RC man turning new page at 59Daily Bulletin: Feb 14, 2009 by Wendy Leung
RANCHO CUCAMONGA - Maps. Menus. Job applications. This article.
They are swarming with letters and punctuation.
To many, these words and sentences guide our everyday life. To Jerry Piazza, 59, they are a source of fear.
"I almost have a phobia when given a form to fill out," said the Rancho Cucamonga resident. "It's to the point where I'm shaking a bit."
Millions of American adults like Piazza can't read a bedtime story to their children or decipher street signs in a new neighborhood.
According to a 2003 survey by the National Assessment of Adult Illiteracy, 23 percent of California's population and 20 percent of San Bernardino County's population are functionally illiterate. Some fall in this category due to a language barrier but many others, for whatever reason, never learned to read.
Piazza, who never felt like he belonged in a classroom, dropped out in the 10th grade. He spent most of his life doing landscaping, janitorial and other labor-intensive jobs.
But in 2006 - buoyed by the need for a new job and by "Stanley and Iris," the movie with Robert De Niro as the illiterate protagonist - Piazza decided to enroll in the adult literacy program at the city's library.
Twice a week, he meets with his tutor, Zarinea Zolivea, for spelling quizzes and reading comprehension exercises. Slowly but surely, one scrutinized word at a time, Piazza is evolving into a prolific reader.
"Every lesson, I see a breakthrough," Zolivea said.
When he first started the program, Piazza read at a second-grade level. The sweet satisfaction of finishing a good book was something he never tasted.
Within a year, Piazza, at the age of 57, read his first book, an abridged version of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Today, he reads at the fifth-grade level and has 35 books under his belt.
"To accomplish something I've never done in my life ... it's a great feeling," Piazza said. Chances are, if you're reading this article with little effort, it's hard to imagine what it's like to lead Piazza's life.To join Rancho Cucamonga's literacy program or to become a tutor, call (909) 477-2720, ext. 5009. READ MORE
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