There are certain things we think we know until we are called upon to explain them. The idea of self falls into this category, for nothing seems more obvious than our very self, but when we attempt to define its nature we tend to become confused.

Why is it so tough to define ourselves, either personally or as Americans? Have you ever walked past a mirror and not recognized yourself? Are you the same person you see in the mirror each day? Do you recognize yourself in a childhood photograph?

Sudden changes often call for a re-evaluation of what it means "to be" and who we are in terms of our community. Describing part of a long journeys can do so as well. William Least Heat Moon reveals something about himself when he articulates what he has observed during his drive through West Texas. A sense of place, then, is one way to reveal identity and beliefs. Gail Godwin shares an important insight into a challenge many of us face: writer's block. Sharing our doubts and fears, then, is one important reason for telling stories that matter.

Our literacy is influenced by family, culture, and education. Sometimes these experiences can work together and build on one another. This, however, is not always the case. Sometimes family, culture, and education have different visions and definitions of literacy; these visions and definitions may collide and create conflict, tension, or turmoil. Sometimes our experiences with literacy involve both harmony and conflict. Sometimes, like David Sedaris' "literacy narrative," the best medicine in such cases is to seek the humor in the situation.

These questions are designed to help you get started on your first paper. It might help you to also think about a particular "literacy culture" you belong to, be it your family, your friends, or local community. You might want to define that particular culture and explain how you, as an individual, fit in. What are the particular values your culture has passed down through generations? What kind of examples can you give? What kinds of stories, objects or metaphors can you use to help explain those values. In short, how did you go about becoming literate??

Topic Suggestions for getting started

• Tell a story that exemplifies a small part of how you became literate.

• Select one book, a moment in your education or some other scene from your past that changed your notion about what it means to become literate or showed you that you had already changed. What was the event? What were you like before and after?

• Show a particular challenge you once faced. What were the particular circumstances? Were you able to achieve your goals? What was the outcome, and what does that reveal?

• Write about an object given to you by a close family member when you were a child. What was the occasion? Why is that object still important to you? How might that object reveal your "literacy" journey?

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