to Pixels: The Stage of Literacy Technologies, Dennis Baron. Here the author quotes Sledd who believes that the average person will only be involved with the computer when he uses the computer at work. Here the person is a checkout cashier at a Jewel's supermarket and the scanning of boxes is the main use the cashier has for a computer is her life. The quote states the belief that ordinary kids don't really have much use for the computer unless it is used at work. Here a computer is part of the job and it's usage is only because it is needed to complete the job. Is this quote true for the youth of today?

I disagree, because today you need to use a computer to find a job, and to apply for the job before, you begin to use it on the job. The computer is sometimes used to communicate with the Human Resource Dept. to schedule an interview for a job. After obtaining the job the computer is used to complete your job duties, this is standard today for most jobs involve using a computer to various degrees when at work. The youth of today begin at an early age using the computer in school, and at home with video games. Using a computer is standard for the children of today who learn to use the computer in the second grade. It is harder for those who are older to relate to the using of computers in their daily activities. For many years I truly avoided a computer but I was exactly forced to learn, understand and use the computer to exist in my daily life. Because finding a job, attending school, communicating with others, are all done by using a computer. I am still learning the who's, what's and where's of computer usage, but I am beginning to enjoy my time using a computer.

How to Tame a Wild Tongue

"This voluntary (yet forced) alienation makes for psychological conflict, a kind of dual identity--we don't identity with the Anglo-American cultural vales and we don't totally identify with the
Mexican cultural values. We are a synergy of two cultures with various degrees of Mexicanness
or Angloness. I have so internalized the borderland conflict that sometimes I feel like one cancels out the other and we are zero, nothing, no one."43,How to Tame a Wild Tongue,Gloria Anzaldua. The conflict she feel is very real because, Gloria Anzaldua believes that she must make a choice and then begin to live one life, either being an American or Mexican. She also believes that one life cancels the other, so that she feels zero or nothing at all. She presently lives her life between the two worlds but she also admits that she is more American than Mexican. You feel the racial pride.

"To signify we are neither Mexican nor American, but more the noun "American" than the adjective "Mexican" (and when copping out). 43,How to Tame a Wild Tongue, Gloria Anzaldua. Here again we are back to zero but, she does admit that she is more American than Mexican so I assume that she speaks English more than Spanish. More than once the reference is made to "copping out" which may mean that most of the time her decision is to do nothing. I don't believe that a choice between the two worlds must be made. She can keep both identities. She can speak Spanish in American while embracing her culture. This sharing of cultures can be the standard for all Spanish Speaking Americans.

Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction

"Discourses are ways of being in the world; they are forms of life which integrate words, acts, values, beliefs, attitudes, and social identities as well as gestures, glances, body positions and clothes."p.526,Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction, James Paul Gee. I found great value in this definition for the word "discourse". In other words, we are constantly making a way of speaking or discourse decision and is everything we do a form of discourse? In this statement I believe this is what is being said. When we make gestures a silent form of discourse? One that is still very visible. The way that we dress is the beginning of the language that we speak. Here again religion our belief system has a special discourse that we express at church and in our daily lives the choices we make.

To learn a new discourse will mean making changes in your life, so that when you learn new words you are learning a different or new discourse. How exciting!! I am no longer afraid of learning to discourse in a new language.

The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society

I've lost a lot of jobs"one man explains. "today, even if you're a janitor, there's still reading and writing....They leave you a note saying "Go to room so-and-so...."You can't read it. You don't know." p. 208,The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,Jonathan Kozol. I selected this quote because I feel the suffering, that has occurred in his life due to losing jobs. This quote explains completely the hardship of being illiterate in life. The author begins the article by listing the precautions listed on a can of Drano, this warning from a can of drain opener explains the true dangers in the life faced by someone who is illiterate, by not being able to read the label the illiterate person is now in serious danger. Going back to the quote,the man says, "I've lost a lot of jobs", Here is a man who is in constant danger from notes of every kind, notes written as warnings on cleaning product labels, notes from his boss, notes placed on equipment used for cleaning. What if they change the soap used and place the bottles of new soap on the floor. He doesn't know the bottles contain soap for the old soap is on the shelve for it he must use the old soap up first, if you can't read this causes a very serious problem. I think of all the extra things the illiterate worker must do to hide the illiteracy from co-workers and boss to find out exactly what those new bottles on the floor contains.

I ask myself, what I can do to correct the Literacy Problem here in Wisconsin. What can be done to help a older worker, who is losing jobs because he can't read. I believe that the classes must be free for if he is losing jobs money will be a problem. The classes should not be a source of embarrassment for the article notes how those who are illiterate are embarrassed and don't want others to know. I plan to become a social worker and I know, that I will be taught how to correct the problem of the illiterate and how social workers address this problem. If we can begin to address the problem by helping the illiterate to find a better job, by beginning with teaching them how to read labels and warnings on the products they use at work maybe this would make this person want to read all labels, street sign, insurance papers, etc. This I hope, would begin an enjoyment of reading.

The Ethnography of literacy

"It should not be surprising to see differences in literacy between members of different ethnic groups, sexes, socioeconomic classes, etc. Indeed, one might hypothesize the existence of literacy-cycles, or individual variation in abilities and activities that are conditioned by one's stage and position in life. What I would expect to discover, then, is not a single level of literacy, on a single continuum form reader to non reader, but a variety of configurations of literacy, a plurality of literacies." p.423, "The Ethnography of Literacy", John F. Szwed
What is literacy? Literacy is" educated", the second meaning listed is "able to read and write", and the third meaning listed in the dictionary is" polished and lucid". Using the dictionary meanings I can lists three different groups of literate classes. I could next begin a list by sex, racial group, etc. The word Ethnograpy is "a science dealing with races of human beings, their
origin,distribution characteristics, and relations. We now begin to truly study the family, in relationship to their individual level of literacy and the affect that it has on their lives. Next we need to see the affect an literacy has on family and next the community. "The capacity to read and write is causally associated with earning a living, achieving expanded horizons of personal enlightenment and enjoyment, maintaining a stable and democratic society, and historically, with the rise of civilization itself"(p.421) My literacy level will have either a positive affect on my future or a negative if I fail to graduate as planned, I plan to be a member of the educated group.