OHP Reflection

On this blog, I will be covering the following questions:

• What did you enjoy most about the interview process of the Oral History Project?
• How did you handle the difficulty of working in a group?

For our project, my group interviewed Emily Weinstein. She is a Post Oak parent and experienced flooding during Hurricane Harvey. I thought this project was very meaningful, as the hurricane was still in everyone’s mind. I assumed that this interview would be very tough, as Ms. Weinstein had lost her entire house in the flood. The interview turned out not to be too difficult and it was very comfortable. The most enjoyable part was hearing her story from the past weeks and how Houstonians have reached out. We learned about how her family is moving forward, along with much of the city.  I’m very glad we got the opportunity to connect with people from outside of the school that had various experiences during the Hurricane. Seeing the video showing the strength and recovery in Houston was amazing.

The group work itself wasn’t new to me, but this project different from others we have done. It was a bit more challenging because we also had to work and communicate with an interviewee outside of the school. There were a few bumps while working in the original interview group, such as confusion with devices and who would be turning things in, but everything ended up working out. The primary difficulty was communication, but we made sure to keep each other informed via text rather than only discussing the project at school. Without doing that, we would have had many issues. The other group portions worked very smoothly and I think our final project was very successful.

Persepolis - Marjane & Her Grandmother

Is Marjane Different? + What led to Marjane's grandmother yelling at her? Was the yelling justified? Why or why not?

In the chapter titled “The Makeup,” Marjane is attempting to fit into Iranian society as a grown woman. It seems that she disagrees with the laws in Iran even more-so now that she has experienced other parts of the world. Couples in Iran who weren’t married were “at risk,” because the law says that having relationships before marriage is illegal (288). Even so, Marjane still did what she wanted to, including going out with a guy while wearing makeup. Marjane still has her rebellious qualities, but she’s fairly different as a person. On pages 285-288, Marjane shows a lack of care for other people and quite a bit of selfishness when she accuses an innocent man of being indecent just to save herself. In the past, she cared a lot about being a hero and saving people, but now, she doesn’t seem to put much thought towards that. The fact that Marjane doesn’t feel real remorse until talking to her grandmother shows that she is not the same anything like her old-self who dreamt of being a prophet and a hero.

On page 291, she speaks with her grandmother and tells her of the incident. Marjane laughs it off and her grandmother is fuming. Marjane’s actions don’t not align with anything that her family has fought for over the years. Her grandmother even calls Marjane a “selfish bitch,” which shocks Marjane. Focusing specifically on the last part of the prompt, I do believe that the scolding from Marjane’s grandmother was entirely justifiable. Marjane was fortunate enough to leave Iran and experience freedom, while her family stayed in the war-stricken country. She then comes back and causes an innocent man to be taken by authorities just to cover herself for wearing makeup. I believe Marjane’s actions were irrational, selfish, and entirely wrong. Her grandmother had every right to scold Marjane for acting in this way.