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14. Argument. The quotation from Romeo and Juliet that appears in the introduction says
5
essentially that if we called a rose by another name, it would still be a rose. In other words, names
for people and things don’t really matter. Is this true? Write an argument in which you explain to
what extent you agree or disagree. You should refer to your own and others’ experiences and
evidence from this narrative for support.
Narrative
15. Connections. The narrator is only five years old when the headmistress changes her name.
What do you think that you would do if you someone in power decided what you should be
called at that age? What about at your current age? Why?
16. Speaking and Listening. Meet with a partner or a small group and discuss what pressures
exist at your school for individuals to conform. How are those pressures similar to or different
from those that Rau faced?
17. Research. Throughout its time as an empire, Britain held policies that were intended to make
all of its colonies as much like England as possible. Research British education in Africa, India,
or Australia during the late 1800s until the 1940s in order to identify the similarities and
differences between education systems in those areas and the school in this story.
18. Creative Writing. Write a poem about a time that you may have felt like Rau when she was
feeling powerless or like an outsider at her school.
19. Multimodal. Create an interactive or digital map that captures the reach of the British Empire
at the time of this narrative, roughly between World War I and World War II. Use color, textures,
or other cues to signify the amount and type of control they had. Then, with this information,
write a brief response about how this influence might have contributed to some of the events
presented in this narrative.

from Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me?

Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling (b. 1979) is an American actress, writer, producer,
director, and comedian whose Hindi parents immigrated to the United
States from Nigeria. She is the writer, producer, and star of The Mindy Rich Fury/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty
Project, she formerly played Kelly Kapoor on the comedy The Office,
for which she also wrote several episodes, and she is the producer of
the TV shows Never Have I Ever, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and
The Sex Lives of College Girls. In 2012, she was named one of Time Images
magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. This piece is from
her first memoir, Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me? (and Other Concerns), which explores
various stages of her life through a series of essays, lists, and anecdotes.

n ninth grade I had a secret friend. Her name is amazing, by the way. It behooves anyone
Iwas Mavis Lehrman. Mavis lived a few streets who lives in a Tudor house to make it look like
away from me in a Tudor-style house that every a witch cottage once in a while.) The Lehrmans
Halloween her parents made look like the evil were a creative and eccentric family who my
witch’s cottage from Hansel and Gretel. (This parents deemed good people. Mavis was my

148
Uncorrected proofs have been used in this sample.
Copyright © Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers.
For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.

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