A popular reddit post that hit the front page last week reminded me of the Hamilton article in a couple of ways.  The post was titled “I gave this homeless man, Paul, my Kindle after learning that he’d been reading the same book over and over. He hasn’t put it down for days” by a user named u/mjuad.  While this is a heartwarming post that restores some faith in humanity, it is also in my opinion a type of “literacy as defiance”, although in a different sense than Hamilton intended.  While Hamilton’s idea of defiance is more about protest and opposition, I think that Paul is defying the stereotypes and ideas that most people have about the homeless.  Most people would probably expect him to not be interested in literature, and if given a piece of technology such as a kindle he would sell it or not take care of it.  However, Paul doesn’t seem to be a typical homeless man, as he has some pretty nice things.  I’d say that the only aspects of his appearance that makes him look homeless is his beard, and the fact that he is sitting on the ground.  He has glasses, nice boots, a fairly nice jacket, and TWO guitars, which makes me skeptical of the whole situation.  He could just be an old man sitting on a sidewalk reading his Kindle, and someone took a picture and slapped on a nice caption to earn internet points.  Who Knows?  Only OP knows.

My name is Thomas Parcell and I am an English Studies Major in my last semester of Undergrad schooling.  I’m very excited for this class because I am a soon to be parent, and am very interested in raising a voracious reader.  The in-class discussion last Thursday gave some very great ideas for doing so, such as surrounding a child with other individuals who love to read for fun, and immersing him/her in some amazing reading material.  The Szwed article gave a great perspective on Literacy, and completely changed my feelings on my generation.  Most of the people in my close group of friends really don’t read literature, and their interests seem to fall in other forms of Media.  However this does not make them illiterate in any sense, as they are amazing at analyzing film, sport stats, as well as many other forms of entertainment.  However I do wish I could share my interest in literature with them and I try to get them to read by showing the excitement I gain from a great book.  I am saddened to see them sit in front of the television with my recommended book on the table in front of them, but what else can I do? I just hope that I’m able to share this love with my Son, and that he doesn’t get too distracted by forms of entertainment that require less effort.  Hopefully this class with teach more ways to get a child to love reading, and not see it as a chore.