Second Blog Post: Madeleine Perko

Something that struck me as I was reading excerpts from Malcolm X and Sherman Alexi, was how their literacy was born from independent action and somewhat fostered by boredom. My mother and I grew up in the same town, Weston, Massachusetts and attended the same public school. We used to joke how I envied “her high school” because of how different her experience was to the mine due to accumulation of workload and stress in the education system over time. When my mom talks about her childhood, she emphasizes how much boredom shaped her and her brothers, and how she wishes the beauty born from boredom had a greater presence in the childhood of my sister and I. I think that the value of unstructured time in which you can immerse yourself fully and independently explore a “new world” in the way that Malcolm X and Sherman Alexi did is a gift. Even Malcolm reflects on the amazing opportunity being in prison was and how he thinks it was more education than he would have received at a university. When he said that he went so long without even really thinking about being in jail, and how he would hop back in bed every hour to dodge the guard who checked to make sure everyone was in their bed, I could not help but compare his addiction to reading to pure childlike enthusiasm. This kind of enthusiasm inundates you and comes from discovering a “new world”, a new part of oneself, and is then fostered by the freedom of self and independent exploration. The idea that boredom fosters such magical discoveries is a simplified version of a raw experience. The complexities and challenges that were prominent in the circumstances of these two figures is what made Malcolm X and Sherman Alexi to be so inspiring. They maximized their “unfortunate” situations, found inspiration in their sponsors and capitalized on their boredom. It was so powerful to retrace his steps as see how Malcolm’s desire to be able to express his thoughts in a letter snowballed into a profound development of his English and lead him to what became his life mission, ending black oppression and freeing the truth. I wonder what I would run with if I had the time to let a passion snowball.

Additionally, I found it really shocking but very understandable that Sherman Alexi’s unusual ability to read advanced work as young age as well as his interest in books was considered “an oddity” on the reservation, when it would be highly regarded in another area of the country. The bubbles we live in have such profound influence, but do not determine, on our literary skills. I think that my understanding of how interconnected the world has become due to technology has lead me to falsely assume that my exposure to the vast forms of literacy has been more complete that it has in reality. In fact, not only am I not literate in everything I have been exposed to, but there is so much out there I haven’t even considered as a form of literacy. Reading about sponsors of literacies and reflecting types of literacy, I have come to recognize specific ways in which I am illiterate. Malcolm reflected on his powerful street literacy, in which he could communicate authority and attention… I know I would NOT have this street presence. But in thinking about a social science in which I could be more literate, I think back to Greece. In Greece, Xenia, refers to an ancient form of hospitality. When the NU.in service learning volunteers came together, we reflected on the Xenia we had experienced at our service learning sites and how we reacted to it. Something I had never considered was how to correctly RECEIVE hospitality. In my mind hospitality was a hosts responsibility and not so much dependent on the guest (with exception to common courtesy — which I guess is also subjective). In Greece, Xenia is a much more emphasized and therefore practiced, so upon coming I realized I did not know how to “correctly” accept or respond to Xenia. I felt illiterate upon entering my friends home. My childhood friends were not open in their homes and in 6+ years of friendship I had with them, I entered their homes a handful of times and only for brief visits. This concept was therefore relatively foreign to me. Even after my experience in Greece, I still feel that I lack exposure. However, I definitely feel far more familiar with Xenia/hospitality than I once was.

I have participated in a variety of service projects and in the ones where I worked with people or in another country, I really felt that I was lucky to have that experience and it was of mutual benefit, if not disproportionately beneficial to me as the volunteer (only because I felt so much joy and enlightened from the experience). I felt that there was so much I learned and was exposed to things I have never imagined. I hope that the service learning in this class will continue to open my eyes and develop my literacy in different realms, as well as share my world of literacy with others.