The Toothpaste Fantasy

Apparently toothpaste does wonders on the skin. You'll be smelling minty fresh in no time. I imagine that at the time of my innocence, it was pure admiration I was paying to my father, who I'd watch occasionally shave in the mirror before going to work. I was in complete awe and temporary astonishment of how he took the razor to his skin, and his 5 o'clock shadow would disappear. I even took it upon myself to try it out; but it appears that I was caught in just enough time before I picked up the razor to shave my already shadow-less face. 


So here is where the toothpaste fantasy began. Up to my elbows in the white pasty goo. My mother or father photographed what looked like a crime scene. The criminal was a little over three feet tall,  curly hair in a ponytail, and a smile that could make the cracks in any frown fade. Convinced of the worst crime of all... Obliterating a tube of toothpaste. 
Punishment: a permenant photo of the crime that i'll be able to show my grandkids one day. 
The look of sheer joy was plastered across my face, and I was clearly having the time of my life.

What would this have looked like if I did not elaborate? You would've "Need[ed] to have [the] reality confirmed" (Sontag), due to the fact that "one never [truly] understands anything from a photograph" (Sontag). 

Well, just how child appropriate is it?

The things that I laughed at as a child are much different than from what my six year-old  sister laughs at today. The television shows and the things she views are much more mature than what a kindergartner should be watching, but the shows she watches on Disney and Nickelodeon are "child appropriate". Televisions shows that display violent scenarios and much more mature language than what a children's audience should be absorbing should be "child appropriate".

Now the term "child appropriate" is used loosely to describe televisions shows that come on early in the morning before noon when all of the big kids (10-14 year olds) wake up, or On Demand within the "Kid and Family Entertainment" section.

I remember having to sneak and watch Ed Ed and Eddy; my mom would not allow me to watch this show due to the fact that some of the language in the show was not age appropriate. But, that is where the irony presents itself, because it was considered appropriate... Just not to my mom.

Although I do begin to realize that times are evolving and children grow up much faster than my generation had. Many others will argue that there is no need for censorship within the censored. Phrases that they use in those particular shows such as "it's an uphill battle" or "take a stab at it" are used due to the children's shows ADULT WRITERS; which is why it presents itself as a non-issue. The North  York Women's Teachers' association suggests that we use alternatives to describe situations that are kid-friendly.

But, not everything that is kid friendly is necessarily "kid friendly."  

No One Man Can have All that Power

Blogging at 11:22 PM

Common trend every week, unless I just so happen to blog around 10. Best work happens at night; let's get it.

I don't think that people give women enough credit for the things that they do. 

I mean tthey co-create every human being on this earth for crying out loud. 

Think about all the things and norms that women have challenged just to be a part of this world and people still continue to fight against equality.

Example. 

Feminism.

It is not some man-eating cult full of single women who've had their hearts broken. 

It includes men and women both fighting for the advancement of our women in this world. 

It's a beautiful thing really.

"So why don't we have menninism?"

Because men initially have had a leg up on us since the beginning. 

And not only that, but menninism was something created to mock the feminist movement; which sucks. Could they let us have something please. 

I mean God created Adam first. 

But people seem to forget that Eve was created because Adam needed her. 

It's important to love our women, just as much as we love and appreciate our men. 

An Invisible Tattoo

Everyone's marked. 
whether it be by what you're wearing, or what's permanently on your body. 
birth mark.
tattoo.
scar. 
You're Marked. 
It's not always a bad thing, it's just that society trys to dictate whether it's good or bad. 
Tattoo's in the work place are frowned upon if they're visible outside of your work attire, because they don't look "professional", or depending on what type of ink you got, it has a negative connotation to what the business is all about. 
Even people that have scars on their body have been marked. Could be from self harm, a gnarly surgery, or an accident. When they're visible, people try to pick apart why you got them just by looking at you, and after they've decided how you've gotten your battle scars; that is how they see you. 
Everything that is done to the body tells the story of what you are, who you are, and what you've been through. 
I could almost compare it to being naked, because everything is exposed. 
I just will never be able to grasp why such markings in life have to be diagnosed by one glance without question, or any further analysis from the marked. 
Everyone's tattoo's are meant to tell stories;  they're meant to reveal who you are. I don't think it's possible to live unmarked because there is " no unmarked [man] or woman" (Tannen 556), and it is not a bad thing
. 

"Do you need any help? I don't want you to hurt yourself"

Oh yeah... 

I'll try my hardest not to turn this into a rant man. 

While others might say that the only woman in the weight room is a Lone Ranger; I think she's the strongest one in the room[besides the fact that she's not apart of the 1000lbs club like some of the other men]. I do believe that the weight room at Troy High is one of the most gendered places in my every day student environment. 

I'm a student athlete in the spring; I run track for our team at school, [go colts right?] so I spend time in the weight room quite frequently, or after tutoring I just might go visit some of the guys in there just to say hello. 

Don't get me wrong, this isn't one of those "ohmygod girls are never in there" type thing, they are, just not at the same time boys are, or if they are, there is only a few of them, and the rest of them are either too intimidated, or scared to go in. 

And I get it.

All the sweaty jocks bench pressing and squatting more than both of the 100lb females that are stuck in the door way, is pretty scary at times. Or that they're all grunting and wheezing and cheering each other on, and you don't want to be the odd one out at the squat bar, just squatting the 45-pound bar. 

