Blog Post 3

In Brant’s writings literacy is again defined as an evolving term. I took up the offer to ask my parents about literacy and where they stand and compared it to my literacy goals today. There is such a unique difference in my two parents because of their background and current jobs. My father runs an auto parts store in my hometown and he mentioned to me that outside of sales and records, there is no real need for him to read much more than about sports and literacy through television. He said that he always wanted to get into reading and appreciated that my mother reads so much. I actually bought him a book on CD called S*** My Dad Says because I had read it and it really reminded him of myself and he enjoyed it. He said that since he doesn’t have much time for reading it was nice to have something new to hear in his car trips to meetings and work. When I asked him if this would help him try to read for fun more often he simply replied “I can’t see well enough,” which was a fair assessment. My mother who works as a court reporter, reads religiously. She shares books with me and vise versa.
I have always loved that connection. In the reading we did for Brant I like the point made that slaves were told to read the bible, which stayed true to Christianity while also giving them rights and literacy power which I assume greatly benefited them in the form of civil rights (Fredrick Douglas is a prime example). It seems apparent that throughout history religion has played a great role in helping define literacy. Priest were only allowed to read the works of the bible until it became readily available to all people. When this change happened, religion changed greatly.
It seems to be apparent that in my parents life and mine reading is most heavily used in either work related fields or in personal pursuits. My father reads sports columns because he loves sports, my mom reads novels for the adventure, and I read self-help books to get a leg up in a time where I am applying for post graduate jobs. I think these trends will change as my needs change as well. Currently I am on track with literacy at the same pace that most literacy savvy people are, but I also understand that when I am older I will be as scared of new forms of literacy as my grandparents are with computers. Literacy is growing and will always grow, I have to make the effort to catch up constantly in my line of work.