From an early age, I was quite the talker (which may surprise you as I say nothing in class). After learning that people could communicate with sounds, my parents struggled with me talking too much. A few years later, after learning that the letters on the page were also forms of communication, my parents struggled with me reading too much. I avidly ate up any narrative, soaking in the characters and wording, assuming the story as my own. Though I would not have thought it at the time, books were the first form of literacy technology that truly impacted me. My vocabulary expanded as I delved into Homer’s Odyssey or Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, forming who I was as a writer. Books, as a technology, did not necessarily change my outlook on the world; it was the stories within the books that impacted my heart. All too often my mind fled reality, and I believed myself to be in Narnia, Middle Earth, or very ancient Greece. When life gets overwhelming, I am still able to transport myself to these places. And though the many levels of Minas Tirith might look more like the many floors in the WAC, the technology of books is forever an escape for me.
Shortly after discovering the literacy that was available through books, I learned of movies. And while I had previously viewed as many snippets as my four year old brain could attend to, around the age of five movies became a source of entertainment. They were references for the ideas and situations I could not personally explain in reference to my own life. As I had never slain a dragon, my explanation relied solely on Prince Phillip. Movies, along with books, created a visual learner in me. Movies were simply books brought to life, another chance for me to empathize with characters. The writer I was becoming gained a touch of designer as the moving pictures allowed me to plan just how I would rescue myself from the tower. Movie quotes entered my writing as well as my everyday speech, annoying my parents to no end. Mom gave up trying to have a serious conversation with me as too often I was Emperor Kuzco rather than her daughter, Madeline.
A good many years after my young mind discovered stories on the screen, I was introduced to social media. I was not the child who understood the wonders of the internet in elementary or middle school. My overly protective parents ensured that I was behind the times, and I don’t begrudge them that. (I read some great books in those years.) Yet finally, in high school, I joined the realm of social media and sought to catch up with the linguistics of the internet. This affected the sort of writer/designer I was, and I adopted a good deal of informality into my everyday speech. (Apparently it’s not socially acceptable to talk like Elizabeth Bennet simply because many of my friends did not understand my choice of words. Use a dictionary, people.) And while books and movies built up the sort of academic writer/designer I am, social media built up the relational aspect.
All three of these literacy technologies changed my outlook on life and the world at large. And while there are modes I favor, such as visual and linguistic, that is simply because those are the modes I favor for personal communication and learning. If it was not evident by now, stories speak to me in a very strong way. I would not be the same person if it hadn’t been for Jane Eyre, Eowyn, or Lucy Pevensie.
Shortly after discovering the literacy that was available through books, I learned of movies. And while I had previously viewed as many snippets as my four year old brain could attend to, around the age of five movies became a source of entertainment. They were references for the ideas and situations I could not personally explain in reference to my own life. As I had never slain a dragon, my explanation relied solely on Prince Phillip. Movies, along with books, created a visual learner in me. Movies were simply books brought to life, another chance for me to empathize with characters. The writer I was becoming gained a touch of designer as the moving pictures allowed me to plan just how I would rescue myself from the tower. Movie quotes entered my writing as well as my everyday speech, annoying my parents to no end. Mom gave up trying to have a serious conversation with me as too often I was Emperor Kuzco rather than her daughter, Madeline.
A good many years after my young mind discovered stories on the screen, I was introduced to social media. I was not the child who understood the wonders of the internet in elementary or middle school. My overly protective parents ensured that I was behind the times, and I don’t begrudge them that. (I read some great books in those years.) Yet finally, in high school, I joined the realm of social media and sought to catch up with the linguistics of the internet. This affected the sort of writer/designer I was, and I adopted a good deal of informality into my everyday speech. (Apparently it’s not socially acceptable to talk like Elizabeth Bennet simply because many of my friends did not understand my choice of words. Use a dictionary, people.) And while books and movies built up the sort of academic writer/designer I am, social media built up the relational aspect.
All three of these literacy technologies changed my outlook on life and the world at large. And while there are modes I favor, such as visual and linguistic, that is simply because those are the modes I favor for personal communication and learning. If it was not evident by now, stories speak to me in a very strong way. I would not be the same person if it hadn’t been for Jane Eyre, Eowyn, or Lucy Pevensie.
This is a picture of my sister dressed as an "Elven Warrior' (as she would say) ready to attack the world with her cuteness. Tolkien has clearly inspired her as well. I wish I was this cool...