Salvatore Scibona is the author of a essay called “where I learned to read” which was posted on the new yorker june 13th, 2011. To start out the essay he goes into how he hated school and how he did not want be where he was at. you see this in the first sentence where he says “I did my best to flunk out of high school.” from the first sentence you can already see he was unhappy. Another instance where you see this state of mind he was in was when he said “It was a prudent first career in that I wanted with certainty only one thing, to get out of Ohio,”. This was the beginning of him descbing what would go on to be his intellectual home later on in the essay. The first time you get a hint of what his intellectual home is , was when he spoke about “back yard rehab “ which was when he read any book he could alone in a old shed alone, and how he liked reading when he was not forced to. Soon after this he had found out about st. john’s college,a college that did not force him to read for assignment or do anything he did not enjoy in his time in high school. This is when you start find out about his intellectual home. Salvatore starts speaking on his time in college and how everything and everyone around him made him feel immersed and happy because he could just read. This was his intellectual home a place where he felt comfortable and like himself, a place that did not force him to do anything he did not want to do , a place where everyone around him was likeminded , this is where he did his best academic work.
The OpenLab at City Tech:A place to learn, work, and share
The OpenLab is an open-source, digital platform designed to support teaching and learning at City Tech (New York City College of Technology), and to promote student and faculty engagement in the intellectual and social life of the college community.
top
Elijah Heredia, I appreciate your discussion of the intellectual home of Salvatore Scibona. In his “where I learn to read ” Salvatore Scibona addresses his intellectual home and reading habits. “where I learn to read” passage has two parts, describing his school life in one section and describing his college life in another part. Scibona, his school life in an exhausting and crowded house, his intellectual home was the backyard of his house at that time, and it was described as a “backyard rehab” by the writer in his writing. Another portion of the story writer explains his intellectual home in college life, which is st. john. Scibona still thinks like he’s on holiday while he’s in college, which he enjoyed. Elijah described the college life of Scibonas in-depth and nicely.
Elijah,
Thanks for this first post. Your conclusion aptly conveyed how good his college was him. One thing though, he actually was not able to chose the books he read, Each class and semester is set in stone.
-Prof. Scanlan