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Cristo Rey: Can’t not turn the page

By Nehe-Miah Scarborough The Howler

Her hair fell on the sixth visit. It laced the floor with short black strands of shame.

The mother I loved for 13 years fell apart one detail at a time. Overweight due to the steroids, blackened nails, bald head, cracked teeth and incessant nausea.

Reduced to nothing more than a bundle of chemicals, my mother still wore her effervescent smile. It wasn't until two years later when my first-year English teacher Mary Neville assigned the novel “The Fault in our Stars” that my eyes were opened to the pain cancer victims experience without ever saying anything.

They do this because they fear what the slightest headache means, or what the true cause of their chest pain is.

My mother often, hid behind closed doors, her face covered in a mask of serenity while on the inside, her body debilitated. To this day she still does.

It is through the world of books that children suffering from their parents´ illnesses, mental handicaps, or just plain loneliness can discover friendship.

“A book is like a good friend. It’s comforting, yet, it never judges you,” said Gabriela Gonzales, a junior at Detroit Cristo Rey.

I am not the only one who finds solace in literature. When we escape into the world of the unknown, where a fluent stroke of a pen or the click-clack of keyboard keys entices us to become something more. Something better. Something.

“Peggy Carter has inspired me to become a secret agent who valiantly defends women’s rights. She sticks it to the man!” said Juanita Zuniga, junior at Cristo Rey.

Even though students presume they choose their role models for rational reasons, some often fail to realize just how materialistic their choices are. For instance, Tanika Dunbar, a junior at Cristo Rey, said Peeta Mellark is her hero thanks to his amazing jawline.

Most of the students I talked to favor strong female characters. Gonzales said Hazel Grace is her hero-- considering she is intelligent, and strong despite adversity (I must say I agree). And Zuniga chose Peggy Carter due to Carter’s female power. She continued to explain by saying, “in Captain America, she kicks (butt).”

Readers who have completely given themselves to the art realize that we don’t choose our heroes, but that they choose us. They’ve hand picked us through their courage, their eccentricities, their jawlines, their trust and undying love.

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