Film Festival

I attended the Film Festival in the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center. The theme of the event was education, empowerment and experiences of Woman. It explored the gender inequality in a global perspective and I learned how education plays a pivotal role in female empowerment. On April 24, 2012 the film that was shown was “Africa’s Child”. It described the stories of 4 Kenyan women growing up in a time of cultural upheaval.

The environment in which the film was played made the experience unique to me. There were many white people who attended the event and besides myself, there was only one other African American. I tried to think of it as an outing to the movie theatre mainly because you will never find just one race of people in a theatre. I know that I have never been to a movie theatre with all African Americans or all white. I felt awkward sitting in a room with white people and watching a film about struggles of the people who are similar to me. Eventually the vibe changed because the film was a little humorous and everyone else would laugh at some of the same things that I thought were funny.  

Out of the 4 women that the film focuses on, one sat with me and she was Kandice. Kandice’s life was similar to mine, although I would consider it the opposite. She had an opportunity to leave her historically black neighborhood school Boston high to attend a school called Metco which was located in the suburbs. When comparing Kandice’s life to mine, I was not able to attend a school in the suburb; I had to attend my neighborhood high school which consisted of nothing but the African American race. After high school Kandice was accepted into Spelman College which is a historically black college. On the other hand, as you know I was accepted into the predominantly white institution after high school. I found it interesting that her education life was the opposite of mine.

 Kandice stated that “In order to create a new game, you have to learn how to play the game that is already established”. This quote really sat with me because for a while I wanted to go to school that did not only have African Americans. I thought that it would make me a better person if I learned in a classroom with another race. My elementary, middle and high school had no other race except African Americans. So one of the reasons I applied to Penn State was to get that cultural experience.

Kandice was able to handle the culture shock through high school and then be able to work around her kin again. Opposed to that, I loved working with my kin and I find it even more delightful to attend Penn State with others.

Overall I enjoyed the experience; it made me think about my transition from high school to college.