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Sana Al-Bahrani

Andrew Knight-Messenger

J. Donaldson

October 23, 2019

Freewriting Exercise

Second Freewriting Installment

Pages with Broadview Reader essays are pages 4 and 7

Mahatma Ghandi;
Looking back at my chidhood, when I used to look up to Ghandi for ll he has done.I saw him as a hero, one

whi saved humanity because we all know that savng an indivudua or ountry is equivlant to saving humanity. I

also believed that he was the greatest peace maker and constantly looked upto hm as an ideol. This was all ip

untll last week when I found out that he attemoted to sleep wth his granddaighter and that he slept nakes and did

many activites without clothing on. I used to be so proud of who we are as humanity because I would look upto

people like ghandi and martin luther king but now that I foud out what he did. I thnk is anyone really pure, does

anyone in this world only have good intentions and positive feelings toards others. I feel diidspointed in who we

are as a humankind because if the person I viewed as a hero is actually a pedocphile then what about those who

constantly commit horrible acts. Why is it that no one is pure and 100 percent kind. Why are we so flawed as a

huma kind. Wjat is t that corrupts the goodneess in our herts. I believed that everyone was born with a good

heart but there has to be something in this nasty word that seems to corrupt evey single soul. Eve the good and

pure. You may think that I am being overdramatic bt I am entltled to feel the way I feel and the way I currently

feel s sad and disspointed with who we are as a society. There are those who commit bad acts in secercy bitt

also those who do in publeic. I am in a dilemma, whih is better, is it better to do so in the open because ethen
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your are displaying who you are openely or would you rather d so in secrecy and be viewed as a kind sole. I can

relate tis to myself because in my culture a girl must e quiet, obedient and soft. I am that with distant family, but

I am myself with friends and close family. I am an outspoken, bubbly and energetic person. I like to make

stupid jokes and I would rather be who I am then pretend tobe someone else. This relates to ghandi becase to us,

he was not who he claimed to be, he is a villionfor praying on his granddaughter and being a pervert.

Preparing for Ted Talk

I am applying to be apart of the tedx mcmatsre club! Im really really excited because I love talking to others. I

love talkin with a passion about certainsubjects and sharing mu ideas. I believe that I do have ideas that are

worth sharing because we all do. I believe that we all have truths or grains of truth that can benefit society a as

whole. We neeed to om together as a humankind, start a marketplace of ideas which is an area where everyone

would keep an open mind, listen to eachother truing to sell our ideas. I believe that this is very imotant because

our ideas can have a large impact on how we progress as a society. For instance when we look back at the past,

it is evident that at some instances society believe sin a flawed idea and it id those pepe who stand up against

those ideas are the people who have contributed to humanity. For instance when looing at slaver, at the time

society deemed this belief moral and they believes that slabery is a way f lif and tey had no sense of morality.

Then some idnividuals stood up against this belief and one of those indovidas happens to be the propet

mohommad(peace be upn him). He deemed this idea wrong and baught out many slaves only tofree them. Ths

is wy he was seen as controversial because many believed he was a soothsayer for releasing saves. He believed

in human rights and fighting for thse indiiiduals who are otherwise oppressed. Sorry im taking about this but I

am atking a religious course so I cant help but brig in a few religious figures.

TedxMcmaster
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  I was thinking the oether day about my ted tak topics, ambition may e a good one. We all know that ambitilon

is the pathh to succsess. Persistensce is the vehichle you arrive in -Bill Bradley This quote gave me lost of

inspiration and im using this freewriting to e able to think of how I feel and what iwa nna talk but with regards t

ambition which is our theme. Society sees ambiton ase having a dram and achieveing it. It encourages us to be

ambitious, to know what we want and how we can achieve it. The culturaul idea of ambitioon is men. They

believe that men are the center of everything. Getting married seems to be so important. Women should be

ambiltious to stdy and achive their goals after thy get marrieod. One of a woman's ambitions shoulod be to get

married, study, have kids, become a doctor or lawyer and be perfect. My idea oof ambiition is a combintation of

both becausse as a middle eastern wonman evolving in western society, I have createrd my own idea of

