Sorry, We’re Not Sorry

“Sorry.” This word has become slightly controversial in recent years. Most know that it is used to patch up a broken relationship, acknowledge an everyday wrongdoing, and to make up for committing a personal offense.

Who tends use this word the most? Women. If you don’t think so, then you might as well apologize to CNN, NY Times, Time, and Forbes for wasting their time writing about it.

Many reporters go to the same two studies: one made on 33 college students who kept an online 12-day diary reporting every time they apologized and why.

The second was another college study, this time with 120 of them, rating how offensive a particular action is, such as bumping into someone or asking a question.

These studies found a few interesting ideas. Women, in fact, do apologize more, but men and women alike apologize the same amount they think they offend someone. Interestingly enough, the divide isn’t the amount of apologies, but the significance of the wrong-doing.

“Men aren’t actively resisting apologizing because they think it will make them appear weak or because they don’t want to take responsibility for their actions,” said study researcher Karina Schumann, a doctoral student in social psychology at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. “It seems to be that when they think they’ve done something wrong they do apologize just as frequently as when women think they’ve done something wrong. It’s just that they think they’ve done fewer things wrong.” (Live Science)

Women perceive being polite differently than men. Whether it be taking up space, or asking a question during discussion. After seeing a popular ad from Pantene, I realized how much I say it. Take a look:

The ad shows how much women apologize for things they don’t need to apologize for.

This ad is critiquing that women need to feel sorry for asserting themselves, taking up space, or receiving help.

Many women should realize that being polite doesn’t mean you have to be submissive or allow others to walk all over you.

Now I’m not saying to just walk around in your everyday life bumping into people or stepping on their feet and not apologizing, I’m simply saying women don’t need to feel bad for existing.

Women aren’t burdens to society, so don’t apologize for existing, girls.

Photo Credit to: http://www.abhmuseum.org

 

October

Photo Credit: blogspot.com

It’s finally October – so whip out those Halloween decorations and a copious amounts of candy corn.

Every year when October comes around, I get really excited, like way too excited, because it is the beginning of fall and it means Halloween is not far away.

My current neighborhood, filled with rich retired elderly couples treating Halloween like any old day, and to be honest, it’s dreadful.

I used to live on a block where Halloween was the most important holiday. They used to put their decorations up right when the first leaf fell from the trees, and the fresh smell of pumpkin wafted through the air.

Every house had a jack-o-lantern in the window and a styrofoam cemetery on their front lawns coated with bright golden leaves. October, in my eyes, is one of the best months out of the year.

Halloween is magical, but the sounds and views around you on an everyday basis are what makes October truly great.

The sound of crunching leaves on the sidewalk, the turning colors on the trees, the burning of fall time candles, and let’s not forget pumpkin spice everything.

Ok, I know that anything pumpkin spice is basically all sugar with the tiniest amount of real pumpkin, if it has any pumpkin at all, but it transports your mouth to fall wonderland.

Photo Credit: tumblr.com

 

On top of all that, is the introduction of fall fashion. Along with October comes chunky sweaters, boots, and cute beanies.

Seriously, sweaters are like socially acceptable pajamas, and beanies can save a bad hair day.

So take advantage of October. This is the month to curl up in huge blankets, drinking a pumpkin spice latte if you wish, and watch all the Halloween classics.

Time Travel

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Time Travel is real, and I can prove it.

Let’s start with my favorite, often referred to as the time-traveling hipster. In 1940, a photo was taken at the reopening of the South Fork bridge in Canada.

In the photo, everyone is dressed in very time-period-appropriate clothing; all except one man, who I call the Time-Traveling Hipster.

He is wearing a cardigan with a graphic tshirt. His sunglasses are very retro and his haircut does not really fit the time period.

The strangest part is what is in his hands. In his hands appears to be a DSLR camera which weren’t invented for another 50 years.

Film cameras were around during that time but they were mainly silver. His camera is black. The time traveling hipster has been debated over for years, but no conclusion has been reached.

In 2008, another unexplained mystery emerged when a Chinese archeologist opened up a 400 year-old tomb. The tomb is believed to be untouched by anyone since it was sealed 400 years ago.

But that makes it hard to explain how they found a small ring made of metal, shaped into a watch, with the time 10:06 and “Swiss” engraved on the back.

It was in the soil on the outer layer of the coffin. The ring is believed to be only 100 years old. The question is, who in 1908 would enter a tomb, not open the coffin, not loot the place, not announce the discovery, then close the tomb they were in.

The best answer would be time travelers. Maybe time travelers have a creed, and they gather research and try to leave little evidence behind.

Although another theory attempts to debunks this theory, saying it is more likely be some sort of “quantum strangeness”, where random object disappear and reappear in different places for unknown reasons.

