Caitlyn
Yes. You probably already know exactly what the topic of this post is. Caitlyn Jenner. And before you freak out and some steam comes up along with your super strong opinions about what's right about her and what's wrong please just take a moment to maybe think about what she is going through.
The thing is that those of us that are straight have absolutely no idea what it even feels like to be born a female and feel like a male or vice versa. But I am so fed up with people saying wait Caitlyn did was just for publicity or how her winning the Courage Award was absolutely ridiculous. Change is hard. And Caitlyn changed every single thing about her to become someone who she is inside. You have no right to judge her, you are entitled to your own opinion but for godsakes do you think it's necessary to post all of this hate and hate and cruel words just to make Caitlyn feel like crap? I mean I would really like to know the motives behind those who are constantly calling her "disgusting."
You are allowed to think to yourself whatever you want. But the second you post something online, it goes everywhere, it's your digital footprint. Caitlyn knew the hate she was going to get when she got surgery, and it's disgusting and just dreadful that so many people in humankind feel the need to make it known their opinions even when they crush others. I mean I don't think any of us can judge what it was like for Bruce Jenner because we are physically incapable of feeling another's emotions. So just stop judging because it's not right. "If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say it." That was always something I heard when I was a kid, but it's amazing how much adults really need to hear it.
I think about people who are against the LGBT community and I just cannot begin to understand. If you consider yourself nice and loving, then you would accept them because it's horrendous to just call these really live people horrible names. Well anyway, let me just tell you homophobic people that you're losing. You are losing terribly. You are in the minority and with time you will dwindle and dwindle and your opinions will be lost in history along with those who were constantly putting up so much hate and hate that they began drowned out by the love.
When same-sex marriage was legalized nationally, I was just shocked and so happy and just glad to be alive. It was a good day to be alive because I can't imagine how many lives that saved, how many marriages it created, how many bonds lasting. But I felt a surge of joy because the tables were turning and they were going the right way.
August 2nd, 2015
Take a Moment
Looking good. Making friends. Getting good grades. Applying to colleges. Writing essays. Studying. Finding a job. Finding a boyfriend. Trying to make friends. These are all things that the world and the people in it are so busy doing and sometimes we forget to just take a moment and just be.
We are constantly living in the past or the future. Just think about it. You're always thinking about the test that you just had that you think you did badly on or the party that was last night. Or you are thinking about the test that is tomorrow and how you need to study for it, or what you want to wear to a dinner tonight or what you are going to do today. Are you ever actually just living in the moment? In the present?
We should really do it more often. Because sometime awhile ago clocks were created to constantly keep us on schedule. I have an alarm set on the weekends because I don't want to sleep in too long. Is there something wrong with this? Is there something wrong with trying to maximize the efficiency of every single day, every single hour, every single moment? Not really. But sometimes it's okay to just live, and it's okay to take off your watch and turn off your alarm and not know what is in front of you.
It's okay to not be stressed about everything society says you should be stressed about. Sometimes it's what you need.
June 7th, 2015
Life & Everything Else
I think that somehow, someway, I realized what the point of life was.
I realized that life was not about getting an A on a math test or climbing the social hierarchy to popularity or running a sub 6 minute mile. Life is simply about moments, moments where emotions and feelings overtake you.
There was a day awhile ago where I was sitting around a bonfire with all of my best friends and someone said something funny and I just burst out laughing with the kind of laughter you could listen to for the rest of your life. And at the peak of my laughter, when I sucked that deep breath of oxygen in, my mind briefly flashed back to moments of utter pain and confusion and agony, and I thought about everything that was holding me back, every bad memory or problem that I’d ever had, and I defied it. I defied it all. Because they were just that: memories. My memories were once an impossibly hard reality, and I would never forget that.
But everything I’ve been through has given me a perspective on life; it has given me invincibility, because I have overcome everything I never thought I would. And these moments like the bonfire one are the moments that I try to describe, but can’t. Sometimes you cannot put memories and emotions into words and that’s okay. It’s okay to just have this feeling in your gut, in your stomach, in your heart, and it’s okay to know that that very essence and sentiment in your soul is why you live.
May 14th, 2015
What to Fix
At some point along the line of life, we can forget ourselves. I think that in today’s day and age there are just constant images and websites and networks and people and opinions that are just swarming around us like bees, and sometimes these bees just come in and sting us, and suddenly the opinions of others become ours or the images around us become how we picture the world.
