Category: Coffeehouse #1 (Page 1 of 2)

The Article “Where I Learned How to Read” by Salvatore Scibona was written in a first-person point of view. Salvatore spoke about how he was trying best to fail out of school. He was making only $3.85 an hour at KFC which he enjoyed. He didn’t like being in school because he wasn’t good at it, and he didn’t bother to ask for help either. Every time he gets a report card, he burns it on the stove in his job. He thought he could get re-positioned anywhere in the country to work for KFC. Eventually while exploring, he found about a college call St. John’s which he wanted to attend. He decided to get himself together so he could be admitted into the school. In his classes at school, he discovered how much he enjoyed reading. Overall, I liked this reading because even though you might not find your purpose in life, there is going to be something that crosses your path to change your point of view on everything. I can relate to his story because I was a person who didn’t take school seriously until I realized it is needed to make a better future for myself.

This story was told in a first person POV and where he speaks about his life growing up. The first thing I noticed when reading “Where I Learned To Read” by Scibona was that he was rebellious to start with. He felt like there shouldn’t be rules and limit him and he should be able to do what he wants. He failed his classes and burned his report card on purpose. He believed he was a lost cause so he didn’t do anything school related. As I read more through the story I realized he didn’t like strings attached because he states  “as long as nobody assigned the book he could stick with it”. Problem with this was that he didn’t know how to read cause he would always drop out his class and not take responsibility for his education. All that changed when he heard about college. He wanted to get into St. John college and ask them to let him in, there he learned to read and “married it”. He did all types of things he never seen himself doing before, he made new friends, now loved reading. He was almost addicted where he felt he couldn’t survive without reading, his body needed it. I felt he wasn’t obeying school rules in the beginning and being rebellious and doing what he wants, but he found a passion for reading and chased it. This is a little similar to “Superman and Me” where Alexie loved reading to begin with and was a good kid. On the other hand Scibona was rebellious then learned what literature can do for you so in the end both pieces of writing ends up with both authors love reading.

This first person pov story shows how reading impacted the narrators life in a positive way. He begins the story introducing how much he despised school. Surprisingly he actually tried to flunk out of high school intentionally, only to work the job he loved so much paying him $3.85 an hour. I believe most young people can relate to a certain extent. Many young people, myself included, hated school growing up. I don’t think it was to the point where we’re trying to flunk intentionally but he would grab most readers attention. This story shows how he was lost in life with no real ambition aside from longing for the colonel to hire him anywhere in the world. He was leading himself down a path filled with struggles… He was introduced to reading before college and his life took a sharp turn for the better. He found his love for reading and did everything in his power to attend St Johns college. He had no hope in life until reading and college was introduced to him. It goes to show that in life there is always the light at the end of the tunnel. No matter what you’re going through nothing lasts forever. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and find your purpose and what makes you happy.

Mandy Francois

Mandy Francois
Coffeehouse 1

My favorite essay is Scibona because of all the imagery used. I feel like Alexis’ essay was well written, good even– but it was one dimensional and like a sitcom where they only hangout in the same living room. In Scibona’s essay, their words prompted my mind to illustrate different settings, smells and made me pause and think. For instance, $3.85 per hour is insane– then I realized that it may have been average for the time. I also thought about the smell of grease, my friends who attend St John’s University, how people read Donald Trump’s biography before he was president and so forth. I also vaguely relate to building a different relationship with reading and books, as I entered college and felt like my life too, became multifaceted and I felt a stronger sense of choice. I also relate to not doing so well in highschool and finding myself being more disciplined and engaged with my post secondary education. I’ve also observed that Scibona’s essay takes us forward in time, while Shermie Alexis’ is almost stagnant and barely moving past what I imagined of them as a child and what a reservation looked like.