I think that theory is far-fetched, and I’ll stick with time travel.

Of all the far-fetched stories, this next one beats them all.

It has the potential to be real, but odds are if it was, we would not know about it.

The story from Andrew D. Basiago seems to be loony. In 1970, the defense advanced research project agency A.K.A DARPA worked on a top-secret project known as Project Pegasus.

Basiago claims to be a child participant in the program. I say “claims” because all the websites are not what I would call factual. The mission statement which has not been confirmed by DARPA is to research and perform “time sensing”; it is the US time-space exploration program.

Several children were a part of this program, but I had trouble finding names. But Andrew D. Basiago says that on one of his temporal trips he was at the Gettysburg address, and he is in a photo, in which he claims to be the boy in the bottom left.

I looked at Basiago’s childhood pictures; there were very few, and in none of them he had long hair. But it would make sense that he didn’t have photos from the time he was a part of Project Pegasus.

This is either a massive government cover-up, or just a man who wants attention. Either way, the government doesn’t care, because it would be nearly impossible to prove, especially with his reputation.
Don’t take this too seriously. Most of these examples have explanations which kill imagination. I believe in time travel, and I wish I believed the stories. But whether or not I believe is not the purpose of article.

My purpose for writing this is to raise curiosity of time-space and open up minds to different views even if they are far fetched.

I thought the insult ‘Queer’ was dead already

I was shocked to hear it. I really thought it had stopped being ‘cool’ a long time ago.

“That’s so queer.” He said, the first time, referring to someones Instagram account. I looked him dead in the eye. “Stop. You have no right.” But he didn’t. The words ‘Fagg*t,’ ‘Queer’, and ‘Gay’ were used several more times as an insult throughout the conversation. Eventually I left, utterly disgusted.

So why is it so important to stop using these terms like this?

Well first of all you may think it’s cool, but I don’t care how many bro-points you gain, insulting someone via their sexuality. But really, that’s only the surface of this issue. Yeah, it’s mean, but it’s so much more too.

Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? So essentially, everything you do makes ripples. It goes a lot further than you thought it would, in a lot of ways.

  1. You make gay synonymous with bad. You make kids feel lesser for their feelings.
  2. You are furthering this insult, keeping the cycle going. Just stop.
  3. YOU ARE HURTING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY
  4. You are bullying. I do not care if you said it to a gay person or not. You are being a bully. End of story.
  5. 23% of gay or bisexual teens have tried to take their own lives and 56% have self harmed. You are an accomplice to these murders of young children who did nothing wrong.
  6. You are saying that it’s ok for millions upon millions of people to be degraded world-wide so you can… be cool? Grow up.
  7. You are creating a community that is unsafe
  8. Back to the statistics – More than 85% of LGBTQ+ youth have been harassed at school in the past year. You are making your school a place where kids may be afraid to attend.
  9. So, so much more.

So why would you use these descriptive terms as insults? Can you honestly not grasp the idea that there are other words out there? You want to be ‘cool?’

Buy a dictionary.

Photo Credit to: http://www.goabroad.com

Volkswagen Scandal

Volkswagen is one of the largest automobile companies in the world. They are known for their reliable, sporty, and efficient cars.

But efficiency comes with a price – now that price has risen astronomically.

VW has been lying to their customers since their “clean diesel” cars have been in production since 2009.

Their cars have been programmed to cheat in emission tests in the United States, giving a false reading of true efficiency in some 11 million cars.

My recently purchased car, a 2012 Jetta Sedan TDI, is affected by the scandal. I have taken this issue personally because I chose to purchase a car that promised efficiency without an environmentally damaging cost.

Now I know this is not true in the slightest.

Even though my car is yet another material item, it is something I use every day for hours on end. I spent a lot of time thinking about what car company to purchase from, and I am now regretting my decision completely.

I feel violated.

Photo Credit: http://www.tflcar.com

Funny Girls

Before I began to write this, I googled “funny topics to write about”. 

I did this because I am uncreative person who relies on the ideas of others. 

What surprised me was that the number one “funny” topic on the website was “Women can’t be funny”.  Seeing this invoked my inner Hillary Clinton or Susan B. Anthony or whichever feminist you wish to compare me to. 

Obviously I was outraged.  The idea that women can’t be funny is crazy; if I learned anything from my 10 years of watching Saturday Night Live, it would be that Kristen Wiig is hilarious and Justin Timberlake needs to stop writing songs about his…you know.

 In days past, it used to be only ugly girls were funny, now it seems to be only good-looking female comediennes who can crack a laugh.

It used to be that when performing you wanted to look “comical”, much like Lucille Ball in I Love Lucy, but now, if you don’t have good looks and, of course, above a C-cup, it’s hard to even score spot at an open mic night. 

