Lattes and Hijabis

The bell above the door jingled as the older couple walked out of Mission Coffee Shop on State Street. A crowd of young techies from the near-by start-up were enthusiastically chomping on the shop’s famous roast beef sandwiches. Across the room, the old man with the brown briefcase was in his usual corner, perusing The New York Times as he had been for the past two hours. Spotting some customers walking through the door, Leila quickly swept up some crumbs from the counter and greeted them with a sincere smile. “Hello! Welcome to Mission Coffee Shop!” She reached up to adjust her hijab. The sunflower-yellow scarf Leila used today was a bit slipperier than the others she owned and wouldn’t stay in place. She had started wearing the hijab in sixth grade. It had been uncomfortable for the first few weeks, and during the sweltering Northwest summers, the scarf would trap her sweat and body heat. But just like anything in life, she became accustomed to it, and it was part of her identity now. Leila had grown up in a liberal area of Oregon. People had always accepted her for who she was and if they had questions, they asked, she would answer, and they would leave with a new piece of knowledge. The tinkle of the bell brought Leila’s attention back to the present. She turned around to get a wrinkled menu from the counter, not noticing the woman with a venomous look in her eyes quickly advancing towards her from behind. A slight cough caused Leila to pivot backwards on the balls of her feet, ready to help a customer in need. Instead, the woman’s fingers, which had begun to grasp the edge of Leila’s hijab, violently yanked, Leila’s head twisting back sharply. The pin which she had used to secure her scarf scraped the tender skin of her scalp as the woman pulled further, until the yellow scarf was wrapped around her neck, choking her in the clutch of Islamophobia and hatred. A ragged gasp tore out of her throat, mixing saliva and shock into one horrible, tangled knot of a situation. Leila’s curly brown hair, which no person outside her family had seen in eight years, was now exposed to all the customers in the coffee shop, whose mouths were agape at this savage act. This was the scene in the shop as people walked by outside, not noticing a young woman’s dignity being stolen.

Leila quickly wrapped the yellow fabric around her head again, desperately trying to save her modesty. Her breath was coming in short, rapid bursts, and her hands were still trembling as she faced the woman. “Excuse me?”

The woman turned around, and Leila could suddenly see the humanity of the situation: the lines that age had carved across the woman’s face, the uneven clumps of brown mascara stuck to her lower lashes. Then she remembered what this person had just done to her and stopped noticing the details, stopped absorbing everything human about her. Leila started clenching her fists and then letting go, tightening and loosening, squeezing and letting go. Her heart was still pounding erratically from the incident. “Excuse me. Why-” Her voice choked in her throat. Swallowing hard, she continued, “Why did you pull off my hijab?”  Leila’s voice was starting to ascend in octave, and she could feel the moisture leaking out of her eyes. She just wanted to know why the woman had done what she had done, how she justified her actions to herself, how a human could do this to a fellow human. No part of the situation was making any sense to Leila and it was beginning to overwhelm her. The tears quivered on Leila’s lower eyelids before quickly taking the plunge off her thick lashes. She flicked away the droplets and focused on the woman standing in front of her, trying to find a reason, any reason, for her brutality. “What anger do you have against me personally? I just don’t un-”

The woman finally looked Leila straight in the eye and smirked as though she was a autocratic teacher and Leila an ignorant child. “You fucking Arabs have brought nothing but death and tragedy to our country. Go back to the desert, you camel jockey!”

At this point, Leila didn’t know what she was doing anymore. She pointed at the door, her index finger trembling in a way that was only visible to her. “Get out of here,” she ordered, past the point of caring whether or not her behavior towards this “customer” was appropriate. “You and your disgusting actions have no place here. Get out!” When the woman didn’t budge, she pushed her out of the door and onto the sidewalk.  

The jingling of the bell snapped Leila out of her wishful thoughts. Her breathing was still coming in irregular bursts as she turned around to face the woman, whose fingers had just finished pulling the scarf off Leila’s head. Leila slowly turned and stood there with her mouth open, trying to say something, anything, yet no words came out. In her trance, her mind had spoken the words that her mouth would not. She blinked a few times and saw the woman push the door open. The bell tinkled and then she could see her no more.

Boko Haram Expands Reach of Power and Continues to Grow

Sana Khader

Ms. Tompkins

World Literature Honors

March 13, 2015

Boko Haram Expands Reach of Power and Continues to Grow

The extremist militant group Boko Haram has terrorized the people of Nigeria since 2004. It asserts control over an area with the size and population of Ireland in its goal to expand its brutal dominance (Hartcher). In 2002, a Muslim cleric named Mohammed Yusuf took advantage of the weak government and used his extreme ideals to propel himself into a position of leadership. Yusuf and his followers renounced anything related to the West, as evident in their name, “Boko Haram,” which translates to “Western education is a sin” (Stock).

