Cammy

You know that super stressful essay that I was working on a few weeks ago for honors English? My teacher said that I wrote one of the best essays in my class! I’m so happy because I really worked hard on it. The prompt was to argue whether A Mercy by Toni Morrison should keep its title to represent one mercy in the novel, or be changed to “Mercy” to register all the different acts of mercy. I argued that “Mercy” was a better title. I’d been doubting myself about it because my teacher always says that essays in his class are really hard, so getting this high score is the validation I needed.

This weekend I saw He Named Me Malala. It’s showing at a local movie theater and my school’s feminist club wanted it to be one of our first field trips of the year. I didn’t know much about Malala before I watched the film, only that Malala is a teenage Pakistani girl who was shot by the Taliban because she advocated for girls’ right to attend school. My friends were really excited about it, though, so I was interested to see it.

It was really good, I really recommend it. In some of scenes, there wasn’t any footage, so instead they used these cute animations: they were so dreamy and simple and bright. It also showed aspects of Malala that probably wouldn’t get reported in the news, like how she video chats with all her friends still living in Swat Valley. Or how she gets annoyed with her little brothers just like anyone with younger siblings. The movie didn’t just revolve around her either: We learned about her dad overcoming his insecurities about stuttering and becoming a public speaker, and her mother’s struggle to adapt to living in England.

A really good part of the film showed Malala’s speech at the UN conference. I’d never heard it before and it was so otherworldly to see how passionate she is about girls having a right to an education. I saw it as an important issue before watching this film, but something about seeing a girl my age achieving so much made doing something about girls’ education seem more possible.

There were so many things I didn’t know about until I watched this documentary. I learned that Malala was named after a folk hero, Malala of Maiwand. Malala of Maiwand was also an outspoken teenage girl who inspired the people of her country (Afghanistan) to fight against the approaching British army. It’s said that when everyone was running away, she climbed to the top of a mountain to encourage her side. Malala of Maiwand ended up being killed because she spoke out, and Malala (Yousafzai) and her father both talked about what her name means, and whether her being shot was inevitable since she was named after such a figure.

Probably one of the most important things this film did for me, was to help me check my privilege. I complain about school a lot, and so do a lot of people. We all have valid reasons, but it’s just so devastating that there are girls actually being attacked for wanting to learn. I’m lucky to have access to an education, and now I can be more conscious about this kind of thing.

After the movie, my friends and I were at a loss for words, but there was a really good vibe hanging around. It was nice to experience the movie and that feeling with them. This, and having a LONG overdue sleepover with my friend Suze, made my week a great one. ♦