Overrated and Under-appreciated

The perfect body image is overrated and realistic body images are under-appreciated. We are surrounded by images and people that are constantly putting us down on what we look like! Whether it’s how to lose weight, successful people who have natural marks on their bodies, it’s like no matter how amazing you are, it’s never enough.

It’s hard to not to see a headline on a magazine that is not about the Kardashian family or some other model on what they were wearing, how

Image: Google Images

much cleavage they’re showing, or whether or not they’ve gained weight or not. If they’ve lost weight, there will no doubt be an article in the magazine that will tell you how they did it, because all women and females care about is how models loose weight and how to look exactly like them.

I hate to break it to you, but there is a lot of hard work that goes into being a model. You are being paid on how you look so your body needs to be in the bast shape possible 24/7. Also as a model, you day job is being a model, meaning regular average day people don’t have the same time of day to devote to working out. Models are also a very specific body type and not everyone is capable to live the lifestyle that they can. It’s not something you can train your body to do. Yes, you can train you body to work hard and be athletic but some people have a hard time losing weight in general. Also depending on peoples health concern, it can be dangerous to go below a certain weight.

Another thing that media portrays as a bad thing are natural things like cellulite, stretch marks, birthmarks, freckles, and scars. All the other natural thing that c

Image: Google Images

an occur on you body. They can be seen as wrong and disgusting and they shouldn’t be there. However, that opinion has died down quite a lot, which is great for a couple of reasons. 1) It gives girls better confidence in themselves. And 2) people have role models to look up to that do look like them, without it being a bad thing. you should be celebrating your body and how fantastic you are, not hiding it from the world.

“Stars lose fight with CELLULITE” is not a headline that should mean anything to us anymore. Almost Everyone has cellulite!!! Why is having cellulite a battle in the first place? It is natural to have cellulite! It’s not something you can get rid of automatically, and so what if they have cellulite! I have cellulite and I embrace it! It’s a part of my body and most people’s bodies! It’s not a side effect of being fat or not being slim enough. There are some very healthy people just on this magazine cover that are living a healthy lifestyle and they still have cellulite. It doesn’t make you more ugly.

Another thing along those lines are stretch marks. Stretch marks are very common because it’s just skin that has been stretched out. A lot of athletes and fitness people have stretch marks because they are constantly stretching their skin to fit the muscle that they continue to build even after their skin is already developed. It’s also something that comes from having a child. The skin on your stomach stretches because YOU ARE GROWING A HUMAN INSIDE YOU!!! Your skin is not going to just snap back into place after the baby is born! Life is beautiful and by saying stretch marks are ugly is shaming those who have courage enough to have a child. Stretch marks are beautiful no matter where they came from.

These are just some of the things that society and media is constantly bringing negative energy to in terms of bodies and self esteem and the “most desired body type”. We still have a lot of work to do in terms of what we surround ourselves and the younger generations with. We need new marketing techniques that don’t shame the bodies of those we look up to, because if they aren’t good enough, how will we ever be good enough.

-Emma

Importance of Community

We grow up in a community that is always online. We have instant access to whatever we want, whenever we need it. You’re bored? Watch Netflix or go on Twitter or any other social media existing today. You can’t remember the name of the actor in a specific movie, you go to google and look it up.

As a Catholic, I am taught that people are not only created sacred but also created social, which explains our want to be on social media and communicate with people around the world, text our friends, talk to family, go on adventures, etc. It is within a wider society and relationships that we can truly realize and protect the human dignity of ourselves and others. Once we look at something from a larger point of view, we tend to see the big picture of what matters most and that’s how we impact other in our community, whether in our immediate group of friends and family, or to a larger community on the internet. We have a responsibility to add to the common good of the entire society.

We, as a community, need to re-evaluate what we are giving the power to make headlines across the world. The way we view politics and the economy, as well as the law, need to be re-assessed because these are topics that directly affect the human dignity and the capacity of each person to grown in community. The headlines that attract the most attention, are the negative ones. That, in my opinion, is proof to why everyone is constantly talking about all the bad in the world and why people have such negative views on the world today. Yes some of the negative headlines are important but why does that mean every headline need to be negative or sad?

As technology continues to advance, we need to make sure that we, as Catholics, can still supply common good to our community to provide them with goodness and happiness, as well as help protect human dignity throughout the community. It provides a sense of togetherness that we tend to lack when looking at society as a whole. This way we can slowly start to grow as a community and eventually, hopefully, society will follow in step.

