Personal Narrative: Hidden Girl

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As a young child in elementary school, I struggled in the regular classes of language arts and math, and this caused my teachers to put me into Special Education. I recall hearing the regular students call me “stupid” all the time behind my back. When I had my regular classes in Social Studies or Science none of the other students wanted to be my partner in the group projects. I felt like an outcast, and my self-confidence was exceedingly low. However, I knew that I was not the smartest kid, but I was a hard worker. I begged my mom to help me convince the teachers to allow me to to join the regular classes in the 5th grade. Fortunately, my teachers agreed, and in my regular language arts class I was motivated to prove to my teachers, my classmates, My junior year of high school I read the following three novels: Hidden Girl, Breaking Night: A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard, and A Thousand Splendid Suns. Each story explained a girl’s life with many barriers and obstacles that kept them from success, love, and happiness. Each girl is of a different ethnic group and situation. Their stories are not exactly identical, and I was able to read about these girl’s different ways of thinking and actions which were effected by their upbringing and environment. My senior year of high school I wrote a one-paged paper about the general attire of a Muslim girl. A Muslim girl’s wardrobe is rooted from the Muslim tradition and religion. A person’s choice of clothing can be based on their culture and life choices. Before I researched about Muslim girls’ clothing I never thought that a person’s clothes could have more meaning than just the way the clothes look on a person. Furthermore, my freshman year of college I had an assignment to watch a movie called A Patch of Blue, and I wrote a film review about the movie. The movie came out in 1965 during the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., and I watched two characters of different races fall in love with each other even though some of the people in their lives did not accept this kind of relationship. In my film review I highlighted about the opposing cultural views and how if effected the characters’ lives. I recognize now that writing and reading may not always connect with a personal value or belief I possess, however I am able to accept more differences and be less judgemental when it comes to making an effort in understanding and being aware of different

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