amlbition and of what my amjbitions are. Yo know what I say, ambitiion begins with initiation. We alli have

motivation and ambition but it is they way yoou approach your ambitioins that determiners if you are going to

be successful or not. Being ambitiouse isn't enough. Saiying your ambition aboutt some cause doesnt mean that

you will have any impact on it but when you begin to take the steps necessary to achieve your goal, then your

ambition can come true. I admiire my grandmother because of her achievements. To me, she is the biggest idol

of a middle eastern woman achieving her goalsi because in her time she had many big goails and couldn't make

them happen because back then she had to get married at 18... Then she raised wonderful kids, workoed with

my grandpa to open up one oif the first health food and supplements stores. She used her business to make a

large impact, she cured many cancer patients only using natural supplements. I've seen the iompact she has

made and ive seen how manyi lives she’s changeyd. It is truly inspiring. Last year she retired, even after retiring

she started a charity and is working with my aunt to make a large impact and save the wourld one child at a

time. My grandmother taught me that I do not have to conform to societies or cultures' ideas of ambition

because I aum an individual with freedom to choose what I am passionate about. She upaved her own path of

ambition and was able to achieveu all her goals even after all the obstacles she had to face. I see my mother

taking the same route and I choosie that route as well. I am an ambitious middle eastern woman living in

western society and I will not allow any obstacle to come in my way because I am an outspoken and
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hardworking individual who will stop at nothing till I achieve all my goals regardless of the circumstances. I

admire the women in my family because I see that regardless of their circumstances, they are persistent and

dedicated to achieving their goals. They are ambitious and unapologetic. I will be exactly that in the future.

Black like me
I really enjoyed reading black like me by fil fraser, t wa a great essay and I loved thet he addresses racism in

canada which I eloeve is still evident in politics and very day life. I found that his use of subtle wording to

highlight subtle racism in todays culture was very iconic because man believe that becase w are made up by a

diverse and well rounded community that we have respect for one another. I believe that frasers view on racism

is canada is one I agree with. He echnoledges that as a society we have come a long way from the bgeining of

time and from the racism that was very evdent. He does however encourage us to be very carefu when

observing Canadian attitude today because we still have rasicm subty invested in our system. I veleiee in this as

well because cultural and white prvalge is a thing and the way privalge is designed is so that it is especially hard

to observe I whatecer system it is evident in. Whe reading frasers essay, I started thinking. What are some

examples of subtle racism or segregation in the canadia system. Have we areally come a long way? I thin not. I

was able to recall the pollical federal debate this year. In the debate the most prominent traits in leaders were

white, bkack hair and blue eyes. People like may and jagmeet singh were seen as minorities because they didn’t

fit the image of the ideal Canadian which is apparently not a diverse one. The subtle racism in the debate is seen

as both Trudeo and Scheer both pointed out him wearing his turban and representing the minority. This

sutomaticelly sets him apart from the other candidates. This was not observed by many and when I menetioned

this to my frids tey did they had overlooked it but after seeing it for the second time. They agreed. Therefore I

was able to come to the conclusion that although Canada has come a long way, we still have a lobg way to go.

We ae still as a ociety racist in a subtle manner. Some racism even comes in the form of compliments but these
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complemnta are backed up with witt and a rude idea that they know peope would not accept in todays day and

age.

What I really liked about this essay is the feelih of sarcasm. Although the author was discussing our

progress but also using words with double meaning sto empahsize the subtle traces of racism that are still

evident today. My favourate phrase in this writing was “faireness isin”. At first hen I read the wessay, I

understood the progress that we have come to. On the 3rd reading however, I reread this phrase and thaught what

if he is trying to prove that being fairskinned is still the way to being privlaged. I was not sure however because

this was very clever but also I have a tendacy to read into things to much LOL. After reading the sssay the 5th

time LOL I noticed that there area frw other instances wehere he empahsizeds the subtle racism by cleverly

incorporating phrases with double meanings.

