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Friend and inspiration to local teacher
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Anonymous user Tue Jan 23, 2007 10:28:03 PST
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0 responses 0 comments There are so many reasons to see the new movie from Paramount Pictures “Freedom Writers” — it is hard to even know where to begin.
The story is about teacher Erin Gruwell teaching in the inner city area of Long Beach. She finds a way to reach her students, encouraging them to find their own voices and to believe in themselves. They learn to appreciate the power of their words by writing them down. Eventually, with guidance from their teacher, Ms. G, they go  on to find success and a way out of gang life.
Sounds like your typical Hollywood teacher genre movie right? But “Freedom Writers” is so much more. It’s a story about belief, dreams, and about making a difference.
I will have to admit, when I first saw the previews for this movie, I had more than just an average interest in it. You see, Erin Gruwell is a friend of mine and I, too, am a teacher.
I was invited to see the movie’s pre-screening with Erin and several of the kids who are the Freedom Writers that the movie is based on. I was so excited to see my friend’s life on screen, but I was unprepared for the emotional experience that I witnessed.
Erin and I went to high school together in the small suburban town of LaVerne in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Our high school experience was definitely a far cry from where she would end up teaching. To see her courage in a very scary environment so completely different from our high school life was amazing.
I kept wondering, “How did she keep going?”
But deep down I knew. I think every teacher knows. You do it for those kids!
Erin is a great teacher, but even more importantly, she is a warmhearted person who knows that somehow she has to do the right thing.  And not because anyone asked her to. In fact, in the film everyone she encounters tells her that she will not succeed. Her school administrators ridicule her for her enthusiasm. They refuse to support her. They tell her that she is “too peppy” and “too enthusiastic.” Yet, she won’t give up.
She is unorthodox in her methods, but she finds a way to reach her students and more importantly, her students find a way to reach her.
Erin and I have discussed our love of teaching and standing up for what is right — even when you do things differently than what others expect. We both know what it is like to be told that you are too peppy or too cheery. We talked about how every person can truly make a difference in others’ lives by the small things that they do.
This movie is not about a bigger-than-life-hero, it’s about a regular person who didn’t start out to take a stand or to right a wrong. She just wanted to reach her students and help them reach for themselves. In doing so, she became a hero and so did her students.
I am so proud to call her my friend, but I am even prouder to truly call her an inspiration.

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