Scurrying around my Athens home looking for artifacts, I gathered forgotten objects that had been cherished throughout

my childhood. Objects which encouraged and enhanced my literacy today from newspaper comics to rhythmic poetry to Faulkner-like novels. Additionally, my Charlotte home accommodates dening artifacts such as awards and business textbooks; not to mention the past, present and future essays which will reside here. The artifacts I have chosen clearly represent my English literacy development specically from 2004-2011 through the portrayed poems, essays, textbooks, and grants. Artifact 1: Science Poem Published in Anthropology of Poetry by Young Americans
My literacy interest began with a poem I wrote concerning my dissent of science. I have no recollection why my eleven year old mind was thinking of poetry as I sat outside in a hammock one afternoon, but I suppose the beauty of birds became shattered by the thought of understanding them. I do not even recall how I heard about the competition. The warm embrace from my fth grade teacher as I exited the classroom, hearing about my publication for the rst time, is all I remember.
Despite such forgetfulness about the process, the condence boost I received from it remains. When your work gets published, no matter how insignicant the book, it still counts for something. Those are your words. Your thoughts. Your ingeniousness on a page for the world to see, whether with critical or impressed eyes. Its the amazing feeling that someone, somewhere, likes your poem like you do. This youthful poem gave me the security to keep writing. (Incidentally, I became better at sciences as well). Artifact (2,3,4,5): Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Year Essays - The Maturation
Freshman year English I struggled: big words, grammatical errors, quotation mishaps, bad introductions, weak developments, no parallels, wrong tenses and awkward expressions. Regardless, I must have learned something because by sophomore year experienced less red markings on my papers. Writing in different styles, I became aware that I write stories better than I can write research papers. My freshman wordiness was overcompensated for with sophomore concision. But the words I did use, especially the big ones, I began using correctly. I focused on content rather than diction.
Once my sentences developed, junior year emphasized structure. An emphasis which contradicted everything I had learned. We were taught not to make listy theses, not to write ve paragraphs, and to introduce a new idea in your conclusion. Rhetoric devices such as juxtaposition were introduced, yet as my knowledge grew my papers still required clarity because I tended to be scatter-brained with all my ideas (and I refused to outline).
As I read my seniors essays I realized some mistakes I continued to make such as not introducing my quotes, refusing to outline and therefore obliterating the organization, and ignoring the utilization of transitions. Reading through my essays and writing down the comments teachers made each year, it refreshed me that the red markings had diminished, hence my writing had improved. Artifact 6: Athens Academy Cross Country Certicate


My cross country athletic award acts as a symbol for my thoughts. Running cleared my mind and allowed me time between classes and homework to think about life in general. This life thinking harbored idea thinking and thus created concepts which I used during writing and analysis. It also caused pressure due to time constraints which helped since my best ideas come out when writing in a hurry (Like Anne Lamotts Shitty First Drafts). Literature became more than sitting down reading or writing a homework assignment. Writing became a railway begging for my train of thought.
Therefore even when I quit cross country there were literary benets. Senior year was a tough year lled with hospital visits, family issues, and stress about college. With no after school sport and my parents in Charlotte, I had more time to myself, quiet time which fostered time to read, think, or write for pleasure. Artifact 7: Krugman and Wells Economics Book
A book abhorred and adored. Economics was supposed to be my favorite class as it pertained to business, yet hard material and a harder teacher made the class difcult. However, it introduced a new literacy to me since it combined example stories (English), numbers (math), surveys (science), and background information (history). This proved to me that being literate in the English language did not mean that one could understand all things written in English. It often takes multiple types of literacies in order to understand textbooks.
Realizing that economics was a completely different experience, I struggled because reading was not enough. You had to analyze, understand, and be able to put to use economic concepts. My literacy was now expanding to take those words and add meaning to them in order to use the learned information in society. Artifact 8: Watson Brown Foundation Junior Board of Trustees Grant
My membership on the board combined with this formalized piece of paper represents my heightened literacy. I have developed enough whereas my coherence of the English language allows me to understand more complex concepts such as history; therefore allowing me to read and begin to understand historical preservation. The sheet symbolizes the beginning of my interconnection with classes and real world applications.
Applying was easy, just a simple essay. Reading grants was easy, just people writing their desires. Combining facts, motivations, emotions, people, work, time, collaboration, presentations, impressions - that is where my literacy began. Its taking all the certain types of literacies youve learned, especially social and academic, and combining them into a new literacy. Which is why literacy can always expand because each one is merely a subset.
At times, I did not enjoy writing this assignment. I try to live in the moment and look forward rather than dwelling on a happy or sad past, yet this required me to go back. The reection had its good and bad moments, but my thoughts of missed teachers, deceased family members, and an aging self overruled my thoughts about the objects. How do you know if your literacy has developed in certain aspects? Is there proof? What are the guidelines? Then again, your writing assignments are much more enjoyable and interesting than 5-paragraphed essays like back in high school with subjects such as What is the symbolism in Life of Pi? These types

of writings have improved my writing since Im nally allowed to write in a style which I prefer and am better at.