Category: Essay 1: Intellectual Home (Page 2 of 3)

Kevin Pala

Father and Me

While I enjoyed both “Where I Learned to Read” by Salvatore Scibona, and “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie I feel I can relate more to Alexie’s story. My father is someone who I look up to up to, he is someone who has shaped me into the person I am today. In Alexie’s story his father plays a major role in his life, and is one of his intellectual homes which is why I relate to his story more. First, I will explain why my father is one of my intellectual homes, then I will explain more on how Alexie’s father was his intellectual home. Finally, I will talk about how I can build on my intellectual home based off some things I read by Scibona’s “Where I Learned to Read”.
An Intellectual home can be ‘what people, places, or processes help you (or anybody) do your best academic work?’ According to Prof. Scanlan. I’ve followed my dad since a young age and always looked up to, which is why I did a lot of things he did. He would play soccer and take me to his games and when I was old enough, I asked to join a team also. Even as I got older, I would still do things he did, I started working in construction since 14 and picked up a lot from him. My father pushes me to do my best academic work because I see the effort he’s putting to help me get through college. He always would say a saying ‘Study and go to school so you won’t always be breathing this dust’, which the dust would be from the jobs we would do. Although I don’t get to see him every day or talk to him every day, I know how proud me graduating and getting a career would make him which is another driving factor for me to do my best academic work.
“Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie is about how an Indian boy from a reservation that learned how to read off a superman comic. In the story Alexie talks about how his father likes to read all types of books, it doesn’t matter what type of book it was, it didn’t matter the genre, the man just enjoyed reading. Alexie states “My father loved books, and since I loved my father with an aching devotion, I decided to love books as well (Alexie, 1).” This demonstrates how his father is one of Alexie’s intellectual homes. He looks up to his father and his father also helped guide him into what Alexie is today. Nowadays Alexie is reading and inspiring other Indian reservation kids. He states “These days, I write novels, short stories, and poems. I visit schools and teach creative writing to Indian kids (Alexie, 2).” This show’s how his father helped shaped who Alexie is today, although he didn’t end up doing something related to reading, he is continuing to read and passing on the passion he got from his father.
In Scibona’s “Where I learned to read” it talks about a student who considers himself a lost cause, but it all changes when he receives a college brochure, and it completely flips his view and his efforts that he puts into school. Scibona was working a minimum wage at “3.85”, only thinking about leaving Ohio and working in different KFC’s. After the switch of perspective Scibona had, when he joined college, he discovered his intellectual homes, which to him are his friends and the actual college itself. He states “On weekends, I hung out with my friends. The surprise, the wild luck: I had friends. One sat in my room with a beer and The Phenomenology of Spirit, reading out a sentence at a time and stopping to ask, “All right, what did that mean?” The gravity of the whole thing would have been laughable if it hadn’t been so much fun, and if it hadn’t been such a gift to find my tribe (Scibona, 1).” This shows how he fully changed perspectives and because he started opening doors, he was able to make friends, he’s studying and having a good time alongside his new friends. I can build off this by starting to try and make new friends, I’m struggling a bit with certain subjects and maybe if I open up and try to talk to more people I can have study sessions with them to better grasp the concept and we would all excel.

Angelo Arana

10/3/2022

ENG 1121

            While I believe each article I read was relatable in it’s own way to the average teenager. The story that to me resonated most would have to be Jenny Liao’s “Forgetting My First language” and Esmeralda Santiago “When I was Puerto Rican”. Firstly, I’ll begin by explaining to me where I feel most at peace, my intellectual home. Next, I will explain how Jenny Liao and Santiago have a similar, yet different life stories compared to mine. Lastly

            To begin with, I never truly had a home. Home is what some may call a material, a place better said however to me, home is with my mother. Growing up I constantly moved around places since I was a military brat. I began being born in Okinawa Japan, then I moved to Texas at an early age and shortly after I was in Florida. Suddenly next thing I knew I found myself living in New York City the largest change I could ever be given, so moving constantly I never truly felt at home anywhere I went since it always felt like I’d end up moving soon. The only thing that would always be with me everywhere was my “Oka-san” (mother), my safe place and my happy place.

            When it relates to my intellectual home however that would have to be my laptop. It’s a method really, firstly the time of day must be late night where the sun is asleep, and the moon is awake. Next, I need to have my laptop with me with an assignment due soon and I will get to work like the Flash. For some reason, once there is added on pressure, I feel like my work engines start running it’s fastest. Usually, most people can’t work well under pressure however I on the other hand enjoy it as I am more motivated to finish. I need an extra push to be able to finish my studies and no one truly motivates me as much as time does. Although it may be dark outside while everyone is sleeping at peace, my world is still loud and stressed to finish every assignment I have due within the day. However don’t get it twisted, although I may be feeling rushed, the peace of the day time gives me balance and my laptop feeling so smooth in my hands allows the perfect quality while also fast.

