What is real?

I'm also taking Adolescent Development with Dr. Coyne (excellent), and I just finished reading my adolescent book this week, The Giver....

love

love

loved it!

Great book, fast read, and I would totally recommend it. After reading the book it really made me think about all the little things that we under appreciate in our world, the color, feelings, memories, the joy, the pain, the beauty. And I thought it really tied in with our lecture today when we talked about what is reality, and how real is media. 

Media is wonderful because it can portray reality or branch off into a fantastical world.....

Although this distopian book wasn't reality, it made me reflect on what makes my reality so great. Media allows us to capture reality and share it with others. The other day I was outside on a run, and the sunset was magnificent, so I took a picture- sadly this picture doesn't do the sunset justice, but it gives you a glimpse of what my reality was after that run. 

Reality is magnificent, beautiful, and full of happiness, and love. 

Reality can also really suck a lot of the time, some days we feel down, depressed, sad.

Reality brings pain, stress, and disappointment.

Reality is was makes us human, it is the human experience. We take it with all the good and bad because we own it, reality is who we are- right here, right now- the good and the bad. 

We each choose our own realities....no two realities are the same.

Example: The other day when it was raining, I was walking on campus, when I realized that I was also walking on a battlefield, where innocent earthworms were being slaughtered with no chance of survival. They only came on the sidewalks thinking they would be safe from drowning in the dirt, little did they know they would meet an untimely death from a careless giant's foot. I, being a very earthworm-friendly person, have always made sure to try my hardest not to kill tiny living creatures in their own environments (if they are in my house it's a different scenario  but  if I'm outside, then I'm in their turf). I was sad to notice that worm after worm was being stomped and didn't know what to do to help, besides make sure I didn't step on any of them. Perhaps you're like me and do the same thing? But perhaps you've never ever thought about caring about the stupid worm's life being taken under your foot.

My reality is different then yours, as weird as an example this might be (really this post is just to raise worm-death awareness at BYU during rainstorms).....but I'm sure there are things you think of that aren't currently part of my reality. By reading this post, maybe next time it rains, you'll look down and think about the poor helpless little worms underfoot......this is how realities are shared. 

What is real to you?

The Letter

In class we wrote letter to someone in the media about something we felt passionate about, first thing I thought about was Carl's Jr and their awful commercials....so here is my letter

Dear Carl Karcher Enterprises,

Your sexual advertisements for Carl's Junior are disrespectful, demeaning, and damaging towards women. After seeing your Carl's Junior Super Bowl commercial this year, I am firmly resolved to never purchase your products again. I am not a mindless consumer that will simply buy things that remind me of sex, so please do not assume we are all stupid. The moment your commercial aired, all my respect for you as a company was gone, and you should care about this. I find your advertisements offensive and crude. As I am sure you already know, women have 86% of the purchasing power in the United States, and believe me, we take this power very seriously.
Your commercials tell me you are not proud of your business, or confident in your product. Your commercials tell me that you do not respect women. Your commercials tell me to never buy your product, because it obviously sucks on many levels. Either you change the way you advertise, or your business will not last in the long run.
It's your future, take pride in the legacy you leave, and make your restaurant chain a family friendly place, where everyone can feel welcome. If the only idea your advertisement team can come up with to sell your product is a sexy woman, nearly naked, eating it....then they are not a very good advertisement team. In fact I'm pretty sure a cro-magnon could come up with a better idea. Ask yourself, where is the creativity? Where is the art?And how much are you paying these people to make garbage?
When I see a commercial I want to laugh and connect with the product. I do not want to see a message that says, "women are objects to be drooled over". I would much rather see a delicious burger, made fresh, that is healthier than the other burger places. Your commercials make your burger look like the slut of all the other burgers, so why on earth would I choose to eat a slut-burger when I could eat a family cookout burger that tastes like a summer breeze? It's a no brainier to me, as it is for many thousands who I know feel the same way.
I know you can come up with a much better advertising campaign, so please just stop with the lazy advertising, put your thinking caps on and be creative. Stop undressing women, and start impressing them.

Sincerely,
A Former Costumer

Les Miserables

If you have not seen this movie yet than something is wrong with you.

No serious, you need to take a looooong hard look inside you and ask "why have I put off watching this movie?"

There are no good reasons....

Then you need to cry a little because you haven't seen it yet and you've denied yourself of the viewing and listening experience of the decade.

If you have seen it- hats off to you- there is nothing wrong with you.

Last night I watched Les Miserables with my family for the second time, and I love it even more now- I defiantly consider it a masterpiece.

I also love the music and think it truly was written for the human soul.

So if you haven't seen it yet- get off your bum, rent it, and watch it with someone you love!

There she goes.....

That's right world! We have officially moved out of our first place....not that you care...


Here's my little story ...


So I wasn't completely fond of our old place to be honest, but after it was all cleaned out and I hate to leave it for the last time probably ever....I couldn't help but think about the last 2.5 years of memories we've made there, our first place.

As I longingly took my last look, I couldn't help but feel a little sad....but I didn't cry mind you.

When I got in the car to leave for good I started the radio, and the chorus lyrics of this song made it seem as though my old apartment was saying goodbye

It's a weird media story, but I'm sure we all have song that are associated with memories.....boyfriends, break-ups, summer road trips, weddings...rebellious periods, spiritual experiences, youth dances......songs can be such an influential part of our lives, I have like a million songs that bring memories to the surface.