Image: Google Images

-Emma

Love

Image: Google Images

Have you ever believed in something so hard,
that when it started to change and shift,
you decided it was nothing and ignored it,
not ever realizing how different thing actually were?

And when you finally do see the cracks in the
foundation you once believed was sturdy,
you hardly even get a chance to step back
before that sturdy foundation crumbles,
leaving rubble all around you.

Love can be a fairytale one day,
and a forest fire the next.

Love can feel like it will last forever.
and then out of nowhere,
it can end.

Love can make you stand up to an army
for one person,
but tear you apart when a single person leaves,
because they were the one keeping you from breaking.

Love is different for everyone.

But everyone has some sort of foundation
made of love. 
We all have those people or hobbies that
we cling to because we love them so much.

Some of us cling to our friends,
others stay close to their families.
Some pour all the energy they have
into extracurriculars that helped shape
who they are today.

Love keeps the things that matter to us,
close to our hearts and the memories
in a little box in our brain that we
can open when we need to smile,
or to remember what really matters to us.

Love is more often than not found
in the darkest of tunnels,
when you continue to look straight ahead
further into the darkness,
when all you need to do is turn around
and see you came from the light.

Yes love can hurt.

I will be the first person to tell you,
love can hurt a lot.

And it's okay to turn your back on love,
but always be ready for the possibility
that someone
could make you want to love again.

Love can rebuild that foundation
you watched crumble around you and love,
it will make you stronger than you ever were before.

-Emma

Desperate for Change

Michelle Obama is a spokeswomen for multiple issues. Women’s rights, equal education and opportunities for all genders, as well as black women, and the future for all children.

I am desperate for a change – now – not in 8 years or 12 years,
but right now
– Michelle Obama

I personally could not have said it any better myself. There is a lot the world needs to get changing as soon as possible! Issues that if they aren’t resolved soon can lead to more disaster and conflict across the nation and globally.

Issues like gender equality and equal pay for both genders should have happened years ago! Girls should not be paid any less than men for a job they are equally qualified for and they are good at. My gender should not determine my level of pay and the fact that even after years of women fighting for their rights, we still don’t seem to understand that all we want is to be equal in everyone’s eyes. We should not be given less opportunities because we are female and “more fragile”. Oh please! We host another human inside our bodies for 9 months! We are a lot stronger than we look. Plus nowadays, we tend to mentally be stronger because of all the stuff society throws our way! Women continue to prove themselves as equals to men and until they are paid equally, they never will be equal.

Another issue that should have been squashed a long time ago is the education system. Look at anything from 100 years ago and you will see dramatic differences between now and then. Look at a classroom and the way it’s run and the exact same.

This video by Prince Ea, a spoken word poet, has gone viral for no other reason than because it’s true. Things haven’t changed in the education department. They expect us to all learn the same and at the same speed, without recognizing that no two brains are the same. What is taught to us in math and science needs to be upgraded to keep it modern.We should learn how to do taxes and how to determine the value of something so that we know we’re not getting taken advantage of, not the value of x or y or any other letter for that matter. Yes that may be important for some people and those people should be taught it, but we should all know how to live on our own and how to take of ourselves. You think I’m wrong? Watch other teen react to the video above.

These are just some of the issues that need to change right now and certainly not in years to come. There are still many different things that need to change rapidly, like gun violence and discrimination against different races, religions and religions. We can only tackle one at a time so let’s get started.

Image: Google Images

-Emma

Happy

Image: Google Images

I want to be happy.

I want to be as happy as life will allow,
but life does it’s best to throw me around
like I’m a kite with fragile fabric.
And life is the wind so strong it can easily knock you down
and eventually tear through you and your fragile fabric.

I want to be happy.
I look at the mirror and wonder why still,
the image I see disappoints me.
Maybe if I wasn’t me, life would like me better.
Maybe if I changed then I could be happy,
but the more I changed,
the more lost I found myself,
like if I ever met myself,
I’d be a total stranger.

I want to be happy.
I don’t want to feel like I’m fighting the universe,
like it’s the ocean that’s constantly trying to drown me,
but gives me a break so I can come up for air.
To keep fighting.

I want to be happy
I want to stand on my own and not feel like
I’m going to get pushed down.
I want to fight for what I believe in and I want people
to take me seriously.

I want to be happy.
I want to be able to walk down a street downtown,
and not be catcalled because I am a person,
not a freaking animal!
It’s degrading and somewhat scary.

