Emmanuel's Literacy Dig

In my bedroom...

Object #1: Ruled Post-It notes adhered to the wall adjacent to my couch. There are three of them. One list words that made an impression on me. The other has original thoughts, quotes and phrases that I felt like recording at one time or another. The third is a list of my favorite television networks with their corresponding channel numbers next to them.

• Overall Significance: I consider myself to be fairly eloquent and I'm constantly trying to expand my lexicon. This is why I regularly scribble down either words which I find interesting sounding or words to which I don't know the meaning. When watching television or even overhearing conversation, I jot down phrases and words. As for the list of television networks and their respective channels, I can never seem to remember what numbers to press on the TV remote when I want to watch "The Office" or The Discovery Channel.

Object #2: A poem to a lady friend; a work in progress.

• Overall Significance: The first line reads, "Your name, the most beautiful utterance my lips have ever produced." Initially, my girlfriend wanted me to write a song for her, but the she realized that my I sang terribly. I decided I would write her a poem that has lingered for months. The page is sprawling with scribbles; the vestiges of a completely different poem can be seen under cross-out markings. This profoundly sentimental piece of writing has to be perfect before she can see it.

In the living room...

Object #3: A broken piece of wood, nailed to the wall, covered in signatures.

• Last year, my roommates and I had barbecue in our backyard. All our friends were invited and we lapped up several 30-packs of canned beer. In my drunken stupor, I bet my friend that I could karate chop and splinter a rigid piece of wood. Everyone gathered as I suspended the piece between two tables and proceeded to chop it in two congruent pieces. All the witnesses signed it with a blue fine-point Sharpie. This demonstrates how writing is an integral part of preserving memories, to me at least.

Object #4: A Charter Communications bill and an attached note that boldly reads, "PAY ME!!", thumb-tacked to my roommate's door.

• My roommate, fed up with my other roommate's inability to ever pay his share of the utilities on time, nails the bill and the accusatory note to our other roommate's door. At least in this household, sometimes a hand written note can be much more effective than a few oral word.

Girlfriend's dorm room on campus (second home)...

Object #5: Literally inscribed on the wall adjoining my girlfriend's roommate's bed in purple and blue Crayola are the rules to the popular drinking game, King.

• My girlfriend's roommate, Betsy, is a self-proclaimed alcoholic and the fact that she is under 21 yrs of age and the rules to a drinking game are written directly on her wall is evidence to her incessant drinking. She misspelled the word "categories" and different discourses are evident in the rules. One of the steps is "Bust a rhyme," this is a popular saying in African American vernacular used when one person prompts another to "rap" a few verses.