Ali goes to university by Chris Rose  Ali couldn’t wait until September. Finally, his life was going to change. June had been terrible, with all those school-leaving exams to do. He spent July waiting. The exam results finally arrived in August. He was worried when the envelope with the exam results in it arrived at their house one morning. He didn’t think he’d done very well in his exams. He wasn’t the most intelligent or studious boy in his school, he knew that. However, it was really important for him to do well. Ali absolutely had to get out of the small town where he lived. He had to do well in his school-leaving exams so that he could go to university and get away from his hometown. Like many people his age in Britain, for Ali, going to university wasn’t a chance to develop his education or to pursue academic interests. No, for Ali, going to university was a chance to get away from his home town and his parents, to meet lots of new people, to stop being a child and become an adult. To become a new and totally different person. The town he lived in was a very small town in the countryside. It had one school and one pub. There were a few shops on the main street. There wasn’t anywhere for young people to meet, so they spent time walking up and down the main street. Everybody knew everybody else in his town. There was never anything new, or different, or unusual. It was boring, very, very boring. Ali couldn’t wait to leave. The town was too small for him, he thought. He had other ideas. He had big ambitions. He didn’t really know what his ideas or ambitions were yet, but he was sure he had them. And when he went to university, he was going to find out what they were. His hands trembled as he opened the envelope. He took out the letter, and sighed with relief. It was OK. He hadn’t done brilliantly, but his grades were good enough. He had got a place at the University of Rummidge. The course started in September. When he got off the train at the main station in Rummidge, he felt free at last. The whole world was before him, thought. Even though it was only the town of Rummidge. Ali had wanted to go to London to study, but his mother said it was too far away. He had tried to go to Manchester, but the results of his school-leaving exams weren’t good enough, so he had to accept his other choice. Rummidge was a big industrial city in the centre of England. It wasn’t a beautiful place, but that didn’t matter to Ali. At least it wasn’t his hometown. He had only one suitcase with him when he arrived. He didn’t want to bring much from home. He wanted to forget his home. The University was a short distance from the city centre. It was much more attractive than the rest of the city. It was situated in its own campus, which was like a large park with lots of modern buildings in it. Rummidge wasn’t the oldest university in Britain, nor the most prestigious, but Ali didn’t mind. For him, it was a new world, a new start. He was staying in the halls of residence. The halls of residence were two tall tower blocks at the edge of the campus. Nearly 1000 students lived here. Some students complained about the halls of residence. They said they were ugly, and that the rooms were too small. They didn’t like having to share a bathroom. Ali didn’t care though. He thought it was fantastic. He was away from his parents and his hometown. He spent his evenings going to bars and clubs. He spent his days asleep, mostly. He studied as little as possible. He had to do some exams at the end of the year, but that was a long way off yet. He forgot to write letters to his parents. He telephoned them now and then. He didn’t worry too much about his parents. He felt free and independent for the first time in his life. Being free and independent, however, also meant that Ali had to cook for himself and do his own washing. This was a problem. Up until now, Ali’s mum had always cooked for him. Up until now, Ali’s mum had always washed his clothes for him. For a while, he got all his food from a local takeaway restaurant. Soon, however, he realised that this was costing him too much money. He wore the same t-shirt for three weeks. Soon, however, he realised that he was starting to smell bad. His problems were solved, however, when Katia appeared. Katia was a girl with flame-red hair who lived in the same hall of residence as Ali. He had always watched her from a distance. She always dressed completely in black. She always looked a little bit bored. She had friends, but was often on her own. Ali thought she was beautiful. One evening, Ali was in the kitchen all the people who lived on his floor in the hall of residence shared. He was trying to cook pasta. He didn’t know what to do. He opened a packet of spaghetti and put it in some water. Then he started to heat the water. He left it there for half an hour. When he tried to eat it, it was disgusting! The spaghetti had turned into soup! Katia walked into the kitchen and Ali tried to hide what he had made. He didn’t want to look stupid in front of Katia. He felt embarrassed. He didn’t want to look a like a boy from a small town who doesn’t even know how to cook spaghetti. It was too late though. Katia saw what he was eating. “What is that?” she asked, looking disgusted. “Errm, spaghetti” said Ali, feeling embarrassed. “I’ll show you how to cook spaghetti!” said Katia. She then cooked a delicious simple meal with spaghetti and tomatoes and olives. Ali was amazed. He didn’t even know what an olive was. “Where did you learn to do that?” he asked her. “Oh, in Italy.  My family often go there on holiday.”  