Saturday, October 31, 2009

Marjane Satrapi

Dear Marjane Satrapi,


I am reading your book Persepolis and I think that its very interesting. I like the fact that you are a revolutionary and you fight for what you believe in. Not many people can do that in Iran but you protested and took a stand. You might think that because I am American I don’t understand the struggle your people face but I do. I understand what is to protest because I have protest here in the United States. Like you, we also have social classes here. In your book you talk about your maid Mehri, you talk about the romance she has with the neighbor’s son and how they can’t be together because she is poor and he is rich. I can relate to this because I have also faced discrimination based on my social class. As you know the United States is at war right now. I would like to know from where or from who do you get the courage to stand up to your government like that? I thank-you for writing Persepolis because is interesting to read about a person life that you think you have nothing in common but then discover you do.


Sincerely,

Jasmin Ramirez

Friday, October 30, 2009

Dear Marjane,

Reading your book has been a wonderful experience. I really got a sense of the experiences you have lived. While I read your book, it got me thinking about a lot of stuff. For example, the situation that happened if the higher calss kids went to war to, would their parents be as rebellion to the situation the same way, would they act different. Whatt would have happened if you went to war? would have your parents act different? Another thing that got me thinking was the way people were characterize as heroes. Many people would have died in that time just to be consider a martyr. I think that other kids at your age wouldnt really know much and be traumatized by the war. I think that you are really brave in that sense. I dont have the pleasure of knowing my biological father but the support that my mom and my stepfather give me is wonderful and that is one thing that I think we have in command. We have the support of our parents. Now, what would you have done if your parents would have been bombed?

Reading Response #4

Dear Author

Reading your book has made me learn a lot about Iran. I learned how your revolution began and how hard life was for you. I am glad I'm reading this book because it has made me appreciate the freedom I have in the United States. My life is nothing similar to yours. I don't have to grow a beard and I don't have to worry of my house being bombed. I also don't have to worry about my parents being imprisoned for expressing their beliefs. I would like to ask you, how did you and your family stay strong after so many horrible experiences?

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Dear Marjane Satrapi,


I want to let you know that your book "Persepolis" has made me learn more about revolutions and it has made me become more interested on what actually goes on in other places of the world.I am having such a great time reading your book and I believe that it would be a great idea if this book was read by high school students because it can motivate them to learn more about our history just like it happened to me. I think that you are a strong girl that likes to defend her country no matter what it has to be done. It seems so amazing how a little girl can have grown up thoughts and also how much she knows about her country. I think that we both have similar thoughts for example, in "Persepolis" you think that social class has nothing to do with love and I agree with you. Social class makes no difference on people because we are all human- beeings and we all deserve to be happy.One question that I would like to ask you is that what motivated you to write this book or basically what experience brought you the idea of writting it? I personally think you did a great job publishing this book and hopefully one day I read other of your publications. Keep in mind that I will recommend your book and give good reference about it because its one of the best books that I have read in my life.


Sincerely,

Esperanza

A lost History


The world needs more books like Persepolis, I wish in the h.s English classes, these books would be taught to spark a conscious revolution in the mind of our young scholars. I am a young historian of world history and i believe that the history of the Persian people and their will to fight for their rights is essential to the history of struggle. A people that have faced oppression since the European empire went on a global conquest of the entire world and it natural resources. The will of the people have always answered with insurrection towards a system that has kept them subservient. We can learn a lot about the struggles they have gone through, to spark a revolution here in the belly of the beast. Los Angeles has a lot of hidden history that we are not taught in our school. For example Christopher Columbus was not the discoverer of the "New World" Their were already an entire people of Natives here. How can you discover something that already existed? He was the genocide general of a whole entire people and culture. He raped women and made slaves of men. He was a conquest to steal gold. He was funded by the Catholic Church. This history is kept away from us because "THEY" do not want us to think for our selves. So read! and read! inform yourselves about the the world we live in. My point is, it key to know your history to know why the future is the way it is. And Persepolis is an interesting read when trying understand examples of old school colonialism. Imperialism is the the highest stage of capitalism, and that is the American religion given to the American fundamentalists to the feed the beast today.

Heretic.

Achieve peace through righteous violence against the elite.

Down with the Evil Empire!

Long Live the Revolution

Free all political prisoners!


Dear Marjane

Dear Marjane,I am amazed by all the things you have gone through. Reading your book really opened my eyes to appreciate what i have. You have gone through so many things as a child from having to wear a veil to experiencing war. While reading Persepolis I realized how you are not like most little girls in your grade. You are mature and like to be involved and i really admire that about you. You always like to be informed about everything that is going around in your surroundings and it reminds me alot of myself because i also like to know and ask questions about things that are not clear to me. Your book was a success and i have enjoyed reading it just gets more and more interesting.

A Letter for Marji

Dear Marji,

When reading Persepolis I learned how difficult your life was. I thought it was devastating how people you knew, died due to the war. One of the chapter that caught my attention was in "The Trip". There was a scene where one night you and your father was driving and suddenly, your mother approached your car crying hysterically because two men insulted her by saying "-women like her should be pushed against the wall and fucked, and then thrown in the garbage." I immediately thought of Feminism. Those two guys your mother encountered was labeling her as an object, which I thought was extremely out of line. I couldn't believe people in your country would treat other people like that. Compared your life to mine, it's absolutely different because where I come from my neighborhood is peaceful and friendly. No one would insult each other or cause any problems. This made me appreciate how fortunate I am to be living in an area where people are not violent. I have a question concerning your personal experiences. I was wondering if you ever had the opportunity to visit your good friend Kaveh in the United States?

Sincerely,
Diana Nguyen


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

To Marjane Satrapi

Dear Marjane,

I have been reading your book and I feel really impressed with all the things you went through growing up. It must've been really tough going through a war in your own country, hoping that your house doesn't get bombed on by Iran. But even tough is tough you and your family still stay close to one another. When I use to live in South Central, Los Angeles, it was a tough place to live as well. It was no place for a parent to raise their kids. My parents finally decided to move, and now I live in a peaceful neighborhood. I don't understand why your parents haven't decided to move. Your living in a war zone and your country keeps on getting bombed by Iran. Marjane you should tell your parents to move before your house gets bombed and you end up six feet deep underground.

Sunday, October 25, 2009

To Marjane Satrapi
Hi . I really admire you for what you went through when you were younger because you are a very strong and brave person.At the beginning when i was going to start reading the book i though it would be about a little girl growing up and that it I would have never imagined all of those events happening to you at your age.Our life's are very different from each other because at your age what i was thinking about was in just playing hide an seek with my friends but you were playing that you and your friends were revolutionaries and i did not even know what or who were revolutionaries.Marjane were there cartoons in Iran? i ask you that because maybe there were no cartoons and that is why you and your friends played as what you see or hear around you.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Welcome

We are starting this blog so that our students can post their reactions to reading Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, which was chosen as our one-campus-one book. Our students attend California State University, Los Angeles and are all college freshmen. We hope that this blog will help them explore their reactions to the graphic novel and help them engage with the text. For the National Day on Writing, October 20th, the blog itself will be linked to the writing gallery for CSULA in the National Gallery of Writing.