Terms of Literacy

For my English class, we were given two prompts and had to choose one to discuss and write about.  Both of them pertain to literacy.  What I have begun to think about, in terms of literacy, is the fact that literacy is very important in many different aspects.  Literacy is the way to life itself.  There are so many things that we encounter with literacy.  Every day we depend on literacy in so many different ways.  Without literacy, it would be extremely hard to communicate and understand.  Literacy is the ability to read with knowledge, write coherently, and think critically.  Within literacy there are many different discussions that we have had in class, as well as, different readings that we have had to read over the time of my English class.  I remember reading an article titled "How to Tame a Wild Tongue."  That particular article gave me an insight  on literacy that I had never seen before.  In that article, it talked about a young woman who was an Chicano and how it was to be a Chicano.  The different language encounters that she had to go through within speaking English as well as Spanish, and even sometimes "Spanglish."  That article made me feel a little mad.  For one, the article was hard to read and decipher because it would switch from time to time from English to Spanish.  It also made me a little upset because throughout the article, she discussed how embarrassed she was of speaking and how much her culture and language was "in the closet."  No one, in my opinion, should feel embarrassed about their language.  Literacy is the key to everyone and their success.  Just because you speak a certain way or interpret things different, that makes you who you are.  Literacy is worldwide and it comes in all shapes and sizes.