IWAWB Final Podcast Asher Isabelle Isabella

The podcast episode discusses the book "I Will Always Write Back" by Caitlin, Alicja Renka, Liz Welch, and Martin Ganda. The book is about the friendship between Caitlin from Pennsylvania and Martin from Zimbabwe, who live very different lives. Caitlin initially assumes Martin is middle class like her, but she later realizes his struggles and helps him. The book highlights the importance of privilege and valuing what you have. It also explores the impact of acts of kindness and the lasting power of friendship. The hosts discuss significant quotes from the book and how it changed their perceptions. They recommend the book for its lessons on friendship and the transformative power it can have. Hello everybody, and welcome to Unintentional Brains with your host, Asher Rothenberg. Today's episode, I Will Always Read This Book. In fact, we examine a book called I Will Always Write Back, by Caitlin, Alicja Renka, Liz Welch, and Martin Ganda. Today we have guest speakers, Isabelle Dana and Isabella Santos. To get us started, a quote for today is, It's not about how much you have, it's about how much you make of what you have. This quote really encapsulates what the book is all about. It shows the underlying message throughout the book. I think this shows how much privilege matters and how you need to value what you have. It reminds us of Martin's struggles and how Caitlin is able to share the wealth she has to help him. So, what is the book about? I Will Always Write Back is a memoir that tells the story of Caitlin and Martin, two pen pals living two very different lives. Caitlin is from Pennsylvania, and Martin lives in Zimbabwe. They live an ocean apart, literally. So what's the conflict with that? Caitlin assumes Martin is an middle class person like herself, but she eventually realizes Martin's life is not so fortunate. He needs to come up with the money to fund his dreams before his family runs out of time. I always felt bad for Martin. It feels like his life is much harder. Even going to school and doing simple things that we take for granted is harder for him. I wonder how he struggles with that. Let's talk about one of the most significant quotes from the story. Martin says, Thank you for those durable shoes you gave us. Though they were not my size, they are the best I have ever seen. My mom is the only one whose shoe size they were, so we gave her all the two pairs. Faithfully, these are his first durable, expensive, nice pairs of shoes. I thank you for this. She no longer walks barefooted, and now she is counted in society. Alicia Ranka, 178. This excerpt is important because in this book, this is when Caitlin realizes how dire the situation was in Zimbabwe. It makes her realize she really needs to help her out. It shows how much they're struggling. Shoes are given in America and wealthier countries, but in Zimbabwe, it's different. This is pretty difficult for him. I wonder what shoes he uses in his day-to-day life. He doesn't. He doesn't wear shoes. Walking barefoot through disgusting streets is gross. Imagine we have to walk barefoot in disgusting streets. I could never. Even just walking around in my house barefoot hurts my feet because of the amount of dust I have. Also, the part about being counted in a member of society is weird. She has to wear special shoes to be counted in the society? We see this today at our school as well. Fancy clothes mean better friends, social life. In Caitlin's world, this is no big deal, but because of Martin, where he lives, the place he lives, how everyone is struggling the same amount, shoes really aren't a thing that they're concerned about because of disease and everything else that they've been struggling with. Also, you can see earlier in the book where Martin gives already hints that he isn't as rich and as privileged as Caitlin is, and Caitlin just kind of ignores it and she doesn't really dig into it. Why do you guys think she doesn't dig into it? Do you think she's purposefully being ignorant so she can't be hurt? I think she just doesn't realize that where he was in the book and like in the books, the way he was in Zimbabwe was really that troubled because in her world, everyone, I mean, she lived in like a middle class, like everyone had the same amount of things. So Martin, when she first met him, she never really understood what the things he was going through was because she never experienced it, and I think that's something you can only understand if you go through it. And all her other classmates were sending letters to places like Germany and Italy where people are richer and more middle class, so her friends probably said that their pen pals were rich and wealthy compared to Martin as well. What do we think readers need to know about this book before they read it? I think this shows a lot how acts of kindness and generosity can change a life. Friendship can last a lifetime if you have the will to keep it going. You can learn a lot from the protagonists too, like how amazing they were as friends, and how they grew as people but their relationships never changed. Even in letters across the ocean, they stayed friends forever, even though their friends at school changed. How did you guys like the book? We liked the book because it had us rooting for the characters we liked the entire time, like the O-level exams. You could see how Martin's and Kalen's relationship grew but still had the same dynamics the entire time, and how they never really, like, they immediately clicked and they stayed like that forever, while their friendships and struggles throughout that, they still stayed with each other no matter what. I really liked the sweet moment at the end with the pictures. The pictures really helped influence the book. I think that's a thing that old books have, but now we don't see it as much, and I think it's a really nice thing to have in a book. I also agree with that, but I would also like to say, in the beginning of the book, where after two weeks, Kalen's friends, they stopped talking to their pen pals, and I think this really shows the difference between the European pen pals and the African pen pals, and I think it really shows why Kalen chose Zimbabwe instead of one of the European countries. She chose it because it was different, because it was special, right? Yes, she chose it because it was different, and like you said, she was really bored in class, and then she saw Zimbabwe. She was like, wow, that's a cool word. And she's not bored in class anymore, and just because Martin is having such a tough time, that she's trying so much harder. But we'll get to that later. What questions would you ask the author, if you could interview him or her? Why would you ask these questions? I would ask Martin, how did you stick to the goals you made and follow through without losing motivation? I would ask this question because for me, it's really hard for me to stick to a problem or a situation, because when I fail, I quit right away. And for me, if I was in his situation, I would just be like, oh no, everyone else around me already quit. It's just having normal jobs. I might just do what they do. I would ask, how does your pen pal relationship change your perceptions of each other's cultures? I'd ask this because it really opened my eyes to see how they both evolved when they saw how the other person lived, how Martin was so surprised when Caitlin had all of these new things that he had never seen before, and when Caitlin started to figure out that Madison's life was unfortunate, how she learned and how she educated herself about Zimbabwe, and made sure that she would be able to understand and help him in the best way possible, and it was really interesting for me to see that. If I was asking a question to the author, I would ask, what made you strive towards your future when everything else was having fun? Because for me, my environment really decides what I do and when I do it. If I'm studying but all my friends are playing outside and having fun, I would want to study. I don't have that motivation to work so hard to study. I think that's a good trait to have, and I would wonder, how can you be that resilient to working hard, and even though everyone else had just accepted that they would be in the dirt, they would be lower, but you decided to strive. Why do you guys think other kids should read this book? This book teaches you that anyone can be friends, no matter their living conditions or how far away. It also shows the power of friendship can transform lives and evolve friendships. Both of these things are really important, especially as a child. We need to learn how to develop friends and to have fun stuff. Middle school matters. As we part, just remember how the power of friendship can change lives, and that privilege is a gift. Thank you all for listening, and goodbye. Bye-bye.