In “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing,” Jose Olivarez writes about reading and writing’s relationship to identity, empowerment and education. What do you think he means, and what do You think is the relationship between reading and writing, and identity? Empowerment? Education? How does this impact the way you think about this class? Please take the time to develop your thoughts and explain your answers. Also, please respond to each other respectfully. It’s ok to see things differently and express that.
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Reading and writing are one of the most important aspects of communication. They aid in understanding and expressing the thoughts of the writer and yourself. It allows people to experience life from the viewpoint of an other person. Because a book grants the writer the ability to present the way they view the world. I always wanted to be able to express myself through writing, but because of the restraints placed on it through the curriculum I started to hate the multitude of techniques I need in order to properly express my ideas. Hopefully now I can genuinely express my ideas through words.
Reading and writing are essential in life. It’s important that people have access to this education because it’s vital to our growth. I think the relationship between reading, writing, and identity is creativity and power. For so many people writing is important because they are able to put on paper what they feel like they can’t say out loud. I feel like by doing so authors are not only expressing their voices but they are being a voice for others as well. I’m putting myself out there by writing this but, I have struggled with anxiety for a few years now and I haven’t been able to talk about it, so I found that I can express this caging feeling through creative writing assignments and I hope I can do that same in this class.
Reading and writing is a power within itself, when Jose speaks on the relationship it has with identity, he believes reading others stories can bring out the desire to create your own and share your writings. When it comes to empowerment, he uses the example of the U.S. and Mexican war to depict how facts can be changed to stories and how being a good reader helps you view things from multiple angles. Furthermore, with education reading and writing should not feel like your only absorbing facts from school or books but should lead you to ask questions and form your own opinions on the text. In my opinion I believe reading and writing can influence so much people, which doesn’t have to include them writing their own stories but can be them applying it to their current life or the future to form their identity. This impacts the way I think about this class because knowing how much reading there is, it makes me feel prepared for when I need to write essays due to me being able to apply their work into mine.
I agree with your response. There are a lot of things you can do with reading and writing. The more you read the more knowledge you become and you choose what to do with that knowledge. Its an empowerment that can open a whole new world
He made a good connection between, reading, writing and identity since all three things are important for the growth of people. Jose looked for a way to know himself writing and reading, since as he mentions in one part a story can have different points of view, as much as when you are writing something we investigate reading we learn more things. I also believe that a good way to get to know yourself is to question where we came from and where we think life will take us. This helped me by letting me know that mi life can have different perspective and it is for the way that people look at me. This will help me in this class because I will need to be agree that a lot of people may not be agree on what I say or think. When we read something, we know how the author think but when we write people get to know how we think which is part of our identity.
I really like your response. It made me think of other articles of this week. Reading and Writing have a lot of power when we really know how to read and write the correct way. When we see how writers write their stories we have a deep understanding of the actual meaning and seeing the writing will help us write our own stories.
Jose Olivares made a significant and solid point when talking about reading writing and how it relates to identity, empowerment, and education. Jose mentioned that he needed to read books written by Latinx authors, not to look for answers to his questions but to understand why he was asking himself these questions. He wanted to read something that he knew was out of the curriculum. Writers can let everyone know how they see the world, whether by telling a story of their own, thoughts they want to share, or even stories that have been passed on and changed over the years. Authors have the responsibility of educating and empowering people who read their books. I read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Moreover, I was educating and empowering myself with this book. Not only can I relate to the author, but I have the same ideas, and that motivated me to chase the dream of becoming someone like him. I want to write, express my thoughts, and motivate others based on what I have written on paper; this is why this class will be helpful. I am shy when talking to people, but do not want to sound shy on paper. This class can help me become more confident in my writing.
Hey! I am fully agree about what you said, and i think we are in the same situation because I am a very shy person, but I would like to let people know I think and how I see my life. Keep on your way to achieve whatever your goal is!!!!
In “Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing,” author Jose Olivarez discusses the importance of reading and writing for knowing who we are, how we feel, and how our experiences shape us. From my perspective, Olivarez suggests that reading and writing are not just tools for communication, but are powerful tools for knowing oneself, finding empowerment, and gaining education as well. In literature, people can understand themselves more deeply through the exploration of different perspectives, cultures, and experiences. Writing allows individuals to express themselves and learn about themselves. The benefits of reading and writing extend beyond academic knowledge. Learning and communicating are lifelong skills. As an introvert, I prefer to express myself through writing. I might be able to expand my thoughts and insights and gain more confidence in communicating through this course.
In”Maybe I Could Save Myself By Writing”, Jose writes about reading and writing’s relationship to identity, empowerment, and education. Jose tells us a story of his own that made him find his answers by reading and writing. I think what he means is that literacy made him find power in his education. He first felt like he belonged nowhere but after finding power and identity in reading and writing he was more comfortable with the knowledge he had. I think that the relationship between reading and writing connects with empowerment, education, and identity. When we are ready we are educated ourselves with something we are not sure about. The more we read and write we find things we belong to and that gives us power. This connects to how I think it will impact class because reading and writing will help me develop skills and connect with other stories being shared. I might read stories that will help me find things I relate to or stories I disagree with. Also, writing will improve my knowledge of how I should be writing stories. Overall, this class will make all of us be more comfortable with literacy and its power.