While the comedy world isn’t 100% free of sexism, it’s pretty close. 

That person who wrote that “women can’t be funny” topic isn’t really an outstanding model for the entire comedy world. 

I mean that guy probably thinks “that’s what she said” jokes are hilarious and has based his entire sense of humor off South Park. 

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credit to Vanity Fair

A Casual Sunday Morning

I open my eyes and find myself lying on the blanket in a very uncomfortable position. My laptop is still open, and my phone is on the floor with its screen cracked.

I pick up my phone and slowly slip under the blanket like a lazy caterpillar, and my phone drops again as I wiggle.

I turn my body toward the wall, and there’s a soft brown marmot from the Yosemite Visitor Center. I feel its fur with my face and turn my body back toward the ceiling.

Spacing out, I find a dot on the corner of the ceiling. It is so tiny, I never saw it before although it is right above where I usually place my head.

For some reason I stare at the dot for a while. Then I start seeing some lines around it. The lines are so thin they are almost invisible.

My curiosity defeats my laziness. I get up, stand on the bed, look closely at the corner of the ceiling, and suddenly sit down with horror.

The dot is not on the ceiling; it is in the air. the lines around the dot are not one-dimensional. They are all bent. The dot is a spider hanging from its web.

I silently but quickly get away from the dot and stay scared all day.

#FOODSTAGRAM

In today’s culture, constant sharing of people’s day to day lives has become the norm.  Particularly, sharing of pictures of food.

But why has it become so important that we share images of our meals with the whole world?  Food has evolved from former functioning as nutrition into a source of status and culture.

For example, through the popular social media site Instagram, you’ve probably seen countless pictures of people’s bubble tea from Urth Caffe or someone’s In-N-Out burger. 

Where does this need to share their food come from?  The aestheticism of food has become more important than actual consumption. 

The tradition of mealtime has drastically changed from an intimate gathering to something shared with the whole world.  Specifically, rather than be engaged in food and conversation, individuals remove themselves from the present moment of the meal in order to stage the scene of their food. 

The closeness of a meal is lost by revealing the location of a person as he or she eats. 

The image of restaurants has become a status symbol that is spreading through social media. People have become obsessed with proving their participation in this trend by taking pictures of locations that are coined “popular”. 

The concept these restaurants put out, with help from socialites creates the obsession surrounding it.

Our culture has become brainwashed with the idea that what they eat helps their image.  This also contributes to the growing number of people who believe that their social media image is essential to their lives.

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photo credit Konnectifi

Applications? More like Agitation

Applications, applications, applications. For the past two years that word has been playing in my head like a broken record.

I don’t understand why the college process has to be so difficult. I understand that this is a serious decision that will impact my future immensely.

Photo Credit: http://www.charterpulse.files.wordpress.com

Everyone keeps saying that this process should be fun and exciting but all I have felt is frustration, confusion, stress and anxiety. To say the least, I am ready for this process to be over. I am ready to already know where I will be for the next four years of my life. I am ready to know what I want to major in – what I want to do with my life.

Another aspect of the college experience that I find extremely frustrating and anxiety producing is the SAT and ACT tests. I hate that our whole academic career can be summed up into a number from one, five-hour test that we took on a random Saturday morning.

Photo Credit: http://www.gocollege.com

What is the point of working so hard in school if that isn’t even going to count as much as a test score?

Santa Cruzin’

I don’t consider myself a water person – unlike the bounty of surfers and ocean fanatics that I now surround myself with, I grew up inland and only ventured to the cold Oregon Coast 1-2 times each year.

Now in California I have many more opportunities to go swim in the ocean, or just be near the water.

However wonderful my opportunity is to many, even sometimes to me, when I heard I was going camping for a week at Santa Cruz Island, I was less than enthused.

The idea of being surrounded by ocean for five days straight, no matter how clear and beautiful I knew it would be, scared me. We were to be completely isolated – an hour boat ride away from land.

Photo Credit: http://www.nps.gov

My trip seemed to be the most popular out of the four – everyone wanted to go, and I even felt bad for taking up a spot when I wasn’t nearly as excited as some who couldn’t go.

Once I was on the boat to the island, standing with salty wind blowing through my hair, watching the island grow bigger and bigger, I began to feel excited. No longer was I wishing I was on route to Yosemite, I found myself looking forward to the next week, and what was to come.

What I thought would be a long, torturous week turned out to be adventure-filled and an amazing time. The ocean, originally the object of my fear, was beautiful, full of creatures, and the best part of the trip.

Photo Credit: upload.wikimedia.org

Out of all the camping trips I’ve been on throughout my life, this one was the most fun. And not only did I explore caves, but I also explored my limits.

Photo Credit: i.ytimg.com