I have always wondered how others live a cross-cultural life. Whether it’s the culture you are born into or trying to understand a different one, this diverse topic continues to fascinate me. Imagine a girl who struggles to juggle her identity since she is half-Indian and half-Jewish. Sonia Nadhamuni is far from normal as she tries to be less than herself. But, what does that mean? Does it mean lying about her culture, fitting in with her new friends, or just giving vague answers when asked about her heritage? Sonia’s life is an absolute mess, but author Veera Hiranandani smooths out a path leading the reader into Sonia’s not so “half” life. “Maybe it would be easier just to be Indian and not have to explain the Jewish part.” This quote resonates with Sonia’s thoughts about herself. For most of the book, she has the mindset that she is either just Indian or just Jewish, not both. Her heritage was never a problem at her expensive private school, where the kids just knew each other and never asked questions. However, Sonia’s close to ‘perfect’ life came to a sudden end when her father lost his job. As a result, her mother had to work more hours, her dad had severe episodes, and worst of all, Sonia and her sister had to attend public school. I felt terrible for Sonia at first, especially when she had to transfer schools. Her life gets turned upside down– she has to adjust to the new surroundings and make new friends. A couple more chapters in, I noticed that Sonia was quite spoiled, and I started to sympathize with those around her. Once she starts at her new school, Sonia quickly finds herself wavering between a group of popular girls and kids who would consider themselves introverts. Kate, a popular white girl, has a controlling friendship with Sonia, while Alisha, a nerdy Black girl, has a heart of gold. After making the cheerleading team as an alternate, Sonia learns that to fit in she first needs to be true to herself. The Whole Story of Half a Girl is a fast-paced young adult novel encompassing the true nature of middle school, adorned with the hard truth of reality. Throughout the book, Hiranandani offers the question of one’s heritage and identity. This made me ponder my heritage, and I connected with Sonia in many ways. Still, while she tried explaining that she is American Indian, Indian from India, I started to smile, knowing that even I had to explain my heritage to my friends. All in all, The Whole Story of Half a Girl is a spellbinding book, and I couldn’t enjoy it more. The Whole Story of Half a Girl by Veera Hiranandani. Yearling Books, 2013. Buy the book here and help support Stone Soup in the process!
Young Bloggers
“World,” a poem by Kai, 10
Kai Gajilan Fowler, 10 (Leonia, NJ) World Kai Gajilan Fowler, 10 Bright, so bright But Lonely, and tired. Lonely Lonely from being isolated for so long Tired Tired of being bruised and battered and scarred And yet Bright, so bright, The fight is bright, Filled with light But stressed, and fretting. Stressed Stressed for surviving any longer with pain inflicted every touch Fretting Fretting for the sake of lives And yet Bright, so bright, Tonight is bright Filled with light But crying, and calling. Crying Crying from burns and scrapes Calling Calling for others, others alike, others who don’t hear And yet Bright, so bright The world is bright Filled with light And trying with all of its strength, Trying for us Trying for the others alike Trying with hope at heart Hope Hope for us Hope for them Hope, for all.
