UWRT 1103:

When I think of English I think of it in two parts: reading and writing. Ive always
loved the reading part, filled with interpretations and vocab words like tone, simile
and juxtaposition. I havent always been a fan of the writing part. I think my dislike
for writing became progressive. As I got older the prompts became less creative and
more of a formula based equation. I got the hang of the formula for writing my
teachers laid out in high school: introduction, three supporting body paragraphs and
a final paragraph that tied back to the topic. This made my high school writing
classes a breeze, even in my advance placement classes. It worked up until senior
year, Ms. Davis, my English teacher was a tough lady. She was one of the only
teachers that combed through your essays for mistakes and one of the only
teachers who preached against a basic five paragraph essay. She challenged me to
write differently and I was not down for the undertaking. It was my senior year and I
was more focused on getting out rather than expanding my writing styles. I took her
criticism in stride and made it through. I still read books and Im so appreciative of
the different writing styles amongst my favorite authors. Books make me appreciate
writing a lot more, and it makes me understand what Ms. Davis was attempting to
teach me. I hope this class can do a better job at doing was Ms. Davis tried to do.
Im actually ready to give it a try, even though anxiety still ran through my body
when I heard it was solely a writing course. I hope that feeling goes away as the
semester goes own and I would very much like to see enough growth in my writing
to send Ms. Davis, just so she knows her efforts werent in vain.
Religious Literacy: Comfort Suites
I bet it looks kind of odd that I related my religious literacy to a
hotel. To be quite honest Ive honestly always thought my church was kind of weird
anyways. My religious literacy started before I was born. My parents got married
practicing two different religions: Islam and Christianity. No one made a big deal out
of it, they practiced their religions separately with the occasional nudge to get the
other to try their practiced way. Eventually my dad stopped practicing religion
altogether. I was born and went to church with my mother, it wasnt a big deal,
there wasnt a big argument over what I was to practice, but I remember going to a
lot of different churches. At one point we were Jehovahs Witness and I detested that
part because it meant no celebrating birthdays, but my dad advocated for my right
to blow out a candle. After that stint we still went to different churches until my
mom finally found one that suit her. She encouraged my dad to come with her but
he claimed he was fine on the couch instead. I dont remember it but apparently
there was a particular Sunday when I asked my dad to come to church because
everyone elses dad came. Sometime after that he found the light and became a
devout servant of God. We went to the same church for fourteen years. There were
times when there would be seventy members and times where there was barely
twenty. There were times where we actually had a church and times where we
signed a lease with a hotel to use on Sundays. After service we would quickly have
to gather because there could be a party or a meeting in the same room where
someone just caught the Holy Ghost. Although my parents are proclaimed
Pentecosts, I always called myself a Baptist. I dont know why I did that but I did. My
parents never told me to stop. They never looked at me weird when I questioned

certain things written in the Bible. They never even got angry when I asked why we
still went to a failing church. They really allowed me to grow in my faith on my
own. I chose this pin because we were stuck at the Comfort Suites Hotel for longer
than any other location. For a while I thought we would never leave. It seems that a
lot passed when we rented the Comfort Suites. Our church endured the death of a
member and one of my closest friends. I had to experience the death of someone
really close to me and it seemed that my Sunday mornings would never be the
same. Through this time I became really close to God. These experiences dont
mean I favor one religion over another because I was simultaneously brought up to
believe that everyone has different beliefs. Im religiously literate because Im open
to hearing about other peoples faith but I guess I like Christian genre books more.
My mom told me that instead of labeling myself as a specific type of Christian I
should instead call myself religious. Because a religiously nice person does
charitable deeds for others. A religiously honest person doesnt sway from the
truth. A religiously devoted person attends church regularly. A religious person
does something so habitually that it becomes a way of life for them, and thats what
religion is meant to be.
Service Literacy: Millbrook High School
Aristotle once said You are what you repeatedly do, excellence is not
an act, but a habit. This theory can be used to locate why I enjoy serving others.
From a young age I was always urged to offer my services. This might mean around
my house, in my church or even in a grocery store. My mom would take me along to
the grocery store and enlist me to be the bagger even though there was already a
hired one. I dont think that service can be limited to physical acts but sometimes it
includes things as simple as making someone smile or engaging in a conversation
with them. We live our daily lives so preoccupied with our own agendas and
concerns, sometimes we forget to worry about one another. Service became a big
deal to me sophomore year after I joined Student Government. My school had done
so much for me I would just like to give back to my school. That mean organizing
dances or teacher car washes or tutoring the local elementary school over. My
favorite time of service is helping a child with special needs. His name is Garret and
Im pretty sure he was a lot older than me but it was difficult to tell because of a
compilation of conditions he suffered from. Twice a week Garret and I would walk to
the library and choose a book for him to read aloud to me. It seemed like an easy
enough task but Garrets condition sometimes made it difficult. I was always relived
when we could avert crisis and Garret and I could sit down to read. I made him
laugh and he made me laugh. I guess I became so enthralled in service that others
were becoming observant. My senior year of high school I was surprised when I
became inducted into the service club. Who knew that I would eventually be
recognized for a habit. I plan on making a career out of my love of service. Id like to
help the continent of Africa. Id like to help children. Id like to help woman. I think
the right title for my preferred job description is a humanitarian. Either way Id like
to help give back to a world that gave to me.
Knowledge of Conventions: Academic Success Literacy:
I guess knowledge of conventions has always and will

