What Has Changed is Not the Women

If a woman in the 1920s was considered a "new woman" decades later for wearing risqué dresses revealing sexy ankles, imagine what the women during present times will be considered in a few more decades. Will we be deemed as "newer women" for wearing leggings, v-neck shirts, and pencil skirts that are now deserving the name not because they are as straight as a pencil, but because they are the length of a pencil? Eh, probably.

People need to get over their fears of human anatomy. Women have curves--this is fact. You can cover her figure with as much fabric as you would like, though taking this precaution does not make her figure dissapear. She is there. Her shape is there. And you are there judging her for the body granted to her for having an extra x - chromosome. Only babies believe what they can't see does not exist. Stop being babies.

What causes distress and jostles society is how a woman portrays these natural curves. You act like it is such a surprise when a women wears tighter clothing, and curves are visible. Shock. Tragedy strikes! You can continue to pretend the world never knew of such information as a curve. She reveals a secret suppressed by fabric for decades. She is deemed a slut. Yes, s-l-u-t. Shun me because you are afraid of not only a woman's figure, but also a word. Letters are daggers. Watch out before they get you, too.

Slowly but surely, women's fashion inches closer and closer to the beginning of man, before Adam and Eve ate the Fruit of Sin, when clothes were a faint idea in the far away distance. When the "newest women" make history books for wearing nothing but the skin on their skeleton, society will--surprise--go berzerk. What has changed from the times both men and women of all ages strutted around the cave show-casing everything for everyone to see is not women's fashion. What has changed is the society itself that judges women's fashion. How can one civilization never think twice about revealing the human figure, yet a society we like to call "advanced" cares almost too much about what we show and what we don't?

Sarcastices Save the Day...or Not?

Although punctuation is helpful in expressing an author's message in a clear and concise way, there are some areas where the dots, lines, and tick marks fall short. Oftentimes, I find that the puncuation of the 21st century is not enough to express the intentions of my text messages. Incapable of using an emoji keyboard, many of my friends read my messages in the wrong tone. I find this especially true when I use sarcasm. I resort to using a pair of parentheses with the word "sarcasm" sandwiched between them. Can I be any more blunt?

I stumbled upon an article online that offers some ideas to further advance the evolution of puncuation. It turns out, there is a solution to this problem: sarcastices! These zigzag brackets inform a reader to read the passage with sarcasm. Convenient and perfect for the modern day teen, sarcastices insure that your sarcasm will come across as sarcasm and not snooty-stuck-up-brattiness.

But then again, these marks are essentially the same idea as my "(sarcasm)". If you're a thorough and analytical reader, you would be able to detect sarcasm through the author's use of irony and other literary devices. Sarcastices would not be necessary if the reader would read closer and the author would write better. But who wants to put in that kind of effort?

In this case, the evolution of punctuation is the direct result of lazy human beings, unwilling to put in the effort of using words instead of puncuation to create sarcastic undertones. There are trillions of word combinations that would indicate sarcasm, yet only one puncuation mark. Most would choose the easy route, using the puncuation to get his or her point across quicker. The use of sarcasticed paired with the youth's abbreviated language for texting ("C U L8R"), literature is becoming more and more geared toward the quick pace of modern living; however, without a proper mark for sarcasm, it's evolution remains not quite up to speed with the ever-changing English language.

The Many Forms of Secrecy: Sophisticated to Slapdash

Secrets are the result of a flawed community, with close-minded members fearing judgment and imperfection. Hold secrets in and they shred you apart, but tell them to the world and they tear the shreds of you apart even further. There is no winner in the world of secrecy, for if there were, it would not be reality; secrecy is hidden reality. Reality will always surface, like like a booey in a lake. And thus, there is no point in attempting to camouflage the truth.

Here's a nice, little haiku to wrap up some mundane Sunday thoughts. Courtesy of moi.

"Do not run from me.
I am your reality.
Fear not, and you're free."

How about an acrostic.

"S lowly
E ating my insides
C hewing
R avenously
E ating
T o my
S kin"

Anybody in the mood for a limerick?

"There once was a man with secrets
Who had a red mark on his chest
Never let them see
Falsely feeling free
Oh boy did he fail time's cruel test"

My guess is by now you have figured out I am just trying to extend this post any way that I can. It's 11:30 pm on a school night. I am tired. Or maybe I am really not... Maybe I hold elementary literature near and dear to my heart... It will be my little secret.

Just Another Stripe in the Rainbow

My size is forever-shifting from miniscule to extraordinary. I am mute, yet you hear me in your every thought. If you let me control your life, you will never know happiness. What am I?

Answer: Guilt. A five letter word with such an influential impact on our lives that each letter carries significant weight.  Guilt knaws at the innermost core of our beings. It is a chain around our limbs, with the other end tied to the memory of its origin. It is the sinking stomach sensation on a roller coaster.

