Swat Valley

Swat valley is a administrative district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. This is where Malala and her family lived until Malala was shot by a member of the Taliban. In the book, Malala describes the area as tremendously beautiful and compares the peaks of the mountains as Kingdoms of Heaven. She describes this place as her own personal heaven and her favorite place on earth. After doing some research on this area , I realized that it is quite beautiful and full of history as there is a story about Alexander the Great fighting his way through Swat Valley as he crossed the Middle East. The more I read about this area, however, I realized that the people in this area are facing a great deal of oppression. Much like many areas in the Middle East, the Taliban has taken control. Prior to the Taliban's rule, however, Swat Valley had a weak infrastructure and Religious conflict. I find it interesting that although Swat Valley has political and social problems , Malala is still proud of her town. Malala explains that if it were all possible for her to leave England and go back to Swat Valley she would. I think its amazing that even though Malala was shot in this area she still loves her nation.    
 

I am Malala

Like Jenny, I began reading I am Malala, an autobiography by Malala Yousafzai.  She lived in the Swat District of Pakistan, and is an activist for girl's education.  Malala was shot on her bus ride to school at just 15 years old by the Taliban.  She had gained attention for spreading ideas of peace and education for girls, which the Taliban is against.  The book is very inspring.  It makes me incredibly grateful that I live in a country that gives equal education opportunities to girls.  We complain about having to go to school, but we don't realize how lucky we are to have the ability to receive an education.  I'm not saying that school doesn't sometimes bore me and make me stressed out, but I understand that receiving public education is a gift. Malala almost died from being shot in the face just for wanting to learn.  It's horrifying that something like this would happen at this point in time.  Over the years, women have made incredible strides to gain equality, but we clearly still have a lot of work to do.  Malala is 16 years old now, and living in Birmingham, England.  She is truly a symbol of inspiration and bravery.  

The Story of My Life

I've always taken particular interest in Helen Keller, but I haven't had the chance to read about her until this year. Now, I'm reading her book, The Story of My Life.

The book starts from the very beginning of her life. This is a photograph of her when she was a child. Unfortunately, although she was born with all of her senses, she suffered through some type of disease, possibly scarlet fever, that caused her to lose her sight and hearing at nineteen months. I'm finding this book to be absolutely remarkable and sweet at the same time, since it discusses her extreme happiness at discovering the simplest facts of nature. She had a difficult time to connect words with objects, but eventually, she was able to touch water and realize that it was called water, and she could touch her doll and know that it's called "doll." It's quite impressive for me that she managed to learn words fairly quickly simply through touch.

While reading the book, I pay particular attention to how Keller describes everything. Since she was deaf-blind, obviously she never saw or heard anything that happened. This is demonstrated in the book, since when she was outside, she gave wonderful descriptions of the smell of the flowers and trees, and the texture of the different types of flowers. She felt the wind as it blew through the tree she sat in, she smelled the food that her mother cooked in the kitchen, she felt the quiver of the ground as a train passes by, and so on. Keller never failed to impress me with how she managed to be such a delightful child and an intellectual adult later on.

One part that made me feel more sympathetic towards Keller was when she mentioned how children who can see and hear can learn language much more quickly. They hear people speak all the time and can catch idioms. Keller, however, can only learn when people talk directly to her with sign language, so the only time when she learns is when someone who already knows sign language comes to her and speaks to her. Luckily, however, she remembers learning how to speak very quickly before she became deaf-blind, and therefore she was a quick learner of sign language.

Girl, Interrupted: Insane Asylums

http://weirdnj.com/stories/pennhurst-asylum/

I found this article interesting.  It talked about Pennhurst Asylum, a Pennsylvania insane asylum that opened in 1908.  The article describes the horrors that went on at Pennhurst.  By the mid-60s, it housed 2,971 people, most of them children.  The buildings could only comfortably accomodate 900.  Although many of the patients were high-functioning, only 200 were in any kind of art, education, or recreation programs.  Instead of rotting away in the asylum, the residents could have been treated.

Pennhurst is different from McLean Hospital in Girl, Interrupted because it is a state institution.  Mclean, however,a is an expensive private facicility.  Because of this, the conditions were much better than the state hospitals.  Despite the differences between the two, the systems have some similarities.  Like many of the patients at Pennhurst, Susanna and some of the other patients at McLean could have been treated instead of being institutionalized.  Based on Susanna's behavior in the book, I think she would benefit more if she was a part of society.  She could have easily been treated with medicine and therapy outside of the mental hospital.

The Daily Show: Extended Interview: Malala Yousafzai

This interview of Malala on The Daily Show was the first time that I had ever heard her story. I think that is a very good interview because Jon Stewart asks good questions and of course her story is amazing. I enjoyed the way that Jon reacts to a lot of her answers because you can tell he is blown away by her compassion.

Words of Wisdom

This passage in I Am Malala that really moved me:
                    "I'd imagine that on the way home a terrorist might jump out and shoot me on those steps. I
                     I wondered what I would do. Maybe I'd take off my shoes and hit him, but then I'd think if I
                     did that there would be no difference between me and a terrorist. It would be better to plead,
                     'OK, shoot me, but first listen to me. What you are doing is wrong. I'm not against you                                   personally. I just want every girl to go to school'" (71).
Malala is the truest definition standing up for what you think is right through peaceful protest. Even after Malala was shoot by the Taliban she still believes that it is better to try and reason with someone in order to get what you want rather than using violence.  I think that it is amazing that someone can go through being shot and almost dying and still want to reason with the people that did it.

I Am Malala

 
     I am truly inspired by the autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban, by Malala Yousafzai. Malala is a 16 year from Swat Valley in Pakistan. Within the last two decade the Taliban has slowly taken control of many areas in the Middle East. In 2007-2008 The Taliban gained total control of Swat Valley and many people had to change their way of life and way of thinking. Malala, however, refused to let them dictate whether women should be educated.
    Malala's father founded the Knushal School for girls around the time she was born and Malala went on the attend. As the Taliban is against women's education, Malala's father was a sure target, however, On October 9, 2012, Malala was shot by a member and almost killed. Malala miraculously recovered and now at the age on 16, she has become a symbol of peaceful protest and has decided to dedicate her life to women's eduaction in areas under Taliban rule. She is the youngest nominee in history for the Nobel Peace Prize.  I am truly inspired by Malala's actions and I look forward to reading more of this book.