Writing My Literacy Narrative: My process

Have you ever created a piece of art and just stepped away from it to admire it, and be like, "Yo, this is some dope shit?"

I'm having one of those moments right now. I love this piece I wrote, No, Not Mine. It is so incredibly honest.  One of my goals for this semester and actually always is to be honest.  I have completely personalized my learning to the point that I'm now taking ownership of every success AND failure.

I wanted to prepare my spirit and mind to really understand why The Bluest Eye was and is my favorite book on the planet.  Each time I read this book, it affected me differently.  I read it when I was 16, a college student, a pregnant mother, a tutor at a Writing Center and most recently as a graduate student.  During each phase of my life I identified with Pecola Breedlove.  My literacy narrative explores how.


Like my student from the Writing Center,  I connected with this assignment personally.  When I asked her, "What are you writing about?"  I saw her eyes look down.  She mustered enough courage to tell me it was about her first time auditioning as a stripper.  It was so important for me to make her comfortable.  She revealed herself and her true story. She couldn't sense any judgment.  If she did, I would have lost her.  Thankfully, she trusted me enough to go there with herself in her writing.  Her first largely disjointed draft is now a focused narrative that explores her triumph of becoming a stripper.  For three weeks, she came to the Writing Center twice a week to work on her essay.  Once her paper accomplished her goal, she hugged it and said, "A plus plus."  She was honest.  She went there with herself.  I feel like her.

My student was so pleased with it and connected to the assignment in such a personal way that telling her story became cathartic. This is how writing this paper was for me. At times I cried while crafting certain scenes, but I did it. Even though it was hard, I got it out. I feel better.

I love when I see myself in students.  I'm thoroughly excited to be fulfilling my goals: being honest with and to me.