Phase 1 of English 110 at The City College Of New York has shaped and transformed my existing English skills and abilities into a different form with new perspectives and new ways of thinking that I did not have prior to taking this class. Phase 1 of English 110 has broadened my mind to the politics of language and literacy, and the narratives and experiences that everyone has in the development of language and literacy in their lives. At the beginning of Phase 1, we started using rhetorical worksheets for a variety of stories from authors who wrote about their own life experiences in language and literacy, learning the different perspectives that those from other cultures experience. The first story that we read in class was “Mother Tongue” by Amy Tan, which is about the language and literacy experiences that the author’s mother faced due to her Chinese accent, causing a multitude of challenges in all facets of her life due to the discrimination and bias that many people had against her mother’s form of communication. Additionally, the second story that we read, “Nobody Mean More To Me Than You” by June Jordan, also provided a perspective of how someone who had been challenged and had barriers placed on them because of their own language and literacy. June Jordan’s student’s brother had been murdered by the police due to his so-called “Broken English” sparking outrage within her causing her to question if true English really does exist thereby opening the gateway for so many other African American children to embrace their own language and literacy narratives. These two stories helped expand my view on language and literacy and began to open my eyes to the different experiences of language and literacy that everyone has. Another assignment in the class that further expanded my understanding on language and literacy experiences and politics is the Language & Literacy Narratives and Translation 1. These two assignments truly gave me a full understanding of language and literacy because I took the time to think about my own language and literacy development while also seeing the perspectives of my peer’s language and literacy experiences, showing how each and every one of the students in English 110 have had different experiences that brought their language and literacy to what it is today. These four assignments, as well as, a variety of in class group discussions, class presentations, teacher presentations, and homework review helped me analyze what language and literacy means and how language and literacy is developed in each individual. I learned from the class presentations during translation that my language and literacy narrative is totally different than some of my classmates’ language and literacy, as they have come from different countries and cultures with different languages, making it challenging to understand English. Additionally, they had to face discrimination and bias while trying to communicate in standard settings, like at the grocery store or at the doctor’s office. I learned to listen and empathize with the language and literacy experiences of my classmates, gaining insight to the fact that everyone has a different language and literacy narrative that may include discrimination and struggle, but we need to learn about the struggles and challenges in order to alleviate the problem and to allow everyone to experience their language and literacy narrative peacefully on their own terms and at their own pace.