These rare spots in a spotty memory may have been the beginning of my functional literacy, may not have been. Still, my fondest literacies have been a product of observation and interaction: with those I love most, my sister functioning as the entire world of her children; with people I pass by infrequently at work, the night custodian who sings out loud to his earphones, no matter who is around; and with the ones who teach me more than I teach them, a teenage girl who can sulk, laugh, cry, and tease all in the course of an hour and come out looking stable. These are the people who have taught me the literacy of constant learning. In this I have learned that intelligence is relative to need. Knowledge is driven by need; whether it’s the need to love, to freely pass the time, to find your self, or to become one with the number two pencil within. Literacy is the knowledge to fulfill the need.