Peace
Today in peace class we are for the millionth time learning about peace… I honestly feel so sick of it because

the professor critiques every word of every comment and it feel like it censors my every thaught. I enjoy

speaking out and giving my opinion as you knaaw and now that my opinion is critiqued down t every word.. I

feel as if she is a politician iimiting my freedom and censoring my every thaught. I don’t now what to say

because she is so confusing and makes me feel so tired. Her class is already on a Tuesday night and now I have

to live through another lessn that feels like its literally the same as the others. I have a love hate relationship

with this class because I enjoy some topic but others are very borng and they feel very annoying. We are

learning about BRICS, brics are Russia, china india dn sout Africa. It is an intergovernmental organization….. I

get that and I learned all of this. I can research this all myself but im here in this class so we can learn how to

solve these provlems. How to be the new martin luther king of the world. I have big dreams and many things I

wanna achive so I feel like it is a waste of money taking this class because it has taught me very minimally

about how to achieve peace. I love peace and conflict studes so for a topic that I am so passionate about wgich I
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feel is being butchered… I have no words because for the longest time I defened this class and loved it but

todays lecture is so boring like OMG…. I cant even focus in this class because im just that bored and tired. Its

my favourite subject and I wanna beg her to move on from this topic because these are all things I can google.

OO wait she just asked is peace through strength or cooperation… That’s kinda interesting. I believe that peace

is achieved using both because to me strength is cooperation. We as a society are only strong when we come

together as a whole. For instance look at what is happenieng in Iraq. The nation came together as a whole to

testify the gverments oppression. For years the government has oppressed, ignored its people.. very similar to

what we do to the first nations except Iraqis were done so they came together, compiled strength and are

protesting this oppression.I think this is great because they are fighting a justifiable cause. In my opinion this is

justified violence because it s figjhting a justified cause, they are not fighting ear any homes, families or wrk

places which means not many cvilans are hurt ans also they are protesting an idea. Now she is talking about

prisoners dilemma. I love this topic. We discussed it in political sciences and Mr. Always explained it so well.

That guy has energy and passion. He drinks his pepesi and starts right at 3;30 PM every single Monday. I am

not a bg politics person but he makes that class fun because he has passion and he screams alf the time which

means I don’t fall asleep. I love that class so so so much.

Women’s assignment.
I have to write an assignment for my womens studies class on privlage. It is sooo dtressfula nd I don’t know

what to say because I am very affrif of udng the wrong terminology or effecnding other people because it is

confudeing talking about all these identities nd sexualities and man and women and all that stuff. It’s a

sreflexive assignment which means we hav to reflect on our rprvalge with eagrds to oppression. Im going to use

this assignment to brainstorm for that one because freewriting is really helping me. So basically I know I am

privalged because I am a straight women which mean I do not have to encounter any LGBTQ harassment or

oppression. What they deal with is really tough and I cant imagine how strong they all are to deal with such BS.

I can never imagine apart of my identity being denied to the extent it did. To add, I am an arab women, this is
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another privlage because we do not face many harsh stareo types. I live in missisauga, an area that is heavily

populated with arabs so I feel that I can prudly embrace my culture and who I am. Even when listening to music

and popculture I feel apart of the community. For example, in one of cardi B’s most opular songs she said

eating halal.. This is apart of my religion and culture so I am privalged not to encounter any oppression. When I

think of oppression, I cant help but think oppression to women. I know there are other types of oprewsssion, I

know that ppl in the LGBTQ are oppressed, that men can be oppressed I many ways but my positionality makes

me subect t think oppression of women in middle east. I have lies in Jordan and canada snd the difffernece in

treatenet of women is mind boggling. In canada women think they are oppressed and mistreated but if they visit

the middle east, they will see female infanticide, structural abuse and even catcalling. I can still clearly recall

one day, my mother and I were walking, keep in mind she was pregnant at the time, she was catcalled by the

guy on the street, he told her to raise her skirt so he can see her private parts. She threatened to call the police

but his response was that women are worthless and even the police wont do anything about it.

