Uncovering It All

2026: Pride and Prejudice I really want to read this book in the next year because I've heard so many good reviews about it and recently just finished watching the movie (it was AMAZING). I just really want to open my perspective to other pieces of literature other than just what I've stuck to for most of my reading journey. 2027: One Hundred Years of Solitude I have heard an insane amount of positive reviews about this book because it's so well-written and depicts family history so well. I heard that it talks about repeating history and the cycles in family trauma that I'm really interested in hearing about through a writer's perspective 2028: Lolita I know this book is EXTREMELY controversial but I'm genuinely so interested in reading in the perspective of the protagonist in this book. I definitely don't really think I'm at the right age level yet for the book, so I definitely want wait a few years before reading it. 2029:  Normal people This is probab...

All my life, I’ve grown up thinking that those in college were truly superior. They had independence, a flourishing social life, laid-back classes, and of course, what I viewed as the real plus, amazing writing skills. With my attachment to writing since before I could walk (over exaggeration, but whatever), I actually viewed complex writing as this perfect thing when it came to college. But, as I’m getting closer to graduating and meeting new people who are currently either in or graduated from college, they all tell me the same thing: the writing sucks. You don’t actually write the way everyone thinks you do, you just write barely passable paragraphs that are thinly strung together and hope for the best. Now, I understand the concept of BSing something, I really do, but I didn’t think it extended to simple writing assignments in college. And it’s not just friends who say this, my sister also agrees. As mentioned previously, she’s a current GSI at the University of Michigan, an extrem...

    For this week's blog, I struggled to find a way to write something enjoyable for myself while also being presentable. I mean, come on, experiencing poetry? I'm better off experiencing a nap, thank you very much. But seriously, w hen this assignment specifically was pushed back a week, I felt relieved, but now, having to do it on the first day of fasting for Ramadan, I curse my lazy past self. Instead of doing nothing except for sitting on the couch and watching TV like I rightfully should be, I’m stuck doing this assignment. Plus, the prompt left me quite confused: what can I even write a poem for? And then, like a beacon of light, someone asked me the stereotypical question that all muslims dread during the month of Ramadan: "You can't eat or drink anything for 30 days straight"? And I knew, as soon as they asked that question, that I'd found the solution to my minuscule homework problem.   My goal with writing this poem is to display the annoyance that c...

         Siddhartha, the story of a knowledge-seeking boy to a wealthy man to an enlightened elder, was surprisingly good. Maybe not in the this-was-the-best-book-I've-ever-read-in-my-life way, but definitely one where I'd maybe remember its content in a few months time, because let's face it: most of the required readings in high school are forgotten a week after their completion. Honestly though, Siddhartha did its job, because there were definitely parts of the story where I was left flabbergasted, and as I've learned from my English teacher, "Any book that makes you feel is a good one".          After completing the novel, I'm strangely still kinda thinking about it. I mean, when you think about it in the grand scheme of things, what Siddhartha went through was all sorts of crazy: he left his stable home life to learn more, gets rich just because he was really only in the right place at the right time surrounded by the right peo...

           Over the past semester, I've written essays and blogs that perfectly encapsulate my raw ideas on a subject. Like, when I wrote about The Awakening  by Kate Chopin, I decided to share my opinions that literally no one asked for. Not only did the piece reflect my thoughts on it when I first read it, but it still does now. And my other blog about trauma and how it impacts college apps. And the other about Othello sucking as a person. And, as I scroll back to the rest of my past blogs, I still agree with what I've written in almost all of my pieces. It's definitely a little crazy thinking about it, because I always feel completely different when I look back on last year. Hell, I feel like a new person after a week. But, seeing all of my ideas through the past half year and beyond has shown me that while I continue to keep growing physically and emotionally, my opinions continue to stay the exact same: is it because I'm actually always right...

When I was first introduced to school at the old age of four, my mom told me three things: one, that I have to go even when I don’t want to; two, that if she got a call from the school nurse during the middle of the school day and had to come pick me up only to find out I was faking, she would be pissed (having previously learned from my two older siblings); and three, objectively the most important of all, that school would prepare us for the real world - though I would argue my mother’s anger still reigns supreme. And so, I walked into Kindergarten not knowing what hell I was getting myself into. Homework assignment after homework assignment, I’ve grown up alongside the developing school system believing that what I was learning would genuinely help me foster necessary skills for my future. Yet, the closer I get to graduating high school and entering college (thank god), the more I realize the school system failed me even more than my self-respect. Think about it, with all that’s g...