BLOGGING..UGGGHH!

Blogging can be a joyous occasion and let us have a way to release stress onto the world. We can write about whatever we want or feel is necessary. It can be an entertaining time when you read others blogs and see what they have to say, or when people comment on a post you have made. I know I enjoy when I log into blogger and see how many page views I have received and I have almost hit 900 views. Looking at the spikes on the page of how many people from the United States and Canada have watched my blog. Then we hit this time of year, mid trimester when we begin to run out of ideas to blog about.

I cannot think straight! What have I blogged about and what haven’t i? What ideas can I steal from others and use as my own? How can I make a blog that doesn’t sound like a diary entry about my day? These are the constant flowing questions I hear when I come into AP Lang every day. So I have come up with some ideas to help you figure out new ways to keep on blogging for another four months, yes I said four months.  

1.       Steal others ideas. You know we have all done it. You read someone else’s blog and think “hey I can blog about that!” So try and use ideas of others and then make them your own. Add a personal experience to it or incorporate new thoughts for others to see another point of view.

2.       Use Argument and persuasion techniques to find new topics. If you can make a claim and argue about it then blog it. You will always receive comments on that and can keep on ranting forever.

3.       Be poetic with your writing. Compare seasons, make connections to daily life, or make analogies about common topics. If you can find a way to write creatively and express yourself you should be able to write about anything.

4.       Take the time to rant. You know you do it, and everyone else does as well. I get in a mood and just need to be able to let out my feeling on the computer. This prevents fights with parents, boyfriends, or friends. It also makes you feel a lot better about yourself in the end.

5.       Finally, give advice. If you have experienced something share it with others. You never know what others have gone through and you may see that sometime you will want the friendly advice.

miss representation is raising a question of my own

Miss representation is a hair raising film that has been created to show the incorrect treatment of women these days. As we are viewing the film a startling statement is produced. Disney princesses were never viewed as the protagonists in films they were always viewed as the damsels in distress needing help from the princess that would magically run into them along the way and make a fairytale ending.

"Is Disney Princesses promoting the ideas of sexism through their movies to little girls so that we believe that it is okay to be impowered as adults?" and "Is their other research out their that is also beilieving the same conclusion i have came too?"

As i begin to explore the ideas of the Disney princesses starting the subconcious brainwashing of our future generations of women i find some others that are in agreement with my logical thoughts. I began to fall into the giant black hole or as other like to call "Google" to see others opinions. I come across a independant news source article that has come from the Daily Campus by the University of Conneticut. Cassie Schmidt is the writer of this article who is willing to show the problems that we have all been facing since we are little. As we look through all of the commentary that all can make the girls in these movies are all showing female obedience to the man. Besides the fact of showing women as slaves to the men it also shows how the ideal love will occur after you work through your troubles. As anyone who is a avid reader of my blog you will see that I am very into the whole idea of love and how Hollywood makes love seem so easy. These princesses are searching for love while they are slaving away to the man in the story.

I feel that the producers of these films and Disney corporation itself were not trying to straight out promote sexism through their stories but they did find a way to let it show through. As more and more complaints walked through the doors Disney tried to be more conscious of the message they were sending to viewers. Subconsciously all little girls were role playing, and aspiring to be like their favorite princess and they didn't want them to believe in a sexist world. When the movie Aladdin and the King of Thieves  appeared they tried to send a different message. In the end they had no other women around in the story and Jasmine resorted to being alone and the only way to solve the conflict was to marry a man.

As I am continuing my search of Disney princesses degrading women and showing sexism I came across a website that is also showing how Disney movies are showing degradation and sexism to men. Here on this website clearly titled to help women overcome sexism they found the issues in Disney movies for men. A YouTube video showing the idea of broad shoulders, huge arms, and a cocky attitude are portrayed in the films as well. They are subconsciously now teaching boys to assume that they will be waited on as long as they look like the hot man with the moves. This whole connection shows to me that not only is sexism pounded into little girls heads when were young, boys also get the pressure and the priming as well.

The Disney movies were only the start of sexism beginning to pour into the media and literature. We all need to save the future generations from being brainwashed subconsciously to believe that sexism exists. In our decade we are starting to expand out the ideas of sexism and we are making a difference. Lets hope this will continue on so we can have a better future for all.

Gender roles are a subconcious continuous thought

Ever since I was a little girl I have been subjected to the ideas of gender roles. They have been pressed upon us by parents, the media, and our friends. We have subconsciously been conditioned to believe that we have certain roles we have to stay in and we feel that it is perfectly fine to be that way because we don’t know anything different. I as I have grown up have become more aware of what is going on and how it needs to change.

