Tag: life

A Penny for Your Consent

mariethearistocatLeave a comment

BuzzFeed is known for its clickbait and quirky news updates. But, occasionally they use their large following for good use. A video titled “Would You Steal $5?” is a perfect example of that good-doing. A simple message is put across as it begins: “What is considered stealing?” The narrator lists different scenarios in which someone has $5, and each scenario shows another situation classified as stealing. But at the end, it’s revealed that the $5 is a symbol for consent. In simpler terms, without consent you are stealing from someone.

What is consent? Most claim to know the answer, but in reality, not many do. Consent is defined as permission for something to happen or agreement to do something. Mostly, consent refers to situations involving any romantic or sexual interactions. It seems simple enough, if one or both members aren’t up to doing something, then both have to accept that they shouldn’t be doing whatever that is. Yet somehow, rape and sexual violence is still all too common.

No one knows the severity of rape culture. On average, 288,820 people are raped annually in the U.S. alone. That is one person every 2 minutes. That number surely disgusts many, yet rape is still a taboo subject. Why is it that consent isn’t taught at all schools? Sex Ed is only mandatory in 24 states, and not all of those have to teach consent. No wonder the headlines are filled with reports of rape and violence against women and men.

Consent is honestly so simple. If you or your partner is uncomfortable, drunk, unready, or unwilling, don’t have sex! If someone says no to any activity, don’t do it! It’s simple, really.

Watch the BuzzFeed video below:

My next life…

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What a life pets have. Especially the pet who lives on campus: Jack the cat.

Jack is loved by students, gets full attention and is very spoiled. He gets food and treats from the teacher, Ms. M., everyday. Ms. M. even bought him food and water bowls, as well as a cushion for him to sleep on. These days, it has become a daily routine for Jack to come to her to get treats. He spends most of the day on her desk sleeping.

When we are in class, he meows outside the classrooms to let people know he wants to come inside. We always open the door for him, even if we are taking a test. He walks in and wanders around, and eventually rolls on his back allowing the students to pet him on the stomach. Everyone adores him and we all say “hi” when we see him, even though he ignores us. I want to be him in my next life.

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Jack the Cat — Photo Credit: Evelyn Brokering

Shoes Are Just Shoes

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Shoes may in fact be the singular most important thing put on in a day. They affect the way you walk, the way you experience your day. Goodness knows the power of gorgeous, uncomfortable shoes and their ability to change your entire outlook on the upcoming week.

How you see yourself in the morning all comes down to your shoes. Are you a little taller than you were yesterday? A little more fluid, a little more grounded?

Even to those without shoes on, their shoes affect them. They decided not to wear them, and this influences the rest of their day because, simply put, there are certain things you don’t do unless you have shoes on.

While many would argue that they just throw on the same shoes they wear everyday without thinking about it, that is still their decision to have a “usual” action.

Photo Credit: Road and Track

Are you determined to look as good as you can? More laid back? Aiming to be fashionable? No matter the reason, shoes outrank your clothing.

Shoes dress up an outfit or dress it down. Shoes change the way others see you. Yes, people will see your cool bomber jacket, but are you wearing it with heels like a model, so you can feel like the rest of the world is your personal runway Are you wearing it with trainers, making the world your personal path? Or are you wearing it with boots, telling the world to get out of your way ’cause you mean business?

Your shoes are one of those decisions that make you, you.

The Magic of Cats

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Have you ever pet a cat?

Like-

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Photo Credit: petfinder.com

really pet a cat?

I mean, yeah, sure, you’ve pet a dog.

But dogs are easy. Dogs, for the most part, will waltz up to strangers, tails wagging, eyes bright, and ready to be loved on. Anyone can pet a dog.

But cats are altogether different Beasts.

Cats are skeptical of strangers, always watching their loved ones from a high vantage point.

(I am certain that, should it come to it, cats would not only survive the apocalypse, but would thrive.)

Cats are not so eager to be cuddled and coddled by those who are not worthy.

Which is exactly what makes it such an incredible experience to be liked by a cat. And I don’t mean tolerated, but really, truly liked.

Perhaps it’s the human want for the unwantable, but no one can deny that there is a certain mysterious air that lends cats their desirability.

Fall in Southern California 

Image stayhappy123Leave a comment

Sweaters are sweaty. Pumpkin spice burns your chapped, sunburnt lips. The adorable pinterest-esque fall leaves are more often represented by crunchy, dehydrated grass. Football games are too often stadiums crowded with sweaty bodies. The weather is less “let’s wear infinity scarves and drink hot cocoa” and more “let’s crank up the A/C and never leave the […]

Breaking the Internet (Bias)

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

Some adults nowadays blame technology for the current generation’s immaturity, saying that we’re obsessed or addicted to technology. Now, I’m not denying that we use quite a bit of technology, but I don’t understand how it is seen as so terrible. Kids now have an outlet that adults didn’t have; but that’s all technology is: an outlet. Kids aren’t obsessed with technology because they want to waste their lives in front of screens, but because those screens can make their lives better

TV shows allow children to escape their lives and fall into different ones. Whether it be a show about rich, teenage socialites or FBI agents solving crime, they can temporarily forget the next test or project. Children can take a break from the stresses society places on them and dive into this new fairy tale.

Music isn’t a way to defy adults and headphones aren’t a weapon of that defiance. Rap songs, however vulgar to certain listeners, can give a narrative to a child going through the worst. The same goes for a child who drowns out their inner demons with rock or metal. Pop songs aren’t these three-minute snippets of lifeless beats and strums, but rather anthems that give children something harmless to identify with.

