Where I'm From

i come from

sun-soaked afternoons

heartbeats pounding in sync

hands soaked in the bliss of ignorance

i come from

somewhere over the rainbow

where our treasure chests

hold pride, success, and hidden failures

i come from

a place where i hold my loved ones dear

and my numbers dearer,

digits that dictate lives under the acronym

G.P.A

i come from

used-to-be sunny afternoons

overcast by that one test i failed,

heartbeats pounding in sync

each beat laden with that omnipresent, overwhelming what if?,

hands soaked in the sweat and tears of late nights poring over books

i come from

a place where i wonder if my everything

will never be quite there and

never quite enough.

but

i come from

someplace where i’m learning that sometimes my Worry

only haunts me because i

have cleared a space for it in my living room,

allowed it to sit for a minute too long,

lingering on the “what if” instead of the “what now”

i come from

an idyllic town teetering on the edge of june

i’ve finally started my spring cleaning

and i know i’m a little late

but yesterday, i tidied the drawers

i threw out the “what ifs”

i ushered Worry out the door

and left its baggage on the curb

i come from

a place where Worry has overstayed its welcome

and no longer takes up my couches

i come from

a place where my heart now beats with the rhythm

of living in the “now”.

Baba's Secrets

This image represents Baba's secrets and its effects on the people around him, especially Amir. The combination bike lock represents Baba's lock on his secrets, while the wheel represents Amir. The "lock" of Baba's secrets tries to protect Amir from having to go through the cycle of losing "nang" and "namoos" in Afghan society, but his intentions subconsciously stifle Amir and his ability to grow and mature into a confident adult. However, Baba is also there to keep Amir grounded and locked down before cycling carelessly in life in order to prevent Baba from losing even more pride through Amir's shortcomings. The combination lock of the bike lock represents the many safeguards and barriers that Baba has put up in between him and Amir in order to prevent his secrets from leaking out and a loss of honor.

Being Foreign is a Crime

Emmeka Uhanna is a hard working shop-owner who lives in Johannesburg, the social and economic hub of South Africa. Though he has a stable family and economic life, Uhanna fears for himself as an immigrant and for the social acceptance of his children’s future. He fears for his shop, and that it will be looted as a target for riots. (Fihlani). Uhanna’s crime to warrant this fear is simple: he is Nigerian. Uhanna is just one in hundreds of foreign nationals in South Africa who are currently being targeted and victimized by South Africans for being immigrants.

Xenophobia, known as intense dislike or fear of people from other countries, has become more and more prevalent among many countries, such as America, that are particularly divers. South Africa is no exception from the growing dissent towards immigrants. In fact, xenophobic actions have become increasing violent in South Africa.

Many South Africans blame foreigners, primarily Nigerians and Somalis, for the high unemployment rate and crime rate that continues to plague South Africa. This growing discontentment towards immigrants has led to a South Africa first mindset that strives to place South African citizens first. Mario Khumalo, the founder of the political party South Africa First Party and a patriotic South African, states his reasons for South Africa’s current stance on immigrants: “We are not xenophobic but we work in the interest of South Africans. It is about national identity and pride. There is no nationality called African. You are either South African‚ Angolan or Ethiopian (the Citizen). Many South Africans feel that by putting less attention on foreign nationals, they are working in the interest of bettering South Africa. In order to improve South Africa’s economy and society, they feel that they must fix the problem at the root: the immigrants who are “stealing” jobs and taking advantage of natural born South African citizens. However, South African economists have found that foreign workers actually make up only about 4 percent of the workforce (Sieff). Unfortunately, politicians and government officials still continue to put the blame of their society’s problems on something that is easier to tackle, such as immigration.

Xenophobia has not only affected South Africa: the mistreatment of foreigners has driven a rift between home countries of the targeted immigrants and South Africa. Nigeria and South Africa’s relationship has become particularly strained, causing four senators to call for the African Senate to reconsider Nigeria’s diplomatic alliance with South Africa (Jimoh). Lawmakers have instead rejected this motion, opting to send a diplomatic Nigerian delegation to the South African parliament (Jimoh). However, this suggests that tensions have begun to rise to an alarming height between the two countires. The recent xenophobic attacks have also placed a major obstacle in the African Union’s integration agenda (Ana). This growing divide between African countries not only strains diplomatic relations, but will also severely set back the African Union’s effort to unify Africa.

