Author: Kevonrl11

English 1101

Intellectual Essay Draft

Professor Sean Scanlan

Intellectual Essay Draft

Everyone has assignments they have to complete, whether it is a student or worker but we all have our own individual space that we can do our best work in. In other ways it can be called an, “Intellectual home.” For others being in a noisy environment can be an intellectual home if that is where they are comfortable working in. We all have our own preferences, but it’s all on what makes us comfortable. My intellectual home would be somewhere with not to many noises or distractions and has a clean work place such as my room or basement.

With all the reading we were able to do there was a similarity in which each of them shared which was being able to find a change that would benefit them. For example this is portrayed in “Where I Learn To Read” by Salvatore Scibona. A student who had no motivation for school and was satisfied with just working at KFC on a minimum wage. Scibona was in his 3rd year of high school when he wanted to drop out and was barely able to read a page of a book since reading was one of his struggles. Even though Scibona found reading difficult he tried putting an effort into reading anything he would be amused by. By his senior year things were starting to change he read a brochure about a college which had caught his attention since it was located in New Mexico. Finally Scibona was able to find motivation in something. He had went onto to college at St. Johns and was able to learn and read as well as being able to excel in his studies. Scibona’s intellectual home was being in school and this was made clear when Scibona stated he would ask St.John to let him in that it was like vacation for him.

In the second reading, “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie. Alexie came from a less fortunate family but still made the most of it. Sherman Alexie had an interest in reading books specifically superman comic books. If there weren’t any superman comic books to read Alexie would read anything from repair manuals to magazines. Reading can be said to be an intellectual home for Alexie since it was his only way away to be distracted from his lifestyle of living in poverty. Alexie states, “I read auto-repair manuals. I read magazines. I read anything that had words and paragraphs. I read with equal parts joy and desperation. I loved those books, but I also knew that love had only one purpose. I was trying to save my life.” The author Sherman Alexie was trying to say that reading was a way of saving himself.

Both readings contributes in a way towards my intellectual home. For example, “Where I Learn To Read,” contributes to a student going away to college which became his intellectual home while my intellectual home is in my room or a quiet and clean environment. These both go hand in hand because both places are an area study with less distractions to enable us to focus more on our tasks that is given to us. Even though the next reading, “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie doesn’t have a place to call an intellectual home and grew up in poverty he still used the resources he had to help benefit himself which was reading. With reading being an escape from distractions and the feeling of poverty it can contribute to how a room can be compared as well. Reading being an escape route for Alexie brought a sense of ease the same way a quiet room can help someone think more clearly about certain situations. Even though Alexie did not have the proper resources he still made the most of what he had and became a future author. Everyone has an intellectual home whether it is a thought process or an actual place, but regardless what your intellectual home is it plays the same role which is to help us focus more on a task to help us get the work we have done to the best of our ability.

I was able to find my intellectual home while I was in High School. It was the second year of high school and I had just made the JV basketball team but there was more to basketball than actual playing. Some of the requirements to stay on the schools basketball were making it on time to study hall, doing good on all homeworks and test, but most of all being able to keep your grades up. Staying on the basketball team was considered to be a privilege since our team was considered a D3 school team. I remember always going to study hall and doing homework for classes but being a locker room as a study hall it was always active and noisy especially while being around other athletes who either had little to no homework. As time went on and I was stuck in this noisy environment and being distracted by everything going on around me my grades were dropping. Not only because of those around me but because the environment I was around wasn’t a good place to focus. Due to my grades dropping I decided to show up to study hall and when time came to start our work I would ask to use the office in the locker room as a quiet well organized place to get my work done. This helped me improve my grades stay on the basketball team and more importantly helped me to find out what my intellectual home was. Now I know a clean and quiet environment is what I need to help me do my work and stay focused.

In conclusion we all have our own intellectual home but is used for the same purpose which is to help us stay focused and on task with our assignments done to the best of our ability.