            I have a great deal of love for my Oka-san, although nowadays it is difficult to communicate with our native language since moving to America I started to forget my second language. Jenny Liao mentions (61) “First-language attritions” which is something I can greatly relate to. I first learned Spanish and then quickly after Japanese as I came from Spanish-Asian parents. Just as Jenny Liao (61), my family didn’t speak English thus I always found myself speaking a different language around my family besides English. So as Jenny Liao mentioned growing up going through ESL, I too went through ESL until I learned English and was often translating for my family whenever it came to anything. Thus after learning English I began to forget my Japanese and I noticed this especially when I went back to Japan. Once I returned people around me alike were trying to speak to me in Japanese which is where I learned that I had completely forgetting my language struggling just to reply to people. Filled with such embarrassment I had to try my best to remember language however I found it difficult as I had little practice given that I lived in America.

            Honestly when it comes to intellectual homes I could definitely work on my method. Preferably be able to get through having to just finish the work through the nighttime and be able to start at the morning day light. To begin I have to learn how to work as good as I do under pressure then without pressure since there’s a difference as clear as day and night.

Muhammad Raihan
ENG 1121
Prof. Scanlan
09/28/22

Something to Look Forward to

            While I like Jenny Liao’s, Salvator Scibona and Howard Gardner’s essays, I believe that I can relate more with the rebellious attitude of teenage Salvator Scibona. To prove this, I must first reveal a bit of my personality which will also explain my home and Intellectual home. Next, I will compare my perspective towards the process of studying with teenage Scibona and how my unspoken promise to meet the expectations of my parents relates to Liao losing her first language. Lastly, Gardner’s Synthesizing mind will help me to create an improved intellectual home so I can be successful as a future construction manager.
             I am incredibly lazy. I keep extra pencils and pens on my side table just so I don’t have to get off my memory foam bed to find another one. I keep everything related to school in my line of sight, I hang my book bag on the wall in front of me and keep a fat binder full of loose-leaf paper on my side table. This table, placed next to my bed, is big enough to always be in my peripheral vision. I always have my phone and laptop with me, and since most of my work is online I am only a few clicks away from initiating my AutoCad drawings, assignments on blackboard or typed lab reports. I also have my parents to think about, everytime the semester starts and my parents have to help pay my tuition. I have to make sure not to let them down or make the money go to waste. This is my intellectual home, the process of giving myself easy access and the people reminding me of my responsibilities so I am forced to complete them.
              I love to sleep or rather, I hate to lose it over something as frivolous as homework. Same thing with when I watch Netflix, I can’t enjoy what I’m into if I have this looming thought that my assignments are due next week. In this way I can say that I’m similar to how Scibona was in the beginning of his essay, I can empathize with how he wouldn’t read books that people would assign him and would watch TV all day. Where he states “The television stayed on day and night, singing like a Siren in the crowded house. ‘Come sit by me and die a little,’ it said.” While he says that the television would make him die a little, I infer that he still enjoyed the TV a lot more than studying. But he knew that like a Siren, the tube was leading him astray from his real destination. The whole day Scibona is tempted towards watching TV which is also something that I think about all the time whenever I’m in class or when I come home and have to do my assignments. Therefore, when it comes to procrastinating I am losing my way and I only feel short term relief. So, I think of watching Netflix and sleeping as a reward after having completed my work and this process of having something to look forward to helps me work my best.
              I often ask myself, why am I not getting started on my assignment? Or when will I be free? Questions like these arise whenever I’m trying to do something fun like playing video games. I can identify with Scibona’s self reflection when he asks himself in the second paragraph of his essay “wasn’t it far-fetched, this notion of a future, when I could hardly get through eleventh grade? I always showed up at that job; why couldn’t I show up at the desk in my room and write a C-minus summary of the life of Woodrow Wilson?” Although Scibona did not like his job very much and was still trying to save money from it, I think that deep down he knew that only education would help him save for his future and that is why he would ask these questions to himself out of regret. Similarly, I try to be honest to myself so that I don’t make up any fake excuses and lose focus towards my goals of completing my responsibilities. That is why I am thankful that these questions pop up in my head because then I am forced to address them just like Scibona was trying to look for a way to answer his questions.
              I truly love my parents, they have always encouraged me to keep moving forward even If I failed. In Jenny Liao’s personal narrative, she feels heartbroken every time she can’t communicate with her parents, because she knows that they are the ones who raised her to be successful in life. It says “my parents believed that a mastery of English would promise a good, stable job in the future. This missing piece in my parents’ lives would propel me forward for the rest of mine.” This displays that Liao knew her parents sacrificed their own ambitions and wanted to see their dreams come true by allowing their children to receive an excellent education. That is why Liao feels responsible for losing her language and breaking their hearts everytime they converse. Just like her I recognize my parents’ sacrifice for working all day and paying for my tuition. Therefore, I have to fulfill my right as their son to live up to their expectations and not let their sacrifice go in vain.
             For me to build a better intellectual home I have to hopefully start liking the career that I have chosen for myself. So far I can see how being a construction manager would be a challenging job for a lazy person like myself. However, the Synthesizing mind from Gardner’s essay gives me hope that I can improve my intellectual home since I can work better with a team. He says “ the various workers on hand, their current assignments and skills, and how best to execute the current priority and move on to the next one…As she begins to develop new visions, communicate them to associates.” Here Gardner expresses the importance of combining different types of information and experiences together in order for the manager to make the best decision and move forward. I too like to make sure that the decisions I make are swift and follow a clear step by step plan to get my work done efficiently. And this can be done best with a team where individuals who are skilled at their respective craft combine their teamwork and help each other so they can perform a task to perfection.