Author: Karlye Sopczak

In chapter 3 of Aslan’s No God but God I was able to get a deeper understanding of where the roots of women being subordinate to men came from within the Islamic religion. It was not necessarily the words of Muhammad but rather the supposed words of Muhammad and other leaders’ interpretations of the Qur’an that led to women being treated as lesser than. For example Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi claimed in the 12th century that “women were created like animals….woman is weak, silly, and in one sense like a child” (Aslan 69). However, this interpretation was not in line with what the Qur’an intended and most likely not in line with what Muhammad believed.

I think this is great example of how leaders should be hyperaware of the weight that their words carry. The misogynistic words, beliefs and interpretations of Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi are still present in some Islamic parts of the world. Global leaders today need to realize that their actions can have lasting impacts way beyond what they originally intended. This is a extremely relevant topic right now as we struggle with what leaders and news outlets to believe regarding the COVID-19 outbreak.

It was very interesting to read a religious text other than the Bible. I was surprised at how many similarities there were between the two texts. There were honestly times where I could not differentiate whether I was reading the Bible or the Qur’an. There was also a lot of similarities in what God/ Allah is asking of his people in how they lead their lives. One example of this is how both the Qur’an and the Bible teach on how to treat the poor.

In the Bible, Luke 3:10-11 says, “And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?”And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics[a] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Growing up in a Catholic family, I was always taught to put others before myself and to always serve the poor in whatever way possible. I think Luke 3:10-11 is a good example of what Christians are called to do in terms of helping those in need. Surah 57, verse 18 similarly quotes, “the men and women who spend in charity and give godly loan to god, will have it doubled for them and will receive and generous reward.” I think in this case Islam and Christianity is crossing over tremendously. If I was to hear the previous verse read in Mass I would not think twice if it was in the Bible or not because it is so in line with our values and beliefs as well. This is not the only example of a similarity between the two faiths, there was many more as well.

One difference, however, is that it came up multiple times while reading the Qur’an is that it is a texted that is meant to be recited. In both Surah 75 verse 18 and Surah 87 verse 6, the Qur’an talks about how it is meant to be recited. I find this interesting because there is controversy among Christians on wether or not the Bible is meant to be recited or not. Personally, I think there is nothing wrong with it and it is almost a sign of the utmost respect for God, although of course others have their reasons.

Despite all the similarities and differences, I think it is important to note that both Muslims and Christians worship one God who is all loving and all good according to both of our holy texts, and that we have more in common than we think if we just take the time to learn.

This week I went to the IPS Newcomer program twice, just to get some more hours in before our and their spring break. On Tuesday, 13 year old Sandy and I talked about her favorite food from America, which was pizza. However, she said that she missed her grandmother’s meals from Guatemala. I did not ask her where her grandmother was now or why she had to leave Guatemala. However, I am so thankful that I have enough Spanish skills to be able to have somewhat meaningful conversations with students like Sandy. I have learned that the kids are much more willing to open up if I speak to them kindly in my best Spanish.

Hector and I talked about how well his week and day were going and got really excited to tell his friends that I was able to speak “poco” (a little) Spanish. My favorite part was that he used the usted form instead of the tu form when addressing me which is a sign of respect. This made me feel so important and proud that he would think of me in such a manner. He was also really impressed and complimentary of my finished art project from the point perspective unit.

The experience of the IPS newcomer students is directly related to and helps me better understand our most recent class discussion and reading of The Cairo House. Gigi says she constantly feels like a chameleon changing her attitude and personas as she navigates different countries and people. I feel that the students of the IPS newcomer program are similar in that they have to be spoken to and are encouraged to speak in English all day during school, yet when they go home they speak an entire different language and enter a whole new culture. On top of this, I found out today that most students are only allowed to stay in the program for one or two years maximum. This means that they will be creating a whole new skin for their chameleon in just a few months.

I feel that every-time I go to IPS and take my very long trek from my car to the entrance of the school, I am in a tired, agitated state. However, there has not been one day where I left the school without wearing a smile. The nature of this community and these kids are helping me learn so much about myself and others by helping me develop my problem solving skills in tough communication situations. This experience only ever heightens my sense of responsibility to others.

As soon as the narrator began talking about what it means to her to be a “chameleon”, I instantly made connections between Ha Jin’s “Woman from New York” and the movie “The Hate U Give”.

In “Woman from New York”, Jinli was definitely trying her best to be a chameleon and juggle her two worlds even though her efforts proved unsuccessful. It was clear that once she left China for the United States, she never felt quite at home in either place. In the United States she was a Chinese American and in China she was the mother who left her family. When slipping back into her life in China, she was ostracized by her in-laws and the community for things ranging from her behavior to her physical appearance.  She tried to juggle both parts of her life, but it was the environment and people around her that made it so difficult to “make those around [her] comfortable”, thus making being a chameleon a truly challenging task.

