Vocab Quiz

There is a writer strike in Hollywood; it has been going on for about a month now. As writers for popular television shows try to reach a pinnacle in their career they are denied higher wages and are underpaid for their industry. Producers for shows have salaries up to 5 million dollars where the writers for the same show are paid 50,000. The industry has a capacious bankroll and the writers have every write to strike and rebel. These conniving producers need to swallow their pride and pay their employees more. Basically the people on top are usurping money from the people lower on the ladder, mainly the writers. The article was divisive as it expressed both sides of the argument. This made it more powerful. It had scrupulous details but was short enough that I did not get bored reading it. The New York Times is a valuable resource in my research and this will help me in later projects.

The Waiting Room

We read The Waiting Room in class. It was about three

women from three different time periods trying to

achieve the image of beauty that was accepted in their

respective time periods. There was a woman from the

Victorian Era, whose abdomen was constricted by a

corset. Another had foot binding on feet from China in

the 1800’s; these two women were from the past.

Finally there was a woman living in modern New Jersey

that had multiple surgeries involving her beasts and body. I believe the lengths these women take to change themselves are unnecessary, solely on the belief that ones natural beauty is the best one. Any change one makes to themselves just takes away from this. These three women were waiting outside a doctor’s office awaiting their appointment.

Many messages were relayed through this text, many revolving around the concept of beauty. One idea that comes to mind when thinking about the struggle these women went through to achieve their ideal body shapes is that beauty is imperfection. In beauty requires one to change their god-given body than beauty is something that someone cannot achieve on their own, it is a mistake. Another idea that can be found through the pages of this play is the thought that nobody is perfect. These two messages are closely related but in some way opposites, yet they are both seen in this text. The women strive for beauty by changing themselves to become more perfect, but in the end they hurt themselves and end of far from perfect, and from their natural form.

The woman from modern times teaches many lessons to the women from the past and learns a few on her own. Lisa Loomer, the author, dictates how our modern society focuses much on looks and the methods and lengths taken to achieve the beauty that our community strives for. The two women do not initially understand the world we live in today, and I do not blame them, with our complex scientific methods of surgery and our ever changing perception of good-looks would be confusing to someone not used to our customs.

The three women have very different ideals and perceptions of the world they live in, and they all change throughout the story. Wanda, the current day New Jersey native, thinks that big boobs and a thin waist is perfect beauty and is constantly worrying about how she looks and changing herself. Throughout the story she changes in another way though, on the inside. She starts to realize how stupid everything she’s doing to herself is. In the end she states (while analyzing the lives of these three women in a fairy tale): “The really stupid [sister] thought her tits weren’t big enough. So they went to the magician and ‘make us perfect.’ I think this is a huge achievement from the standpoint of a woman that has multiple plastic surgeries and breast enlargements. She made many beneficial changes through the plot of this story; someone who was once extremely selfish and ignorant realizes the stupidity behind her actions.

The Chinese woman, Forgiveness From Heaven, once was introverted and had her feet bound, just to make his husband (who had 5 other wives) happy. She is constantly resisting the opinions of others that do not agree with her ideals. By defending her husband and their beliefs she is making herself more and more helpless, but she is finally able to break these bonds. In the last part of the play, Forgiveness is unwrapping her bound feet and smiling and dancing, she has given up on this foolish method. This action is one of strength and dignity as for the first time in her life; she makes a decision on her own.

The innocent Victorian woman, Victoria, has been subject to painful ways of becoming beautiful, such as a corset and 20 pound dress. She is stuck in her ways and believes that it is okay to restrict her stomach and live in an era where woman have no authority. She has to read in the secrecy of her room, and her strive for the research of scientific methods to cure her problems is unique for her time. By the end of the play she also sees the error in her ways and corrects herself a little, but maybe not as much as the other girls. Victoria is unique in the respect that she avoids discussion of her problems and refrains from sexual and foul-mouthed talk. The author uses this as a window into the way of life in this time period. Victoria says: “I’m quite sure I can convince the doctor that my problems are in my mind!” although her ideals change about what her problems are, as she shifts from the idea that what she’s doing is okay to that her problems are in her mind, she is still resistant to the ideas others are trying to bring upon her.

Throughout the story there runs another story that relates to the main one. It is of businessmen and doctors experimenting and selling different serums and products that supposedly cure cancer. There is a serum being tested in Jamaica, Carson’s serum, that is ready to be used is a cure, and a product being produced in America, INT-2. Although neither of these products are ever used by any of the main characters this added a certain element of suspense to the play. Lisa Loomer adds this part of the story maybe to enlighten its readers upon the severe disadvantage to have pharmaceutical companies participating in this competition for the first, or best, or cheapest cure. This competition is good in the respects that there are constant developments in the field of medicine, but takes away from the success of some products because other companies are trying to get rich. This is apparent in this story when Larry tries to make the Jamaican product illegal so his serum is the only product out there, and therefore he makes more money. Unfortunately, though, in this process lives are put at risk and a product that is supposed to work is put in the backburners of the field. I see this is as a problem in our medical field because saving lives becomes a business and people do it not for the rewards of live saving at its most efficient level, but rather a way to get rich.

