Beauty: Are you up for the challenge?

A common phrase that we hear is, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” This is absolutely true because everyone has a different idea of what beauty is. Beauty can be referred to anything, whether it’s a work of art, person, creation, or mother nature. That’s the beauty of the word itself because beauty is highly subjective as well as arguable and it varies from one person’s definition to the next. Sometimes beauty is not even visual because it refers to a certain emotion or how a person is feeling on the inside.

People’s perception about beauty has evolved tremendously from different generations and cultures. For instance, currently, a majority of people think that women who have a tan, slender figure with big breasts and a large butt are attractive. In the past, the Greeks and the Chinese praised those who were overweight because it was a sign that they were wealthy. They had a comfortable life and enough money to spend on food. However, now women and men are constantly on odd diets and trying to lose weight. Even young girls who are skinny like a bean stalk are dieting. In China, Japan, and India girls prefer to have lighter skin versus the tan, bronze, sometimes orange colored skin as a result of excessive amounts of trips to the tanning salon. In Asia, girls are just the opposite as they go through the trouble of carrying parasols on bright, sunny days.

Each culture has standards and an ideal image of what is considered beautiful. In China, during the beginning of the 10^th century, girls starting at the age of three would bind their feet to obtain tiny feet and this idea of beauty. At the time, this is what men and women considered to be attractive; and in order to fit in and find a husband girls were forced to bind their feet. In some African tribes and Asian cultures the women wore stacks of neck rings to feel beautiful and attract good husbands. Other African and South American tribes also considered ear stretching and lip stretching to be beautiful. What and who are beautiful changes with time and it can be entirely situational and contextual. For example, a girl who is always happy and just her presence brings joy to the room can be considered beautiful. However, she may no longer hold this beauty if she goes into depression.

Beauty is what we make of it. Without all the clothes and possessions we are plain humans that came into this world the same way. People achieve beauty with how they present themselves with makeup, clothing, possessions, personality, and thoughts. For this reason, I feel that beauty has become a problem rather a word that can be used to describe “the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind” or “something extraordinary” (dictionary.com). Today, when people think of the word beauty they immediately focus on the physical and visual aspects instead of what is unseen.

In the Dove Evolution video, most people would already think this girl is beautiful before and after all her makeup is done. However, obviously the ad campaign doesn’t think so as Photoshop is used to elongate her neck, make her eyes look larger and brighter, plump her lips to make them look luscious, and thin out her face. Magazine ads, commercials, and movies show celebrities with this perfection and this influences the viewer and makes them reconsider what beauty really is. All this exposure distorts people's perception of beauty. Now people constantly talk about dieting and eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are very prominent. The number of people with skin cancer has increased due to excessive amounts of exposure to the sun and tanning salons. People also suffer and elicit pain on themselves to achieve “beauty” with plastic surgery and procedures to enlarge their breasts, tighten their skin to eliminate wrinkles, and wax unwanted hair. Others are wasting money on brand and popular items such as clothing, iPods, jewelry, and cars to make themselves feel and be considered beautiful when they are seen with these objects. Personally, I like to focus on what is on the inside rather than the outside. It’s just not worth it to me when physical beauty becomes a health risk. After all, should being beautiful (a good quality) have to involve pain and skin cancer?

Coming to an End

I can’t express how glad I am that I signed up for this UWP 101 class rather than the 2:00pm one that I considered taking. I still remember the vivid details from the first day of class. I walked in a few minutes later than everyone and it was already super crowded and claustrophobic. The only seats that were vacant were the ones against the wall under the window. The desks were arranged like a traditional classroom with rows of desks instead of our usual circle. When we were told that the class was going to be revolved around blogging instead of writing papers that’s all I could focus on for the rest of the class period. I was so overwhelmed with all the information that I was receiving that I only remembered the first three names of the people that presented during introductions. In my mind I kept on thinking I can’t do this, it’s too different.

Surprisingly, I adjusted pretty quickly after the first three, four posts. The more I posted the more I started to like the format of this class and blogging because it allowed flexibility. I liked how we had a whole week to generate three posts because I could finish a blog when I was in the mood to write. If it was a paper I know that no matter what, I would always wait till the last minute to finish it. My excuse would be that I work better under pressure. The posts really allowed me to put a good amount of thought into them because I didn’t have to accomplish a large word count in a short amount of time. I also liked how the book, New Keywords was incorporated into this course. It was a good way to start our conversations and we constantly referred back to it during our discussions. In my opinion, this is more effective than analyzing every single word and detail that was used in the text and butchering it to the point where we are sick of the text. New Keywords gave us the opportunity to touch on a number of topics anywhere from biology to deconstruction. It also allowed us to branch out and generate sensitive and insightful conversations. Somehow we always refer back to the word and connect them through our discussions and blogs.