There is a fine line between having concepts affect you, and having concepts become you. I think that we are all very vulnerable because with all of the social networks and pictures of friends floating around it’s hard to remember the core values and beliefs inside of us. Suddenly our concepts of beauty and intelligence change all because we saw a girl on the internet who was unhealthily skinny and everyone below was commenting on how gorgeous and perfect she was. I don’t know when people started believing in this “ideal” person who has a thigh gap of at least an inch, who is athletic, smart, mentally stable, beautiful, and musically talented, who has blue eyes and clear skin. But it’s sad how subconsciously everything begins changing in our mind to mold to the beliefs of the society as a whole. I think everyone does it; everyone looks in the mirror a little too long sometimes; everyone wonders if others will like their new haircut; everyone thinks about the huge volcano that appeared on their forehead, but a lot of us don’t really realize what we are doing. We are making generalizations and we are changing who we are because we are so worried about what others will think and because we are so worried that we won’t look like this “ideal” person. It is okay to put concealer on a blemish and to show a prom dress option to your friends, but it is not okay to sacrifice your deepest beliefs for ones that society believes in or for ones that you see online.
If there was one problem to fix in the world it would be these generalizations that are made about concepts and about beauty and intelligence and values and the “ideal” person, because everything in the world is subjective, and without these generalizations maybe everyone could just be. It sounds unrealistic, but you think about all of the problems in society, the inequality of sexuality, race, gender, and you think about how it’s others opinions that have created these ideas. Stereotypes are the very nature of these generalizations because after you hear more and more people talking about how women are worthless, maybe it begins to just be a general understanding and concept, something you don’t even have to think twice about.
This is what needs to be fixed. Because when I look in the mirror, I don’t want to see someone fat, someone worthless, someone stupid, someone with acne, someone with a grey hair just because society has injected these ideas that those are the first things I should see. I’m so tired of magazines and people photoshopping photos and posting photos of models who are beyond skinny because at some point we just have to realize that people can try and try to show us what the “ideal” person is, but in reality there just is no such thing.
May 3rd, 2015
The Worst Flaw in the Superficial Society
I understand why modeling is appealing, and why it's fun to look at pictures of models, but I think the entire world needs to re-assess the kinds of messages modeling sends to girls. Let me tell you something about girls, not specifically me, but girls in general, we overthink EVERYTHING, we read into EVERYTHING, we see EVERYTHING, we want to be EVERYTHING and when we see something EVERYWHERE we get accustomed to it. Thigh gaps, bony arms, rib cages: these are just a few things girls begin to need, and you want to know what doesn't help? Seeing unhealthy-skinny-thigh-gap-queen-beautiful models in every single magazine, all over ads, all over websites, all over blogs, all over facebook, all over everything. Setting almost every model in the world to be these super thin girls who probably diet on vegetables and fruits sets social standards, and my guess is that they are more than responsible for eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. It is pathetic that I have heard a model being told to lose 10 pounds, and then another 10 pounds, and then another: why? BECAUSE SOMEHOW THAT'S SUPPOSED TO LOOK GOOD.
Some number of years ago the internet was created, and with that Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Buzzfeed, and so many other websites and the amount of hours teens spend on the internet is a lot, and every single thing on the internet is influencing them. Images are everywhere, and girls from young ages to older ages are looking at them all the time. When we were born, everyday people and events influenced us, and influenced our perceptions of concepts like beauty, and everyday the internet and images and models in society are influencing and distorting this concept of beauty, and it needs to be stopped. My fear is that the industry is too big to be stopped, but they just need to get more realistic models that don't have plastic surgery and aren't dieting and exercising every single day.
Because if you want to diminish a girl's self esteem, you show them someone whose perfect so they can compare themselves and see everything they aren't, and all these modeling agencies seem to try over and over again to form and create the "perfect woman", when there is absolutely no such thing.
March 30th, 2015
Defying Social Standards
There will never be another you on the planet. And guess what? The entire world, everything you know, every concept you've heard of, it's all subjective. There is no such thing as "that girl is prettier than that girl"; there is no such thing as a "cuter baby" or a "more attractive guy", those are just standards it seems society sets, but it's just so wrong. There are no standards, pretty is not being skinny or having blond hair, pretty is not having a small stomach or blue eyes, pretty is nothing but a perceived concept of one's imagination.
