The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank:SOLD by Patrica McCormickMy ReviewHeart aching truths are revealed in this book. This is the gut wrenching story of Lakshmi, one of the many girls that are taken and sold into prostitution at a young age. It was gripping and staggeringly beautiful. In this book Patricia McCormick doesn't hid behind things she lays it all out in the open the hard truth of the destruction that these girls face everyday. The format manages to describe events that are horrible and unthinkable, with out making it to difficult to read. The ending left me wanting more, which is just fine by me. The fact that I was left wanting inspires me to get involved more and have a more immediate involvement with the stories out there like this. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2127400806 Other Peoples ReviewsBeautifully-written with much heartache for these young girls who are sold into prostitution by their families. Sometimes they are sold because of extreme poverty and all money must be spent on the Males of the family. But sometimes, as in the book, they are sold just because the Male wants a new winter coat and a girl is just money wasted in feeding her when she could be sold for cash and no expenses in the future. The saddest part of the book is the girls weren't "working" for money even. But were really enslaved in form of bonded labour until they could pay of their debts. They had to pay back the madame their price, the costs of bringing them, all the agents, bribes, money paid to their father or uncle who sold them. Then at the brothel they had to pay for every crumb they ever ate, dress they wore, and even for their bedding where they lay down to get screwed by the customer as well as the madame. Add the madame's profit on top of that and they were stuck until their looks had gone and she no longer wanted them. Escape was scarcely an option. If they didn't get away they would be brought by captors expecting a good monetary reward and their punishment would be extreme, sometimes even to the point of disfigurement. Lesser crimes, like keeping a diary, or talking to someone about their plight brought the fear of a favourite punishment - cut-up hot peppers thrust into the girl's vagina which was then plugged for some hours. There are American rescue missions but the girls were told these white devils would do the worst things to them that were beyond anything they could imagine so they lied to them that they were happy. There were American customers to, but they couldn't care less, they were just hiring a prostitute. Eventually the heroine, if she can be called that, does escape to an American mission. It's quite a good part of the book, she makes friends with an itinerate tea seller who gets fired but comes back to tell her the truth of the missions. This is another chance at life. But the reality, outside of a book, is that these girls are nobodies, no-one wants to marry them or employ them. It's the same everywhere, whores are the lowest of the low even if they were only that because they were forced into it. These missions ought to offer these girls the chance of immigration into America. There they would be educated and from then on their families would be free of the poverty and culture that sold girls like the saying, ..... A girl is like a goat. Good when giving milk and babies, but no need to cry when it's time to make stew. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1775708250?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1 I'm so torn on this one. Read the entire thing in one sitting - it was gripping and staggeringly beautiful in its descriptions of everyday life - both its sublime and simple beauties and its deepest horrors. I love that it takes on sex slavery in an unflinching way - there's no ducking out on or thinking "oh it isn't that bad" as you read Lakshmi's narrative. But, gosh, the ending kills me. White American to the rescue!
To be transparent - this is a text I'm thinking of taking on in my World Literature class this upcoming school year - so I started googling and researching this morning to try to work through the white savior mentality there at the end and figure out what the heck that was and where it came from. Found some helpful explanation from Patrica McCormick on her website - first of all, that the man at the end was based on someone she knew and this was a "thank you" to him and, secondly, that she wanted to help American audiences to feel empowered to do something. Fair. I think I'll probably take it on - in part to work through the "white savior" complex at the end - which will be a great opportunity to take on conversations of race, difference, and oppression that matter a lot given context in my classroom (i.e. I'm a white teacher going into my 9th year working with almost exclusively black students). I think that asking questions around author's purpose, sharing McCormick's rationale, and then leaving the question of whether or not this decision sits well with us or if it undermines the idea that oppressed groups can and should be empowered to take on their own problems will probably be my approach. Open to thoughts from friends or others. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/982952882?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1 Facts: The director rather than using traditional actors and actresses took normal people and set up secret cameras and microphones to film them so that their responses would be genuine. Normally they shot a lot less; film-shot to film-used ratio of 35 to 1. Normally, because of cost, the ratio should be 3.5 to 1. However, because the film was shot on 16mm (an later blown up to 35mm), the price was about the same because of the cheaper film stock. Quote: TV Host: Do you like the city? Zhang Huike: Yes. TV Host: What is good about it? Zhang Huike: The city is beautiful and prosperous. Much better than the country. TV Host: What's the most lasting impression? Zhang Huike: That I had to beg for food. I will always remember that. Summery:
