Iannacone

1
John Iannacone
UWRT 1101
September 11, 2016
The Literacy Narrative of my Life
On August 17th 1998 I was born which began my literacy narrative. Very early on my
parents realized I was different than many other children around me. In this narrative I will go

Comment [MG1]: How was your literacy narrative started

the day you were born?
Comment [MG2]: How so?

through my personal literacies both formed early on and later in life and how these literacies
influenced both my life and my interests. Some of these literacies have stuck with me while

Comment [MG3]: What is your definition of literacy?

others have been left behind both good and bad. Either way my literacies are what make me who

Comment [MG4]: What do you mean by this?

I am today and this narrative will take you through that story.

I have always been a listener rather than a talker. As a baby my parents have told me that
I rarely cried and when someone was doing something, I would watch with great focus. I began
to crawl and walk much earlier than many other children my age. Despite my advances and
great focus, my parents began to worry as I did not truly speak until after most other children my
age had. This all changed when we were heading back from my grandmothers house when I
talked the entire six-hour car ride home about things I remembered or things I wanted to do. My
parents were astonished at how much I knew and how after all that time this was when I had
decided to talk. Fast forward a few years to when I began first grade; I was very nervous to start
because we had moved and everyone surrounding me were new. Soon I found myself doing
things by myself or when around others listening more than talking. I learned so much from

Comment [MG5]: Reword this sentence to make more

clear

people during my elementary and middle years but this literacy of listening had also caused some
issues. Due to not talking very much, people often saw me as an outsider and was not included

Comment [MG6]: Was this a choice?

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in a group. What I had not learned yet was how to balance my literacy of listening with also
being outgoing. I did not learn this for many years and it only enforced my more reclusive
nature in elementary school. Although not being included was frustrating, later all this changed
and I found another literacy that I still carry with me to this day.

During this time, my literacy of tinkering made its way into the picture. Starting when I
was five my neighbors son had a large plastic bin full of Legos that he let me borrow whenever
I wanted. When he became a teenager, he gave me the entire set and for the longest time all I
wanted to do was see what I could design and build. Later on my dad would bring home from
his office different electrical components and with his help we would build different things such
as flashlights or remote control cars. This carried me through to high school when my literacy in
this field truly came to light. In 9th grade I enrolled in a course called industrial arts which is a
course that involved woodworking along with projects involving different metals. My teacher
saw how well I knew the different tools as well as my vast knowledge of building and put me as
a lead teacher assistant. With this title I was allowed to weld, build nearly anything I could set
my mind to, use any other tool I needed, as well as offer guidance to other students in the class. I
became so literate in the subject that I won both first place and best in show at our annual
MAAD fest (arts festival) for two pieces I constructed my sophomore year of high school. Here
numerous judges from across the state came and gave awards to projects that they felt blew away
the competition of everyone else. My projects included a mission style love seat that I
constructed out of spruce that I milled, cut, filed, stained, clear coated, and upholstered myself.
My other project was a silverware set that I made out of rough plate iron that I filed and

Comment [MG7]: How?

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hammered into shape complete with a mahogany casing. This literacy I have carried and will
continue to carry with me as it has benefited me greatly throughout my life.

My interest of cars has been carried with me for much of my life and became more
relevant once I had one of my own. Along with my literacy of building, my passion has also

Comment [MG8]: You need a smoother transition to this

paragraph

been about cars. I have always been fascinated about how different components work together
and how to repair them. This dream of being able to do these things myself came true the
summer of my junior year when my parents gave me the option to either sell our classic
Suburban or keep it and use it as my first car. Of course I did not think twice and immediately
decided that I would keep it, work on it, and make it my own. The Suburban was a model year
1990 but was the same as the model year 1973 as the body style was carried until 1991. When I

Comment [MG9]: Unnecessary info

received the car it was in okay shape as it had basically sat in our driveway for four years
collecting dust. I first began by cleaning the interior which included vacuuming, steam cleaning
the carpets as well as numerous other things. Once this was done, the back cargo doors were
misaligned causing them not to open properly so I realigned them with hinge spacers. The next
thing on the list was to give the car a thorough bath which included, pressure washing,
scrubbing, tire and wheel degreaser, clay bar, polish, and waxing to bring back the shine of the
paint and chrome trim. Once done numerous imperfections were seen so I bought color matched
paint for the hood grill and touch up paint for rock chips. This process took roughly a week to
complete because adequate drying time was needed. While this was drying I decided to refinish
the wheels with the original gloss black color. Later small rust areas were found under the rear
wheel wells and on the rear quarter panel which I alone repaired using sheet metal that I
fabricated into proper patch panels. Once in place body filler was used to smooth out the surface

Comment [MG10]: All this is great, but how is it relevant to

your literacy?

