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What does the author reveal about Mia Warren in Chapter 7?

In Chapter 7, the author revealed that Mia understands Izzy on a very different level from her own mother or anyone else in her life. Mia understands that Izzy’s nonconformity stems from her empathy for others and her desire to stand up for what she believes, and this is often what Mrs. Richardson suppresses. This draws the two together and leads Izzy to admire Mia for her willingness to encourage her to take a stand against injustice. Izzy has previously not been encouraged to behave subversively, and Mia’s take on her suspension underscores how much the two women have in common. With Mia being an artist, she values and can understand everyone’s individuality and flair, and strongly believes that matters concerning someone should be dealt with by the same person, as they will know the situation in a detailed way. In addition, Mia gave the opportunity for Izzy to justify her actions, listening to her without interrupting after every second word. This is apparently different compared to Elena. Elena has falsely idealised a ‘perfect’ mould for all women in the Richardson family to follow. This heavily constricts the development of her children, as they are unable to find their true selves. In comparison, Mia allows Pearl to find and better understand herself, which is important.

Lockdown I have learnt who my real friends are which is a very valuable life lesson because the people that you surround yourself within your life is important. They can change your mindset and your attitude. I would consider someone my real friend if they’ve made the effort to contact me during lockdown or if we FaceTime a lot because it shows me that they care about me. Ever since middle school, I’ve always realized that having the right friends is important but during lockdown, it’s definitely become a lot more prominent to me because the people you surround yourself with can have a huge impact on you.

Lockdown has taught me multiple things about myself but, the most valuable thing I’ve learnt about myself is I like having my alone time. Don’t get me wrong I do miss my friends and seeing them every day at school but being alone at home and spending time away from everyone has made me realize I should value the time that I have with myself. When spending time with myself I feel like I’m able to focus more on my physical well being. I’ve been able to exercise every day, eat very clean and healthy and reflect on a lot of things that have been taking up space in my mind.

This year has definitely been the most strange of my schooling years because of the obvious coronavirus but I think that my school year hadn’t changed too much because of it. The coronavirus has affected the end of my year I have still been heavily involved in various activities throughout the year. I have participated in many different School shows this year including Unplugged, Culturama and Dance showcase. For Unplugged I sang a song and my friend Grace played the piano, we performed Defying Gravity. In Culturama I was a part of the South Korea dance group which I have enjoyed because Culturama is a yearly event that I participated in Grade 9 so it was nice to participate and join it again in grade 10. In the Dance showcase, I was involved in 2 dances I’ve always enjoyed dance showcase because I’ve participated in it since grade 6 so it has a special place in my heart. In grade 10 I took part in a new service with little kids where we made arts and crafts, I also signed up for a GC this year called Gilie Ecotrust which I thoroughly enjoyed because I have a deep passion for the ocean. Overall this year has definitely been a successful year in terms of activities and academic subjects.

This process has been a smooth and easy journey. From a young age, I have always had a strong idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up which was a performer so deciding to take an arts subject was mandatory and already in my mind. I chose to take HL Drama as I have always enjoyed the subject and would like to pursue it in IB. Throughout my last year of IGCSE, my interest in the subject Enterprise has grown tremendously. I also am thinking of a possible courier in this field of work and because of this passion for the subject, I chose to take HL Business Management. My last choice for my HL subject was English Lang/Lit because I’ve enjoyed English all throughout High School. My reason for choosing Lang/Lit is because my interest in English goes beyond reading books. The hardest choice I had to make was to pick a Science. I ended up choosing ESS because it was described as science and humanities combined which sparked my interest because it isn’t fully science because science isn’t my favourite subject. Overall, I can’t wait to take these subjects next year!

Article
This article I found particularly interesting because my Instagram feed has been flooded with black squares and while scrolling I thought what impact does a black square have on someone’s account. Yes, it can spread awareness of the situation but is it making a change? I feel in a time like this people need to take action if we want to see any change happen. This article helped me better express my feelings in this situation.