English 163: Parenti's Blog

I just finished the book "Love, Hate, and Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed.  This story is about a girl named Maya, an Indian girl growing up in a predominantly white suburb of Illinois.  Maya takes us through the story of her teenage life; which includes romance, friendship, high parental expectations, and hateful treatment because of her Muslim religion. At the beginning of the story, Maya is in constant disagreement with her parents, who want her to marry an Indian boy.  Additionally, Maya's parents do not support her aspirations to be a filmmaker and instead want her to go to law school.  One of the major conflicts is the hateful treatment from a boy at Maya's school; he calls her a "terrorist" after there is an attack in the state capitol.  Throughout the story, Maya grows from a shy, obedient daughter into a young adult who stays true to herself and challenges her parents' expectations.  Maya learns to speak up for what she believes in and to stand...

If I could restructure my schedule, I would make more time for getting together with friends and family.  I feel that sometimes I struggle to focus or get started on grading and planning right away, then I am doing work into the late hours of the evening.  I would like more time for personal reading and relaxing activities. To create more balance in my life, I think I can give myself a set amount of time after work to just relax and unwind. It might help if I go to yoga after work to "reset," or I can do a mindfulness exercise before refocusing on whatever tasks I have for that evening.  I also think it would help me to make a schedule so that I am more determined to stay focused. This will hopefully open up my schedule for things like seeing friends, family, and reading more books! In class, we are reading Keesha's House  by Helen Frost.  Many of the characters are under extreme stress for a variety of reasons.  For example, Katie is trying to balance ...