Bubble Popping

â€Å"Aren’t you hot?† â€Å"Were you forced to put that on your head?† â€Å"How many scarves do you have?† These were all questions I had received upon making my decision to wear the hijab, or Muslim headdress. However, there was one question that had not been asked. The answer had been lounging in the back of my mind since July, dangling on the edge of my tongue and waiting to exercise. And finally, â€Å"Why do you wear that?† accompanied with a circular motion around the head. I looked up and found a boy staring back at me, wearing a genuine expression on his face, one of solemn curiosity. I had been preparing for this question for months, yet I did not want to launch into a 20-minute speech preaching about my religion, so I opted for a relatively simple answer. â€Å"I wear this,† pointing to my scarf, â€Å"because it’s a really important part of my religion. It represents modesty, so people won’t judge me by my body shape or appearance, but they’ll like me for my personality and character.† An uncomfortable silence followed. â€Å"Does that make sense?† I prodded. He smiled thoughtfully. â€Å"Yeah, it actually does.† I breathed a sigh of relief and a wave of satisfaction washed over me as I realized I had taken a huge step toward reaching my goal. More experiences similar to this one arose, yet one in particular seemed to clear away the uncertainty of my dreams and aspirations. Every Wednesday the Global Relief club would drive down to El Cajon, California and tutor Iraqi refugees at Emerald Middle School. It became my favorite day of the week—the eager children waiting for us outside the classroom, the Arabic circulating around the room in rapid breaths, and the feeling of contentment I received when I knew I had helped someone. That Wednesday was different though. As we approached the regular classroom, I noticed a small girl standing alone against the wall, staring down at her sneakers. I walked over to her, smiled, and said hello. She replied back in a small voice, and from her accent, I deduced that she had recently immigrated. I knew I could never imagine what she had been through, but I immediately felt a connection to her. In that scared, self-conscious girl, I saw my previous self. Her name was Rana, and she had the quiet, nervous voice I had adapted when I started wearing the hijab. She avoided direct eye contact and almost all conversations that were not in Arabic. My constant attempts to engage her in conversation were dismissed. Communication with her was difficult. While I tutored her, we struggled to understand each other, but after experimenting a few Arabic words in a horrible accent, I managed to make her smile. I learned to say, â€Å"Is this right or wrong?† and â€Å"friend.† In retrospect, I learned many new Arabic words, but those held no hope with my terrible language skills. Instead, Rana taught me other things. By the end of the year, Rana was speaking English at a fast pace, and, laughing, I had to tell her to slow down so I could understand her. She bickered with young boys who were bothering her, and giggled with other girls her age. The same girl who was standing alone against the wall was now chattering away in the large group of kids that waited for us outside the classroom. I watched her grow, and in a way, Rana showed me how much I had grown in the past year as well. Coming from a Muslim background and wearing the hijab has had a lasting impact on who I am, and my dreams of who I wish to be. An ordinary engagement with a peer, a learning experience with a young girl, and the feelings that followed pushed me in the direction of helping others, breaking down barriers, and overcoming communication obstacles. I have learned to communicate with and relate to people who may not be in my immediate religious circle, yet have faced similar experiences of discovering identity and trying to fit in. After a long year of struggling to blend in with 2,500 students, I have not succeeded, yet this â€Å"failure† has benefited me in the long run. I am now not afraid of what people think of me, I can speak my opinions without stuttering, and I do not hesitate to make silly faces at friends across the classroom, just to earn a smile. At some point in each of our lives, we have stared up at the tall, intimidating walls of difference, contemplating the best way to jump, climb, or dig under them to make it to the other side. Some may walk away from these walls, ignoring wonderful opportunities to meet someone who may be different from them, but someone who, nonetheless, they may be able to form a connection with. Our ability to tear down these walls, break out of our molds, and communicate with and relate to others is what truly makes us unique, social beings, and I believe that, with the help of many, including Rana, I have succeeded.

Statistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Statistics - Essay Example 2. You wish to estimate the weight of the students at EKU. Using the question 2 data, calculate your sample mean to the nearest tenth of a pound. Use that estimate to construct 95% confidence interval for the true average if you know that the standard deviation of the population is 2.3 pounds. Construct 95% confidence interval if you do not know the true standard deviation. Comment on why those confidence intervals are different. Both confidence intervals are slightly different because one is computed based on known population standard deviation, ÏÆ' and z distribution and other is calculated based on sample standard deviation, s and t distribution. The t distribution has slightly broader tails then z distribution, therefore, the confidence interval is also slightly wider as compared to z distribution. 3. The average height in the United States for men is 69.3 inches. The standard deviation for the population of the men in the US is 3.4 inches. You measure a sample of people from Richmond and find that the average of these 16 men is 71.4 inches with a sample standard deviation of 4.8 inches. Assume all testing is for 95% confidence. 4. We wish to compare the weights of the people of Richmond, Kentucky with those of Lexington, Kentucky. We do not know the standard deviation for the population as a whole and we cannot assume that the unknown sigma is the same for each city. We take a sample from each city and the results are as follows All the three models are statistically significant and also, In model 3, individually, Parent’s income and Years of education significantly predicts person’s annual income . However, the adjusted R2 value for the model 3 is highest of all the regression models. Therefore, the best model is given by Adjusted R2 is a measure of Goodness-of-fit and penalizes the R2 for adding additional explanatory variables. The higher the value of adjusted R2,

The Diminishing Roles for Women in American films Essay

The Diminishing Roles for Women in American films - Essay Example The issue of gender inequality is seen in the minimal number of women behind the scenes, that is directors and writers. The fact that men compose the biggest percentage of writers and directors greatly impacts on what is shown. Men will therefore have a chance to influence how women are portrayed and the role they wish them to play. This is why most women are given minimal roles such as secretaries and homemakers. According to the same study published in the Los Angeles times, women characters are more likely than men to wear sexy clothes, expose their skin and to be referred to as being attractive. What this means is that Hollywood is a follower and not a leader in the feminist movement and the realization of gender equality, in the film industry. It is like the film industry in the United States is in a world of its own, in comparison with the other industries .In the same breath women are allocated supporting roles, while men are given the main roles. This under representation cou ld falsely make one to believe that men are more than women. The diminishing role of women is seen in the many stereotypes geared towards women, which are prejudice. This trend was started in the nineteen fifties and continues to grow. Actors such as Audrey Hepburn were mainly given sexual and seductive roles. Beauty standards of women in the film industry are predetermined by the industry which favors white females who have a slender frame, characteristics which are hard to achieve by many females, especially other races. This is why the number of actresses from ethnic groups such as those from the black community is minimal. According to Martha Plimpton, an actress, it is harder for a regular looking woman to get a job, than it is for an â€Å"ugly’’ man. Essentially this means that it is much harder for women to get into acting because success for them in the industry is based on looks. Stereotyping in role allocation is impacting negatively on women in the film in dustry in Hollywood. Women are usually depicted as victims and men as the victors. A good example is the war movies and documentaries in which men are given the main roles. This is despite the fact that women are usually the ones who bear the biggest brunt of war and, and determine the directions that most wars take. Films always portray women as the victims of men to be raped or abused. This makes them seem weaker compared to men. People are exposed to such perceptions from an early age, which influences perceptions of boys towards girls from childhood to maturity. Girls and women are portrayed differently in movie roles from when they are teenagers to maturity. Teenage girls are cast as being of strong characters and adult women as being weaker and highly sexualized. Actresses are given scenes that show that women are hostile to each other, and their friendships as being backstabbing in nature, while male friendships are strong and supportive. Female roles in movies are usually to stand with by their husbands and children, and do household duties. Actors roles are usually strong, aggressive and competent, on the other hand women’s roles are usually weak, vulnerable, so that they need protection (O ‘Connor, 1998). Leadership positions are usually left to male actors who also act as the main breadwinners to their families