So when someone does tell you that you are ugly, that you aren't good enough, that you are stupid or annoying, to hell with them because that is one brain amidst over 7 billion, and if they are stupid enough to believe that their opinions are the rest of the society's, the rest of world's than they are the ones that are creating the social norms, and the social standards. It is bullying to call someone anything that has a negative connotation, and frankly it's just outright cruel; to cause another pain is horrible, who is to say how much or how little that is. Every insult you throw at another person, crushes their self esteem and makes them feel like they are worthless, without value, when in reality the very person who is doing the insult is the person who is worthless amidst a race that should only be caring.
It is hard to ignore the traditions, the opinions, the beliefs, the religions, the race, the identities of others, but it is beyond necessary to be yourself, your own person, one that has the value of the world; there is no precedent or titular that puts you on a graph with everyone else in the world and says this is where you are compared to other girls your age.
You are yourself, and there will never be someone just like you. There will never be someone with the same potential as you, you are everything you could ever be.
March 10th, 2015
Stop Stepping & Start Standing
2.5 million. That’s the number of plastic beverages Americans consume every hour. That’s 700 plastic beverages thrown away every single second. Have you counted to three? Because that’s 2100 plastic beverages that were just thrown in the trash. I think we can all decide that this winter has been anything but normal as DC’s February has been the coldest since 1979. Many of you may ask: is it global warming? And how does global warming have anything to do with plastic water bottles that I use to hydrate myself?
Plastic water bottles are a oil product; to put it into perspective: if America stopped producing plastic water bottles we would have enough oil to run 1.3 million cars for a year, or power 190,000 homes. Producing plastic water bottles is destroying the ozone layer, which is supposed to protect the Earth from the sun blah blah blah, you’ve probably heard the rest from my third grade science project. So what are you supposed to do? Gee, I really don’t know. I mean using plastic water bottles is expensive and destroying the universe so naturally everyone would want to use them…
I mean Reese Witherspoon, Matt Damon, Ryan Gosling, and David Beckham use reusable water bottles, and I hate to bash on Jennifer Aniston for contributing to an ad for “Smart Water”, but then again we can’t really blame her, some water is just more intelligent, right? If you are drinking 8 glasses a day of plastic water bottles instead of tap water in a reusable water bottle you are spending $1,400 more per year. So just out of curiousity, why do you still have a plastic water bottle in your hand?
So far we’ve decided that you could save the universe by using a reusable bottle and you could save enough money to buy 210 Chipotle burritos, or 46 Soul Cycle classes, or 4 Beats Studio Headphones, or 175 months worth of Netflix. Unless of course you really can’t take the two minutes to grab a water bottle and fill it up at the water fountain (two minutes you can miss of class too.) So what are the negatives? What are the cons? Or have I just created a list full of Pros? Huh, that was unexpected.
The environment should be a huge priority in everyday lives because in case you haven’t noticed it is being destroyed year by year, and polar bears are dying, more movies about the end of the world are being made, and the weather is continuing to be as unpredictable as Interstellar’s fifth dimension. If I haven’t convinced you to use a Nalgene, Camelbak, Brita, or BSB recyclable water bottle, then I’m not sure what else to tell you except that they come in many shapes, sizes, and colors to fit your unique style and personality.
Go reusable or you are inexcusable.
March 2nd, 2015
Love is Love
It is despicable that we live in a society where being who you are is not always acceptable. We are America "the free", America that has opportunities, America that has democracy, but we need to push further. It is inexplicable to tell another human being that who they are, everything they are made of is not allowed, is not normal, is "weird" or "retarded". Being gay, being lesbian, being pansexual, being bisexual, is not a crime. It is breathing for some people.
Are you against the Holocaust? Are you against slavery? Because you know what both these two concepts and being homophobic have in common? People not letting others be who they are, people discriminating against others and setting themselves as superior because of one trait, one aspect of an entire human being.
Does one trait of me define everything about be? Does my hair color define my personality? My skin color? The way I dress? No. And neither should your sexuality. I hope that in twenty years despite your political view, age, or anything, majority of the people will see a transgender man or woman as a regular occurence. Many of us will never have to go through the pain of struggling through being an LGBT, but if anything we should be praising those who have struggled through it, and supporting them as they do.
March 1st, 2015
Rejecting the Unaccepting
Rejecting the Unaccepting: the nature of society's like ours can be cruel and harsh at moments, and this poem is just to express all of the factors that contribute to specifically a teenage girl's struggle. This is slightly more morbid than intended, but it's not meant to be depressing, but instead show that you are allowed to defy everything trying to restrict you.
February 27th, 2015