Education, Interrupted

I am blogging on my new computer!  I installed all the programs on it myself.  I'm putting this in writing because it is such a momentous occasion.

Proof

We had Literary Society tonight and you know what that means.  FOOD!

Chef Campo dazzled us with (red) shrimp curry.  He even made me a special serving that was spicy.  Yes, and yes.

My spicy version (the curry included fresh tomatoes, green beans, eggplant, basil, shrimp and peppers).

Look at those shrimpies!

One thing I love about Chef Campo is his propensity to make you the perfect bite.  It doesn't matter if you are in a restaurant or if he is cooking for you, he prepares a little amuse-bouche for you to enjoy.

My "perfect bite."  I could get used to this.

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And now, the book.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

This was our month for a non-fiction book and we chose I Am Malala.  The subtitle pretty much sums it up:  The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot By The Taliban.  Remember this?  It happened in Swat valley only about a year or so ago.  The Taliban had taken over her town and demanded that girls stop going to school.  Malala and a band of other girls continued to go (her father owned and ran the school) and the Taliban attacked her school bus and shot her at point blank range.  And she survived.

I am intrigued by her story but not by her book.  The writing is not good and I get the feeling it was rushed in order to take advantage of her new-found fame in light of the shooting and her remarkable recovery.  Also, I am skeptical of her praises of her father, a man who supposedly had never been exposed to Western thinking (via travel or other exposure) and yet was not only a fan of education and critical thinking - but of widely extending those rights to women as well.  He is a remarkable man and I don't doubt his influence and achievements;  but I don't see him through a daughter's eyes and am prone to seriously doubt the level of progressive thinking and action he demonstrates in her story.  What do I know?  But from everything else I have read and heard about Pakistan and other countries under the influence of Islamic fundamentalism and/or terrorist regimes of any kind, it seems that even the most mild mannered and kind man still would demonstrate a very segregated way of thinking when it comes to gender roles.

But it is a remarkable story, I'll give her that.  And I'm glad Pakistan and Swat Valley have such a strong and outspoken advocate for education, and specifically for female education.  I hope Malala continues to live an influential life and never loses her spunk.

I don't recommend this book to you peeps, but I do think it would make a very good read for high school students.  It would teach them about culture, some politics, perspective, and how education is valued - and fought for - in other parts of the world while we simply take it for granted.