Nathan Bruce Alford
Major Garriot
ERH-101-18
28 November 2016
Help Received:
11/15/16 – Counseling with Major Garriot; we discussed themes and my thesis statement
11/16/16 – Nick Domahoski peer reviewed as part of the classwork for the day
The Thesaurus feature on Microsoft Word helped me with word choice
Spellcheck helped me with spelling mistakes
A Culture in Crisis:
How my Upbringing in a Dying Culture Wrote my Literacy Narrative
I lived the typical country boy lifestyle growing up. My closet is full of relaxed-fit blue jeans, flannel shirts, camouflage shirts, and countless baseball caps. I frequented my grandparents’ family farm to help my grandfather keep the place running smoothly. My favorite breakfast meal is chipped beef gravy over two fluffy biscuits. I am not afraid to get my hands dirty. This unique upbringing has led me to become literate in many areas that other members of my generation are not. I am a member of a rapidly decreasing percentage in my age group that knows how to hook up the PTO[1] shaft of a tractor to a bush hog. I doubt many of my peers even know what PTO stands for! It is knowledge like this which is becoming even more scarce in the modern lifestyle. I am a member of a centuries-old culture which is slowly being phased out by modernization, and, as evident in my writings in middle and high school, the declination of my way of life has developed me into a mature, well-rounded reader who never misses an opportunity to write to preserve my heritage.
One man who is also living in a dying culture is Sherman Alexie. Alexie is of Native American origin and grew up on the Spokane Indian Reservation in Washington. Native American culture is on a drastic decline in the United States. Increasing modernization and urban expansion in reservations is choking out the ancient traditions that have been in place for hundreds of years. Malcom Little, commonly known as “Malcom X” was an ardent civil rights activist. He too, faced the death of his culture, the African-American culture. Because of my similarity to both situations as a member of the declining country boy lifestyle, I will be using Alexie’s work, The Joy of Writing: Superman and Me and Malcom X’s work, Learning to Read, in this essay.
One of the greatest influences I had growing up was my father. I learned everything about being a country boy from how to plant a garden to the secrets of the country kitchen from him. This is very similar to the situation which Sherman Alexie describes in The Joy of Writing: Superman and Me, where the books his father brought home shaped his love of reading and influenced his entire life. The bonds we shared with our fathers were such an influence in our reading and writing habits (Alexie). My father and I shared many magazines and books about hunting, fishing, guns, the military, and history, all of which have become my favorite topics to study either for school work or just for fun.
My dad taught me how to hunt on my grandparents’ property, and after five cold winters spent sitting in the woods, I finally killed my first deer. In the summer of 2013 we built a house on the hill overlooking that very spot, and I continued my yearly pilgrimage into the woods, battling rain, shine, or ten inches of fresh snow, oftentimes at five-thirty in the morning. These experiences taught me much about nature and her bounty. They have inspired numerous short stories and poems about the outdoor lifestyle. I had a multitude of opportunities to write about my outdoor experiences thanks to many of my middle and high school teachers. A hallmark of my nature writing is my extensive use of imagery. Countless mornings spent high up in my treestand or climbing out of my frost-covered tent to see beautiful winter sunrises have given me plenty of picturesque memories to incorporate into my writing. I recreate the senses I experienced in my writing, especially making appeals to sight and sound. Oftentimes I like to write about a crisp, cool morning in the snow-covered woods, branches brittle with frost snapping at the slightest pressure, every few minutes hearing the low moan of a gust of wind whipping through the trees. My teachers loved my writing style and encouraged me to write more about my nature-driven lifestyle throughout my middle and high school career.
As such an iconic American pastime that hunting is, it is in a state of decline. While the number of Americans who hunt has increased in the last 50 years, human expansion into rural areas is severely cutting down on wild game habitat, hurting populations and hindering the partaking in hunting. I cannot drive through Goochland County with my dad without him pointing out to me a clear-cut or a subdivision which only 30 years ago had been one of his treasured hunting grounds. This means that while my love of hunting sure knows no bounds, one thing that is restricted is the amount of physical location that I am allowed to hunt.
Another serious problem which the hunting community faces is the increase in the negative view on hunting culture, a direct result of a shift in the political views of the United States. Most Americans are becoming disposed towards hunting due to its alleged animal cruelty and promotion of guns, leading to a push for more limits on season duration and bag limits and even the prohibition of hunting altogether. The decline in my favorite pastime has motivated me to become even more involved in its preservation. Whenever I write on the topic, I am writing about something which I love dearly, which contains a lot of powerful memories about my upbringing, and therefore I will write about it with a reverence that is not seen in my writings in other subject areas. The effects of this can be seen beyond the scope of my pen and pencil; I have voted in every election I have been able since I turned eighteen and will often get into verbal arguments with my peers over these and other related issues.
The threat of losing my favorite pastime has inspired me to become a sort of a political activist both in my family and in the classroom. One topic that I often choose to write persuasively on is gun control. I was inspired in the same way that Malcom X was inspired to become the famous Civil Rights activist he is known as today. In Learning to Read, he writes about how he learned to read in prison, and how what he read led him to develop his views, which were somewhat extreme and unpopular at the time. In my case, it seems that not a week passes by when I can avoid turning on the news and hearing about another tragic shooting and bills being introduced in legislatures all over the country threatening to restrict my beloved Second Amendment rights. I am also reminded of this when I open my father’s monthly issue of American Rifleman and read letters and editorials from like-minded members of the National Rifle Association. These readings inspire me to do research and gather as much information as I can on the negative effects of gun control whenever I get the opportunity to write about it in class. When I write, I write with just as much zest as Malcom X wrote about the injustices done to his people during the Civil Rights era. I put so much work in this so that, at least, my voice will be heard.
Sometimes, the stereotype which I face as a member of the southern, country-boy culture is not helpful in pursuing my goals. I am occasionally looked on by those who don’t know me as a dumb, uneducated redneck. It comes as a shock to some across the aisle when I tell them I have done my research. One example presents itself whenever I have arguments with my aunt, who has very liberal political views, and always discounts every supporting fact I give her as some biased opinion I either got from my dad or from some republican on the internet. Unfortunately, my only option is just to keep my foot at my mouth and leave my political convictions at home whenever we have a family get-together. This issue is not just limited to me: it is a problem which all my country brethren face and one which Sherman Alexie knows all too well. He writes, “We were Indian children who were expected to be stupid. Most lived up to the expectation inside the classroom but subverted them on the outside” (Alexie p. 130). There are those in my culture who fit the description which Alexie gives: they are not the most academically gifted but they are smart, down-to-earth people with hearts of gold. It is for them, my best friends, who I write for when I write about the culture which we share or the politics which is threatening our way of life.
My experience growing up in a culture in crisis has greatly influenced my writing style, allowing me to become a mature, well-rounded writer who is willing to take every opportunity to write from my heart. This is evident in the style I use when writing about my upbringing, my favorite pastimes, and my culture. I will continue to fight for the survival of my culture so that I can develop the same bonds with my children and grandchildren that I shared with my father. I will also fight for its preservation so I will never run out of things to read or write about.
Word Count: 1571 words
Works Cited
Alexie, Sherman. “The Joy of Reading and Writing: Superman and Me.” Writing About Writing, Second Edition, Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014.
X, Malcom. “Learning to Read.” Writing About Writing, Second Edition, Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014.
[1] Power Transfer Out