Fear, No More

A week ago, I came home from my first year of college. The night before I left I watched one of my favorite films, An Education, with one of my best friends, and I went to bed with a new motto in mind: fear, no more.

Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard, playing Jenny and David respectively. Also, my new screensaver. Image via entertainmentwallpaper.com.

An Education‘s story centers on sixteen-year-old Jenny Mellor, a bright and hard-working girl who lives in the suburbs with her parents and dreams of studying English at Oxford.

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Teaching, Money, and Making A Difference

One of my favorite essays I wrote freshman year about the film An Education. Writing it was one of my happiest moments in high school.

It’s all about money.

That’s what my mom taught me. She’s taught me that if I can get an SAT score in the 99th percentile and a GPA that puts me in the top 10% of my class, I should be a doctor or a lawyer. She’s instructed me that success is measured by my income, the costliness of my car, and the economic value of my home. She’s told me that she will only be proud of me if I can surpass her and my father in the amount of money I make.

Here’s a secret: I feel safer at school than I feel at home.