Recently, I went back and reviewed all my posts and even though it has only been a span of six weeks my writing has improved greatly. The different comments that I received from my classmates were extremely beneficial because in a writing workshop only two or three other students examine your essay. In return, it was also interesting to look at my classmates’ work and their writing techniques. In the upcoming quarter I’m going to be taking UWP 104F and I’m not exactly excited that we’re going to be writing essays. Now it’s going to be hard going back to formal papers.

Mobility or Useless Junk?

I take mobility for granted.


I definitely agree with Bernie that humans take mobility for granted and I finally realized this when I was left stranded on campus with a piece of rubbish also known as my cell phone. Recently, one of the AT&T towers on 113 stopped working. Whenever I tried to make calls it wouldn’t ring but instead it produced an echo of my voice. At first I just thought it was my phone but throughout the day I heard more and more students around campus complain about their phones not working. One girl was so frustrated that she started to cuss because she didn’t know how else to get a hold of her swimming coach. As for my situation, my roommate and I both have AT&T and she told me to call her after I finished work so she could come pick me. That plan didn’t quite work out. So I just decided to ride the bus home but she went on a wild goose chase looking for me on campus.

So I understand the frustration Bernie is going through with this laptop. We don’t realize how much we become dependent on our cell phone or laptop until it has stopped working. It was hard not being able to communicate through my phone and I felt like everything took twice as long to accomplish. I can’t imagine having to walk everywhere and not being able to ride the bus, drive my car, or ride my bike. I don’t want to have to live the stories that my grandparents used to tell of when they used to have to walk 5 miles in the snow to get to school. Cars, laptops, iPods, and cell phones are just some forms of mobility that help make our lives more efficient. They have become an everyday part of living just like eating and sleeping. We have become very dependent and we can’t or want to imagine our lives without these objects. However, when they stop working effectively they just become useless junk.

In the future, I wonder how children are going to take it if they are faced with being immobile. Young children, at the age of 7 already have cell phones. Phone companies have made various types of cell phones just for kids. I also see young children holding iPods and the iTouch all the time (side note: the word iPod has already passed spell check but iTouch hasn’t). Every time I see a child on the cell phone or playing on the laptop it amazes me because technology is hitting us at a younger and younger age. It comes natural to them when using a laptop or playing on their Nintendo DS. That is why I fear that future generations will become even worse when it comes to mobility. Perhaps one day our world will become similar to WALL-E where we depend on machines to transport us around and eating our meals from a cup rather than using our natural abilities of walking and cooking our own food.

Jellies!

This assignment reminded me of why I never use my Motorola KRZR camera phone. Sure when I first got it I was really excited and I took pictures of everything in sight and my friends warned me that I was becoming stalker status. Luckily that quickly faded when I went on my phone dropping streak, which caused a tiny crack in the screen and the camera to malfunction. The camera still had its cool features with its ability to change the exposure, lighting conditions, and the style of the photo (black and white, blue, red, green tints, negative, and antique). My camera phone was never up to par with my Casio digital camera but the pictures still came out clear and they were decent for quick snap shots. So when I encountered these jelly fish in the science lab building, it was natural for me to bust out my phone and take a shot. The first shot was extremely disappointing as it came out blurry and too bright, but I continued to snap away. When I got home I realized that I have never uploaded any photos off my phone to the computer. I usually just store my pictures or send them to friends through text messaging; so I definitely know how Arlen feels. I asked all my housemates if they knew how but there was no luck. I finally gave up on attempting to upload the photo onto the computer, especially since I wasn’t completely satisfied with how the picture came out. Since I practically live in the science lab building I decided that I would just go in the next day and retake the photos using my digital camera. The photo itself gives away the location of the jellyfish as one of the doors to the lab building is reflected in the photo.

I chose to take a photo of the jellyfish because I have been watching them grow since fall quarter of last year. Initially, these moon jellies were only specs in this large circular tank. Now they have grown into various sizes and this photo documents the progress and growth of the jellies. What intrigues me the most about this photo is that you can easily tell their unique way of moving and being mobile. They swim in a steady motion using jet propulsions with its flowing tentacles. Jellyfish are subtle creatures and they can camouflage well with their translucent bodies. They are secretive both in the sense that they are hard to distinguish in the tank and the location of their tank. If someone is not familiar with the science lab building then they would've never known that there's a tank of jellyfish near the entrance. At the same time they can be toxic and deadly when they use their tentacles to sting. Most of all, whenever I see these creatures it triggers my mind and it brings back memories of BIS 1B, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and dinner.

