body modification

not to disrespect, but to be honest, this whole body modification thing freaks me out. ever since i was little, i didn't like tattoos or extreme piercings (by extreme, i mean more than your ears pretty much). i really dont understand why a person would want to go to such levels as placing silicone in certain shapes and sizes under their skin.....its disturbing and creepy to me. 

again, i'm sorry if i offended anyone.

meme roth

the discussion in class today about MeMe Roth made me so angry.  how can someone go about stressing their personal opinions so strongly and putting other people down? the fact that she called jordin sparks obese is enough to set me off on its own, considering she isn't even a "plus size" according to the definition.  there is a difference between the meaning of being thin and being healthy, and it seems to me that MeMe does not realize this.

what is normal?

so, what exactly is "normal"? i honestly don't have an answer to this question, but intend on writing my second essay about this question specifically due to body image.  it amazes me how easily the media can have such a pull on the american public, impacting the way people (especially women) view themselves every day.  televisions shows place people into such a funk about the way that they look and are viewed by others, thinking that its a huge deal to be such a small size when it comes to clothes because this is one of the pressures that the media places on us.  

Freaks, continued

In class today, we discussed a particular passage from the piece "Cultural Fixations of the Freak body: Coney Island and the Postmodern Sideshow" by Elizabeth Stephens.  our group's specific passage focused on Eak the Geed, a sideshow performer.  we discussed how Eak the Geed talks about the fact that the act that these people are performing can only be seen on the sideshow stage; the way that these performers perform is usually due to audience participation, because the audience will usually egg these performers on to prove that they really are "freaks".  outside of the sideshow, the term "freak" should not be used. these people act like freaks for the sole purpose of entertainment.  there is a lot of history behind the word "freak" and the ideas it brings about.  

the passage that we read relates to the film "Freaks", especially the ending, when the "freaks" are viewed as "normal" people, rather than the opposite as they are in the beginning.  also, it is made clear that you never see outside of the backstage area of the sideshow, as the term "freak" isn't to be used outside of a sideshow setting

Freaks

The movie "Freaks" is bizarre and unordinary and insanely weird.  Everything about it is weird.  Especially the fact that it was supposed to be a horror movie.  It is actually interesting to watch because there are absolutely no special effects, which was eye opening for me....that people who actually had these problems and insecurities could play themselves in a movie.  But then again, this goes back to the fact that when someone has an extreme difference, the plot is always focused around that difference or disability, as it is in this movie.  there are little people, hermaphrodites, siamese twins, and those who just arent physically "beautiful" in most people's eyes.  though this movie is extremely ridiculous and cheesy, it does bring about many topics and issues that the world of the media today are still facing.

welcome to cancerland

The piece "welcome to cancerland" by barbara ehrenreich was extremely powerful. i can't imagine the angst and concern the author goes through while waiting to get her mammogram; it must be an amazingly stressful experience, one which i hope and pray i will never have to go through with.  the experience of the mammogram overall seems very uncomfortable.  

i really can't imagine what the author feels like as she goes through countless surgeries and check ups, wondering if she will survive or the disease will take over her.  this piece made me realize that i do not take into consideration how short life really is, and how one thing can change the course i have been going down for good or for a long time.  

skivvies and stuff

i thought the pieces we read for class today, "when did skivvies get rated nc-17?" and "those unnerving ads using 'real' women", were extremely true.  i never noticed the points that these two authors made. its true, everywhere you turn your head there are sexual ads and people on display.  the company 2xist, a line of underwear, does a very good job at showing male models on their wrappings and enhancing their features, as well as muscles.  i never noticed how much underwear modeling has changed since when i was little; it is much more sexual and revealing, making you feel like if you buy this product you will look like the people on the packaging.

segregation

the two stories we read before class today were very different but very powerful.  i love the way that zora neale hurston writes, and this piece proved her talent.  she is careless and free, but in a good way, not caring that she is a color in a massive group of white.  this relates to my favorite musical "hairspray", where the main character, pleasantly plump teenager Tracy Turnblad, doesn't care that she is the only white girl supporting a group of african american teens, trying to get the tv station that she dances on a tv show for to segregate their show, allowing the african american teens to dance with her.  these two stories show a struggle between right and reality, as Kit said today in class; should you do what you know is right, or what you know you will need to do in reality to help yourself in the long run?  

rushing through life

In response to Danielle's latest blog post, I would like to point out that i too have been noticing how quickly my life has been flying by.  its amazing to me that we are in our 2nd semester of freshmen year, pretty much at the point of spring break. it feels like yesterday that i began my freshmen year of high school. though i'm enjoying every moment of college and loving it to the fullest, i wish time would slow down sometimes! i dont want to miss out on anything, but time is flying faster than i can think.

Adolescence.

