"The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me" by Sherman Alexie Dialogue

     Alexie learned to read at 3 years old, a poor Indian boy, middle class by the reservations terms, who read "Grapes of Wrath" in kindergarten.  The feats, which would have made a boy of any other race a genius, simply made the Indian kindergartener an "oddity."  That was fine, because what made the young Indian boy an oddity at an early age is also what allowed him to survive.  It saved his life.  You may wonder, "How can reading at a young age save an anyone's life?"  Well, to understand the answer, you must understand the way of the people's lives that it saves.

     Alexie was raised in a fairly large family of seven.  His family was poor to most standards, but, living on an Indian reservation was able to remain in the middle class simply by one of the parents usually finding a minimum wage job.  His father loved to read, he always had stacks of books lying around the house wherever there was room.  Since Alexie loved his father with "an aching devotion,"(12), Alexie learned to love books himself.  He first learned to read with a Superman comic book at 3 years old, well, not literally read, but make stories himself with the pictures and put words in the places he saw writing.  He became addicted to reading, reading whenever he found time, no matter where he was.  This helped him to keep to himself, since there were no other Indian children who cared to learn what the teachers wanted to teach, this is the best thing he could have done.  Instead of the "normal" Indian life, Alexie decided he would do what he watched his Dad do, what he loved, he would read.

     Since Alexie constantly read though his childhood, he learned and was able to make something of himself.  Now, instead of being dead, or a drug addict like I'm sure the kids that picked on him for wanting to learn are, he is an author who speaks to Indian youth so they don't lead the lives that are expected of them.  By speaking to the children at the schools Alexie visits, he is showing the young Indians that there is another path they can lead through life, they don't have to live up to the image that America has expected of them throughout the centuries.  He is giving the children the tools they need to save their lives.

Writing Topic: Rules for Writers chapter 46

     In chapter 46 of "Rules For Writers" by Diana Hacker, she explains all of the steps to writing a summary or making an analysis of a written text or visual.  She begins with explaining a few different types of texts, then moves into what is expected when you're given an assignment to write about a text or visual.  According to the author, "Most assignments that ask you to respond to a text call for a summary or an analysis or both."(346)  According to the author, in order to write an essay or an analysis, you must first actively read the text several times.  She also gives a list of guidlines to follow in order to succesfully actively read including asking questions to familiarize yourself with the basic structure of the text, noting details that you find interesting, and applying critical thinking strategies.
 
     The author also goes into developing a brief outline after actively reading and annotating the text several times.  In the outline she states that you should, "put the author's thesis and key points in your own words."(350)  The outline does not need to be in paragraph form, more importantly it should bring the texts central points together.  She then gets into writing the summary or analysis.  "The goal when your summarizing a text is to state the ideas and key points simply, briefly, and accurately."(351)  To do this she recommends using the outline that you've made as a draft for the summary, finding the central point of the text, and splitting the summary up into major and minor ideas.  When analyzing a text, she recommends instead of hitting the text in a whole, as you would in a summary, you should try to determine how the text makes it's points.  An analysis should be set up in essay format, with an introduction that summarizes the text, your own thesis on what you think about the text, and a body of paragraphs that support your thesis.  When analyzing a visual text, you should begin by analyzing the visual as a whole, then break it down and analyze how the individual details add to the whole effect of the visual.
 
     I plan on referring to this chapter in "Rules for Writers" whenever I have a writing assignment to do from now on.  Before reading this I had heard about taking notes or highlighting as you go along with your reading, but the active reading guidelines included in this chapter are far more detailed than anything I've been taught.  That is what I will refer to the most after reading this chapter, all of the questions in the guideline will help me to really explore what's actually in the text that I'm reading, and why the text was written.  Another of the guidelines in the chapter that I will use frequently is the guidelines for writing a summary.  Before reading this, I never totally grasped the expectations of a summary, now that I've read it I am totally confident that I can hit every point that is expected when I summarize a written text.  The one thing that I didn't get too much out of from this chapter, which I'm sure it went over enough, but I didn't take it in well enough was analyzing visual texts.  I'm sure it's simple enough, but I've never done it before so I'm more than likely unconfident in my abilities to do something I've never done.

"Freewriting Exercises" Dialogue

     A freewrite is a writing activity in which an individual spends approximately ten to twenty minutes constantly writing about anything that comes into the author's mind.  It's a period of time where the author does not worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar or anything you would worry about in conventional literature.  Freewrites are more of a time to let you, yourself come out on paper: to write the words exactly how you would say them, to let your ideas flow.

     Freewrites tend to produce a good amount of wasted paper, but out of the ninety percent of garbage, the author has the potential of finding ten percent of gold.  People often use freewrites as a way to determine what to write about, letting their minds bring them to the subject they're interested in which leads them to write a paper that they are adament about.  A freewrite can also be used as a source for good bits and pieces to add to planned writing being put together; often there are good phrases, ideas or questions in freewrites that will tie in well with the subject being written on.

     After reading the "Freewriting Excercises," I found freewriting to have the potential to be very helpful in developing writing skills.  What I found to be the best idea in the text and the idea that I'll use the most, is using the freewrites to let my mind bring me to the subject I would like to write on.

    

Alex's Intoductory Blog

      Hi everyone, my name is Alex Robinson.  I am originally from Tacoma, WA but moved to Santa Rosa about a year and a half ago after a combat deployment in order to better my life.  I am currently on active duty in the Marine Corps Reserve in Alameda, CA.  I have been in the Marine Corps for nearly 3 and a half years and I must say it's the best decision I've made in my life.  I have met the best friends, who would literally go to the grave with you if they had to, traveled the world, and learned the discipline that I believe will enable me to take on anything the world has to offer.  Now that I don't have a deployment in my near future (as far as I know), I feel honored to be able to take advantage of online learning and hopefully help all of my peers learn as well.
      I have always felt English was my best subject and I'm excited to jump back into it after such a long break. Over the years I'm sure my skills have diminished, but after reading the course syllabus I'm certain we have a great instructor, and I know all of my peers will help me out along the way so I should have no problem picking up where I left off. This will be my first semester taking online courses, so I'm kind of nervous, but a few friends have told me great things about taking classes online and I'm hoping it will benefit me as well as it has them.
      In the civilian world, I work at Costco, which I do not like one bit.  I've worked in the retail industry since I was 16 and am extremely tired of working weekends and oddball hours.  I'm taking this class to work my way up to college level reading and writing in order to take the required classes and transfer to SSU where I'll obtain a BA in Business Administration.  My goal after I earn my degree is to obtain a General Schedule job for the Government, preferably the Department of Veterans Affairs.