Xenophobia is the cause of many violent attacks towards immigrants who wanted to come to South Africa for a better life. It has disrupted Africa’s process towards a much needed strong and unified continent by causing conflicts between countries. The growing tension between immigrants and South Africans has disrupted the country’s peace, as well as the peace of Africa. As Emmeka Uhanna notes, “It's all too easy to profile one group and that is not right, it's also dangerous and puts people's lives in danger.”

ANA. “Nigerian Association Warns against Xenophobic Attacks in SA.” "The Citizen", The Citizen, Sept. 2017, citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1450905/nigerian-association-warns-xenophobic-attacks-sa/.

Anonymous. “Make South Africa Great Again!” "Huffington Post South Africa", Huffington Post South Africa, 2017, www.huffingtonpost.co.za/2017/02/24/make-south-africa-great-again/.

Jimoh, Azimazi Momoh. “Senate Rejects Calls to Severe Ties With South Africa Over Xenophobia Attacks.” https://guardian.ng/news/senate-rejects-calls-to-severe-ties-with-south-africa-over-xenophobia-attacks/


Sieff, Kevin. “In South Africa, Violence Follows a Surge in Xenophobia.” "Washington Post", Washington Post, 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-south-africa-a-surge-in-xenophobia-leads-to-violence/2017/02/24/dbf8d864-fecf-4d14-b6f5-3a25d8c46b61_story.html?utm_term=.c89fe16b956f.

Fihlani, Pumza "Xenophobia in South Africa: 'We Nigerians Are Not All Criminals'." BBC News. BBC, 01 Mar. 2017. Web. 08

"Movie"ing Towards Responsibility: A Coming of Age "Tail"

"Movie"ing Towards Responsibility: A Coming of Age "Tail"

Buffalo: coming of age

“... We spotted Four-Eyes crouching by the inert mass of the dead buffalo: he was collecting the blood pouring from the gash in a big upturned hat woven of bamboo leaves” (93).

“‘To gain courage, you must swallow it when it’s still lukewarm and frothy”’ (94).

Movies: coming of age

“The local girls were gorgeous, but we forced ourselves to concentrate on the screen, paying close attention to the dialogue, to the actors’ costumes and gestures, to the setting of every scene, even to the music” (19).

“The headman sat in the middle of the front row, holding his long bamboo pipe in one hand and our ‘phoenix of the earth’ in the other, to time the duration of our performance” (19).

Sijie uses the symbols of the buffalo and the movies to illustrate how the narrator and his peers experience adolescence and coming-of-age during their re-education. The buffalo that broke Four-Eyes’s glasses is slaughtered for his leaving ceremony. This ceremony is to celebrate the completion of Four-Eyes’s re-education, which is part of him growing up and fitting in with the rest of the new proletarian society. The headman of Four-Eyes’s village encourages him to drink the buffalo blood to symbolize him gaining courage, leaving behind his childish cowardice and bourgeois ways.  

At the movies, even though the narrator and Luo are distracted, they acknowledge that as they become older, their responsibilities hold more weight and. This causes them to be very attentive during the movie even though there are a lot of other distractions.This demonstrates the maturity that they have gained during their re-education.

The Power of Endurance

Will you break as easily as a reed snaps

in the stormy gales of wind?
Will you resign to the mud of failure?

Will you let go,
or will you fight until you prevail?
Very rarely does the path begin with firm,
solid
ground.
Very rarely will your feet not sink in quicksand
The journey of life is not scenic.
It is littered with hardships and difficult encounters
that distort the landscape into something harsh and dark and twisted.
It is up to you to choose whether to stay strong throughout it all
or stay easily defeated.
You must decide whether to endure
or whether to relinquish.
But one thing remains true:
Pushing on increases the chances of freeing your feet from the mud.
You never know until you try.
Like a caterpillar who has decided to break free of a chrysalis’s sticky walls,
no matter how hard the fight,
the stronger person will fight to push past the obstacles on the battlefield,
rather than giving up and withering in their own chrysalis.
So,
when it comes to the game of Life,
will you play the cards of hardship to a better future,

or will you sit back and never taste victory or success?