"If seeing is right, then look where you're at."

Papers are looming, work is booming, and Spring is blooming. Okay, I know that was super lame, but I really didn't intend for that to rhyme. It is the truth, though, and that combination is just begging for disaster.

I have 4 papers due by the 2nd week of May, totaling at about 50 pages worth of writing. How much have I done? About two... and that's on a group paper. I'm so trying not to freak out right now.

However, at the moment, I've got the apartment to myself, I'm just spot on with the completion of assignments, I'm in yoga pants in anticipation for this afternoon's class, coffee is in hand, and Sufjan is playing from the kitchen.

For some reason, I'm feeling more of myself than usual. I keep having this inexplicable feeling that I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be, doing exactly what I'm supposed to be doing, and that something good is just around the corner, and let me tell you, that is a really good feeling, especially after the long, dark winter.

So to recap: Sufjan, coffee, yoga later, and maybe knocking out one more assignment this evening.
SDG

I am not a feminist, but I am a Christian

Tuesday night, instead of going to my Critical and Cultural Theories class, we were required to attend a showing of a feminist film titled, Killing Us Softly 4. Needless to say, I was less than thrilled. However, the film was not terrible. (I found the first 5mins on YouTube, and it suffices in getting the point across.) It was basically a recording of this woman giving a presentation on the way women are portrayed in advertising. We were asked to write a critique of the film, and I just thought I'd share a few of my revelations with the blog world.



Please, don't misunderstand me. I so do not consider myself a feminist; however, I am a Christian, and the way women are portrayed in our media is not Biblical, and contrary to what some may believe, Christianity does not work to subordinate women to men. In fact, we see a woman who works and takes care of her family in Proverbs 31, Eve was created as a helper to Adam, not a slave, and finally we see in multiple instances in the New Testament concerning the roles of women and men within marriage (for examples, see Eph. 5, Col. 3, 1 Peter 3, etc.). If you notice, whenever there is mention of wives being submissive, it is to their husbands (not all men everywhere) and there is a following commandment specifically for the husbands, which is to be loving, respectful, and honoring. Now that is clarified, here is a little bit of my paper.
SDG

It appears that Kilbourne was very perceptive in recognizing that there is a growing problem in the manner that women are portrayed in advertising and in the way that women are  advertised to. I am somewhat aware that women are inaccurately portrayed in advertising, being a mass communication student, but I had no idea the specifics or extent. For example, her discussion of the dismemberment of women's bodies which leads to the interpretation of women as an object, not an individual. Kilbourne also mentioned that this objectification is the first step in abuse, which I had not considered. Secondly, she discussed that women are often advertised to in a way that suggests food as a substitute for a relationship and are described in sexual terms. For example the ad with a picture of a cookie with the copy that reads, "Your lips look lonely. May I keep them company?" Women and sexuality have become so synonymous, that now our food needs to be sexy!

Kilbourne made me aware that some of my presuppositions of femininity might have origins in our culture’s advertisements, especially in relation to aspects of my appearance. I believe Kilbourne put it as something similar to always being plucked and shaved. It especially rang true when she brought up an ad featuring a girl with a flawless face and exclaimed, “In fact, she has no pores!” That really brought to light the unrealistic standard being pushed on women by the media.

I would like to consider the possibility that these images of women have become so separated from real life women, that the images only exist as representations of themselves, not as representations of real woman. In other words, the sign, a woman’s image, signifies not living, breathing woman, but something completely other in the audiences’ mind. I would speculate that for some, because they are aware of the way images are created and manufactured in the media, they know that what they are looking at is not representative of the thing they know as a woman, and so, a new signified (media woman, if you will) is created. This may be a stretch, or trying to give our society the benefit of the doubt, but I feel like that is my mind’s process when comparing mediated images of women to the real women in my life and find that the two do not coincide.

Procrastination

It's Saturday, 79 degrees, and sunny. What am I doing? Lying on my living room floor with my International Advertising book trying to finish my presentation for Monday night. What do I want to be doing? Kayaking down a river somewhere, the sun hot on my shoulders, the water sparkling in front of me, and the sounds of spring surrounding me.

I've got cabin fever bad. I spent the majority of last night researching tents and local areas to paddle. So far, I'm leaning toward this one. Anyone have suggestions or input regarding tents? I'd love to hear it. Also, I'm not sure whether to go 2 person or 3 person.

Oh, motivation, where are you! Slipping further and further away, I see. I must persevere. I refuse to do schoolwork on Sundays, and I've got a whole new set of assignments to tackle next week. Lord, give me focus, give me patience, and may I have an opportunity soon to enjoy your glorious creation.
SDG

All work and no play... makes for no blogging.

Sorry for the lack of posts. 1) I've been going non-stop since I got back from Spring Break, and 2) The internet at my apartment has been acting up.

I'm at work right now, being overwhelmed by emails that need to go out, flyers to design and print, disc after disc of pictures to go through for our website, and coming up with a design for our wedding information packet. The only reason I'm able to update now is because it's taking forever to copy the picture files to the computer.

Though the last several days have been busy, they've been wonderful. The roommate threw me a surprise birthday party. I participated in my church's mission week and went to New Orleans to pass out backpacks to the homeless in the area, we painted a house, and we got to play and minister to some kids at a local apartment complex. All of it was such a moving experience. To try and express what those few days meant to me would cheapen the emotion, so I won't try.

I really wanted to have some pictures for you readers, but that's not going to happen here at work. But I'm so thankful that I have work and I really enjoy what I do. A break will come soon enough.
SDG

In Remembrance

So, I'm home in Tupelo for Spring Break. March is basically the birthday month in my family, so it's good I got to come home this year. There's at least six of us with birthdays this month, which was signaled by my uncle Russell's on the 3rd.

Russell passed away in an apartment fire when he was in school at Mississippi State when I was eleven. I didn't get to see him a lot when I was little, but what I do remember is getting him in tickle fights with my sisters, stealing his wallet and making him chase us around the house, and waking up to him and his college friends sleeping on our couches on random weekends when they visited my parents.

That's me and him. I couldn't have been more than one year old, so he was about 13. He was always a lot of fun. I miss him sometimes randomly-- like when I start to think about if we would have hung out once I got older like I do with my aunts now, or if he would have taken me to concerts and told me about cool new bands, or whenever I hear the Grateful Dead or Widespread Panic.

So, this is just a little blog memorial, me dedicating a post to my cool uncle who shared my birth month. Miss you, Russell. I'll be seeing you on down the road.
SDG