Introduction

Barton outlines what literacy is by examining how people read and write, and also how literature has been influenced by culture and by other modes of study. He explains that people read and write  in traditional methods of academia, but it most often takes the form of practical tasks such as reading a newspaper or responding to an email. In addition, our methods of writing evolve in waves, sometimes being more rapid than other times, and it can be influenced by location of education, age, historical development, and by literary reviews. He then expands by bringing in the concept of metaphors, expanding their definition and explaining how they can be used to illustrate literacy, and he explains how thinking about literacy through multiple perspectives helps to bring more understanding to the subject matter. 

Powell takes a more historical perspective in comparison to Barton's abstract explanation, by drawing from forms of communication such as Egyptian hieroglyphics, ancient Chinese characters, Lexigraphic writing, and West Semitic characters, and he emphasizes the significance of things such as translation and speech in the context of written literature. Powell points out that while many writers study literature and pride themselves on that fact, they rarely look into the technology of writing itself that made the literary works possible.

My history of writing in college has mostly been in the form of essays and note-taking, especially with my classes this semester mainly falling into the political science and English subjects. However, I have recently taken up journaling to help express my feelings. It helps to ease the natural anxieties that come along with college, and by journaling before I go to bed every night, I have been able to reflect on my day and thoughts on various conflicts and triumphs throughout my college journey. As Powell said when he quoted a Papyrus Lansing, “Happy is the heart of him who writes; he is young each day,” (Lichtheim 1976; 173-174). By journaling I am able to view look at my day in a more positive and wholesome way, and it has been good for my mental health.

In terms of technology I have utilized this year at UNC, I mainly did most of my transcribing on my laptop. However, last semester my grades suffered slightly as a result of my laptop enabling me to take notes passively while simultaneously figuring out what Disney princess I am based on the food items I chose (aka I was taking a ton of Buzzfeed quizzes during class). Because of this, I was not able to get as much out of my classes as I could have, and considering the fact that I am paying thousands of dollars for an education, I realized that I was basically playing myself by not paying attention. When this semester started, I decided to invest in two three subject notebooks, and ever since I started manually taking notes, I have been able to get a lot more out of my classes. Also, I promise I will never take Buzzfeed quizzes during English 116!