Ali was impressed. “Wow...have you travelled a lot?” “Well, yes, I have” said Katia. “Europe of course, we have a house in France. Then South America, India...” Ali had rarely been outside his hometown. He had been to London once. That was the furthest he had ever travelled. Ali and Katia started to meet quite often. Ali always made sure he was in the kitchen when Katia was around. Quite often she cooked for him, or showed him how to cook. He made sure he washed his clothes regularly. He wanted to impress her. He was never sure if she was impressed though. She always looked bored. According to Katia, everything was boring. Her course was boring. The other students were boring. This university was boring. Rummidge was boring. Ali was so impressed by Katia that he started to imitate her. He pretended that he was bored with everything too. He didn’t realise that a lot of other people thought that Katia was arrogant. He didn’t care. He was free and independent and in love for the first time in his life. He started to miss a lot of his lectures and classes. He forgot to write the essays and do the assignments he had to do. Eventually his tutor called Ali into his office. “Listen, Ali” said his tutor. “If you don’t start working harder, you will fail your first year.” Ali wasn’t that worried though. He could catch up on the essays, and he was sure that if he studied a bit before the end of year exams he would pass them. He may not get great grades, but it would be OK. One day, there was a knock on the door of his room. He woke up and looked at his clock. It was 12 midday. He had slept until 12. He got up and opened the door. He hoped it would be Katia.  But it wasn’t Katia. It was Femi. Femi was another girl who was doing the same course as Ali. She was from Africa. She was one of several overseas students on his course. He hadn’t spoken to her much. “Have I just woken you up?” asked Femi. “Errr, yeah” said Ali, pretending to try and look bored. “You’ve been missing a lot of classes recently.” “So what?” said Ali. “They’re boring. Everything’s boring.” “Why don’t you go back home, then?” asked Femi. “Home’s boring too” said Ali. “I’d love to be able to go home”, said Femi. “But I love it here too. I’m lucky to be here. You don’t know how lucky you are.” Femi sat down and began to tell Ali her story. She had been the brightest, most intelligent girl in her class at school, and she had hoped to be able to go to university. However, she was from a small town, her parents were not rich, and it was very unlikely that she would be able to follow her dream and go on to study at university. When she finished school, she would have to find a job and work until she got married. That was the way things worked in her country. But she had not given up, she had continued to study, and eventually she won a grant to be able to come and study in the UK. “I love it here. I love the freedom and independence you have. I never get bored for one minute. But I miss my home a lot. I miss my parents and my family and my old friends.” Ali didn’t say anything while Femi told him her story. But he was listening very carefully, even if he was pretending to look bored. Katia had a lot of interesting stories, she had done lots of interesting things, but she didn’t seem to realise how much these things meant. Femi had a whole different kind of experience. The life that Femi had had up until now, and the experiences that she had in her home town were so much more profound than anything Katia had done. “When I finish my degree, I hope to be able to do a Masters degree. Then I’m going to go back home. When I go back home I’m going to be a teacher. I want to be able to make a difference in my country. Yes, it might be boring compared to here. But I think about all those people who haven’t been as lucky as I was. I think about the people who don’t have a chance to get out. And I know that if I don’t do something, it will always stay that way.” Femi’s story affected Ali a lot. He didn’t know why he hadn’t spoken to her before, and felt a bit ashamed and embarrassed about his ignorance. He wanted to tell Katia about Femi and her story. He went over to her room, but she wasn’t in. In fact, he didn’t see Katia for a long time after that. One of her friends told him that she had gone back to her parents so she could study more and concentrate better for her exams at the end of the year. Katia had never given Ali her parents’ phone number. She hadn’t even told him exactly where she lived. Katia didn’t call him, or even e-mail him. He didn’t see her again until June, when they did the exams. He ran over to her as soon as he saw her. “Where have you been?” he asked. “Oh, yeah, sorry...I should have told you. I went back to my parents for a bit...” She yawned and looked bored. “I guess I should have called you. Sorry.” “Listen”, said Ali, “I’m not going back home this summer after the exams. I think I’ll stay here. Or I might go travelling somewhere. Why don’t you come with me?” “Thanks for the offer, Ali, but I have to go to France, stay with my parents. It’ll be boring.” Ali walked away from her. He was surprised with himself. He was surprised that he wasn’t disappointed. He was surprised that he wasn’t really that bothered at all. He realised now how superficial Katia was. How lucky she was, and how little she understood how lucky she was. Ali didn’t really know what to do after the exams. He hoped he was going to pass them. Perhaps he could go to Africa. He could perhaps meet up with Femi there. Or perhaps he could go back home. He could go back to his boring, little home town, and he could try to make a difference there. THE END . He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good. Confucius I have often wished I had time to cultivate modesty... But I am too busy thinking about myself. Edith Sitwell  Life is a long lesson in humility. James M. Barrie Be modest! It is the kind of pride least likely to offend. Jules Renard Modesty is a shining light; it prepares the mind to receive knowledge, and the heart for truth. Madam Guizot I am no more humble than my talents require. Oscar Levant If I only had a little humility, I'd be perfect. Ted Turner Acting is not being emotional, but being able to express emotion. Kate Reid I have long since come to believe that people never mean half of what they say, and that it is best to disregard their talk and judge only their actions. Dorothy Day I have always thought the actions of men the best interpreters of their thoughts. John Locke Strong reasons make strong actions. William Shakespeare Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half. John Wanamaker You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements. Norman Douglas Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. Stephen Leacock Advertisements... contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper. Thomas Jefferson I read no newspaper now but Ritchie's, and in that chiefly the advertisements, for they contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper. Thomas Jefferson What is the difference between unethical and ethical advertising? Unethical advertising uses falsehoods to deceive the public; ethical advertising uses truth to deceive the public. Vilhjalmur Stefansson Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties. Aesop It is very difficult to live among people you love and hold back from offering them advice. Anne Tyler People who ask our advice almost never take it. Yet we should never refuse to give it, upon request, for it often helps us to see our own way more clearly. Brendan Francis Ask advice only of your equals. Danish Proverb Please give me some good advice in your next letter. I promise not to follow it. Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892 - 1950), Letters Write down the advice of him who loves you, though you like it not at present. English Proverb Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't. Erica Jong I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite. G. K. Chesterton Never give advice unless asked. German Proverb Some people like my advice so much that they frame it upon the wall instead of using it. Gordon R. Dickson The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right. Hannah Whitall Smith I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it. Harry S Truman   Never take the advice of someone who has not had your kind of trouble. Sidney J. Harris In giving advice, seek to help, not please your friend. Solon Never advise anyone to go to war or to marry. Spanish Proverb Beware of the young doctor and the old barber. Benjamin Franklin To me, old age is always 15 years older than I am. Bernard M. Baruch   Aging is not 'lost youth' but a new stage of opportunity and strength. Betty Friedan There is no old age. There is, as there always was, just you. Carol Matthau Always be nice to those younger than you, because they are the ones who will be writing about you. Cyril Connolly The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in 70 or 80 years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. Doris Lessing The surprising thing about young fools is how many survive to become old fools. Doug Larson Though it sounds absurd, it is true to say I felt younger at sixty than I felt at twenty. Ellen Glasgow The longer I live the more beautiful life becomes. Frank Lloyd Wright Age to me means nothing. I can't get old; I'm working. I was old when I was twenty-one and out of work. As long as you're working, you stay young. When I'm in front of an audience, all that love and vitality sweeps over me and I forget my age. George Burns   I was always taught to respect my elders and I've now reached the age when I don't have anybody to respect. George Burns   About the only thing that comes to us without effort is old age. Gloria Pitzer   Age is not a particularly interesting subject. Anyone can get old. All you have to do is live long enough. Groucho Marx The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. H. L. Mencken . My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me. Benjamin Disraeli   It is by universal misunderstanding that all agree. For if, by ill luck, people understood each other, they would never agree. Charles Baudelaire Those who agree with us may not be right, but we admire their astuteness. Cullen Hightower We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us. Francois de La Rochefoucauld If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking. Lyndon B. Johnson I don't necessarily agree with everything I say. Marshall McLuhan If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong. Mo Udall Whenever people agree with me I always feel I must be wrong. Oscar Wilde The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be. Walter Bagehot When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary. William Wrigley Jr. America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair. Arnold Toynbee  There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America. Bill Clinton   America's one of the finest countries anyone ever stole. Bobcat Goldthwaite There's the country of America, which you have to defend, but there's also the idea of America. America is more than just a country, it's an idea. An idea that's supposed to be contagious. Bono There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure. Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969) The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced. Frank Zappa England and America are two countries separated by a common language. George Bernard Shaw America is a young country with an old mentality. George Santayana America has never been an empire. We may be the only great power in history that had the chance, and refused – preferring greatness to power and justice to glory. George W. Bush America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. George W. Bush America will never run... And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders. George W. Bush In the United States there is more space where nobody is than where anybody is. That is what makes America what it is. Gertrude Stein   What's right about America is that although we have a mess of problems, we have great capacity - intellect and resources - to do some thing about them. Henry Ford II This is the story of America. Everybody's doing what they think they're supposed to do. Jack Kerouac In a country as big as the United States, you can find fifty examples of anything. Jeffery F. Chamberlain America is a vast conspiracy to make you happy. There are three social classes in America: upper middle class, middle class, and lower middle class. Judith Martin, The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children. King Edward VIII Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were. Cherie Carter-Scott When anger rises, think of the consequences. Confucius If you would cure anger, do not feed it. Say to yourself: 'I used to be angry every day; then every other day; now only every third or fourth day.' When you reach thirty days offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods. Epictetus Anger at lies lasts forever. Anger at truth can't last. Greg Evans Never forget what a man