The play is ended with Forgiveness removing the bindings off her feet and getting up and dances. This is a supreme illustration of the change these characters have made through the context of the play. This is a symbol of all of the struggle these three women have gone through in their question for beauty. I think that beauty is just an untrue perception of perfection, an ideal that is hurting the youth and America and people across the world, a symbol that is forever changing and being recreated, but always having an enormous effect on the people, companies, and even governments of the world.

xoxozac

Fairy Tales, a Hidden Message

Fairy tales are a part of childhood in America and across the globe. In these stories there is a strong connection between beauty and success. There is also a prominent correlation between ugliness ad evil. Infecting the minds of young women with these lies is detrimental to their social outlook on the world for ever after. If parents tale the time to reconize the biasies and untrue ideas regarding beauty, the problem with not have such a lasting effect on their daughters life. In its current state there is a serious problem with young women and adults striving for beauty more than education and careers. This problem should be confronted by parents at a yound age. This solution is given in the article we read and I strongly agree with it. Liz Grauerholtz pointed out many saddening truths regarding fairy tales. As te article points out the hundreds of instances that beauty refrences and the high percents of fairy tales that started a beautiful princess, it became alarming. I feel a need that children need to realize that these fairy tales, although entertaining, do not relate to real life.

Our Seminar

In class we discussed different articles regarding beauty and our views on them. The two articles we read somewhat contradicted each other and had a lot to do with opposite ends of the spectrum, one dealt with extreme things people around the world do to make themselves more beautiful and the other had to do with the dieting problems of the world and obesity. Although these two areas seem so far apart they over lap in many ways. The two subjects both deal with a human body and how many people in the world are mistreating their health. Some people are becoming dangerously thin and other are filling their systems with unhealthy, fattening foods. In both respect people need to change. Our seminar was filled with discussion on who's fault these growing epidemics fall upon; we also tryed to determine a solution to the problems. We all had different opinions but it all revolved around these topics of body image around the world. In all I learned a lot about my classmates and and their opinions on these topics and it was extremely interesting to me.

xoxozac

Vocabulary Test

As women all over the world strive for perfection and beauty, many are harming themselves and risking their lives. In Mali a pallid face is desirable, even though the products that they are using to bleach can cause skin cancer. They believe they are being salacious by using this method but men in this country do not even find this mesmeric. The urge these women possess to look more white is alarming and takes away from their natural beauty. Women are ebullient to put on these product no matter the negative effects. They think bleaching their skin will embellish their beautiful features like make-up, but instead it takes away from their natural beauty.

xoxozac

Health & Beauty

Health & Beauty is a phasing seen across the media, in magazines, newspapers, and on television, but do they really go together? You can be healthy and beautiful, in fact, it is hard to eat right and work out and stay overweight, but beauty is not always a sign of health. In this video the various methods of human adaptation to the “perfect form” portrayed by the media are shown. Surgery, diet, and eating disorders are among the ways young women across America are trying to reshape their bodies. Celebrities fit under the umbrella of ideal body-type and beauty in America today, therefore young women strive to do so at the cost of their own health. As women strive to create a body that is “perfect” in return they ruin their looks and health and look back wishing they could regain the state they once saw as hideous. This shows that no matter how good someone looks their will always be imperfections, as this is human nature, as people try to fix these flaws they regress and damage themselves to an irreparable state. God or nature alike made humans with flaws, to try to unravel this way of creation would be along the lines of reformatting the globe. The human’s body’s figure and style, along with its imperfections, is set in stone by the will of God and the tendencies of nature and it is out of our hands to eliminate all its problems.

xoxozac

Socratic Seminar

Intellectual conversations have taken place throughout history and lead to great thoughts from great minds. The ability to look at life and the ideals proposed by others in an educational way is as beneficial to the mind as any other learning strategy. Because everyone has an opinion there is always room for them in discussions, although it takes much logic to lead these discussions and propose questions to the group anybody can insert ideas that will fund the seminar. Our discussion was focused around the four virtues proposed by Socrates millenniums ago: prudence, fortitude, temperance, justice. All that was required of the group that we bounced ideas and opinions around in order to further out knowledge in the discussion. As questions were asked that called upon our ideals and perceptions of the modern world we were constantly learning new things about ourselves and others. It took participation by many to convey the ideas that we held in store to the other members of our group. As the seminar raged about what traits our valued in our society and how this was different between those of cultures long ago I came to a certain understanding, that there was more to learn from this conversations than everyones opinions. I was constantly wondering how I would react to the questions being posed on a private basis and how interesting some one on one conversations would be, this made me wonder if it was necessary to provoke educational discussions on my own, for my own benefit. This seminar today was very insightful and helped me understand a lot about my classmates and myself.

