Elie Liteli

Jamie Burgess
UWRT-1101
1 December 2014
Literacy Narrative: Origins
One of the most misunderstood word in the English today is literacy. Webster defines
literacy as The ability to read and write. However, there is a second definition in which most
people do not seem to know about. Literacy also refers to having knowledge that relates to a
specified object. What it means to be literate has been merely reduced world-wide to whether
or not a person can read out of a book or write like an English professor. People fail to realize
that countries, groups of people, ethnic groups, or even individuals that are accused of being
illiterate based on the fact they have never been taught to read or write words in the accusing
partys language, these same groups are very literate in their own form of literature, their own
form of art.
I said all that just to say this. Throughout the mere eighteen years that I have lived, about
fourteen of those years have been dedicated to learning to be literate in all aspects of life. From a
toddler, I had to learn to be literate in the art of walking to enable me to take my first steps. I had
to learn to be literate in the art of speaking to enable me to speak my first words. First stages of
school consisted of having to learn to be literate in multiple arts, whether it be math, art, music,
or history, all at the same time. As I grew, I began to learn that there were certain aspects or arts
of life that school was not teaching me to be literate in. School never taught me to be literate in
being able to read paystubs, road signs, stocks, or weather satellites/ reports. Neither did it tell

me to read personality, danger, or culture. It is a combination of all these categories that are a
part of my literacy story. It would simply be a crime if I only chose to speak of my literacy of the
English language and not at least one other category in which I consider myself quite literate.
Culture. Please keep in mind that literacy is something that expands and you continue to develop
your whole life. With that being said, here we go.
Anomaly. If there is one word in the whole English dictionary that describes me,
anomaly fits that shoe. Webster defines this word as something different, abnormal, peculiar,
or not easily classified.
I was not born in the states. Many people are surprised when I reveal this to them because
you could not know this fact from observing the way I talk, dress, and carry myself. I guess you
can say I have been assimilated somewhat. I was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. My
parents were very well off and they both contained college education. My mom completed eight
years of school and became a doctor and my did completed a bachelor degree and worked in
government leadership. It is no surprise that from a very early age, my parents always stressed
the importance of a good education. Academically, I was becoming quite literate. Me and my
two little sisters. French was our primary language. We were always among the top in our class
(so our parents tell us) and pushed to succeed in everything by our already successful parents.
One day my parents decided they wanted to broaden our opportunities of having an even greater
success than what they had so at age seven my family immigrated here. My youngest sister was
born, shortly after we arrived here, in the month of October 2014.
You would be surprised how much you can retain within your memory at such a young
age of 7 and below. I was completely literate in French both verbally and orally. My parents
were a strong motivator for me to excel in my schooling both then and now. However, school

was not the only thing I was learning. Without realizing it, I was picking up the culture.
Observing the environment around me. Learning how that society functioned and the social
norms associated with them. I was becoming literate in that culture and because of that, I adapted
to that culture. After all, it was the first culture I was introduced to from birth and it is one I
could never erase from memory. Not that I would want to anyhow.
Every day, I find myself making connections between the two cultures. Living in the
middle of the fence, not entirely fitting in to either society means I have the opportunity to pick
and choose. I choose and pick the positives of both cultures and make up my own culture so to
speak. For example, Congolese tend to be very family oriented and dependent while Americans
are more about individualism and independency. The problem is, most people tend to fall within
the extremes of these qualities from either societies. Being in the middle and having that open
mindedness, I chose to accept a moderate does of both these societal traits
Having been through that culture shock after moving here, my ability to understand
culture and social norms has definitely caused me to be more open minded and more of a global
thinker (which is, by the way, the very opposite of American mentality). However, not only have
I been better able to observe and perceive cultures, but I have also learned to be literate I
understanding personality. I have a natural God-given gift of being able discern environments
and people quite well. Over the years, I continue to try to teach myself punctuate on this ability
so that I can be able to help people by talking to them somehow. I love the satisfaction of having
someone open up to me with something and I can say something that could help them in
whatever trial they may be going through.
People often ask me how I do not have a foreign accent. To that question, I honestly do
not know the answer. For as long as I can remember my time in America, I feel as if I have

always known English. I cannot pin point a time where I lost my accent nor can I remember
the time when I started forgetting my French. English almost came natural to me. I went from the
kid who could not speak a word of English to the kid who won every spelling bee. I developed
this inner conscience of how words should sound like and what was/was not proper English. It
was almost as if I had all these grammar and punctuation rules programmed in my head but I
could not tell you what those rules were. I just knew what sounded right and what did not. Before
long, I was writing just as good, if not better, than the best writers in my classes. Also, I was
becoming one of the best at speaking before my classes.
Books. My sisters and I often had competitions of seeing who could read the most books
in a week. We became faster months on end and it was obvious our excessive reading was
reflecting in our English grades. Aside from my parents, books really helped develop my literacy
in the English language. This is most likely how those grammar rules became banded in my
brain without actually learning them and how I just somehow knew if a sentence sounded right
or not.
Movies. Although considered a form of entertainment to the general American public,
movies were actually one of our major learning resources. They taught us everything ranging
from basic American culture to proper pronunciation. Although not everything shown in movies
about American culture is accurate, (High School Musical or any other High School related
movie really) a lot of the basic gist of the culture is represented. People always ask me how I
sound so proper. Not only am I African American, but I have lived in the South for the majority
for my life, why do I sound like an uppity northerner? I have watched way too many northern
uppity movies.

Friends. My friends have and still inspire me to continue to better my literacy. We love
the idea of competing with one another and just pushing each other to continue to be better. No
one likes to be that one person in group of friends that is not too bright. Everyone wants to be
respected as scholars by not only their professors but their peers as well.
My last motivator and probably biggest motivator to be literate is my inner desire to
better myself mentally. I want people to take me seriously as Im addressing a relevant issue. I
want to be scholar. Respect. Legitimacy. These are just some of the positive outcome of
sounding intellectual to the public. Education is one of the most valued possession of our
generation and rightly so.
But even as I continue to ascend the intellect ladder, I want to stay humble. Humble
enough to reach to the smallest person and have a meaningful conversation with them. And by
meaningful, I mean mutualistically beneficial. I define success as not only having a solid income
but also aiding people anyway I can with the knowledge I acquire through my journey.