Where I’m From

“We are each a part of a complex history that includes our experiences and expectations, family structures and friendship circles, powerful achievements and marginalized realities. Our locations in this world color the lenses through which we read it. Yes – we read the world. Reading, whether the world or written words, is impacted by what our lives are and what they have been.”

-Stephanie Jones in Girls, Social Class and Literacy: What Teachers Can Do to Make a Difference

Part of understanding critical literacy is understanding our own perspective. We interpret that which we read through our own knowledge, experience, prejudice and relationships. Before we can examine a text, we must examine ourselves.

Using the “Where I’m From” strategy, I wrote this:

I am from Woodside, Queens, New York City

I am from hardworking parents that tried twice before me to have their first child

I am from my parents’ fears and mistrusts

I am from their hopes for what they wish we had and what we will be

I am from Italian pride, Catholic guilt, and working class shame

I am from the part of town below the elevated train

I am from public and private schools, city parks, libraries and the Met

I am from the awkward space between two parishes and a member of both

I am from the blue and orange crowds that flock to Shea every April

I am from a place where children are taught to wave at firemen who wave back

I am from the middle, and happily blending in