Thirteen-year-old Wei Minzhi arrives in Shuiquan village to substitute for the village's only teacher (Gao Enman) while he takes a month's leave to care for his ill mother. Before leaving, he explains to her that many students have recently left school to find work in the cities, and he offers her a 10 yuan bonus if all the students are still there when he returns. When Wei begins teaching, she has little rapport with the students: they shout and run around instead of copying their work, and the class troublemaker, Zhang Huike, insists that "she's not a teacher, she's Wei Chunzhi's big sister!" unwilling to let any students leave, Wei hides Ming, and when the village mayor (Tian Zhenda) finds her, Wei chases after their car in a futile attempt to stop them. One day, after trying to make the troublemaker Zhang apologize for bothering another student, Wei discovers that Zhang has left to go find work in the nearby city of Zhangjiakou. One girl suggests that they can make money by moving bricks in a nearby brickyard, and Wei begins giving the students mathematical exercises centered on finding out how much money they need to earn for the bus tickets, how many bricks they need to move, and how much time it will take. Wei ends up walking most of the way to Zhangjiakou. In the city, Wei finds the people that Zhang was supposed to be working with, only to discover that they had lost him at the train station days before. Wei has no success finding Zhang through the public address system and "missing person" posters, so she goes to the local television station to broadcast a missing person notice. The receptionist (Feng Yuying) will not let her in without valid identification, though, and says the only way she can enter is with permission from the station manager, whom she describes as "a man with glasses". For the rest of the day, Wei stands by the station's only gate, stopping every man with glasses, but she does not find the station manager, and spends the night asleep on the street. The next day the station manager (Wu Wanlu) sees her at the gate again, through his window, and lets her in, scolding the receptionist for making her wait outside. Although Wei has no money to run an ad on TV, the station manager is interested in her story and decides to feature Wei in a talk show special about rural education. On the talk show, Wei is nervous and hardly says a word when the host (Li Fanfan) addresses her, but Zhang—who has been wandering the streets begging for food—sees the show. After Wei and Zhang are reunited, the station manager arranges to have them driven back to Shuiquan village, along with a truckload of school supplies and donations that viewers had sent in. Upon their return, they are greeted by the whole village. In the final scene, Wei presents the students with several boxes of colored chalk that were donated, and allows each student to write one character on the board. The film ends with a series of title cards that recount the actions of the characters after the film ends, and describe the problem of poverty in rural education in China.
​Simon Sinek
How Great Leaders Inspire Action "People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it." Mpudi: I'm teaching him how to drive, just for the hell of it. There's nothing else to do around here. This movie was certainly a surprise to me. Normally when I watch a movie I will at least go and read the description if not watch the trailer and find out as much as I can. I thought this movie would be about Roman or Greek gods and be quite a serious movie. Well.... this was one of the funniest movies I've seen. The Gods Must Be Crazy, it was really interesting to watch a movie and know the whole story. Movies that were maid now you watch and you see the story and you know whats going to happen or you can guess. This one right from the start you knew what was going to happen but you didn't know where it was going to lead. It started with a Coke bottle falling on the ground in front of Xi. His people think this strange artifact is another "present" from the gods and find many uses for it. But unlike anything that they have had before, there is only one glass bottle to share. Because of the conflict it causes, Xi consults with elders and agrees to make a pilgrimage to the edge of the world and dispose of the supposedly cursed thing. Along the way, he encounters a diverse assortment of people, such as: biologist Andrew Steyn, who is studying the local animals; Kate Thompson, the newly hired village school teacher; a band of guerrillas led by Sam Boga, who are being pursued by government troops after an unsuccessful attack; a safari tour guide named Jack Hind; and Steyn's assistant and mechanic, M'pudi. When Xi is hungry, he shoots a goat with a tranquilizer arrow, but is caught and jailed. M'pudi, who once lived with the San and still speaks Xi's dialect, concludes that Xi will die if kept in prison. He and Steyn apply to employ Xi as a tracker for the remainder of his sentence in lieu of prison. Meanwhile, the guerrillas invade Kate's school and take her and the students as human shields for their escape to the neighboring country. Steyn, M'pudi, and Xi soon discover their field work (observing the local wildlife) is on the terrorists' chosen path. They manage to immobilize the guerrillas as they are passing by and save Kate and the children. However, Jack Hind takes away Kate, and Steyn is left at the same place again. With Xi's term over, Steyn pays his wages and sending him on his way. When Steyn tells Kate about his problem, Kate is impressed and they begin his relationship. Xi eventually arrives at God's Window, the top of a cliff with a solid layer of low-lying clouds obscuring the landscape below. Convinced that he has reached the edge of the world, he throws the bottle off the cliff, and returns to his tribe. Mpudi: [looking at Steyn in a suit] And why are you so beautiful?
Steyn: I'm going to the school to give her these. Mpudi: You gonna look like that? Steyn: Like what? Mpudi: Like it's a funeral. You've gotta smile, man, and tell her she looks good. Steyn: How come suddenly you're an expert on women? Mpudi: I got seven wives. How many you got? Steyn: So why aren't you at home with your seven wives? Mpudi: I know how to marry them. Nobody knows how to live with them. Steyn: So, what did you marry them for? Mpudi: Someday I have to tell you the facts of life... |
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