Excerpt From Bootstraps Victor Villanueva

When one thinks of a sponsor what do they think of? Your first thought probably wouldn't be of a sponsor of literacy. It's a term coined by Deborah Brandt in her analysis of the development of literacy in College Composition and Communication. Best described by Brandt herself as “any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress, or withhold literacy-and gain advantage by it in some way.” The best evidence of this term is depicted in an excerpt from Bootstraps by Victor Villanueva. In the excerpt, Villanueva narrates his journey from a GI to a rhetoric professor. This transition is promoted by his sponsors of literacy.

There are plenty of sponsors in the world. A sponsor can be someone who gives inspiration, and knowledge. A sponsor can be one whom was an obstacle that taught you to be strong and hardworking. Villanueva began his journey in Seattle, Washington. He had just finished serving in the army and was unsure what he was to do with his life. He had passed a college and thought to himself that “Maybe in the next life.” He contemplates other possibilities, professions with bleak outlooks.However, after some research he comes to the conclusion

that with a part time job and subsidization from the GI bill he is able to support himself and his son, this is the first time we are introduced to two of his sponsors. The first, the GI bill, is a positive sponsor. The bill grants him the funds to attend community college, but his son is the opposite. His son is a burden, in the worst of terms, but nonetheless he is a driving force for Villanueva to accomplish his goal, his son is his sponsor.
While in college he dabbles in a wide range of classes, but one stood out, English. Villanueva had always enjoyed the subject but college brought a new aspect to it. While writing he lacked clarity and coherence. His writings were “‘too serious’ and too abstract” for students of his level. He is soon co-mingling with the english department. However this form of writing benefitted him, He excelled. Soon after professors are sponsoring his literacy. His professors introduce him to concepts and writing styles he falls in love with and adores. Within a few years he is attending panels and his writings and pieces are praised by his peers. What he once thought improbable is possible, He made it through community college, now he is prepared to go to university. However, as Villanueva would predict, “Community is not college in the same way university is.”
University is now another sponsor of literacy, not only through teaching, but through the atmosphere, and competitiveness that university entails. It's a different culture, it is an institution dominated by the majority, where the minority begins to enter into the majority. Nonetheless “he cannot fail, and he does not.” Villanueva struggles but he holds on. He studies and mimics his professor's writings in an attempt to replicate their writing styles,. This is a semi-successful strategy, he earns “‘A’s’ and ‘B’s’” with a few failures. His papers lack rhythm, they don’t flow, professors question his “logic” behind his writing.
School becomes Villanueva’s obsession. He begins to study every aspect of his life. His social life “withers away. ” His routine becomes take the kid to school, university, take the kid home, dinner, study and repeat. He also manages to pack this schedule with working a multitude of odd jobs. But he manages to take control. He earns the bachelor's degree, but not without difficulty. He enters into graduate school, barely. His GPA is admirable but not outstanding, his admission is only granted by his minority status.
In graduate school his grades only worsen.

They are once again plagued by a lack of clarity and cohesion. In his despair, Villanueva discovers a tape by Robert Kaplan. The discussion is about bilinguals, which he is, and how their rhetoric pattern varies. He discovered that he sounded logical to himself but illogical to the average unknowing ear. He had put his race behind himself, he learned what it mean to be “white middle-class.” What he now knows is that “Without a knowledge of history and tradition, we risk running in circle while seeking new paths.” It wasn’t a matter of his disadvantages; his race, his age, his background, his grades. It was a matter of his thinking. Villanueva seeked approval from others yet he didn’t approve of

himself.
Villanueva realizes the importance of rhetoric and the crossing of cultures. He is bound by the fact that when he writes he writes for others too. He is now the sponsor he lacked in. He hopes that with his new found understanding of rhetoric and the way he can study people using it, he can use it to help people like his former self. He is to teach people how to understand their own personal rhetoric, and that they can sponsor others.
Sponsorship varies, this is evident for Villanueva. Through the excerpt he had 7 different sponsors. Some only temporary, some more permanent. While professors in community college were positive sponsors, they introduced him to new ideas and models. Professors in university were negative sponsors, they were critical and failed to attempt to assist him. The GI bill sponsored his education through university, but his son was detrimental to his literacy through graduate school.