In the film “The Hate U Give”, the main character, Starr Carter, finds it difficult to maneuver between the two different lives she lives at home and at school. Her friends from home in her impoverished neighborhood are predominantly black, while her friends from her private school are wealthy and predominantly white. Starr’s actions smoothly change depending on which world she is living in, just as Gigi from Cairo House changes depending on her location and the people she is around. Both Starr and Gigi realize that is not just about making the people around them feel comfortable, but also that”it is a matter of survival” (Serageldin 2).

Today was a fairly normal morning working with the children and teens at the IPS newcomer school. I helped Nelson with the lines on his point-perspective art project. I listened to the concerns and morning tales of other students.

To preface this story, IPS newcomer school is a section of another IPS middle school, Northwest Middle School. I had the art teacher inform me that there was a stabbing the previous day at Northwest Middle school which is located in the same building as the IPS newcomer program. The teacher was concerned for the newcomers safety and their view of the United States education system. She also informed me that there has never been problems with violence among the students in the newcomer, unlike the US citizens enrolled in all the other IPS schools.

This entire situation got me thinking about immigration policies in the United States, past and present. Certain groups and people in the United States like to blame immigrants and refugees for problems that the US has created all on its own. They are cast as criminals and that “we do not have room for them”, when in reality we are not very different at all. People need to stop blaming immigrants for US problems.

One of the course learning objectives is to do outside learning about the focus area countries of our GHS class: China and the Islamic Middle East. I did some brief research of an older immigration policy for Chinese citizens known as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  This Act prevented Chinese workers from entering the United States until it was repealed in 1943, unless they had permission from the government. This experience at IPS allowed me to make a class connection and to learn about past immigration policies in the US regarding China. It helped me to better understand the differences in experiences of others and especially reminded me to be considerate to refugees and immigrants in a time where they are not always accepted with open arms. It has also most definitely enhanced my sense of responsibility towards society and social justice education.

Reading the last pages in Craig about China’s most recent history and its rapid economic development got me thinking about the US-China Trade War. Recently in January, Trump and the Vice Premier Liu He of China, signed Phase I of the trade deal after the start of the trade war in 2018. This is a small step in the right direction as, the trade war has had some very interesting and unintended consequences.

Last semester I took a course on US and the Asia Pacific. We focused a lot on US foreign policies with different Asian countries and spent some time on the trade war. I was so shocked to be informed about all of the unforeseen issues stemming from the trade war. One of these being the degradation of our environment. Since the United States put massive tariffs on the China’s import of our agricultural products, China went seeking crops elsewhere. One the places China turned to for soybeans was Brazil. This was great news for Brazil’s economy because they now have a huge new market for their soybean production. However, China’s demand for soybeans is exceptionally high and Brazil needed to make up for all the production that China was no longer getting from the US. In order to make room to grow more soybeans, Brazil cut down more parts of the amazon rainforest which supplies 25 percent of the world’s oxygen. This is a huge environmental concern that needs to be carefully monitored for the sake of humanity’s future.

What is interesting about the article that I previously linked is that the South China Morning Post is a Chinese newspaper, so it is obviously bias in the fact that it completely failed to mention the negative environmental consequences of the trade war. This reminds me that it is important to always consult other sources when trying to form your own informed opinion on an issue.

Ha Jin’s “A Bad Joke”, highlighted not only some of the problems, but the harshness of the Chinese police force under the Communist Party. I especially wanted write a blog post digging more into Mao and what happened under his founding of the People’s Republic of China. 

I think the reason the two peasants had good reason for saying, “Damn, all the prices go up, only our chairmen never grows” (144). In the previous quote the peasants are referring to Mao’s poor leadership skills and because of these, they are upset about food and clothing price increases. The police took the peasant’s quote out of context and thought he was referring to the current chairman Deng Xiaoping, which is why they were arrested.

There is also an important detail in “Saboteur” where peasants were sleeping under a Mao statue. This is not a coincidence and I think Jin uses this to show how how bad the poor faired under Mao’s reign. The “Great Leap Forward” in the late 1950’s created mass amounts of famine because of Mao’s inefficient attempt to increase agricultural output. Also, the police force was exceptionally harsh, punishing people for almost anything. In the case of Mr. Chiu, the police punished him for their own spillage of tea on him and his wife. He was immediately arrested for simply standing up for himself and the facts.

Today at Newcomer, I was not in the art classroom the entire time. After the high school students left, Mrs. Latta and I walked our middle school group down to the auditorium for a presentation on vaping and prescription drugs. I was initially very excited for the presentation to not only learn something myself, but to have the students learn some really important information that could affect their health.

