Our Book Club

Another thing I've decided for the ladies to do is start a book club. I would like to read Unbearable Lightness: A Story of Loss and Gain by Portia de Rossi and The Complete Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi. Unbearable Lightness is a novel about a girl who suffer through anorexia and deals with issues teenage girls face now (such as being pressured to be exactly as the women portrayed in the media look like). Persepolis is a graphic novel about a girl growing up in Iran. It'll really help the Ladies see what a girl their age went through in another country. The only obstacle I see is getting money to buy the books for the girls. However, as long as we have a goal, we can figure out how to accomplish it.
I would really like for the girls to read these books in order to get different perspectives of the world. Unbearable Lightness is written by actress Portia de Rossi--I really suggest reading the description of the book on Amazon. I honestly cannot wait to read it. Persepolis I've already read, but I would definitely be willing to read it more than once. It's about an Iranian girl growing up during the Islamic Revolution. Both books are memoirs, but Persepolis is written in comic strips. I really loved Persepolis and I really felt like I could relate to the girl in the novel even though she lived in a different place and at a different time. I hope the ladies really learn from both books.

The Reason

At Chinquapin, we used to have a club called Womans Group. It brought the older girls together and helped us to not feel as if we're alone. We found we shared similar problems and had the same insecurities. The girls in Womans Group were there for one another. Unfortunately, this club gradually disappeared. My classmate and I plan to bring this club back, but to make it even greater. It's going to be a place where older girls can learn to build their self-esteem, reach for their goals, and inform one another on different issues. It'll be a place for the girls to grow closer and try to better themselves along with their communities.

We expect to do a lot of research on what types of activities the group should do together. We want the girls to bond and have fun, but we also feel that they should learn skills that would be useful in the future. We'd like to take suggestions from the girls about what they would like to do. In the past years we had Career Days, took cooking classes and participated in open discussions. We learned that Young Womans Group took an etiquette class and had a book club; our club can do that, too. Since we'll be the older girls, we can discuss subjects that are more mature and important in our lives. We've been trying to get in contact with past teachers that were in charge of Woman's Group and Young Woman's Group to see how they organized they're events. We're hoping that they can help us get in contact with people that are willing to contribute to our club.

I believe that Alejandra Badillo and I are qualified to undertake this project because we were members of Woman's Group. Since we're seniors, it's our duty to look for ways to improve our community and have a positive influence on the other students. We know other teachers that were involved in this and we're motivated to bring this club back. However, we'd like to change the name to Ladies of Chinquapin. We'd like to create a new club that incorporates characteristics from Woman's Group and we're determined to create Ladies of Chinquapin for the older girls in our community.

Liszette Mariely Garcia, President and Founder.
Address:
8325 Bassett St.
Houston, TX 77051
Cell Phone Number: 832-622-4961
Blog: http://liszette2012.blogspot.com/
Website: http://www.wix.com/marielyatzell/ladiesofchinquapin