We need to start the change from day one. When we are little we are gender specified by the color we wear, girls in pink and boys in blue. As we begin to mature we are told what to play with, girls a doll and boys a truck. Our minds are made to believe that we cannot succeed in doing anything else then what is predetermined for us. As young children we watch all of the Disney movies who send the message of girls only looking for love. 12 out of the 13 Disney movies portray a movie of a girl who is in search of a man and no search of a woman finding herself. We are depicted to be helpless girls who need a man to fit in that role. A recent controversy has arisen because the movie Toy Story 3 features many children toys throughout the film. CNN has recently written an article about how many of the toys in the movie were very sexist. They consisted of male predominant toys and the one female toy in the movie was a Barbie doll. Many are presenting the facts that it is unfair to show the males as superior to the females even in the children movies.

I feel that the stereotypes that we are subjected to as young children end up shaping our future. If I was raised in a different manner to have a unisex upbringing I may have had a different turn out. Being raised in a complete opposite environment would be an interesting experiment to see how I would turn out. Even adding brothers in the  mix would be interesting to see the developmental changes that can arise. In the end the ideas of gender roles are all around us and I would love to know your personal experience over your life growing up. So please comment on my post and let me know what you think!

Blahh..the random blog post

As I finish doing my homework today one of my all-time favorite movies comes on the screen.   Mean girls, has always captivated my attention since I was in the fourth grade. I used to think it was just a big kid movie that I was lucky to watch because it contained all of the crude language and sexual ideas that high school contained. As I grew older I began to see the meaning behind this movie and how it still reins true to the life of an average high school girl.

Now that I am closing in on the end of my high school years I watch this movie and see my own school in the movie. Our school is full of clicks of people that cannot interact together because of the “rules” that we all believe exists. We have the jocks, the cheerleaders, the plastics, the nerds, and the band geeks. Many believe in the fine line of you do not talk to the popular and so on, but I am the one who breaks the barrier. I have been the girl that hangs with the plastics and they do change you. They turned me into the bitchy girl that no one wants to be around. I am the girl that can yes dress up every day, never leave the house without makeup on, and I need to have my hair done. I am also the girl who is not afraid to talk to anyone and will always be nice no matter what.

I agree with the idea that high school is a major zoo and that we all have cat fights but the movie does push the limits of how the females interact in high school. Yes, we are mean and talk behind each other’s back but we do not find the need to degrade people so low that they won’t be feeling good about themselves. I feel that we need to have a movie to portray that girls should respect each other and not be falling into the trap of high school.

Heart and brain..pull it together!

Your heart beat is a vital component to every human on earth. Without it we could not function, it determines how much blood gets pumped and how much we can feel loved. When the heart gets excited it races and when were heartbroken it burns. The heart is always there making a hidden clue to our life.

Recently I was put on a heart monitor because unfortunately my heart is not cooperating. It is not in the mood to listen to what is going on and keep me beating at a normal pace. There are two sides to what my heart is doing right now. One is that it cannot pump the right amount of blood accurately. I am struggling to keep it at a constant pace and it is constantly slowing down. Along with the slowing I get light headed and my chest will start to hurt. Why all the sudden am I feeling so much pain? I can literally feel the pain of my heart.

Now being the deep and poetic person that I am I begin to think what is my heart trying to tell me? It has to have a reason to be slowing down and causing me pain, then my mind starts to wander to abstract ideas I should not be. Is my mind trying to tell me that I am in emotional pain? Am I sad because I am deprived of seeing the love of my life due to life? Or am I just confused? These thoughts come running into my mind and make me endlessly confused. I then cannot get the suppressed thoughts out of my mind. I turn to my dreams to give me answers and all I get is me and my boyfriend being chased by vampires. What is that trying to tell me! My mind needs to be in sync with my heart I am telling you! This has to be the reason that I am malfunctioning! They are not cooperating together anymore!

So let’s hope that in the next month my heart can sort itself out and not freak out about what’s going on! All I have to say is that my heart needs a break and my mind can take the reins for a while! Maybe then I can get a break from this pain in my chest and my body can become in agreement of whats going on again.

Happiness!

Kennedy high school show choirs are the most prestigious honor anyone can receive when you are attending Kennedy. We go through try outs and call backs, we suffer through the painstaking agony of wondering if we made it, and in the end your dreams come true.  Ever since I was a little girl I have been obsessed with show choir. I am one of the only kids that have ever started show choir in the second grade. I have had a knack for singing and dancing so why not put them together? I took the risk of trying out and I loved it.

