academic English

X 1

Student X

Professor N. Tong

ENG 111

5 October 2015

Silver Linings

People often say “Bad things always happen to good people”, while others believe “Everything happens for a reason.” I wonder, “How does something good come out of something bad?” In general, people like to give things a reason. A silver lining helps people reconcile terrible things.

Decades gone by, a burden carried by the womb, questions left undone; she felt as if she did not belong to the world. She’s aware she once had a mother who cared for her but left her as a result of her birth. She had so many questions to ask but no one to answer them. Some days she abhorred her own presence. Other times she felt betrayed by the Creator. She understood and dealt with the nonexistence of a mother in her life; however, she suffered with finding answers and fill in the puzzle that, when pieced together, would reveal her life’s meaning. She lived through this pain for a lifetime until one day, an ephemeral answer that lacked explanation yet that was just enough, an answer she thirsted for years, an answer that broke her free, that brought her serenity.

It has been nearly 2 weeks, I suppose; I saw a plethora of photographs showing groups of people holding a clock on multiple social media sites. At first, I thought the concept behind the photographs lacked inessentiality to the extent of exciting individuals of my generation. Nevertheless, I keep witnessing similar photographs on the news. Curiosity built up and I finally decided to look into these clock photographs. I stormed out words on Google as I hoped they will give me an answer to this mysterious clock photographs, I let my fingers stretch out across the keyboard and began typing. “Photographs of people holding clocks” became an internet trend. Ahmed Mohamad it says, “the teen, who is Muslim, brought to school a clock that he was proud to have made on his own and was arrested for what police initially and falsely said was a hoax bomb”(Franz and Stapleton). I read more till I understood the boy was arrested because of his clock which was mistaken for a bomb. “Aha!” I thought, as I was ready to commit the most favorite sin of a man. “It’s because he is Muslim,” I said to myself.

Mohamad was seeking recognition among his teachers when he presented his invention. What a tragedy-- a clock mistaken for a bomb-- a young inventor mistaken for a terrorist. Like the beauty of mother earth and her infinite route called life, no one has been promised a safe life.

We are standing across the ocean. You don’t look at me as I talk to you. The ocean makes sound that sings peace and composure. It’s dark, no living soul is around. I remind you what you refuse to admit. She had to leave you, for good, to teach you about your manhood, to teach you about life itself. She loved you, I know. She left four seeds of fruit, and the one most like her brings you the most pain. In her absence, how tough do you have to be?

I was 17 years old when I became more familiar with Coco Chanel’s most celebrated innovation, the jacket. I remember falling in love with it the first time it caught my eyes. The beautiful quilted, puffy outlet designed with four real pockets, braid in matching tones and stamped with buttons. I believe Chanel wanted to reinterpret jackets; inspired by men’s wear, and the lack of something like it on selves in women’s clothing sections is one of the reasons women weren’t impressed by it. “The fabric had previously been used for men's undergarments.” (Eva). Chanel was not appreciated nor received recognition for her creation, she was made fun of for creating outerwear that looked much more for men than women. Research shows “women weren’t pleased by the jacket” (Eva) Suddenly stylists dressed celebrities in the jacket, then, Chanel’s elegant work was finally being accepted and perceived as one of the most fashionable. The jacket became a timeless classic worn year after year, even to this day.

Works Cited

Frantz, Ashley and Stapleton, AnneClair “Family: Ahmed Mohamed, Clock-Making Teen, Transferring to Another School” CNN.com, 18 Sept. 2015 Web. 4 October 2015.

Eva, Terry. “Fashion legend: Coco Chanel”, 11 March 2014. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

Reflection: Silver Linings

This assignment is the first writing assignment I felt confident in my whole academic career because it helped me to work on my weakness as well us show of my strength. I was never able to write about outside interests in other writing assignment. The first story is based on a real life story of mine. I had to think twice before deciding to include this story in this essay; it took a lot of courage to let go of my doubts and share this story of mine—the loss of my mother following my birth. I thought the story was a best fit for expletory essay. I felt the sense of relief as I exhaled my pain through my ink. It was very emotional for me to write this, I might have also cried a bit while re reading it multiple times.

The second story was about a trendy topic of a boy who was mistreated due to his creation of a clock. I was inspired by how he stayed positive and the recognition he was able to get following the incident. Also It gave me a chance to reflect on stereotyping (an issue I planned on writing since the day we watched “The Danger of a Single Story” in class).

The third story was a sequential second part to my first story, from a different point of view. In this portion, the “you” refers to my father, and “she” refers to my mother. In this part I wanted to write about the things I want to say to my father about his loss. This assignment allowed me to wander what it was like to be him. This helped me in being open with my father about our loss and to assure him how great he has done with raising his four daughters alone. I also wrote about how I think I resemble to my mother’s appearance and personality although I have never met her and have no clue about her. The life I live and the movement of my family kept giving me clues of my mother from day to day. I might never know much about her but I will learn things about her through me and my father.

The fourth and the last story is about an inspiration of mine, Coco Chanel, I have always been fascinated by her heard work, individuality and her feminine side though she was made famous for making a tailored jacket: something that was deemed too masculine for women at the time.

All hard stories and challenges have silver linings. Whether it is Ahmed being invited to the White House and to see the positive response on social media, or it is my father’s opportunity to grow into not one parenting roles but two, silver linings are everywhere people choose to look for them.