You Can't Go Home Again Cephas, John SPEAKER: Hi, can you give us your name? JOHN: John Cephas. SPEAKER: And tell us a little bit about yourself, John. JOHN: Born in Camden, New Jersey, raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, up here in Columbus, Ohio to see my mother maybe five, ten... Came back to live in '86. SPEAKER: Do you like Columbus? JOHN: Prosperous being here, it's very comfortable. SPEAKER: The reason why we are here today is to talk about literacy, how reading or writing has been a part - has or has not been a part of your life, influences that you may have had. Do you remember or what is your earliest memory of reading? JOHN: My earliest memory? I've always read well I've just never read much and I had to read well when I was in the service, I was a teletype operator and I was a Morse code operator, radio operator, so I had to be able to read and write. SPEAKER: Was there anyone in your life that was a reader or encouraged you to read? JOHN: I would say my oldest sister, she, you know, was a big influence on me. We had to do well in school because my mother's sister insisted that we get an education. I took one class in college and it was a liberal arts - I had speed reading and advanced English [coughing] and composition and I did well in those. I always had been good in reading. SPEAKER: Did you have a favorite story or is there was one that was very influential in your growing up or even now as an adult is there a particular story that you remember? JOHN: Well I did have one semester in college where I had to write a composition which was titled "You Can't Go Home Again" and we had to read an article out of the - I'm not sure what magazine - I think it was the New Yorker Magazine, something to that effect and I had give my, how I felt about what the story alluded to. SPEAKER: Do you remember what kind of grades you got that year? JOHN: B+. SPEAKER: Very good, very good. So now do you find yourself doing any writing? JOHN: I write a lot, not extensively, but I read a lot because I had a Sunday school teacher and of course you had to write what she wanted to teach on and that's been one principle for inspiration but I still don't read as much as I should. I read well, not braggin', I read well I just don't read much. SPEAKER: Well John, I want to thank you for taking the time out to talk with us. Before you go, is there one least thing that you would like to say. I like to ask people if they had a message to say to their great, great grandchildren what would that message be? JOHN: I would instill upon them how important education is, reading and writing, you can't and you won't progress without both of the two. SPEAKER: Alright, thank you.