I learned that underfunded schools do not have the same access to amazing anti-drug presentations nor do they have the materials to even make the presentation go smoothly as compared to wealthier districts. This experience made me frustrated that the woman presenting couldn’t reach the kids on this topic as much as would have liked and they were still left with so many questions. The children had much difficulty logging into the online program, as everything was in English, and most of them speak minimal English. This program could have been much more effective had the woman presenting did more of a group presentation and utilized the translator at hand instead of assigning fifteen minutes of individual work on the I-pad. Of course there were not enough I-pads for everyone, so the students had to share with one or two other students as well. I hid my irritation with the lack of organization, and reacted in a calm manner and just floated around the room helping students log into their I-pads.

These kids are in middle school right now, so they don’t realize how their school compares to say Carmel Public Schools. They will however, begin to realize the injustices they are facing once they get a little older. This IPS Newcomer situation reminded me of the students in Ha Jin’s “An Official Reply” who were upset that the top English students from the testing done their first year of college were taught by the best professors (156). The low group received a worse English education, which prevented them from having the same future career opportunities as the top group, who were educated by more experienced professionals.

This day helped me to better understand that the nature of this community is vulnerable to things like drugs, and that educational programs such as the one provided are necessary. However, I think the information could have been presented in a more effective way especially because the children are learning English. This experience helped me further my patience and enhanced my sense of responsibility to helping others. This ICR constantly inspires me to continue to pursue my career goals in law, so I can help combat the injustices that marginalized communities face in the United States.

The past five readings that have been assigned in Ha Jin’s The Bridegroom have been nothing short of depressing in terms of the way that women are viewed and treated in China. In “An Official Reply” the gender discrimination was not quite as outright as in “Broken” however, it is still very prevalent. The author genuinely seems confused as to why a young woman would feel compelled to engage in sexual relations with an older man who has the final say in if her poetry gets published. Zhao says, “I couldn’t imagine that such a fine girl would allow an old man like Mr. Fang to explore her carnally”. It is appalling that being an academic in the 1980’s he still has no concept of gender and power relations. This young girl’s situation is similar to that of Tingting in “Broken”, who felt compelled to lose her virginity to a man in a position of power who pursued her. All of these situations could easily have taken place in the United States and it is important to recognize that gender discrimination can be found in all parts of the globe.

In “The Woman from New York”, the gender discrimination was more blatant, but also gave an interesting third person perspective. This point of view made me ponder whether females were included or if it was a collective male perspective and if that would make me think differently about the thoughts presented about Jinli’s life. Anyhow, I was appalled that Jinli was not hired for the tourist position when she was more than qualified for the job merely because there had been rumors spread about what she”may” have been doing when she spent some years in New York. This is where I think gender discrimination in China differs the United States. In the United States, a woman would most likely be hired for being fluent in Chinese and having traveled abroad there while applying for a tourist job. A woman’s personal life is much less poked and prodded as compared to China, where even the government knows about supposed rumors surrounding your name.

This Tuesday at the IPS newcomer program, I was able to work with a different group of children, since they alternate between block A and B scheduling. This group of children was about the same in terms of diversity. I engaged in the same type of work as last week. I sat with the children and spoke to them while we all worked on our art projects.

This week I struggled a little bit more to connect with the kids because they were a little less outgoing. They also seemed to struggle with English more than the previous group. However, I have learned by volunteering at this school that actions truly do speak louder than words. One girl pointed to the Mexican flag that she had incorporated into her 3D drawing and smiled at me. This is not the first instance where I have encountered these children’s love for their home countries. I admire how passionate they are about where they came from and how they refuse to forget their roots despite starting their new lives in the United States. This sort of reminded me of After Cowboy Chicken Came to Town when the workers went on strike because of the pay disparity. They were using what they knew about their culture to try to solve an issue they felt passionate about even if it resulted in some getting fired. While I was sitting with a group, there was also one girl who had her head down the whole time and did not feel like speaking to anyone. I wanted to approach her, but decided it was better to just leave her per the teacher’s request. 

I talked to Mrs. Latta one-on-one about the nature of this community and how some students seemed more down than others. I asked her if the school had any designated “safe spaces”, and she said she was not sure if there was one that was completely finished yet. We talked about creating a sort of “safe space”/ “zen zone” for the students in a section of her art closet instead. I think this would be great for the students to have an area to just cool down or be in private with their emotions if they need a few minutes. I think this experience with some students not wanting to talk to me and putting their head down made me want to make an effort to solve the problem so I can better help the students with anything they may be struggling with, even if it is a small contribution. This experience also enhanced my sense of responsibility to others in order to help them be the best versions of themselves. I want to enhance the solid support system and environment for the kids at school.