Boko Haram’s notorious history of attacks has led to a great fear among the people. They started to violently demonstrate their ideals in 2009, and have steadily gained power since. In 2011, Boko Haram launched a suicide attack on the United Nations’ headquarters in the Nigerian capital of Abuja and killed twenty-four people (Stock). It takes extreme power and motive to overcome the police and security forces of an international peacekeeping organization, and Boko Haram proved that they have the capability to do exactly that. Most recently, and in the event that has caused the most horror and public outrage, Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok in northern Nigeria. According to The Washington Post, the young girls were threatened to be sold as sex slaves or forced into marriages with Boko Haram soldiers (Noack). This mass abduction brought the world’s attention to this terrorist group. Prominent public figures denounced the brutality and violence of Boko Haram, and across the world, people began using the hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls” on social media to express their condemnation (Noack).

Furthermore, Boko Haram pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, in March of this year. As reported by the New York Times, some experts say that this pledge means Boko Haram is accepting the authority of the Islamic state (Callimachi). ISIS is an extremely merciless and brutal power; under them, Boko Haram’s supply of weapons and manpower could increase by huge proportions. As demonstrated by their recent actions, Boko Haram has started taking steps to increase their reach of power.

Although Boko Haram has terrorized the people of Nigeria for more than a decade, public outrage has led to increased awareness. Governments in Africa and citizens worldwide  have started working towards a solution. The African Union recently declared that it was mobilizing an intervention force of 8700 troops from Chad, Niger, Cameroon, Benin and Nigeria to resist Boko Haram (Hartcher). Though the extremist group is rapidly growing due to increased attacks and tactful alliances, global efforts are being made to push back.

Works Cited

Callimachi, Rukmini. "Boko Haram Generates Uncertainty With Pledge of Allegiance to Islamic State." The New York Times. The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2015. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.

Hartcher, Peter, ed. "Boko Haram: ISIS Wins Ally in Africa." The Sydney Morning Herald 10 Mar. 2015: 18. Student Resources in Context. Web. 10 Mar. 2015.

Noack, Rick. "Six Months after Abducting Nigerian Schoolgirls, Boko Haram Reportedly Wants to Free Them." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 17 Oct. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2015.
"Mohammed Yusuf Founds Boko Haram: 2002." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 1: Africa. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. N. pag. Student Resources in Context. Web. 7 Mar. 2015.

Msimangu: A Humble Man

Msimangu’s actions are driven by his pure, humble, intentions as he acts as a guide to the inexperienced Kumalo.

“I shall do it gladly. My brother, I have of course my work to do, but so long as you are here, my hands are yours” (24).

“I am not kind. I am a selfish and sinful man, but God has put his hands on me, that is all” (25).

“My friend, I am a Christian. It is not in my heart to hate a white man...But you will pardon me if I talk frankly to you...The white man has broken the tribe. And it is my belief- and again I ask your pardon- that it cannot be mended again” (25).

This represents purity and shows that he is willing to help anything, no matter how small the cause or benefit is.

Time to Fiddle

First symbol: Alarm clock

• Quotes:
• 1: “In the end we had changed the position of the hands so many times that we had no idea what the time really was” (15).
• 2: “I was convinced that the real reason behind his liberal attitude was the irresistible attraction of our alarm clock, with its proud peacock-feathered rooster...The only way he could have it all to himself, was to dispatch us to Yong Qing. During the four days it took us to get there, he would be lord and master of the clock” (80).
• Thesis: The protagonists’ manipulation
• n of the alarm clock represents the fact that although their circumstances are desperate, they find ways to exercise control over their lives, even if it’s only the small things.
• Relation to coming of age: The alarm clock represents the two boys asserting increasing control over their lives. Especially in the repressive environment of the cultural revolution, they have lived their whole lives possessing little control over their decisions. Changing the hands on their alarm clock allows them to truly have control something for the first time, helping them to mature and grow as individuals.

Second symbol: Violin [or Wy-o-lin]

• Quotes:
• 1: “Some day, perhaps, once I was an accomplished violinist, some modest local or regional propaganda committee- in the district of Yong Jing, for instance- might open their doors to me, and might even hire me to perform Red violin concertos. But Luo couldn’t play the violin, I reflected, and he wasn’t much good at basketball or football either. In fact, he didn’t  possess a single skill that might help him to become one of the three in a thousand. He couldn’t even dream of it” (18).
• 2: “One peasant took the ‘toy’ from the headman’s hands, drummed with his fists on its back, then passed it to the next person…

‘A stupid toy,’ a woman commented hoarsely.

    ‘No,’ the village headman corrected her, ‘a bourgeois toy’” (4).

• Thesis: While the narrator had originally stored his hopes in the violin, believing that it could be his key to escaping his circumstances, he increasingly finds that his hopes are exaggerated and that he needs to rely on himself to get ahead.
• Connection:  Earlier on in the story, the narrator believes that the violin will be the key to his success. However, as part of growing up and maturing, he realizes over time that he will need to rely on himself, instead of counting on his talents or possessions to solve all his problems.

You Must Wait

you must feel peace within yourself

and within each other

   everything must come together

as

o   n   e

everything will be in harmony

yet you cannot force

                                  this unity upon anything

you cannot force this calm

to come

it will arrive

as the rain pours silently and suddenly

you have

no

 control

as the whispering fingers of the trees

slowly

   float

to

the


  ground

you must wait

as the river flows over

the solid, unyielding canyon

  it will some day

one day

 
carve a valley

in what used to be a rigid surface

you must wait

  for the Tao

The Snowball Effect of Memories