The Satanic Pact that Kickstarted World War II
How close was the world to being a Fascist-Leninist dystopia if a joint alliance of Hitler, Stalin, and Hideki Tōjō had won World War II? This could have been a consequence if it weren’t for a series of blunders made by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, including one by Adolf Hitler, when he turned one of his most powerful allies into one of his most fateful enemies. That ally turned enemy was Joseph Stalin. But wasn’t Stalin’s Russia one of the Allied powers fighting against the tyrannical Fascists? How was Stalin an ally of Adolf Hitler? First, Stalin had no noble intentions of destroying tyranny when he joined the fight against the Fascists. He was dragged into the war by Hitler’s betrayal (Turner). Furthermore, Stalin was a notorious tyrant himself, not that different from Adolf Hitler, or Benito Mussolini, or Hideki Tōjō (Moorhouse). Despite being perpetually paranoid and famously “trusting nobody,” Stalin trusted and admired Hitler (Lukacs). Even though Fascists and Marxists are sworn enemies ideologically, and the Soviet Union is remembered for defeating Nazi Germany, their often overlooked diabolical union in the early days of World War II might have caused one of the most debilitating wars in history. The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact formed by emissaries of Hitler and Stalin aided Hitler’s invasion of Poland and Eastern Europe, thereby directly causing World War II. The Fascists and Marxist-Leninists never got along. Nazi propaganda condemned the Soviet Union, and vice versa. However, after months of negotiation with Britain and France to form an alliance with them against Germany, Russia eventually relented in trying to ally with them and turned instead to an alliance with Germany. Stalin understood Britain was not eager to enter an alliance with Russia because of their distrust of the Communists (Lukacs). Britain and France agreed to defend Poland if it were ever invaded, but they had done nothing when Germany occupied Czechoslovakia despite its violation of the Munich agreement, making Stalin doubt their resolve (Klein). The Soviet Union was already engaged in a war with Japan on its eastern front and considered peace with Germany to be an attractive option (Klein). Interestingly, Imperial Japan was an ally of Nazi Germany. Meanwhile, Hitler was scrambling for an alliance with Stalin before he invaded Poland so that he would not have a two-front war like Germany did in World War I (Klein). He arranged for German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop to meet with Soviet counterpart Molotov. Stalin did voice his skepticism when he said, “For many years now, we have been pouring buckets of sh*t on each other’s heads, and our propaganda boys could not do enough in that direction. And now, suddenly, are we to make our people believe that all is forgotten and forgiven? Things don’t work that fast” (Evans). Still, within just a few hours, an ominous pact was formed between Fascist Germany and the Marxist-Leninist Soviet Union. “The sinister news broke upon the world like an explosion,” Churchill wrote (Klein). The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact directly kickstarted World War II, making the debilitating war as much Stalin’s culpability as Hitler’s. If Stalin had remained an ally of Hitler and become an Axis power, the result might have been devastating for the Allies and the entire world. Even as Western Communists left the Soviet Communist party in great numbers after the pact, and German Nazis were shocked by the alliance with the Communists they had fought for years (Moorhouse), the pact was mutually beneficial to Stalin and Hitler for nefarious reasons. The pact had secret clauses where they partitioned Poland between the two countries (Evans). They jointly invaded Poland, Germany from the west and Russia from the east, giving the world a taste of what was to come. The Soviets also invaded Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, and parts of Romania (Evans). Moorhouse also claims that, with this pact, Stalin was ready “to set the world-historical forces of revolution in motion.” The alliance between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union even went so far that Germany provided state-of-the-art military equipment to the Soviet Union in exchange for raw materials such as oil and grain (Moorhouse). In eastern Poland, the Soviets carried out “mass arrests and deportations, shootings, torture and expropriation” (Evans). Thousands of Polish army officers were massacred in the Katyn Forest, and millions of Poles were sent to suffer in the harsh terrain and climate of remote Siberia and Central Asia (Moorhouse). Meanwhile, in Western Poland, things were even worse, where the Germans carried out “the expropriation of Polish farms and businesses, the mass confiscation and looting of private property, the deportation of more than a million young Poles to work as slaves in Germany, the brutal displacement of Polish populations, the massacres of Poles, and the confinement of the majority of Poland’s 3 million Jews in overcrowded, insanitary, and deadly ghettoes in the major cities in the Nazi zone.” (Evans). Stalin even sent German communist refugees in the Soviet Union to the Gulags, and from there, they were deported to the Nazi concentration camps (Moorhouse). What happened in occupied Poland is a horrific reminder of what could have happened to the world if Germany and Russia had stayed allies. Thankfully, Hitler and Stalin’s alliance did not last very long, and Hitler backstabbed Stalin mid-war, therefore triggering the two-front war he had feared all along. There are a few explanations as to why Hitler might have turned on one of his most powerful allies when he was winning. Many believe that Hitler turned on Stalin because he was a fanatical anti-communist with a profound hatred for Slavs (Lukacs). He was probably also disappointed by Stalin’s failed invasion of Finland. Additionally, the war was deadlocked in 1941, with neither the United Kingdom nor Nazi Germany being able to defeat each other, and USA inching closer to joining the war (Lukacs). Churchill famously inspired his troops by saying “We shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the