continue to be a recurring theme in my life. For some reasons there are rules and
guidelines to just about everything. As a child the rules never mattered to me l
seemed to always get in trouble; either for talking too much, climbing something or
simply wandering off. It wasnt until elementary school that this idea of having
standard guidelines really set in for me. I think what really made the ideas of rules
resonate with me is the consequences that came if you refused to adhere to the
rules. The consequences ranged from a note home, a phone call home or in its
absolute extreme a write up. A simple conversation with my mother can reveal that
I experienced each of these because I broke the rules a lot. A time in particular that
stands out to me was in art class. A rule that the art teacher explicitly stressed was
keeping our hands and feet to ourselves. I pushed this into the back of my mind. We
had been finger painting when my teacher announced that it was time to clean up.
Last minute I hurriedly decided that itd be a smart idea to cover my entire hands in
pink paint despite the short amount of time. On my way to the sink, I spotted my
friend Sammy Kopac. She was wearing a plain grey sweatshirt, and I thought that it
would make a splendid canvas. I walked right up to Sammy and put my hands
across her chest. I stood back and looked at my masterpiece while my teacher
stormed over to berate me. Some would call me a disruptive child but I wasnt
labeled as one because of my great academic track record. I knew what I was doing
each time I broke the rules, I had a firm grasp on the KNOWLEDGE OF
CONVENTIONS, but conventional hasnt always been the road most traveled for me.
Sometimes people correlate KNOWLEDGE OF CONVENTIONS to ACADEMIC SUCCESS
LITERACY but a look at my elementary school careers challenges the belief.
Critical Read: Crabtree Valley Mall
Im from Raleigh, North Carolina. And aside from the state fair, I
believe one of our claim to fames is and always will be Crabtree Valley Mall. I love
that mall, I spend so much money in that mall and I can navigate myself through
the mall with no hesitation. This was all until my junior year of high school when I
was bestowed with my first Visa card. My father put one hundred dollars in my
checking account and twenty dollars in my savings. With that chump change I
thought I was a millionaire. I dont know how I divided the money between food and
clothes but I made the hundred dollars last. And when I was finished with that I
transferred the money from my savings into my checkings. And when I was done
with that I looked up to my father with doe eyes and asked for more. I wish I could
take a video of his reaction. He refused to give me any more money. I always
thought it was odd how he never asked about my new things. But I guess he was
trying to teach me a lesson. Any reasonable person wouldve learned their lesson
about money from henceforth, but not me. Usually it takes me getting something
wrong two or three times before I fully comprehend my lesson. I didnt develop
financial literacy until I got my very first job at Justice. Justice was a kids store that
was targeted to tweens between the age of five and fifteen. I was so excited to
have a job where I would get money each week. At that point I was so break I
wouldve been happy with five dollars, so I leaped at the thought of minimum wage.
Subsequently after getting this job I slowly teared myself from the handouts my
parents gave me. I paid for my own gas, I paid for my lunch at school and with the
money leftover I had to delegate where it would go towards. This feat of

responsibility made me so conscious of my financially situation. I didnt have a lot of

money, so quite frankly I had to keep my distance from Crabtree Valley Mall. That
was usually easy because they way my gas tank was set up My FINANCIAL
LITERACY has only improved since my job at Justice. I work at Harris Teeter now and
Im able to calculate my paycheck with a simple glance of my schedule. I can
analyze the pros and cons of staying back an extra hour and I relish the thought of
time and a half on holidays. I made myself well versed in financial matters because I
realized I liked having things. But to have things meant you needed money, and a
lot of it. Ive taken the time out to CRITICIAL READ all things monetary related. Im
now able to walk into Crabtree Valley Mall, any mall at that and make the
responsible decision on whether or not I really need it.
Critical Reflection: Taiyess House
My parents are polar opposites. Sometimes its really difficult to
be in the middle of sometimes. Especially when my dad says yes but my mom is
standing on a strong no. An example of this is whenever I would ask my parents to
attend a certain event. This happened plenty of times. In response to my moms
objection urge me to cry and scream. This behavior would only further her negative
dissent and I would pout for hours at a time. This cycle continued until one day my
brother interrupted my fit. He lamented my immature response as the main reason I
could never succeed in getting the permission I needed to attend events. Taken
back by how my younger brother could analyze me forced me to make a change. I
adjusted the way my method of approaching my parents. For starters, I asked well
in advance so they couldnt claim I didnt give full notice. Whenever I decided to ask
my parents for permission I would allow their initial response without any hint of my
objection, instead I would nod silently to indicate my comprehension. Later I would
allow a couple of days to pass by before I revived the subject. This time around I
would address each of their problems with a solution I formulated. I would handle
things such as transportation, curfew and parental supervision. This method proved
to yield much better results than my previous ways. I actually got to do things.
REFLECTING on this makes me both disgusted and happy with myself. Im
embarrassed I used to be such a brat but Im much esteemed at the changes I
made. Ironically I want to continue exercising my ARGUMENTAIVE LITERACY of law.
Now Im practicing less with my parents and more with the people around me. Im
still working on knowing when its appropriate to argue and what words are kind
enough to use in particular arguments. Im grateful that one of my closest friends
enjoys verbal confrontation just as much as me because its turning out to be real
good practice.
Rhetorical Knowledge: My House
Not listing my home as an important pin would be almost impossible. I
think its fair to say that everyones home serves as a harbor for many life lessons. I
learned how to ride a bike in my driveway, I even learned how to back a car out the
same driveway. Personally for me, my home cultivated my CULTURAL LITERACY. My
family is originally from Nigeria. Im a first generation immigrant. I take much pride
in my culture and hold my values near to my heart. But it wasnt always like that,
my pride in my country did not start until high school, after I had gotten past the

