Students Write - Prof. Martin's Class: Salmah

Across the World and Back: My Journey to Fashion
by Salmah Siddiqi

In all honesty, my current local community is still something I’m trying to get used to. For 9 years of my life, I lived in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. A small country in South East Asia, Malaysia is home to a predominately Muslim population. With Malay, Chinese, and Indian citizens, Kuala Lumpur, or KL, was the environment I grew up in. It was only during the summer of 2017 that I moved back to the states for college and realized how different both communities are. As a freshman in college with goals to become a fashion journalist, I’ve realized how both communities in KL and Houston conflict with and support my dreams.

When I turned 10-years-old, my family and I moved to KL. Seeing as I thought Malaysia was somewhere in China, the experience was a definite culture shock. Living in an international community, coupled with the fact that I was homeschooled, allowed for me to grow without a lot of the pressure that school puts on children. I realized that I loved both fashion and writing with an immense passion. To kill two birds with one stone, I decided to start up my own fashion blog.

My blog was definitely not a consistent hobby of mine, but it did open me up to the world of social media. In high school, I decided to delve further into social media by starting my own Instagram account to post photos of my outfits. By doing this, I learned about events going on in my area in KL; Mont. Kiara. An area made up of British and Korean expats, Mont. Kiara had a growing art community. Every weekend there would be open microphone sessions, art workshops, student fashion exhibits, and marketplaces at my local mall and cafes to help small businesses and young, budding artists get exposure. Each event allowed me to grow my network from artists to writers and even to small business owners.  

A photo of NabiilaBee and me meeting

Once I got to Houston, things changed. Houston is a lot bigger than KL and thus very much spread out. This means that it takes a lot longer to get from one place to another, compared to KL where everything is relatively close. With my close-knit artist community left back overseas; I had to find a new community to connect with. It took time but eventually I found out that the majority of people who are interested in writing and the arts in general are students and hipsters who occupy downtown Houston. The downside to this is that I’m nearly 30 minutes away from this community of like-minded souls because I live in the suburbs.

In my opinion, I don’t exactly think my current local community supports or cares rather for my career of fashion journalism. It’s a career choice that not many middle-class Americans in suburban Houston think of. Even the Muslim community that I’m part of doesn’t necessarily support or care for fashion journalism as most young Muslim’s I’ve met in Houston want to pursue something in science, math, or business. Despite these conflicts with my goals, I still want to find and interact with the downtown community of young artists. Till then, I believe that I just have to keep searching and connecting with people through various social media so I can build my network. Having this large network makes it then easier for me to build my presence in the fashion industry and one step closer to becoming a fashion journalist.   

Students Write - Prof. Martin's Class: John G.

My Goal: Teaching Tennis
by John Garza

I have lots of love and passion for the game of tennis. Playing since the age of 14, time surely has gone by now that I am 19. Over the years, many days of my life have been spent playing and practicing tennis. There have been a handful of days where I have practiced till sundown and have had to stop playing or practicing due to my visibility on the ball. I want to pursue tennis as a career and go into coaching for the game.

Many lessons have been taught to me on the court, like never underestimate the opponent, especially when competing in tournaments. The pressure, nervousness, adrenaline, are all there, mainly because tennis is such a mental sport. Not every match (a game) will go in your favor and when this happens, this can either break or make you.

Tennis is more than just a game. I have made some of my most treasured friends just because we both shared passion for tennis. Tennis is also good at uniting people and allowing them to come together. My first semester of college, I was practicing with a whole new bunch of other tennis players and within a couple of days, I felt like if they were family. That is one of the impacts tennis can have on people who play.

Perfection is something many tennis players aim to achieve when playing. Not even the pros are perfect. This may be because they’re also many different forms and techniques in tennis. There is no definitive way to play tennis. You can practice for however long you want and still will never be able to beat the wall in tennis.

At the end of the day many others share my love and passion for tennis. Some may go down the same road as me and pursue a career in coaching. Some may keep it as a hobby to come to when they have free time, and others might just leave it behind as something they use to do, but one thing is for sure more great tennis is going to be played with the same passion and love in the future to come.