Dangerous Determination.
In this essay, Farr discusses some of the problems that we as a society do not recognise as proobematic. She

emphasxed that we a s a society are not logical, w are indicsive of what we want and rqidebeh of insividuals in

our community. She consistently uses different examples to empagsize this reoccurring idea, this includes

saying that we need to put an end to clinics that allow families to select the gender of their child. It is a real

issue because I believe that it can lead to female infanticide and abortions based on gender. She very

confidently and in a knowledgable manner discusses the conswuebdce of selecting your childs gender and links

many articles on it. Farr is very competitive, whe I was reading the 7 pages which felt like 100, I felt that she

was contstantly repeating the same messege with more evidence and examples. I could not undrrstand why t

was so repeeyive as it gave me a headache.

I chose dangerous determination because the issue farr discusses is a very prominent issue in many arts of

the world. I am from Jordan, in Jordan this is a real issue. In Jordan the technology is very advanced and I found
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that this story hit very close to home since many clinics offer this service and promote it. In many

underdebveloped countries, female infanticide, rape etc is very prominent. I can still recall one day in the 6th

grade when my teacger came to school exhausted and she did not look okay. Her eyes were tearing up, beats of

sweat were forming around her forehead, her face beat red, her underyes looked as if she had gotten punched

and eventually fainted. She then explained to us that she had been ejected wuth her husband sperm but they had

altered a few things so she can be pregnant with a male since she has 2 daughters. She sobbed ancd choked as

she explained that it was not her option, she knows its unethical but her circumstance pushed her towards that

decision. She had explained that when she was pregnant with her two other daughters, her family kept instsiting

that she aborts, but she refused. Her husband and family had been very persistant with her having a son and

would constanty pressure her into doing this procedure. She kept empahsizing that it is unethical but she had no

other optiion. She explained that although we may have been rough but as youth and the futre of tomorrow, we

can come together and preotest these procedres, we can make an impact because we are educated and we hold

in our hands the key to equality.

When reading this essay, I fet very emotionally attached and started to tear up because I could not for

thelife of me undertsnd why as a society we are so flawd and ilogical as afrr puts it. Why aren’t we enough?

Why is it that? What I really liked about this essay is that although formal, you can feel her pain and she gave

paenty of proof and many articles to defend her points so her essay was very rigid and well written. As a reader

we are really able to see how passionate she is about this issue and the amount of effort she invested into this

essay. At first I imagined this to be similar to black like me because they both encounter discrimination. They

are however different beause in black like me, he discuse sthe evolution and pregress of racism ain canadand

although t is still evident but subtle. That we need to take action to eliminate it onece in fir all but in dangerous

determination, she discusses an issue that is mainly prominent in other countries. A similarity beween the two is

that with both of them we cannot fight the battle but rather be allys by provding those who fall victim with a

platform to share their stories. With dangerous determination, we can dicsuss the issue and help thos who have

sud=ffered from gender selection, esecialy mothers, share their feelings, journey and protest these clinics and
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our role as allys would be to attend the proest and support thewomen, to allow thei rvoic eto be heard. When kt

comes to black like me, as people who are privlaged for not ebing subject to racism, we have a reaponsibility

which in this case is to empahsize this issue and make others aware o it but also allow those who have suffere

and been hurt from the subtle traces of racism to be heard.

Steyn on The Agenda

I just watched styen go on the agenda wgere he talked about these peoplw who go around and critize him

calling him islamaphobic. It was very interesting because although it is true that he is spreading negativity and

contributing to islamophobia, I believe that he has freedom of speech so Vancouver has no right in putting him

on trial and restricting hs freedom of speech because as mills in On liverty says that puts the world at a loss.

I believe that if they want to protect the minorities human rights as well as his and their freeom of speech, they

should apply pressure on the media outlet(Macleans) to provide the same platform for a counter argument. I do

however believe that both articles should be published as anyonymous because that way you have two opinions

being argued in a civilized manner, both articles are written as anyonumous hich means that there wil be no

impalance in power or bias towards any. That way readeras also get to choose whatever point of view they aree

with without being swayed one way by education , power or reputation and lastly both should be ubished by

macleans so that they reach an equal amount of audience. Therefore I believe that freedm of speech should

never be restricted but it should be set up in a way so that there is no influence on power, ausience and no

accusations. I believe this because Macleans has been seen to contributing to islamophobia as they provide an

open platform for spreading negativity and romanticizing conflict between individuals f the community. They

ae being criticized especially for not prviding a latform for the counterargument on steyns islamphobic articles.