The piece “Where I learned to read” by Salvatore Scibana is a story narrated in 1st person. He essentially speaks about his struggle through high school as he never found classes interesting and often struggled to even pass classes. He actually goes throughout all of high school with no goals in life working at his fast food restaurant with actually believing that the Colonel would hire him anywhere in the world. It isn’t until he is introduced to college in where he can finally begin reading pieces he finds interesting, then his life begins to change for the better. Thus the story mainly takes place in St John’s (his college) where he finally learns how to read and enjoy his readings. Personally I did not enjoy this piece as I found his reasoning for disliking and struggling in school almost idiotic. He is quick to blame school for always giving uninteresting books and only college has these “books” he can find enjoyment in, the way I see it he could’ve just picked up a book on his own time, learn to read there and discover his preferred genre.

This short essay was written in first person which is by the author name Salvatore Scibona. At first he managed to always fail his classes in High School because he just purely wasn’t interested in school. To him his future was a toss up because he wasn’t sure what to do with his life. He then admitted later that he actually didn’t know how to read but somewhat reading made him happy in a way. Until he came across this girl who received a college brochure and realized the types of books they read which made which interested and want to attend college. Which he did and basically turned his life around. Love reading books and was the hobby he enjoyed the most. In the end the author ended with closing statement by comparing his old self to the way he views himself now which is a huge difference. To me personally, I like the book because he adds some funny moments, and liked the way he transitioned into this different person going into college. Each paragraph resent his thought process and how he felt about life. He even added a paragraph with one sentence which was weird and different.

The story “where I learned to read” by Salvatore Scibana is told in 1st person view and he basically talks about himself. He talks about how he was a lost cause back in high school, how he’d purposefully flunk his classes. He would contemplate how he’d rather show up to his job ready to work for $3.85 an hour then go to his desk at home and do homework for a better grade. After him seeing himself as a lost cause all it took was looking through a brochure of a college for him to get hooked into it, he was intrigued by the curriculum, of basically just learning and not being graded or having to take tests. Once he made the discovery of St. Joseph college he did everything he can to attend it and he changed his view on school. He learned to read their, he even memorized the Greek alphabet a year before he had to go to school. It goes to show that all it takes is a little open crack of a door can open a whole bunch doors. I see  myself in the authors position because my sophomore year of high school college wasn’t in the picture, the idea of me even going to college was not in my head, I was working in construction and thought what do i need school for.

Coffee House #1

In the short essay “Where I Learned to Read” Salvatore Scibonas narrates in first person to openly describe the impact books had in his life. Scibona was balancing both work and school and found himself prioritizing his job repeatedly. Despite this he had a comfort zone where he enjoyed reading and called the “Backyard-rehab”. Reading made him feel happy and later on what started as a hobby became his daily need not only mentally but physically too. He found a group of friends who helped him better understand what reading refers to. They were able to further analyze what they read together and in a fun environment. When everything wasn’t going well for him he found refuge in reading books and thanks to the friends who he found amongst him he was saved from his own reality, for at least as long as he kept himself reading. The main message in the essay written by Scibonas is the power books hold on us. I enjoyed reading this essay because it is a piece of reading that I can strongly connect to my own experiences in which reading and books have saved me from my own reality and allowed me to live thousands of lives aside from my own. 

“Where I Learned to Read” and “Superman And Me” are very similar yet differ greatly. They’re similar in the sense that both of the authors learned and loved to read but they differ because while Alexi Sherman learned and loved to read a a very young age, Salvatore Scibona did so in his late teens in college. Another way they differ is the way they learned to love reading. Sherman Alexi’s father was his reason for learning to read because his father always spent their extra funds on books of all kinds. Scibona didn’t have anybody to help him until he was in college. I think the shared theme in these stories is that reading can lead to happiness when there isn’t any direction in ones life. Reading helped Alexi keep his head in an environment that was mainly hostile. Its because of that that he started going to reservation schools to tell kids that were just like him about the wonders of books. Scibona hated his classes until he went to college. When he started reading, he fell in love with it.