And while social media has its own problems, these websites allow kids to find people who are experiencing the same struggles. It is amazing how many grief support groups there are online. Even though teenagers don’t always see who they’re communicating with, the advice given to them can help make a trying situation that much less difficult.

Finally, if it weren’t for adults, the Internet and all these “harmful” websites wouldn’t have even been created. Children aren’t the CEO’s of Netflix and YouTube and they shouldn’t be ridiculed for simply enjoying something.

(Read more positive effects here.

The Ups and Downs

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Life is like a roller coaster. Filled with ups and downs, twists and turns, and abrupt starts and stops.

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

Your future is like the tedious clicking of your cart on the incline. Each time you move a little forward, the safety kicks in to make sure you don’t fly back.  Those have been put there so you can only move forward. Time is what moves you along, what makes you get on with your life.

Once you reach the top, another goal is met. You are on the brink of a new adventure, a new path in life. You are relieved you made it, but are anticipating something new; whether it be a drop, jolt, or loop. Anxiety fills you as you are thrown into the unexpected.

Well, it turns out it was a drop. Not just any drop, either. Full 80 degree, head-first sensation that is heading straight for the ground. Hardships don’t slowly make their way into your life. They burst in and blind you. They take you by surprise and totally change your perspective.

Your cart continues the course of the ride and then it’s over. You can get off the ride and move on to the next thing. Some people say rollercoasters are just one thing, so they only stimulate one thing, one life. However, rollercoasters are almost the opposite. They’re one moment. When you go to a theme park, you don’t just go on one ride. You wait in line after line, just waiting for something new.

The one thing all the quotes relating life to rollercoasters forget to mention is others. You aren’t in that cart alone. You are sitting next to your best friend, your sibling, or a stranger, but you are never completely alone. These people are experiencing the same moment; they drop when you do and they soar just the same.

Life is a series of moments, a series of rides. Life isn’t just one big moment, but a mixture of many. However, the people around you and the way you deal with the big drops and loops can surely affect your ride.

Darkness

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Sometimes I can’t move.  I’ll lay in bed staring blankly at a screen.  I am not evening watching the movie that my eyes are fixated on.  I’m in another world.

The darkness started in my brain, it made me smile less, and cry more.

Then it moved into my eyes,

the darkness made me see things differently.

When I looked in the mirror I didn’t see myself anymore, I saw a girl with dark black eyes.

Darkness took over my mouth soon after.  Negativity spewed out like oil in the middle of a dark blue ocean.  It covered me with a thick black liquid.

Darkness wrapped around my heart so tightly that nothing could escape.

Things I once loved, things that brought me so much happiness no longer warmed my heart, they simply pasted in front of me like a person I use to know.

Darkness takes my legs from time to time.  There’s nothing I want more but to move.  I want to run, and dance and write and jump. 

Instead I sit, lifeless, glaring at the sticky white ceiling of my room.

I would like to think I am stronger than the darkness.

I know I’m not.

Sometimes I trick the darkness.

I make jokes, and laugh and pretend like he doesn’t exist.

The darkness is stronger than me.

And takes over.

It’s All Coming Together

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It’s that time of year again, college acceptance, and denial, letters are coming our way. After months of working on applications, seniors are finally beginning to hear back from schools.

It feels as though I have been waiting a lifetime to get these letters. My dream school is the University of Southern California, and I want that school more than any other.

I have been accepted into all of my backup schools, two of my three targets, and neither of my two reaches, yet.

Chapman University recently sent me an acceptance letter, and when I got the e-mail I felt this enormous sense of relief, knowing I had been accepted into my third choice school.

The only reason it is my third choice is because I have applied to two more academically rigorous schools; Occidental College, and USC. But those schools are both reaches for me, meaning I have a smaller chance of being accepted.

I am completely happy attending Chapman, but I would be ecstatic to go to Occidental or USC.

Because I will be a pre-law student, meaning I will be going to law school after graduating from whichever undergraduate school I attend.

Because of this, I want to go to the most prestigious school I can in order to give me an edge in the Law School application process.

I am thankful I have options on where I go to college, but I am conflicted as to which school is the perfect fit for me.

Although transferring is always an option, I don’t want to build a life somewhere, make connections with other students, and learn the lay of the land at a school where I am not completely happy.

My best friend just got into Chapman as well, giving the school an enormous edge in my book. However, I have to make sure I make the right decision for me, not anyone else.

At this point, Chapman is it. But if I get an acceptance from Occidental or USC, that may change.

How do I choose the right school?

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Photo credit to: keck-cms.usc.edu

Happiness

happyrose15Leave a comment

Happiness.

You are defined by what makes you happy

But what happens if you aren’t happy?

What happens when the things around you seem to become dark and grey?

What about when your life gets flipped upside down and all of a sudden the things that used to make you happy remind you of everything you have lost.

You look around and suddenly the people who used to be there for you everyday, the ones you couldn’t go a day without talking to, disappear without a trace.

Everything that made you, you is gone in a flash

The hikes that used to love to take now feel like every breath is a burden

The bike with a wicker basket that you used to ride around your block, which was once filled with amazing memories, sits in the back of your garage rusting away.

When everything that made you happy now makes you feel dejected and hurt

What happens then?

credit: deviantart.net