Awkward: the perfect word to describe myself during my adolescence.  everyone is said to go through an "awkward stage", and mine was definitely from the ages 11 to 14, the prime-time of my adolescent years.  i had braces, which i hated, and i gained weight, which was upsetting to me because i had gone through the first 10 years of my life being referred to as a "skinny minnie", being mainly skin and bones, able to eat whatever and whenever i wanted.  i still had a sufficiently slim face, but there was one thing that stuck out horribly: my nose.  i never noticed how terrible i thought my nose was until once i hit adolescence, mainly because until then, i didn't really care about what i looked like; i was, of course, only a little kid.  but one day i looked in the mirror and there it was, a mountain sticking out of my otherwise flat and small-featured face.  immediately i became insecure, hating when people looked at me from the side.  my nose even started affecting my breathing, causing me to have to use a paper bag to breathe in and out of constantly because it was hard for me to take deep breaths, let alone breathe through my nose.  once i hit the 6th grade, i was 12 years old and got the lead in my school musical, "the music man".  i was thrilled, but then again the insecurities starting pouring out: will my singing be right since it was difficult to breathe through my nose?  would i sound so nasally and cause people to laugh at me?  these were some of the many thoughts running through my mind.  nine times out of ten i'd be worried about what i looked and sounded like, and soon enough my parents started to notice.  however, they figured it was just a phase that i was going through, and i'd get over it eventually.  they were wrong.  as the years went on, my self-consciousness only became worse. i was even more worried about how i looked, considering i'd be going to high school soon, and i was extremely worried about my singing and breathing; singing was my favorite thing to do, and if i had to stop doing it because of my lousy nose, i'd be more than heartbroken.

On Stuttering

i cant even imagine what it would be like to have a stutter.  i know what it feels like to have "a frog in my throat"; i used to get extremely nervous before performing on stage.  i felt this piece by edward hoagland was really effective and his memories were so vivid i feel like i know him personally.  one of the most fascinating things to me was that he would be able to speak without a stutter when he was angry.  "that is, if somebody made fun of me or treated me cavalierly and a certain threshold was crossed, a spurt of chemistry would suddenly free my mouth and--like popeye grabbing a can of spinach--i could answer him."  i would think that when angry, stuttering is more prevalent, so i this statement caught my attention very quickly.  overall, the way that hoagland wrote was extremely effective to me, and he held my attention through the very few pages of his writing and actually left me wanting to know more about his life.

random.

When told we were going to have to pick a part of the body to write about, i knew exactly what i wanted to do.  i had a few choices going through my head: my hands, legs, and nose.  my hands specifically because i have tendonitis from my elbows to my fingertips in both arms, but am most effected in my hands (especially my fingers). this would be a good topic to write about because i have struggled so much since 7th grade when i fell in dance class, catching myself with my hands and injuring myself pretty much indefinitely.  it is really hard for me to hold a pencil for longer than a sentence, for example, or for me to do my hair in the morning; gripping things is extremely painful.  i decided against this topic because to me it is very negative and i wanted to write about something that i was able to overcome.  i also thought about my legs, because i use them every day as well.  i have danced since i was 4 years old, specifically tap dancing and musical-theater style, so i knew this topic would work.  but then i realized that i wanted to write about my nose.  i'm not going into detail about it now, because i want to save that for my paper, but i know that i am making the right choice.

Alice Walker

I felt that the piece by Alice Walker was very true to life. The style in which it is written is one that I have never seen before, but it actually made the reading more interesting. Breaking pieces down by age or a certain experience makes it easier to analyze and feel the actual emotions that someone of a specific age or situation would be feeling. In terms of the actual content, it is true that "all children are cruel about physical differences....and that they don't always mean to be is another matter" (Walker 309). As a child, as shown through this piece of writing, it was always important for Walker to look similar to the other children, as well as very cute. The accident that she goes through (since it destroys the way that she previously looked) was extremely traumatic to her, but I feel that worse things could have happened and she was very lucky that her other eye still functioned properly. This story was extremely effective for me personally because I know many people who have suffered through self-image issues and difficulties as I have grown up, whether it is one aspect of how they look or many things all at once. It really is upsetting how much pressure our culture places on outer beauty, and unfortunate for those people who may not be so pretty to some, but are gorgeous to those who get the chance to know them andtheir personalities. It is obvious that Walker cleary cared more about her beauty than actually being able to see, which is very vain of her. However, the best part of the story in my opinion was the ending, when Walker realized that her eye was not ugly and horrible, but fascinating. Because her daughter pointed this out and said that she had "a world in her eye", her life and the way she looked at herself in the mirror completely changed. This made me realize that if just one person believes in you in a positive and deep way and significantly helps to relieve your pain, that is truly all that matters.