xoxozac

Men & Women in Ancient Civilizations

Men were given a power in early civilizations due to occurrences outside of mortal hands. their gods of creation were all men so it would seem fitting the leaders of these early villages be so as well. Men also have more strength, a quality highly encouraged in times that much manual labor needed to be done. With this power instilled into male leaders they saw no purpose in setting up equality, this perhaps is a reason for their success. As far as history goes back, birds of a feather flock together. Men stick with men and women with women, a most frequent pairing throughout time. Without women striving for power and making attempts at leadership much controversy was avoided. Women were more than capable to fulfill the role the men took in these ancient times but the two genders mixed together would not have created such significant outcome. The strength of men and the history of significant creations made by the Gods are credited to why they were placed into the important roles of the society. Other civilizations took different perspectives on gender equality.
The Spartans valued the role of women in their societies because they were responsible for the men and therefore just as important. This logic is fair and allows freedom for both gender and focuses on the human being in their generations rather on myths and legends of their ancestors. With this equality they were given twice the thinking power of any civilization relying only on the wits of men.
The women’s ability to create life is a symbol of beauty in itself. All that is human creation came from a woman at one point and they were honored in art. As painters and sculptors of the time reflected significantly on the female form they were in a way giving thanks to the women that have let their civilizations grow. Before complete understanding of the reproductive system and how their organs and bodies differed completely this natural ability to create new life was seen as a gift from god and celebrated among cultures.

xoxozac

Plato and Socrates

Youth is a perfect example of beauty in living form. As animals, humans in particular, grow older they loose their innocence along with some of their beauty. Beyond this there is a kind of inside beauty that only resides in young minds. Their simpler outlook on the world makes for an exceptional form of living. To not worry about the worlds problems, even if the reason for this is because you are not aware of them, makes you simpler and therefore more beautiful and natural. The problems across the globe have a negative effect on ones insides and even outsides; their worry is visible to the world and takes away from their natural features. Youth do not possess this issue; they instead keep the form they were born with and created with, that is close to perfection as something alive can be.
Plato and Socrates both agree that people are stupid. I agree with this in the sense that some people think that there is a perfect human form. In reality this does not exist, It is instead a figment created in the imagination of stupid minds. This image of beauty generally requites the form to be dramatically thin or big in areas that is impossible or would be painful to recreate. This image varies from gender to gender and culture to culture. As a skinny, busty model might be the quintessential beauty in the United States to some people. This is far from the truth in other nations; it would also be far from perfection for a man to acquire features such as large boobs. In China it might be more preferable that the women be dark haired and more petite might be very pretty. Because of these truths it is impossible to capture one image of perfect beauty, as it is different in every nation, gender, and even mind. A woman might be quicker to be proposed as the symbol of beauty but men also strive for this body image. It is impossible, though, to appeal to everyone because one might see tall and muscular as good looking, these may be “turn-offs” to another. Overall beauty is an image that has no one form and is instead just something to be imagined, not to be created in real life.

xoxozac

Beauty Across the Globe

Beauty differs from person to person but everybody has their own perception of it. One image that I see that shows beauty is the sunset over the ocean. One of the greatest images one can even imagine. With a relaxing color scheme and its ability to sooth and calm its viewers it is one of world’s greatest settings. Sunset occurs at different times at different places and dates but it always has a sense of simplicity and charisma running through its sunny yellows, glowing blues, sensible oranges , and the occasional flash of green. To grasp this sight is a gift one must hold and not take for granted, as many do. Yes it occurs every day at predictable times and is visible across the globe, but this does not take away from its beauty instead it adds to its availability making it a common and still amazing sight to anyone. As one person sees beauty present in an animal or human, I believe it is more important to grasp something that has existed as long as the Earth itself that has no limits and no flaws. The bounties of beauty withheld in this glorious sight have no owner and no home, as its image is grasped and celebrated across the globe we are all able to connect with this worldwide symbol of beauty.

As another person might see a model or a puppy as the quintessential image of beautiful I believe it is found in something much more simple, water. Perhaps the most simple and abundant object on earth, but its flawless design and unmatched purity makes it one of life’s gifts. It would be careless to avoid the perfection of water and its beauty. From its necessity in all living beings to its capability to change, clean, calm, and be cherished makes it right on top of my list of life’s greatest objects. To see it flow between containers or through the sand makes the mind wander and relax, separating from all of life’s worries as in that brief moment, you are perfectly calm. An experience indescribably by words as you stand in the wet sand and the water rushes through our toes and up your legs is something that all life should experience. Its purity and clarity makes life a little less confusing and concentration upon this simple necessity clears the mind and relaxes the soul.

xoxozac

Zac's First Post

Hello! Welcome to my first post. I plan to write down my thoughts and opinions over the next few months. Feel free to comment and view my posts and check for updates as I will be changing and adding posts regularly. Thanks!

xoxozac