Category Archives: Outlook

Outlook

Malala – A Beacon of Hope and My Inspiration

By Meghna Sathiapalan

Imagine being on the hit-list for one of the most ruthless organizations in the world. Now imagine being a fourteen-year old on that list, a young girl fighting for female education in rural Pakistan. How would you react to being targeted for speaking up about the lack of education, what some would call a basic human right?

During an interview with Jon Stewart, former host of The Daily Show, Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani girl who actually had to survive the hypothetic question above, gave the following answer:

“I started thinking about that and I used to think that the Talib would come and he would just kill me, but then I said if he comes, what would you do Malala? Then I would reply to myself, Malala just take a shoe and hit him, but then I said, if you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty, you must fight others, but through peace and through dialogue and through education. Then I said I would tell him how important education is and that I even want education for your children as well and I would tell him, that’s what I want to tell you, now do what you want.”

This quote not only left Jon Stewart speechless, but also enticed me to read more about this amazing girl. I learned that, after posting on a global forum about being restricted from going to school, the Taliban actually threatened to kill Malala for her simple words. Her first instinct was to fear for her parents’ safety because, as she later mentions in her interview, she didn’t think any group would be capable of killing a child. However, one day on her way to school, Malala’s bus was stopped by Taliban militants who swiftly boarded and demanded for the kids to reveal which of the bus-riding girls was Malala. In terror, a few of the child passengers looked hesitantly at Malala, at which point one of the militants walked up to her and shot her in the head.

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L.A. Life, Outlook, USC

Embracing My Indian Culture

By Zaki Khan

As I was born and raised in Los Angeles, I am 100% American. But, my parents emigrated from India in the 70s, so that makes me an Indian-American. While I grew up around the language (Urdu), culture, and cuisine, I actually did my best to abstain from a lot of aspects of my Indian heritage. Although I loved the food, I refused to learn Urdu, I protested any Bollywood film viewing, and I begged my mom to let me wear western style suits (instead of the traditional shlwar-kamis) to important functions and parties.

I shunned all these aspects of my parents’ upbringing because my biggest objective growing up was to fit in. I grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood, and my greatest fear was for my peers to think my family’s customs were weird. My reluctance was so great that, on move-in day four years ago, I rolled my eyes and made a fuss when my parents said they met a nice couple from Bangladesh and that I should meet their son.

This wasn’t the first time my parents wanted me to meet and befriend a kid my own age just because he or his parents were from the Indian subcontinent. So I did what I usually do – I greeted the parents with respect, exchanged a few words with their son, Waiz, and told him we should definitely get lunch sometime (not really expecting either of us to follow through on the invitation).

But as it turns out, we actually had very similar interests. And after running into each other repeatedly at different events the first couple months of school and sharing the same dreadful CHEM 105a class, we became really great friends. Soon enough, we decided to room together for our sophomore year and continued to remain roommates and best friends throughout the rest of college.

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Outlook, USC

How JEP Created A Home Away From Home

By Sam Newman

Growing up in a small suburb in the middle of Long Island, New York, I was a kid that loved to get involved in the community. Whether it was through a program at the local library, helping the elderly learn how to send an email, or volunteer work at my elementary school, helping the kindergartners do a science experiment with marshmallows and toothpicks, I loved the inspiration I received when helping others.  Therefore, upon arriving at the University of Southern California, I found it imperative to discover a service niche in which I could participate.  Luckily, the opportunities for volunteer work at USC are limitless.

One day after class (it was a Monday I believe),  I walked up the steps of the awkwardly placed house at the end of Trousdale and gingerly watched my head as I stepped under the “JEP Sign-Up Now!” banner.  Earlier that week, I had learned about the Joint Educational Project, and their mission to have USC students assist and tutor in the classrooms of local schools around the USC area, schools that are typically made up of kids from low income and struggling families.  A few weeks later, I was kneeling down at the world’s tiniest table in Mrs. Oldaker’s kindergarten class at the 32nd Street School, trying to sound out the word “dog” to a cute little girl with pigtails. “D-aw D-aw D-aw,” I said trying to make a “D” sound.  The young girl understood and scribbled the letter “D” onto her paper.  The next two letters provided more of a challenge.  “Aw-G Aw-G Aw-G,” I said, recognizing that the letter “O” did not sound like itself in this scenario and that the odds of her figuring that out were slim to none.  Mrs. Oldaker approached and reassured me that the young students did not need to get it right every time, just as long as they were practicing the letters of alphabet and getting used to the sounds.  To be honest, I don’t know how Mrs. Oldaker has been teaching kindergarten for 24 years (25 next September she consistently reminded me). It is hard work!

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