āWhen I Learned to Readā by Salvatore Scibona was published in The New Yorker on June 13th and 20th 2011, and it talks bout Scibona struggling throughout his teenage years. In high school Scibona found himself lost and in a slump academically, despite having an interest for reading. He was able to use this interest as a path to land himself in his āintellectual homeā that improved his overall self. Scibona mentions escaping the addiction of watching too much t.v by going into a backyard shed to read or at least he attempted to. He describes not really knowing what he was doing but still came away with a sense of happiness. Which is supported in paragraph three where it states,āI didnāt really know how to read. Reading messed with my brain in an unaccountable way. It made me happyā. His senior year of highs school he would discover the place āSt. Johns Collegeā where he found his āintellectual homeā. From the time Scibona read and looked at the brochure to St. Johns he knew this was the place he needed to to be. The text states,ā I would scrap everything and go to that place and ask them to let me in. It felt like a vocation. It was a vocation.ā This further proves that St. Johns was the authors āintellectual homeā and the best place suited for him. By Scibona senior year at college he grew used to reading and it no longer felt like a difficult task. Along his years he was surprised he was able to form friendships throughout his time. This was a major improvement from his high school years and probably could not have happened if he had not found his āintellectual homeāat St Johns College. The author concludes by going back to his teenage hardships and how his life was going in the wrong direction. Until he was able to use his interest in reading to get into college where he reinvested himself and changed his life.
Dawson Lockhart
What I liked about your post is that you managed to point out each detail of how Scibona started off and felt along with how he ended up and his life changed for the better. What I also liked is that you used good quotes to match your reasoning.
I liked the way you deciphered the reading to answer the assignment, It’s like you are Scibona himself. Very descriptive and very in depth. I agree with the perspectives you are bringing to this assignment. You bring the right pieces of evidence to support your claims. It is always important to include evidence to any claim. Scibona loved to read but although not always comprehending what he was reading. But a life changing moment can happen at anytime that changes it all, just like the moment he was handed the St. Johns College brochure. Everything was clear for me in this CoffeeHouse Post.
Sincerely,
David Rodriguez
I really like how you mentioned how you said he used his interest to find his intellectual home because I agree he used his interest in reading to find a college for him and he used his lack of interest in regular school activities to find it in a way too, I also agree with how you said he was going the wrong way during high school because he was in a bad place mentally
Hi Dawson,
Great Post. Fine use of key words and very sharp insight into Scibona’s Intellectual Home.
-Prof. Scanlan