Jose Olivarez expresses that he had a loss of identity related to his heritage and that reading works by Chicanx and Latinx authors helped him find that missing piece. Instead of only looking for stories he suddenly began to write as well. I believe there is a strong connection between reading, writing, and identity. If you have identity issues reading and writing might help you express yourself more effectively and better comprehend who you are. For instance it could be something as simple as not knowing what career you want to pursue. If reading about a career and what it requires piques your interest you can end up choosing that path and falling in love with it. If you already have an identity, reading and writing could help you cement your identity and advance your personal development. This affects what i think about this class because i am aware that everyone has a unique relationship with those, which means we all have different viewpoints and answers on topics. Its always interesting hearing another persons perspective on a subject.
In “Maybe I Can Save Myself by writing” José Olivarez develops the theme of how reading poetry and writing allowed him to truly discover himself and his cultural background. Olivarez tells his personal experience to emphasize the importance of having passion and a personal tie when it comes to writing. Personally I agree with his stance having a more personal tie and passion can allow you to not only become a more invested reader but to see yourself in authors and discover that author inside of you. I believe with more personal writings it empowers you to learn yourself and how to better express yourselves in ways you may not even think possible. in terms of class I look forward to finding the passion behind the texts I read and finding those personal bonds within them as well as applying that to my work as a writer.
I agree with what you said about how having a more personal tie and passion can help you see yourself in authors and discover that author inside of you. You can learn things that could influence your writing or help you see things from a different perspective. It’s like putting yourself in the author’s shoes.
In “Maybe I Could Save Myself by Writing.” Jose Alvarez writes about how reading and writing formed a power for him that helped him succeed and save himself from his difficult situation. Jose talks about how growing up he struggled with his identity and empowering himself to gain knowledge and feel better within himself. He felt like he didn’t fit in whether it was in his home country Mexico or the United States and faced challenging obstacles while not knowing what to do. Jose loved reading and in the moment of disparity, he started to read books that made him feel he wasn’t alone, which then led to his writing stage that took him to another level in life. He made a connection through reading and writing and that not only helped him embrace his identity but wanted to help other people who were stuck in a similar situation. Reading and writing are very important skills that form a strong connection and only get better with growth. It’s very hard to have one skill without the other and when you bring reading and writing together you grow and become more knowledgeable. Reading and writing are connected and can improve many aspects of life including communication skills, comprehension skills, and strengthening your identity. Writing more makes us become better readers and reading more makes us become better writers. Not everybody can relate to Jose’s story because he had a strong passion for reading which later on transferred also to writing but strengthening our reading and writing skills makes us more powerful and can open us to a new chapter in our life. This impacts the way I think about this class because it’s making me consider how I want to live my life as a reader and writer. Before reading this article, I never really thought about the benefits in reading and writing and thought it was only important for education. I want to see how powerful and knowledgeable I can be if I put more effort into reading and writing whether it’s in school or my personal life.
Jose Olivarez believe reading and writing is so much more important than just pimping information to your brain. He believes it can give people so much more for example Identity. I believe that reading and writing gives us the identity of the author and can show empowerment of one’s story. This also gives education by showing us narratives about a certain event. This impacts the way i learn in class because it will help me be more aware and take in consideration of people’s pasts and experiences and how each event they have gone through can or did change them.
In “maybe I could save myself by writing” Jose olivarez shares how he felt alone due to the duality of his identity, he was Mexican but was born in America leading him to feel too American for Mexico and too Mexican for America. When reading books he felt like he wasn’t alone and it inspired him to write poems sharing his experience. When he started writing he realized he wasn’t the only one feeling that way and he now had this community with support and strength which allowed him to know what his identity was and what it meant to him. Olivarez was able to find empowerment and confidence in himself by having a voice and he helped others with his voice as well. Reading, writing and identity all correlate because when reading you can find someone you relate to, when writing you can be that person you relate to by writing that you wish you had been told. You create a voice not only for yourself but for others who can now be inspired by what you’re sharing. This ties into identity because identity is what you create for yourself and when expressing yourself freely whether by writing books or poems, you can create a world for yourself that leaves you empowered. This impacts the way I think about this class because we all have different minds and points to share and this will let me view different perspectives and see why a person might think a certain way.
I think what Olivarez talked about with his relation between reading/writing and empowerment, identity, and education is that it was his door to all of those things in a life where he felt like he didn’t have any of those. I also would agree that reading/writing can help empower and educate yourself, but personally I don’t have as much connection to finding my identity through it. These connections do actually get me more excited for this class. In the past I had happened to skip doing work for English classes as it felt like it was too personal or creative for my ability. This story as well as some personal development have recently made me want to get into it as I feel like it is one thing I have been missing.