Monday, November 22, 2010

Marjane Satrapi in her book Persepolis, combines graphic novel, autobiography, and historical perspective, to present the reader with a nonthreatening look into the inner-workings of her traumatic childhood, the Islamic Cultural Revolution, and ever changing dynamic between the two.

[ Last week I submitted my blog based on the reading rather than an event, so I am going to speak a little bit about my service experience last week. ]

As you know I have been continuing my service as a tutor for the National Academic League Team at Guilford Elementary School. Our team is made up of students grades 6-8 in the interest of competing in areas such as Math, English, Social Studies, and Science, with other schools in city-wide competition. After much dedication and studying on the part of the students, the team had its first practice competition 2 weeks prior. During the mock competition, the teams were allowed the opportunity to get used to the format of the event, and put their skills to the test. Unfortunately I think the pressure, uncertainty, and difficult questions combined for a unsuccessful day, with our team only earning 10 points. Honestly a few times I felt myself questioning my own intelligence after the judges administered the questions. The teams discouragement was clearly evident. But how then is a junior high student supposed to answer with confidence, when a college student is sitting in the audience feeling like the questions are beyond their own comprehension. None the less, the team put their work in enthusiastically at practice and showed up for the competition ready to go. I stepped in for one of the absent judges responsible for scoring, and was pretty nervous myself, and was even competing. However Guilford was off with a bang, racking up 8 points in the first quarter alone. They had a new mentality and something to prove. Before the competition had begun, Ted Smith the team leader led the squad in prayer, something I saw as odd for a public school, but who am I to argue the power of God. The kids preformed outstandingly and won the their first real competition. I dont consider myself overly religious, but just seeing the smiles on their faces was enough to make me believe.

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