Stereotypes

1.3

Lyra

Hey, I'm Lyra and I am here to tell you to stop. Stop expecting certin people to be perfect, because that simply is not apart of human nature. Stop catorgarizing females to be small and weak, and males to be big and strong, not everyone is built the way their gender is stereotyped. And please stop judging people based on what they wear or how they look, the cover may be ugly but the book is amazing. Now that we've cleared that up, it's time I introduce myself. Like I said, my name is Lyra, and I am a proud Indian. Although I do not fit the 'Perfect Indian Girl' stereotype, I'm proud of my ancesstry. I have long, choppy blue hair that goes to my waist and I have hazel eyes. I am at the unusual height of 6'3. Let it sink in. Yeah I relise I am a fucking giant, thanks. I dress in a style that I would like to call 'punk'. Yes, that means flannels, leather jackets, skinny jeans, oh my! This is another demonstration of me rebelling agenst the 'Perfect Indian' stereotype. Now, lets talk about school. I have okay grades for a senior, considering the rest of my class is failing. The only classes I actually care about is honors English, art, and music, so those are the only ones I try in. I have a very ironic personality and I am constantly making dirty jokes. My favorite color is the happiest of them all, black. I live in the suburbs with my super Indian parents and my 2 younger brothers and 3 younger sisters. Let's just say I can't wait to get out of my house and escape my loud parents constantly telling me that I am a disgrace to the family. Okay, now that we've pretty much covered me, let's talk more about why I am here. I have showed you why I am not what I am stereotyped to be, I am not small and pettite, I do not get perfect grades, I do not dress to impress, and I am NOT a perfect Indian. Why are people like me, who are just being themselves, punished? Why are we suddenly the freaks? I am honestly so sick of this and I just want to get my word out. Hopefully I'll change someones mind about the way they think about people like me.

It was normal for me to wake up to screaming children in the morning. And that's what I did on April 6th. My little sister Kooshe was yelling at me that there was a tornado, and there obviously wasn't, so I pushed off my bed and cursed her out in Hindi, the Indian language my family forced me to speak. She then ran to my mom, and I knew I would be in big trouble if I didn't get up now. As I looked around my room I saw that my 3 sisters were already up and out of bed, so I quickly ran downstairs to join the rest of my family to morning breakfast.

'Shubh prabhaat' I said when I made it downstairs. The translation in Hindi is ''good morning''

I sat down and started to eat my poha idli, small fluffy rice circles, and I thought about college. What I imagined was my dream school, UC Berkley, and I thought of my years I would spend there. What I didn't think of was the day in front of me. That day I didn't think twice about the date April 6th.