Visual Essay: Literacy is My Life

My Literacy began with books. As a child I was read to by my parents and older siblings.

We Read Bible Stories for Children

The Bernstein Bears

And pretty much anything else that taught us how to be "good kids"
(I'd learn later that I was read "Didactic" literature)

But then........

I learned to read BY MY SELF!!!!

And the world was in my hands (or at least in my book)

I Started to Read about the Lives of Girls My Age

I would spend hours in the library, forgoing my recess hours so that I could read.

I even got in trouble for reading unasigned literature during classtime.

And then........

We got the first computers in the school.

It Started with One per Classroom.
But Soon Enough...

We had a

computer LAB !!!!

We would get two hours once a week. We would play.....

'Oregon Trail' 'Math Blasters' And ' Where In Time Is

Carmen San Diego?'

Then Elementary was over...

and so was recess.

I entered Junior High School.

I got a pager

(I felt SO cool)

:)

And Computers became a permanent presence in the classroom.We typed our papers Watched Projections Entered Chatrooms Saw News Clips

We were high-tech....



Or so we thought....

By the time I entered High School @ Cajon High there was:
The INTERNET!!!!!

Which meant that Students could

"voice" opinions and complaints.

We also had...

cell phones!!!!
(with text messaging)

And a new discourse emerged
omg lol :)

I had to take "Intro. to Computers" as Juniors

Where I learned the lingo of technolgy:

-We learned Word Processing
-Data Entry
-Power Point

-And a bunch of other things


about computers.








Then I graduated High School and entered College;

I took some on-line courses

And when I graduated
I filled out ALL of my applications on-line...

Even for school loans

At CSUSB I was introduced to Blackboard... essentially their online class community.

And in one class I started a

wiki space.













Then, I earned a B.A. in English Literature

But it wasn't until Graduate School that I began to think about computers beyound the classroom.

And then I began to think about technology and gender

I started looking into CYBORG VOICE and

LAURIE ANDERSON

And I questioned technology in the classroom


and Who gets ACCESS?

And now for the first time, I'm doing a visual essay on computer literacy.

I think its obvious that computer literacy in my life will forever evolve and grow

And with every new invention A New Discourse emerges

and My ideas and interpretations of computer literacy mold and morph.

I am a cyborg

And Literacy is my life.