Fakebook?

Facebook and I have a love-hate relationship. On one hand, I love that I can see updates from my friends, see engagement, wedding, baby photos.....and I especially love our family groups, where we can post things just to our family members. It's great.

But here comes the hate part...

I means I can sit home all day if I want, and feel like I'm connecting with people, when in reality I am not. I'm one of those people who can count her friends on one hand (sadly)....and even those friends I don't reach out to in other ways because "I can't just use Facebook ....no phone calls, no texts....what is wrong with me? But it's not just me, everyone does it to some degree.

I also hate that Facebook is sort of an individual advertisement page (especially for singles) and I get sick of people posting picture after picture of themselves in the mirror.

Gag me with a spoon already!

And that you can post anything you want- make yourself whoever you want....but it's never reality.

My Facebook page may brush the surface of who I am, but you can't really get to know someone through Facebook. Nothing will ever beat human interaction.....

As a counter to that argument you could say that you could get to know someone better online because perhaps they are more open then they would be in person....

My come-back to that is, THEN you're not really getting to know that person- just who they portray online.....isn't the point of being someone's friend is being able to talk and be with that person in real life?

When I was a kid I had a pen-pal, remember those? And I actually got to meet her in person, and when I did it was REALLY awkward....I had thought we would hit it off right away....but we didn't and we sort of don't talk anymore. It was weird.

My whole point here- is stop feeling like you have 500+ friends, because the fact is

YOU DON'T!

Which is exactly why we should reach out in our communities, to our neighbors and people that are actually around us and make friends!

Ghost

My husband and I watched this movie the other night- and honestly I didn't think I'd like it....but man was I wrong. Let's just say there WERE tears. It was such an intriguing story, and I LOVED Whoopi Goldberg in it! She was hilarious. She even won an Oscar for this movie.. The movie itself won an Oscar for best screenplay. I think this is a must see love story.

Have you seen this movie? What did you think?

Miss Representation

After watching Miss Representation ( you seriously need to watch this movie) I had so many different thoughts jumping around in my brain- so I'm going to try to write some of them out here and let me know what you think? 

First off- I need to get something off my chest.....

Here it goes.

I am a feminist- and I don't understand why in the Mormon culture we are so afraid of this word......

feminist, feminist, feminist, feminist feminist feminist, FEMINIST, FEMINIST, FEMINIST!!!!

See, it's not so scary. 

I think in in Mormon Culture we have a BIG misrepresentation of what this word means..

What is a feminist anyway? Well, according to good old Wiki,  "Feminism is a collection of movements and ideologies aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights for women.This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment."

So being a feminist DOES NOT mean that I think that women are BETTER than men- it means I think men and women are EQUAL, and that they should have equal rights, equal pay, equal, equal, equal!

Sure, we have biological and physical differences...but we are still equal. My adopted brother has a different colored skin than me, and I'm sure you'd all agree with me that we are equals. Right? And you probably agree that women should be able to vote and have equal pay and stuff right? So what's the problem with being a feminist?

So really- you may not have thought you were a feminist, but the fact is you probably are. And you don't have to be a girl to be a feminist- boys can be feminist too. 

Now, why do I feel like this is important for me to point out???? Because the fact of the matter is, many women (especially in the church) aren't feminist.....I've known MANY that do "secretly" or not-so-secretly believe that men are better than women, and this is manifested in ssooOOOooo many ways in the world we live in, and also our religious culture...I'll let you fill in the blank. But all of these inequalities destruct a woman's sense of worse into a very simple paradigm making her think that her worth is in the way she looks, or the fact that she was born a woman, that's that. 

Do you want to know the secret have a good body image and self esteem????

Truly believing you are an equal, and just being yourself.....so BE a feminist for goodness sake!

We are ALL equal- I firmly believe this- but I still struggle in my brain everyday to apply it to myself. 

I think that if we all TRULY believed that we are all equal, we would have ZERO self-esteem or body image issues. 

That's my goal at least...to apply this fact to myself.

With the media's sea of lies we swim in everyday, as women (and men) but women especially- we need to arm ourselves every morning when we wake up- remind ourselves that we are important, we are special, we are beautiful TODAY. We need to stop wishing on tomorrow for that perfect self we have in mind, that's a size x,y, or z, and has that perfect hair and olive tone..... and we need to STOP LYING to ourselves that becoming that perfect shape or size will make us happy- because guess what- it won't. So just STOP IT!

As a disclaimer, this does NOT mean that we shouldn't try to be a healthy weight, or just eat chocolate all day everyday (like my natural woman I know would like me too).....but it does mean that we need to re-prioritize our lives, and really think about what is the MOST important thing about life. 

"What is the most important-thing-for-you-to-focus-on-for-your-entire-existence-on-this-planet????"

I never thought you'd ask....

The answer is simple.

Love. 

Yep, the Beatles had it right all along. Love is what life is all about. Love for family, friends, life, nature, hobbies, learning, laughter, cats - whatever floats your boat. But before you can love anything else, you have to love yourself.

So that's all I have for today..."and in case I don't see ya, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!"

(5 million points for whoever can name that movie)

Here is the trailer for the movie we watched in class- I HIGHLY recommend watching this movie- it's well worth your time. 

Miss Representation