torment and obnoxious questions like, Do you live in a hut?. Because of the
swelling pride I decided to do more in depth research about my culture. Over the
summer I enrolled into Yoruba classes, not stopping at formal teaching alone I
watched Nollywood movies from sun up to sun down. With the background
knowledge I was gaining on my culture came an artifact of knowledge I wasnt too
fond of, misogyny. I knew that although women were treasured in my culture they
sometimes were seen as property instead of human beings. This fact served as an
impediment to my knowledge. I felt I was doing a disservice to feminists
everywhere when I served my father his food. I felt like I was wronged when I was
answered with because youre a girl. Because of this assumed knowledge I felt I
had to make a decision between my culture and my feminist ideals. I took these
concerns to my mother and she accepted my grievances. She understood the
inequality our culture contained and promised to make effort to support my feminist
stance. This meant including my brother join us for our cooking lessons. The best
part in becoming culturally literate is that I didnt have to rebrand myself. I didnt
have to be a First Generation-Nigerian-Feminist. I could simply call myself a feminist
who happens to be Nigerian.
Composing Processes: Self Enhancement Literacy:
Ive always had clear skin, even during the embarrassing years
of middle school. I attest this to healthy eating habits but I jokingly say that God
had to spare me acne because I had too many awkward quirks already. Growing up
with my mother as a role model I used no makeup until middle school when I bought
my first eyeliner. I used it religiously and thought I was hot stuff. In high school I
upped the stakes with eyeshadow and mascara. If I thought I was cute before I was
a full on model now. Towards the end of my senior year I realized girls in my grade
were experimenting with faces full of makeup. I snubbed them with critiques like at
least I look the same when I take my makeup off, that must be a pain to have to
put on in the morning. I thought these things until college, my roommate was one
of those girls that I use to criticize. And it seemed that my best friend was getting
into makeup too. It seemed every around me knew exactly what shade foundation
they were. I was kind of envious. I took my mom to Walmart where we both naively
stood trying to find my match of foundation. I picked up a bottle of LOral
something along with an allover face brush and was on my way (I would later laugh
at the thought of myself even picking up that brush). The next day I decided to try
my new makeup on for church. After the service I was nailed with questions asking
why my face looked streaky and if I had gotten tan. I was mortified. My foundation
was too dark and I used the wrong applicator tool. I didnt know who talk to and I
was too emotionally invested in the thought of having seemingly perfect skin. I
returned back to school and swallowed my pride to ask my roommate about her
makeup routine. She was elated to describe the process to me and I wasnt sure if it
was her eyeshadow or if I really did see an actual twinkle in her eye. There came a
point where I exhausted her with my many questions and she didnt have answers
to questions that pertained about my shade of skin or whether I should try a matte
or dewy finish. She suggested YouTube videos and I was very intrigued with the
idea. I asked a couple of my friends for You tubers they suggested and was
overwhelmed with a wave of responses. I tried starting off with videos of girls who

looked like me and who also didnt use high end products. I found that this was a
good place to start off. I cultivated a COMPOSING PROCESS when it came to
makeup. I would decide on a look I was going for then get on the internet to read
reviews and watch application videos before I decided to buy the product. Im no
longer illiterate in makeup. I know what it means to bake your face and I can explain
the differences between finishing power, setting powder and pressed powder. Much
further than that I passed the stages of makeup insecurity. Ive passed the dark
point where I feel hideous without makeup and Im well beyond the stage where I sit
and bake my face for a simple trip to the library. Ive grown confident in the fact that
although I know how to put on an enhanced face, I dont have to do it everyday
because I look just as fine without makeup as I do with it. I enhance my SELF
ENHANCEMENT LITERACY by watching YouTube videos whenever I choose to in my
free time. Or quite frequently I work on improve my natural glow by going to the
gym a lot and making sure I break a sweat.