We all have to start somewhere. 

Like I didn't just put all 200lbs on my bar at the start. 

I would've died.

The weight room is pretty male-dominated, but I love the fact that girls go in there too. In the weight room we all share a common goal, and that's building our strength. Whether it be squatting, benching, curling, or just running on the treadmill, we leave after each session stronger than we were before we came in. Male or female, the weight room should be a place where the fear or intimidation of being a girl shouldn't matter.

 Gon' in there and build those muscles!

                                        

Is it Really That Funny?

I would have to agree with Alain de Botton on his opinion stating that the "chief aim of humorists is not merely to entertain, but to convey with impunity messages that might be dangerous or impossible to state directly", purely because, not all humor is satirical, or comes at the expense of another. 

I believe that a humorist, is nonetheless but a comedian, seeing that they both aim to entertain. 

Here is where I agree:

        A lot of humor in our lives does come at the expense of others, and the example that immediately comes to mind is the classic cartoon, Tom and Jerry. The show Tom and Jerry was a kids television show in the early 1940s. It was harmless laughing and entertainment for those that didn't realize what some of the segments of the show were actually referring to. 

I mean, how was a six-year old kid supposed to know that blackface was offensive to black people, or that blackface was meant to mock black people at the time? Not that it is ironic, but of course it was seen as comedic during the time, especially since America wasn't really in favor of Blacks... So instead they mock them. But it's just supposed to be funny that all of them get splashed with black sludge, and their facial expressions reveal just how displeased they are, that they are Black. 

Or how about how we never see Mammy Two Shoe's face, she's always cleaning, and just so happens to be dressed like a maid? 

In this case, a humorists aim was not just to entertain, but to "convey with impunity" (Botton). Of course there was no consequence, due to the fact that it was "just a joke". 

Society allows humorist and comedians to say things just because it's for entertainment purposes, but it completely excludes the fact that comedy can be hurtful and offensive. 

Growing up (A Satire)

"Literally and truly" (Question 2), when you grow up, it's gonna suck; you're going to want the things you can't have, and want to know the things you're not ready for; and when you're upset because your mother tells you you're not ready for the 82nd time in a row, it won't click until the 83rd. Going to school will either become easier or harder; tons of school work will pile up to the ceiling, and the amount of books stacked up on the floor will become taller, until maybe the second semester to where you can return half of them. 
And that's only part of it.
See, as you continue to grow, and morph into adulthood, the things you weren't ready to hear, are heard everyday, and interpreted in a new way. The excruciating idea of a desk job doesn't sound so bad anymore, because the college degrees that were accumulated on the journey to adulthood would've scored just about any job, and  money becomes way more of a reigning figure. It'll begin to dictate how much fun someone can have, or the type of life you can have. "The wiseacres will [probably]" (Question 2) tell you how to be you, and make growing even harder than it already is, like it wasn't already a sitting in traffic type of experience. 

A Trophy Father's Trophy Son

The love my father expressed to me was explicit but never really penetrated the layer of hurt I had built after my parents divorce. My parents are super mushy-gushy, but I never actually let myself receive the love that was equally reciprocated by both of my extremely loving parents. 

For starters, my father. 

I loved my Dad. That was my best friend, and I was his little girl. But his little girl had gotten her heart broken after her two favorite people decided they couldn't live together anymore. 

It was great after that, he'd pick my sister and I up every other weekend to visit, color with us, let me paint boxes, and even bought me Hannah Montana everything on my eighth birthday; man I loved Hannah Montana. But as time went on, I saw him less, he called less, and his little girl had grown out and grown up. 

"That was the way I had felt for a number of years during my [childhood]" (Manning 144). Time would fly and our relationship simply felt materialistic. Asking me if I'd needed anything when it came to school, or my life at home, but truthfully I just needed him. That was the way he showed his love for me. 

[at the time]. 

As a child, Our trips to Blockbuster, and through the passageway (the backstreet to his apartment... a short cut), they meant so much to me and I felt loved, even when he told me he loved him. Eggo waffles and the time we spent on the couch were the most memorable.  

More time passed, and the heart that broke healed. I loved my dad, and I knew he loved me. It's just that rough patches are rough for a reason... 

He even flew all the way back from living in California to be with his family. Our relationship was better. Could even say it felt new.      

The New Normal.

Today's media portrayal of those with disabilities is rather skewed in my opinion. I happen to notice this in the movie The Fault in our Stars, a novel written by John Green. A blind boy, a women with cancer, and another boy with cancer and a prosthetic leg.  
Even those with disabilities that do not affect their physical appearance are treated differently. 
The people that do the same things that we do in our everyday lives are almost singled out and treated like they are just their disability.
Doesn't sound like fun. 
Nancy Mairs, a women with Multiple Sclerosis, explains that having a disability "doesn't devour [you] wholly" (Mairs). Anyone with a disability does not become their disability, but the media continue to treat people that are not normal or natural like there is something wrong with them. They live and breathe as we do, so why treat them like they don't?
Having a disability is normal, and it is unfortunate that in this world there is only one normal. The media does a great deal of isolating those that are both different physically, and mentally. The only way to change that is to shape the media in our likeness.