says to you when he is angry. Henry Ward Beecher Speak when you are angry--and you will make the best speech you'll ever regret. Laurence J. Peter Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change. Malcolm X I have a right to my anger, and I don't want anybody telling me I shouldn't be, that it's not nice to be, and that something's wrong with me because I get angry. Maxine Waters My parents only had one argument in forty-five years. It lasted forty-three years. Cathy Ladman He who strikes the first blow admits he's lost the argument. Chinese Proverb I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this, and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. Dave Barry Use soft words and hard arguments. English Proverb The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments. Friedrich Nietzsche   The thing I hate about an argument is that it always interrupts a discussion. G. K. Chesterton No matter what side of the argument you are on, you always find people on your side that you wish were on the other. Jascha Heifetz If you go in for argument, take care of your temper. Your logic, if you have any, will take care of itself. Joseph Farrell Silence is one of the hardest arguments to refute. Josh Billings Behind every argument is someone's ignorance. Louis D. Brandeis Arguments are to be avoided; they are always vulgar and often convincing. Oscar Wilde It is not necessary to understand things in order to argue about them. Pierre Beaumarchais In a heated argument we are apt to lose sight of the truth. Publilius Syrus The argument is at an end. Saint Augustine It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in argument. William G. McAdoo With reasonable men I will reason; with humane men I will plea; but to tyrants I will give no quarter, nor waste arguments where they will certainly be lost. William Lloyd Garrison For they are yet ear-kissing arguments. William Shakespeare   [Abstract art is] a product of the untalented, sold by the unprincipled to the utterly bewildered. Al Capp Art is the imposing of a pattern on experience, and our aesthetic enjoyment is recognition of the pattern. Alfred North Whitehead Painting: The art of protecting flat surfaces from the weather and exposing them to the critic. Ambrose Bierce Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in. Amy Lowell Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better. Andre Gide Let each man exercise the art he knows. Aristophanes I believe that if it were left to artists to choose their own labels, most would choose none. Ben Shahn So you see, imagination needs moodling - long, inefficient, happy idling, dawdling and puttering. Brenda Ueland I suppose no matter what I'm drawing, there will always be some sort of question in my mind about it. A work of art (even cartoon art)is never really finished; it is abandoned. Brooke McEldowney, I can't criticize what I don't understand. If you want to call this art, you've got the benefit of all my doubts. Charles Rosin, Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature. Cicero Art forms of the past were really considered elitist. Bach did not compose for the masses, neither did Beethoven. It was always for patrons, aristocrats, and royalty. Now we have a sort of democratic version of that, which is to say that the audience is so splintered in its interests. David Cronenberg, Rocketboom, The idea of a mass audience was really an invention of the Industrial Revolution. David Cronenberg, I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues. Duke Ellington Works of art, in my opinion, are the only objects in the material universe to possess internal order, and that is why, though I don't believe that only art matters, I do believe in Art for Art's sake. E. M. Forster Another unsettling element in modern art is that common symptom of immaturity, the dread of doing what has been done before. Edith Wharton Art is on the side of the oppressed. Think before you shudder at the simplistic dictum and its heretical definition of the freedom of art. For if art is freedom of the spirit, how can it exist within the oppressors? Edith Wharton A painting in a museum hears more ridiculous opinions than anything else in the world. Edmond de Goncourt Illusions are art, for the feeling person, and it is by art that you live, if you do. Elizabeth Bowen Artists who seek perfection in everything are those who cannot attain it in anything. Eugene Delacroix Art is making something out of nothing and selling it. Frank Zappa I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration. Frida Kahlo Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere. G. K. Chesterton A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright   I happen to feel that the degree of a person's intelligence is directly reflected by the number of conflicting attitudes she can bring to bear on the same topic. Lisa Alther, Kinflicks, Complaining is good for you as long as you're not complaining to the person you're complaining about. Lynn Johnston A strong positive mental attitude will create more miracles than any wonder drug. Patricia Neal Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives. William James The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind. William James   A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it. Bob Hope Drive-in banks were established so most of the cars today could see their real owners. E. Joseph Cossman A banker is a fellow who lends you his umbrella when the sun is shining, but wants it back the minute it begins to rain. Mark Twain The first question I ask myself when something doesn't seem to be beautiful is why do I think it's not beautiful. And very shortly you discover that there is no reason. John Cage I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may - light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful. John Constable Rarely do great beauty and great virtue dwell together. Petrarch When I'm working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong. R. Buckminster Fuller Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking. Albert Einstein   This paperback is very interesting, but I find it will never replace a hardcover book - it makes a very poor doorstop. Alfred Hitchcock   EnglishEver © 2008