Literacy Narrative Avrie Barthel

In this podcast, Avrie Barthel explores the power of language through the telling of her journey to obtaining literacy in the Spanish language, as well as her development of ethos and logos throughout the piece. Against a backdrop of suburban America, this narrative uncovers the ways in which language can broaden our perspectives and change our understanding of the world and its people. In a time of significant political strife and a skewed sense of patriotism that eliminates the need for an appreciation of all cultures and ideologies, this podcast offers a way in which those who grew up in a cultural “bubble” can obtain a perspective that appreciates those ideas and peoples that appear to be the most different. This podcast’s primary settings include the speaker’s small hometown and the country of Costa Rica, and implements several observations of suburban America as opposed to the “outside” world that effectively encourages the listener to step outside their own bubble and explore the nuances of the world’s cultures and peoples. Moreover, the implementation of Spanish language and culture as the podcast progresses alludes to the speaker’s gradual development of an open and educated mind, which proves to be a major highlight of the piece as a whole, as do the work’s allusions to “toxic patriotism”.