That title is the name of a chapter in Reflections on Adult Literacy. It’s been on my mind a lot this week, especially as I consider the content of my Find Your Power Word workshop. After all, the way we talk about ourselves—the words we use—carry so much meaning and weight. It’s a good practice to take time and consider the words that identify us.  Here’s an excerpt from the book:

“Rodolfo “Rudy” Diaz is one of my heroes. He came to the Commerce Public Library Adult Literacy Program with very low literacy skills and very high thinking skills. His ideas were the artistic expression of an insightful soul. I loved to listen to him reflect on life and share his latest insights. He influenced my life, and my literacy programming practices, in many ways. One way is that he gave me a greater appreciation of the personal, intimate nature of words that identify us.

When I trained new tutors, I always included a segment on the language experience approach. It’s an exercise in which a learner tells a story, and the tutor writes it down. I would emphasize that the tutor must use the student’s words and not change them. This is for a few reasons, but mostly because words are personal. It is powerful to capture a learner’s words verbatim; and those words then become the text for reading practice. It is empowering for someone to see their own words in print, and then to read them aloud.

It is disempowering to change someone’s words. It’s disempowering to change their expression of their life. Rudy confirmed that for me with a story.

Rudy had been in trouble a good part of his life. As a young boy he was sent to reform school. The warden instructed him—required him—to write a letter to his mother. He was to let her know that he was doing well. Rudy told the warden he couldn’t, that he didn’t know how to write. So, the warden arranged for one of the counselors to help him.

The counselor invited Rudy to dictate the letter. He said that he would write the words as Rudy would say them. Easy enough. They sat down together, and the counselor picked up his pen and moved it along on the paper as Rudy spoke.

Rudy began with “Oye jefa, qué hubo?” (Roughly translated as“Hey boss, what’s up?”)

Dear Mother, how are you? the counselor wrote. And so it went until they had filled a page. A normal, decent letter.

The counselor read it back to Rudy and told him, “Okay. Sign it.”

“No,” Rudy said.

“What do you mean?” the counselor asked. “Sign the letter.”

“That’s not my letter. It’s yours. You sign it,” twelve-year-old Rudy responded. He remained steadfast. He would not sign the letter, even though it got him in trouble with the warden. Even though it got him labeled as a troublemaker. He was insubordinate.

“But those weren’t my words,” Rudy told me as he relayed the story. The fervor in his voice still carried a trace of indignation. The incident still offended him decades later. “I wasn’t going to sign that.” He shared that he had never spoken with his mother that way—with “dear Mother.” That just did not depict their relationship. He wasn’t willing to compromise and pretend that it was okay.

I look at the incident and label Rudy as authentic. Rudy is someone with integrity.

Many years later, Rudy wrote a poem to his mother, “Mi Madre del Alma” (Mother of My Soul). It was totally his expression. In 1998, when the Commerce Public Library Adult Literacy Program published a booklet of Rudy’s writings, it included the poem. The theme of our volunteer and learner recognition event that year was “Writers Among Us.” We gave a copy of Rudy’s booklet to everyone who attended. Our guest speaker was Yolanda Nava, an Emmy Award–winning journalist. She was impressed with Rudy’s heartfelt expressions and asked him whether she could include “Mi Madre del Alma” in the book she was working on. He gave her permission, and he became a published author featured in Nava’s book, It’s All in the Frijoles: 100 Famous Latinos Share Real-Life Stories, Time-Tested Dichos, Favorite Folktales, and Inspiring Words of Wisdom. Rudy was in good company. Other contributors to the book include actor Edward James Olmos, author Isabel Allende, and Nobel laureate Octavio Paz. Rudy’s “Mi Madre del Alma” appears on pages 51-52 immediately following a passage from GRAMMY winner Pepe Aguilar.⁴

The artistic expression of an insightful soul. That was Rudy.

Our words are so united, so melded, with our identities. They give a glimpse of who we are, what we feel ourselves to be. They are personal and unique and oh so meaningful.”

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If you’d like to take some focused time to consider your personal power word, click here to register for my next virtual workshop: www.cathayreta.com/power-word-workshop. It’s Saturday, Dec. 13, 9 – 10:30 a.m. Pacific Time. Cost: $19.99 Consider it a springboard to making 2026 your best year ever!