How To Make a Wedding Dress:

I can’t believe that I’m already planning my wedding! It seems like it was just days ago that I would sit in my bed and think about my wedding. One time, my mother yelled at me for day dreaming. “Phulan, stop daydreaming and bring more milk,” she said. The thing that I would think about the most would be my wedding dress. I always imagined that it would be beautiful. I’m sure that I’m not the only bride to be in Pakistan who has to sew their own dress, so I have a few tips for making your wedding dress.

Here they are:

There is lot’s of embroidery on traditional Pakistani wedding dresses, and all of that should be done with silk thread, to enhance the beauty.

Zardozi is the detailed applique that you see on so many wedding dresses these days. If you want your wedding dress to be in the height of fashion, than you should definitely use zardozi.

Cut dana are the small beads that are sewn on as a border or extra pattern.  Cut dana can be VERY hard to use, but it still makes the dress even prettier. When sewing with cut dana, you must loop the thread through the bead multiple times, if you want the bead to stay on.

My last tip is about the shape. It should be a very tight bodice with a very full skirt. It also should have small, short sleeves. The color should be something rich and deep, like red or dark blue. This is to symbolize growing older and being more mature. You can’t use childish colors, like pink or yellow.

I am making my dress with my mother and it has been a great bonding time for both of us, before I have to leave my home.  I hope you all love your wedding dresses!

Diary Entry:

It seems so strange, to be thinking about my wedding. It seems so far away, but so near as well. I have a strange mixture of feelings. I cannot decide which way is better. I cannot wait to leave this place, to start a new life with my new husband! I will get to start a family of my own and build a new life. I will live up to what Mama and Dadi expect of me. I will become a mother. Of boys, I hope. Sharma says I will. But what if I don’t? What if I have girls? Then who will work? I know that I am just being nervous, but what if that happens? What if I end up like Mama? That might not be a bad thing, but what if it is?

I hope that Hamir is kind to me. He is wild, like the wind, like Shabanu.  I hope that I have the same luck that Mama had with Dadi.

Then, the other part of me wants to stay home. I will have to abandon the camels, the mud hut, the chapatis, Auntie and her boys. Mama and Dadi. I will have to leave them. I don’t know how I will be able to deal with that. Then, there is Shabanu. She cares for me in a way that no one else does. ” ‘ Don’t worry.’ I say, smoothing Phulan’s hair and kissing her tears.” She is the only thing that keeps me happy. What if I never see her again?

I want to believe that I will see them again, that that part of my life isn’t over, but I know it is .

In humanities, we have started to write poems. This year, I’ve written 4 poems. One of the poems that I’m very proud of is a haiku. I really like writing haikus because they are short and very specific. This is my haiku:

The crisp autumn breeze.

Wind whistles through the branches.

Leaves fall to the ground.

The main challenge of writing this poem was syllables. I wanted to have other words, like instead of ground I wanted to say pavement. Since you can only have 5 syllables, then 7, then 5, I had to find away to work around extra syllables. Autumn is my favorite season, so it was fun to write about that.

The other poem that I am proud of is called Glass Ceiling. I wrote this poem with Margaret. We have submitted it to the NYPL contest. This is the poem:

They’re standing up there,

Triumphantly

I wonder,

How did this happen?

If I had been born differently, would it be different?

Would I be triumphant?
Instead of sitting here,

Watching their success.

That should have been mine.

Why are they standing there?

Not even breaking a sweat,

While I’m down here, sweating hard,

Earning 79 cents to their dollar.

I would raise my voice if I thought it would make any difference.

But as I look up at them, and they work ignorantly, I realize,

They feel no remorse for me,

They only care for their own prosperity,

That could have been mine.

They say I’m not working hard enough,

Deep down, I’m wondering if it’s true,

If they really are working harder than I am,

And as I sit beneath them,

I ask myself why,

I’m looking up at a glass ceiling while they look at the sky.

I really like this poem because it sums up my feelings on the subject of sexism. That is one of the things that I love about poetry. Sometimes I feel like I can’t talk about some subjects out loud, but then when I write poetry about it, it seems like it’s easier to talk about. One challenge that I faced while writing this poem was words. For example, there were plenty of times when we wanted to use “glass ceiling,” but we also wanted to save that for the end, to make it more powerful.

I am really proud of all my poetry, and I can’t wait to write more!

In humanities we are doing a writing piece called “Who The Heck Are You?” It is really cool because we choose a person that we want to interview and we get to learn more about them. I had to come up with a bunch of questions that will let everyone no more about the person. I decided to interview Joanne Magee, the drama teacher. I decided that because she tells us really funny stories about her life, and I just want to know more about her. The theme of my questions is childhood and her job. I think I have some really creative questions that will tell the people reading my piece more about her. Here are my questions:

What’s your birthday?

Where did you grow up?

Did you like growing up there?

How many siblings do you have?

Did you get along with your siblings?

Which sibling did you get along with the best?

Did you get along with your siblings?

Did you ever break any limbs? How?

Did you stay friends with any of your childhood friends?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

When did you realize that you wanted to be a drama teacher?

Who were your role models? Why?

What is your favorite childhood memory?

Where did you go to college? Did you like it there?

What was your first job?

What is your favorite production that you ever put on?

Why was it your favorite?

If you could take credit for being the director of any show that was ever on Broadway, what would it be? Why?

If you could meet anyone, who would it be? Why?

If you could travel to any place in time, what would it be? Why?

In humanities, we are doing a project about medieval women. My group is learning about Anna Comnena. We decided to do a slide show. We are not working very well as a group because everyone is talking over each other and we aren’t really focusing, but I am working on it and I think that everyone really wants to make the project good.. I REALLY enjoy doing projects in small groups and I think that presenting and getting to hear feed back is really good and makes the project better.