Sufjan Stevens intro

--Sufjan Stevens writes about his acquisition of literacy at a grocery store. What are the hidden meanings and metaphors of his education process? How does this relate to the concept of nonrequired reading? Sufjan Stevens introduction in The Best Nonrequired Reading 2007 Edition was truly fascinating, I am a fan of the artist's music, so I was curious as to what he was going to have to say. When I read that he was illiterate until he was in the third grade I was surprised. When I found out HOW he taught himself to read, I was fascinated. Who would have ever thought that someone would grow literate by reading lables at grocery stores or on billboards? When I first learned to read (it was in class) I became excited when I realized that I COULD read cereal box labels and such, yet I did not teach myself. I think that this relates to the concept of nonrequired reading because he basically taught himself to read by reading things that were not required for class or for educational purposes. Instead, he read what he wanted to read--and in the process, became extremely brilliant and metaphorical. If people only read what they were assigned to read, life would be boring and there would not be enough to talk about. Instead, people should branch out and explore things on their own--explore literature that is not considered "brilliant' or "classic" in order to truly gain an understanding of the broad range of literature that exists.