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to be ready for paint. While waiting for the paint on the quarter panel to dry, I undercoated the
entire car for rust prevention. This was the majority of the body work that I completed by myself
but much more was done both mechanically and on the interior. I purchased a new dashboard,
new speakers, new charger outlet, and adhesive to re-upholster the headliner. I completed this
project in about a weeks time. Then I completed several mechanical repairs such as the
serpentine belt, the thermostat, the radiator hoses, oil changes, windshield wiper linkage, and a
much more. This literacy of car work proved to be beneficial for the duration that I owned the
vehicle. Hopefully in the future I will be able to continue the literacy with another classic car.

Later in my high school career, I formed another literacy involving electrical design. As
most of this narrative explains, much of my enjoyment stems from design and building. Once I
had become familiar with woodworking and basic electrical circuits, I combined that knowledge
to design and build more complex projects. These projects ranged anything from mini speakers
to device build/rebuilds. If I found something that was broken, I would try to either fix it or
salvage the usable parts for another project. My most notable builds have been iPhones, iPods,
iPads, an Xbox 360, as well as four laptops. Nearly all of the devices and computers that I have
were given to me broken and I fixed them for use. For me this literacy is something that I
greatly enjoy but it also has taught me patience, determination and simply put has saved me a lot
of money instead of buying new devices. Even though to many they may look like any other
device out there, I know that I put the time and effort into building them and in many cases I
have been recognized for it. People at my high school and even here at college realized my skill
which allowed me to be able to form my own electronics repair which has given me a small
income. This literacy has given me both great enjoyment but also has taught me what I have

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done correct and what I have done wrong. It has allowed me to save money and even gain
money from people in need of repairs and hope to carry this literacy into my field of electrical
engineering.
During the course of my ninth grade year I began to balance industrial arts and my social
life. Here I formed a new literacy that has helped me through high school and now college. This
literacy is the art of communication. For much of my life before high school as stated
previously, I kept to myself more often than not. Freshman year of high school, I changed this
because I felt it would help me to form bonds with people and would help me mentally to be
more confident in myself. Roughly half way through my 8th grade year was when I began to
change and balance listening as well as talking. By the end of the year my self-confidence had
made a shift in a positive direction which ultimately proved to be beneficial once I reached high
school. When I began high school, I had left my home town and was attending a private school
roughly 30 minutes away. Even though I knew almost no one there, the experience was much
less stressful than elementary school because I was much more social, had a higher confidence
level, and wanted to meet new people. For the duration of my 9th grade year my literacy of
communication grew but at the same time I was trying to out who I was. Many of the friends I
had 9th grade year were spread out from different grades, backgrounds, as well as different
groups. I realized that even though I could communicate easily, I still was trying to find my own
group that shared some of my own interests. Luckily as my literacy grew so did my
understanding of which people were similar to me as well as others who did not have much in
common with me but were still close friends. My greatest leaps in communication were during
my junior and senior year where I found my own friend group that I am still in touch with.

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My literacy narrative is a mix of many different ideas, knowledge, patience,
communication as well as many more that I have yet to find. The knowledge gained from these
different literacies will carry me far especially in the field of engineering. Although some
literacies have come and gone, that is not necessarily a bad thing. Some of my literacies I am
glad to no longer have because they hindered me in some way while the ones represented in this
narrative have propelled me forward to be able to find myself. They have helped me learn from
my mistakes, learn what I can do better and most importantly learn what other literacies I may
have. My literacies focus mainly upon building, designing, as well as communicating while
someone elses may focus on art. All literacies good or bad play a key role in making us who we
are as people which creates a vast diversity of interests from around the globe.
Comment [MG11]: Where do you talk about the literacies
that you left behind?