You may choose to ignore it.
Or you may choose to spill every bit of your mind onto the cold, linolium floor at your feet, hoping that by expunging every screaming thought in your head, the origin of your guilt that has been suppressed for so long flows out amongst the rest. Once it leaves your stomach, passes your chest, and drains from your mind, you feel free. By splitting the experience among others, the guilt shrinks from extraordinary back to miniscule. And once again, you feel light. You could float. You are a cloud.

Clouds have no feelings, after all.
It would be nice to be a cloud.
I would like to be a cloud.
Birds could pass right through you. Birds with piercing beaks. It would never phase you. Never weigh you down.
Because you are a cloud.
Clouds have no feelings, after all.

But by being a cloud you could never experience the good feelings either. This is the heart of the human experience. Happiness and joy and surprise and peace.

Let's not be clouds.
Let's be dimensional personalities with great capacity to experience emotions.

You can think of guilt as a negative sensation that blankets your every mood. Or you can see it as just another stripe in the rainbow of human emotions. But when it comes down to it, to get from color to color, one must blend into the varying hues in between.

Blend on, folks.

The Declaration of the Independent

America gained independence and self-government upon the adoption of "The Declaration of Independence", but it is time to reevaluate the self-government within ourselves. Too many people in modern western culture depend on government support and/or the support of others around them to get by in life. Families with young children need to stress the value of the independent individual at an earlier stage in their child's life. If I had a nickel for every time a kid came into TCBY for frozen yogurt and payed with their parent's credit card... Let's just say I wouldn't be working at TCBY anymore, let alone writing this blog.

Calling all American adolescents! Be indepent! Earn your own money! Motivate yourSELF: don't wait for Dad's screams upon viewing your progress report!

Indepence means strength. It means the ability to provide for yourself without burdening others. It means an organized life. It means control.

What is an independent country without independent citizens? Sure, we have :The Declaration of Independence"; however, it is time to step it up a knotch and compose "The Declaration of the Independent".

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one [person] to dissolve the [parasitic] bands which have connected them with another..."

Don't be a parasite. Live your own life as a fully independent American, free from the King and free from everybody else but yourself.

Living for the Alphabet

Unless your name is Patrick Starr and you live under a rock, you have probably seen the drastic metamorphasis of Miley Cyrus from Disney Star to the risqué, female version of Draco Malfoy. Fans of the famous pop star have mixed responses to her transformation. Many claim she is merely seeking attention, realizing the fame since her Hannah Montana years is tapering to an end, while others believe she is expressing who she truly is and releasing her entire artistic being through a new style. Either way, the world judges Miss Cyrus left and right, up and down, north and south, east and west.

Miley Cyrus has created a new image for herself. When one hears her name, one may think "platinum blonde gone wrong", "eat a cookie", "put your tongue back in your mouth", "stop twerking", or "put some clothes on". When the same person hears the name Hannah Montana, different images pop into said person's head. Long, brown hair. Child star. Decent role model. Both names, even though they refer to the same person, carry unique weights. They stand for two different ideas: one--conformity, and the other--carefree. Each name has a reputation, as is also seen in the play "The Crucible" by Arthur Miller.

Worrying too much about how your name is viewed in your community can hold you back. It destroys your freedom of expression. Even if you hate Miley Cyrus, you have to give her credit for doing her own thing. For being her and not holding back through fear of outside opinions.

We are all artists after all. Though we don't all create through acrylic or oil or graphite, we are all capable of creating through the medium of existence, the purest form of creation. As we exist, our beings thrive around us. Or essence radiates off of our skin, and it is remembered through our names. But we must not always care so much about what others think of our names. People will judge you no matter what you do.

Live your life for yourself, not for randomly assorted letters of the alphabet.

Individuality Saves Lives

August 18th, 2006
Mumbai, India

Residents claim the polluted water of Mahim Creek has turned "sweet". Recieving thousands of tons of sewage and industrial waste every day, local officials have attempted to thwart the community's efforts in consuming the supposedly "holy" water without success. Many have gathered plastic bottles to fill with the sweet liquid, while others bath in what they think is "Baba's blessing". Fearing an outbreak of waterborne illnesses including gastroenteritis, officials are testing water samples from the Creek.

June, 1962
North Carolina, United States

Sixty-two employees of a United State's textile company have fallen ill, experiencing symptoms including nausea and vomiting. Workers have connected the sickness to the recent infestation of june bugs in the textile mill. Claiming to have been bitten, the number of workers experiencing symptoms has risen each day; however, health care officials have yet to find any bites on the victims.

1518
Strousburg, France 

A dancing epidemic has enveloped the country. One woman started dancing, and soon enough, 400 joined her as they all danced their way until exhaustion. The majority died.

...

Mass hysteria affects only those who are gullible and weak enough to follow along. If one is brave enough to go against the grain, to be different, to be an individual... then maybe the instances described above would have never occurred. The masses would not have all drank toilet water, gotten sick with an imaginary bug, or danced to death. It takes only one brave soul to voice an outside opinion that could move the minds of the majority.

Don't be afraid to be different; individuality saves lives.