Thoughts about Children and Stereotyping

Discrimination and stereotyping have always been a large problem and I agree with Eddy that people first get exposed during childhood through their parents. However, I also believe that classmates and the media play a large role in influencing discrimination. After the age of 5, little kids spend a good portion of their time with other children at school and even more time if they have to attend an after school day care program. The children all have an influence on each other. For instance, in the video after one boy says that he thinks the Chinese man looks nicer another child pitched in and said “Yeah, he does look nicer,” and then the rest agreed as well. I wonder if the children would still have the same response if they were asked individually. Eddy also stated that “brown and blacks have a negative or conflict connotation, while white color represents and symbolizes purity, cleanliness, and innocence.” Children are associating certain races with good and some with bad because that is how these people are being portrayed in the media. Children might be overly exposed to television shows, movies, and video games that always makes a black person the bad guy. These stereotyped characters can negatively influence the way we view real people. Television shows and other media tend to depict racial groups in a negative way and young children who don’t know any better begin to view these people negatively in real life. Some common stereotypes that I’ve noticed are that Asian people are perceived as karate experts, Hispanics are shown as gang members, and people from the Middle East are all seen as terrorists. White girls, especially ones with blonde hair are portrayed as "airheads" with the lack of intelligence. I feel that children are easy targets because they can be veered or tricked into thinking a certain way just by what they have been told and seen.

Recently I found out that some Disney movies have subliminal messages in them about sex. The subliminal messages don’t have anything to do with stereotyping but I brought it up because I feel that again, the media can influence children in a negative manner. A majority of young children all love Disney movies. I know I did, so the video is extremely disturbing to me.

However, there are shows out there that try to promote diversity and encourage children to work with others. Sesame Street tries to incorporate various racial groups into their shows so children are able to view different racial groups interacting in a positive way with one another. Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood has also been identified as a program that promotes positive role playing. But bottom line is everyone is different and we all have our own mindsets. Just like Eddy, my parents also made a huge impact on me when growing up. My parents raised me and always made it clear to me that I had to be respectful to everyone no matter what the differences were. I was forbidden to be rude to anyone because they were different from me. A big part of who we are is from how we are raised and what we were exposed to during our childhood.

VW: Drivers Wanted

Without even having to look at the bottom right corner, I could already tell that this ad belonged to Volkswagen. The picture of the car itself reminds me of the signature VW Beetle, also known as the bug. The difference is that the viewer of this ad can easily tell that the car looks like a bug with its antenna, which is a prominent feature among insects. Insects are not very loud and big creatures. So this ad insinuates that VW cars allow such a peaceful and quiet ride that you’re almost discreet, like an insect. The background shows that this is the only vehicle on the road as the sunrises out on the horizon of the mountains. This form of mobility provides safety and it’s also compact that it has enough seats for the whole family. But I wonder why the seats are not filled with people. Perhaps it will distract the viewer from the actual product?

The first thing I noticed when I glanced at this ad was the color. From the sky, mountain, road, and of course the car, the majority of the ad is covered with different shades of blue. Blue is a soothing and peaceful color. Others relate blue to being natural because it is the color of the sky and ocean. Blue is also the color of trust and dependability. These are all qualities that appeal to a car buyer.

The other day Aaron asked me if I liked Mini Coopers. I immediately said no because of their size. I’m not too fond of small cars that are low to the ground. He responded with, “Small is the new big.” This is completely true because now with the economy, consumers want cars that give good gas mileage and they are avoiding the gas guzzlers. Even though the VW vehicle is so small, it still guarantees power as it states on the bottom, “The Golf R32 with 250 horsepower.” To most car consumers, power is everything.

Stop and Stare

I hate it when people stare! I know that I occasionally do it too because I just can’t help it but I try my best to avoid or keep it to a minimum. Staring can be awkward turtle, creepy, and just plain uncomfortable. I feel that staring is a common reaction when people see something “different” or out of the ordinary.

Last night I went to dinner with some friends that I met in the dorms last year. With such a large group we had to take two cars. For once I wasn’t the one that got lost so we ended up at BJs super early. As I ask for a table of 8 at the counter, the waitress hands me a restaurant pager as a way to notify when we can be seated. Since it was going to be a 30 minute wait we all took the risk of going out into the gruesome heat and walking over to Target. We were in Target for a good 5 minutes before the pager let out this loud “bleep, bleep.” That’s when I realized we walked out of range and the “bleep, bleep” was a sign to tell us to migrate closer towards the restaurant. My initial reaction was to dash out of Target as fast as I could because everyone was staring and looking around to see what was going on. I was automatically singled out because I was different by carrying this device that wouldn’t shut up. But I ended up sticking around just to see people’s reactions. Most of the customers ignored the beeping and continued to shop, but I definitely noticed the irritation on their faces. When I walked down the aisle with all the hair products, I saw a girl that looked about my age having difficulty picking out what kind of shampoo she wanted. She would grab a bottle, open it, take a big whiff, and then put it down again. When she saw me she politely smiled, but then as soon as she heard the “bleep, bleep” and realized that I was the source of this horrendous noise, there was an immediate change on her face to a frown. She glanced over at me a couple of times and finally left without even grabbing her shampoo. A man from another aisle even yelled, “Turn that thing off!” From the time I entered to when I stepped out of the store, shoppers were staring and just giving me snooty looks because I was different from all the other shoppers. Being “abnormal” or looking and acting different than the majority or crowd can cause people to react by staring and making negative comments.