Reading response #3

Dear Mrs. Satrapi
My name is Julian Valencia, a free thinker that resides in the United States of America. Ever since the tragedy of nine-eleven occurred, the media where I live has always portrayed the Middle East in a negative way. Even though citizens of the United States have been force fed one-sided views of countries such as the one of your home land through the media, I always have believed that there are two sides of a coin and have been interested in learning about cultures of the middle east in order to break down the walls of stereotypes, but never had the time to do so. This is why I am so glad to have taken the English 57 class I am currently attending East Los Angeles College because of the book you have written; Persepolis was a requirement to read in the class. I will admit that when I first bought the book that I had no idea of what it was about or even what the title meant. It really did not even appeal to me at all and when I opened it I took it as a joke because it looked like the inside of a comic book or even a comic strip from a local newspaper. I did not even read it the first two day of class until the class instructor explained to us what Persepolisis was with another book with pictures of the ancient city. When I finally understood of what your book was about I sat myself down and read the first two chapters and from that point on I was hooked. I have read almost every word and have looked over most of the illustrations because I have notice that there is always a little more to the pictures in your book than meets the eye. Finally my thirst of knowledge for things I didn’t understand has somewhat been quenched.
I really admire how innocent you where at the age of ten and how tenacious you were with the things you wanted but at the same time my childhood peculiarly relates to yours a lot. I was allowed to believe in what I wanted to and was corrected if truly needed. As you went to go beat up Ramin without second thought, I beat up a kid at school when I was in 5th grade for making fun of my little brother who was still had three months till he was due to be born. Also we were both well off since birth and had maids. Also as growing up I became quite the rebel toward family and society. I always thought myself to be right al the time and still kind of do. As teens we both got into the same kind of music. I love, classic rock to punk to metal. I am actually listening to Iron Maiden’s Two Minuets to Mid-Night song as I am writing this and I am actually currently a metal head. I have also almost been kicked out of high school many times for being too liberal and rebellious. Also I start smoking cigarettes because I was mad at my mother too.
Besides all that I have written in this essay, I wanted to thank you for writing this book. It has answered many questions that I have always wondered about and I have enjoyed reading about your past. I do not even like to read very much so believe me that what I say means a lot. I loved how political your book was and how well it was always written in perspective of how old you were in the book at all times. I have only read Persepolis vol. 1 so far and I cannot wait to read the next volume. Also I really never understood why you spoke French. Does Iran not have a native language? I really hope that one day we can have a conversation face to face. I have so many questions to ask you.
Sincerely your friend
Julian Valencia