Steyns articles generalize all muslims based on extremist acts and incorrect representatives and takes things out

of context. some may say that providing any outlet for hate s inflicting indirect harm as it brings out this
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aggressive side and reiterates negativity and targeting a certain group which can add physical harm but if you

suppress thoughts, they hold more power because they are always going to intrigue you and the hate continues

to build. It will be something you wanna explore. Suppressing thoughts may mean that it is still taking up a

large amount of how they think. I believe that suppressing thoughts will lead to a burst of harm and action.

when allowing for expression thought and belief, you are allowing for counter expression and as mills

previously stated, when selling Idas in a marketplace of ideas, we can combine truths to come to a universal

truth. I believe that the Canadian laws that restrict freedom of speech arte too wek I some ways ut too

restrictibve in other ways. THE LAW SHOULD BE RESTRICTUVE TO AN EXTENT BUT IT MUST

ENFORCE AN AREEMENT THAT WHENEVER ANY MEDIA OUTLET PUBLISHES ANY

CONTROVERSIAL ARTICLE, THEY MUST PUBLISH A COUNTER, BOTH BEING UNDER

ANONYMOUS TO PREVENT ANY DIFFERENCE IN POWER , RACE, GENDER OR INEQUALITY OR

HAVE ANY IMPACT ON INFLUNECE

Overwhelmed
This week I feel very overwhelmed because we have so much due and I realized the other day that we nly

have one month of school left and a few exams. I truly don’t knw what m goig to di ebacsue I have a lot of

assignents due but also I love my cources and I don’t wantthem to come to an end. I especially really like this

class because I learnt anout freewrotng which has truly helped me. I now d freewritig before every esay. Ave ti

write because I find that it helps me choose my stance and how I want to apprcah an issue, as well as how I feel

about the issue t ahne. For example the other day I was preparing for my polsci essay on fredoom of speech, I

did some freewriting and through that I leared that I believe that freedom of thaught and speech should never be

censored because as soon as you censor it you are risking that a belief that may very well be true is rejected

before being proposed. That this opinion can very well be that of a genious or scholar. It can eb one that saves

humanity. Ven if it is an incorrect opinion, you should allo for it to be counterargued by the other party.

Gendergap in politics
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Some states that have been abe o combat the gendergap in politics include Iceland and Rwanda. Both od

these states have been able to overcome this obstacle by making sure that women have access and are

encouraged to occupy seats that can demonstrate empowerment and initiatie such as policymaking positions and

other leadership based positions. Durng their time as policymakers, the are constantly prvided with the

resources necessary to succeed nd are constanlt encouraged to fight through any segregation or patriarchical

issues set by community. They are taught by other women in powerful positios how they can overcme these

obstacles and address them ina. Manner that makes the men feelashamed of their actions. Knowingly that

getting elected and facing harsh treatment due to patriarchy and intimidation, they have set laws for prevention

ans standeredized punishment to those who choose t humiliate their opponents and any platform that shames the

fellow candiateds running. Iceland and Rwanda’s prevantave measures and standerdized responses play a large

role in its sucecs to eliminate gender gap in politics as they empahsize the preliminary actions thatw ll eb taken

against anyon wh may choose to challenge these laws. This isbecause both these states are aware that there isno

democracy and liberty with a gendergap. When analyzing their environment and community, I believe that t is

evident that they were abelt o overcome this gendergap in politics by practicing repect and support for women

in society, reinfoecing supportprograms and allowing for. Atight knit community where all women fight for

eachother and support one another. They began by ensuring they alter their pollical system as to allow women

the right to vote freely, without any intimidartion in elections. In these two states, they promoted studies that

prive that women in politics and descison makng seats increase peace and prosperity of the economy as they

ensure women have all the resouces required to continue their education and work. This was done by

eliminating genderbased violence, more programs to support working women, increasing parental leave and

increasing programs that help women transition form difficult stages I their lives such as postpregancy

depression.