Conversations about economy, work andlifestyle can enrich our literacy and our lives in countless ways.  Understanding our cultures also helps build inclusive, innovative and resilient families and communities.  Using these constructs as a basis, I combined models of culture and ideas for literacy in the practice of conversation in the above written works.  The idea is to help families begin a journey of daily discussions that can increase literacy by providing inspiration and role modeling in a way that can help them tell their own stories.  While Access to Power of Voice shares how the world of work is changing, Discovering My Cape Verdean Roots is a journey of cultural and ethnic discovery.  Both of these journals are information rich and fun learning for all ages.  Each work is designed to read a page each day at the dinner table and discuss what was read.  Difficult words should be looked up on a cell phone, or a dictionary so they can be understood and talked about right away.  As families move through these discussions, they should fill in their own information and experiences so that these stories evolve into their own.