News and Opinions from the Students of Berkshire School
October 2014
The World Around The Malalas and Us By Maggie Zhu ‘17
I was at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City, heading home for Christmas break in 2013, when I inevitably familiarized myself with a young Pakistani girl’s image, head covered in a pink hijab—a face that was everywhere. A few months later, I was accepted to Berkshire School, and soon came the email informing me of the all-school summer reading. I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai. Before I went home for the summer, I found myself fishing in the airport’s bookstore for the vaguely familiar title, hoping to find the girl’s face gazing beyond the pages. Luckily, I did. It was a fifteenhour straight flight from New York City to Shanghai; I got through the entire book and hardly slept. It was a mixture of pain, joy, inspiration, heartache, and wonder as I flipped through pages and pages in the dim light; dropping it, closing my eyes, and have countless images, thoughts, and confusions flashing through my brain. I had to pick it up again: it demanded to be read. Her youthful words flew across the world and haunted me for the summer. As a fifteen-year-old girl receiving the best education, I have not done anything nearly as meaningful with my life. It was a chilly, foggy morning when the members of the Berkshire community gathered in Allen Theater to hear the presentation. Three chairs were set in the middle of the stage; a young man with black hair and rimmed glasses sat on the left, a woman wearing a purple hijab was in the middle, and an elder man dressed formally sat in the right. Mati Amin ’08, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, and Don Goodrich ’61. Goodrich lost his son, Peter Goodrich ’85, in the attacks on 9/11. He spoke in a calm, weathered voice, and introduced Amin and Basij-Rasikh to the audience. They both came from Afghanistan; one graduated from Berkshire and Wil-
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“The Red Piece” by Ryan Zang, which he submitted for the All-School read Art Contest.