“I have hated words and I have loved them, and I hope I have made them right.”
On my bedroom wall, I have a collection of vibrantly colored sticky-notes with handwritten quotes. The quote above is scribbled next to my mirror, directly taken from my favorite novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Every morning, I use it as a reminder on how I want to pursue the magis in my life using words.
My love-hate relationship with words began in middle school when I enrolled in a selective, all-girls school that focuses on math and sciences. While I thrived in the arts, I had to try seven times harder in math and spent years wishing I could trade my creative mind for a more analytical one. But over time, I have learned how to nurture my skills in writing …show more content…
She worked as a prosecutor in Zambia, aggressively trying to put men in prison for denying women their basic rights. When I visited in June, she reaffirmed my goal for women’s rights when she handed me a stack of manila folders.
My fingers flipped through the files with ease; I love reading. But I wanted to stop almost immediately, shocked by her caseload. Many of the defendants she tried to convict were acquitted, even when they went so far as mutilation to enforce authority on a woman. It seemed so backwards, I could hardly contain my anger at the system.
“All of this is illegal,” I had snapped, closing the fourth folder. “How can they deny someone an education based on gender?”
“This isn’t America,” she replied simply, shrugging.
Words, even written words, can be deafening. I knew then I was privileged to live in America and go to school every day, fortunate to even have the opportunity to request one-on-one tutoring. When I wrote about my experience in Zambia for my journalism class, I couldn’t resist describing the lack of women’s rights.
My education as a woman and my pursuit in an international studies degree are influenced by words that I hear and write. I hope to achieve the magis in my life based on understanding other cultures and bettering the global community, especially for
On my bedroom wall, I have a collection of vibrantly colored sticky-notes with handwritten quotes. The quote above is scribbled next to my mirror, directly taken from my favorite novel, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Every morning, I use it as a reminder on how I want to pursue the magis in my life using words.
My love-hate relationship with words began in middle school when I enrolled in a selective, all-girls school that focuses on math and sciences. While I thrived in the arts, I had to try seven times harder in math and spent years wishing I could trade my creative mind for a more analytical one. But over time, I have learned how to nurture my skills in writing …show more content…
She worked as a prosecutor in Zambia, aggressively trying to put men in prison for denying women their basic rights. When I visited in June, she reaffirmed my goal for women’s rights when she handed me a stack of manila folders.
My fingers flipped through the files with ease; I love reading. But I wanted to stop almost immediately, shocked by her caseload. Many of the defendants she tried to convict were acquitted, even when they went so far as mutilation to enforce authority on a woman. It seemed so backwards, I could hardly contain my anger at the system.
“All of this is illegal,” I had snapped, closing the fourth folder. “How can they deny someone an education based on gender?”
“This isn’t America,” she replied simply, shrugging.
Words, even written words, can be deafening. I knew then I was privileged to live in America and go to school every day, fortunate to even have the opportunity to request one-on-one tutoring. When I wrote about my experience in Zambia for my journalism class, I couldn’t resist describing the lack of women’s rights.
My education as a woman and my pursuit in an international studies degree are influenced by words that I hear and write. I hope to achieve the magis in my life based on understanding other cultures and bettering the global community, especially for