In elementary school I was in Madison Blues, our show choir group where we would have to sing and dance for them to make it. As a second grader I made it into the group. When it was time to leave elementary school I enrolled into choir in middle school where the new round of show choir would begin. I was severely intimidated by the idea of a sixth grader trying to make a more mature group. This audition process was full of dance clinics, singing practices, and the videotaped audition. I went in and tried my best and I was one of the few sixth graders that made Regeneration. I was so excited that I was good enough to make a show choir group as a sixth grader. I continued through Regeneration every year until I transferred schools in eighth grade. I then went to Taft and I proceeded to make Kids from Taft even though I had to try out late. This was when my reign over the front row in the closer began.

As eight grade ended the new tryout rounds began. I tried out and made Chanteurs, Kennedy’s freshman show choir. Here I harnessed my skills and learned to rock the show choir world. I was once again placed front and center in the closer and rocked my way into the hearts of the audiences. The year ended and I tried out for Protégé. Protégé is hard to make and almost half of Chanteurs will not make the group. I tried my best and the list became posted that I had made it. I was ecstatic to be one of the few that made the group. Then this year approached. As you get older the groups are harder to make and the competition is fiercer. Well I ended up making it into Happiness Inc. my junior year which Is hard to do.

I am so thankful and blessed to be in one of the best groups in the country who has won Nationals and been voted as Americas Favorite Show choir.

Winter's beauty

Winter is the time of year full of snow, fruit cakes, and family. You are gathered by the fire and can drink hot cocoa. You bundle the kids up warm when you leave the house and dread having to scrape the windows in the morning. Snow days fill children’s minds and parent dread the idea of missing work. We all have experienced these feelings in our lifetime and know they are not pleasant. As the year rolls by and we come into fall we love the look of the leaves and the brisk air. As November slowly approaches into the year our mind slowly slips to the thought of the winter. We all feel that the fun is over and the beauty of the spring and fall will be covered by ugly brown muddy snow and the idea of looking like a marshmallow to leave the house. As humans we tend to overlook the little things that make this time of year as beautiful as any other time of year.

I always think back to that first time I remember experiencing snow. These magical flakes falling from the sky in pretty little patterns and could turn the ground into a blanket of white amazed me. I remember sticking my tongue out to catch the flakes and taste them, and the magic that came with them melting inside my mouth. My hair would be covered in little white flakes and I could get hot chocolate to drink. We could get days off school and stay home all day laying in a blanket waching movies. This was the magic that snow created for me when I was a little child.

As I have grown I still feel it is not winter without a snow and it is always as magical as the first time I had experienced it. Now my perception may have changed but I still get that same joy inside that can send tingles up your spine. I will run outside and spin in a circle in the snow and catch the flakes on my mouth. I will bundle up and go sledding and I will also lay on the couch snuggled in my blanket and I will drink my now Mocha or Frappuccino instead of my old hot chocolate.

In addition to the excitement of the snow I look at the beauty of it. All of the little flakes combining to make a larger picture for all of us to enjoy. How pretty a person can look in the snow with it falling on their face and how it can make you realize the feelings you have for them. You can survey the icicles and see that they are some work of magic to freeze in midair and help us see something beautiful out of them. The whole idea of winter can consume me. Yes, I do hate the cold and scrapping my window but I love to take the time and survey the blessing I have to be able to look around and enjoy the amazing gift we have been given.

Music is the story of someones life

Humans have the capability to think in abstract and amazing ways and analyze things into meanings no one could ever imagine. I feel that as women I do have the capability of over analyzing issues and reading into connections that have no significance at all. We find these dreams, fantasies, or words someone can speak to consume our minds until we figure out why.

Ever since I was a little girl I had been entwined with music. When I would become sad I would sing songs to comfort myself. When I was able to talk the notes soon came flowing out of mouth. Singing the in songs of the time or creating my own mix of emotions at the time was my specialty. As I grew older and would listen to the meaning of lyrics I could feel a connection. Music has a special impact on me. When I hear a new song come out I will dissect the meaning of the words. Either a memory will link to it, a feeling that I am experiencing, or a new tone the music can bring. I have my comfort songs, my party songs, and those sentimental ones that you can never let go. Some may believe I am ridiculous but a song can impact me so much that I will cry like a little baby. I am that girl that you see in the hallway that you believe she has headphones glued into her ears because unless I have too they don’t come out. I just cannot escape the thought of music in my life. It moves me and creates my world.

As I sit here writing my blog I am overcome with music flowing from my headphones (might I add are sparkly Ihomes). I am thinking of the music I am listening to and how It will affect my mood when I am writing. The maroon 5 playlist is going right now and I can’t help but stop and think how their life experiences can relate to mine. They are grown men who are rich and famous, but yet a teenage girl in Iowa can still experience the feelings they have felt. The artists that I choose to listen to have the message of either love or heartbreak. I will admit that sometimes rap does flow through my car but I like the soft sounds of someone’s life telling me their story. Music is like a book, you will never know what you’re getting until you actually pick it up and see what there is to offer.