I want to be happy.
I want to get up and not be self conscious,
to not think I’m not good enough.
I want to be proud of getting
over, around, and through everything life has decided
I am strong enough to take.

I want to be happy.
I want to not be judged for who I am,
or what I look like.
I don’t want to be insecure about my laugh,
or my hair,
or the fact that I’m still finding out who I am.

I want to be happy.
I want to go to my top university and graduate.
I want to get a good job that I enjoy and succeed at,
but that challenges me everyday.
I want to travel.

I want to be happy.
I want to get married and have a kid or 2,
and make sure they don’t grown up in a broken family,
that they understand what love is.

I want to be happy.
To grow old and live a life the best stories are made out of.
Stories you listen to and think,
“I want to go on that adventure”.
Stories that suck you in and make you forget about everything
going on around you.
You just sit there,
and listen
and smile.

Please.
Just let me be happy.

-Emma

Top 5 Reactions to Trump

1. The Netherlands not only introducing us to their great country, but making us fall in love with their humour as well.

2. This person for finding out Trumps’ true identity

Photo: Google Images

3. This person who isn’t wrong

Photo: Twitter

4. This college student for giving us tips on how to get a job.

Photo: Google Images

5. A great representation of Canadians watching Trump rule a country.

Image: Google images

-Emma

Is Technology the Bad Guy Anymore?

We constantly hear how the younger generations must suck at having relationships because technology gets in the way of us interacting in a real social setting. We don’t have any interview skills because we don’t know how to talk to people. We apparently don’t know how to have face to face conversations because it’s weird for us to actually hear the other persons voice or something.

I however believe that this is not true. 

While older generations believe that technology has a bad impact on our social skills (and I’m not saying that technology doesn’t have it’s flaws), they fail to see the good that can come from technology and all it has to offer. I find myself constantly learning about events going on in the world (that isn’t the latest Kardashian update) and the different issues that are constantly making their way to the surface. Social media platforms like twitter and snapchat have different pages and stories on them to inform everyone around the world of not just tragedies but also different holidays celebrated globally. People who are present at these events can post videos sharing the experience they are having and give the rest of the world an opportunity to experience the emotions that you would if you were actually there.

Photo: Google Images

Technology also is very helpful in school. I use my laptop in ever single one of my classes this semester. I’m taking film this semester and am just learning different camera angles and shots. If I forget what a particular shot looks like in a movie, I can just search for an example on the internet. Also all of my assignments are online so that I don’t lose and project outlines. There are also links that my teacher has provided us so that we have different sources if we have any questions. I take all my notes on my laptop so that they are all in one convenient place. Another one of my classes, social justice, is project based and we look up events in our society and different social injustices that have occurred, past and present and discuss them in class. If it wasn’t for technology, I would never be able to have access to that information when I needed it.

As for social skills, technology has made me appreciate talking face to face with someone because of the fact that it’s more personal. Ya texting is nice but it’s hard to tell someones tone when you can’t hear them and it can cause conflicts, and the nice part is, the younger generations know this.We know when we need to take a break from the internet and appreciate the world around us, to go on a road trip and enjoy the company of others or just get to know yourself. Unlike some of the older generations, we grew up with this sort of technology! We understand that tone and context can be lost through a screen and in all honesty, I think that makes us think more before sending a text. We are more careful about what we say and how we say it because we know what could happen if we aren’t. For me, most of the time a text is just to make plans to see someone or a group of people in person. Other times it’s to ask a question to either of my parents or to ask a friend in my class about homework we were assigned. Sometimes it’s to speak to family that I don’t often see, or to my brother wishing him good luck in a hockey tournament because I won’t get to see any of his games because it starts on a Friday and I have to be at school.

So as you can see, our view of technology is very different to generation pervious to ours. We see what we can benefit from what we have access to in order to help us succeed in life. There is so much more we know how to do with the internet now and we grew up with technology growing around us, it helps us excel in so many different ways and the crazy part is that it continues to grow! I’m proud to be part of a generation that constantly discover new things and strive to be better and better.

-Emma

Why Not Us?

The age old question of “why not”. The question that seems to always make me think long and hard about why exactly not. As a kid I used to be asked questions like “Why would you wear different socks?” and “Why did you make your imaginary friend an orange dragon?”. The only answer that adults used to except from me was “why not?”. As we grow up however that answer just wasn’t enough for us. We needed more. Our thirst for knowledge overtook us and we wanted a more solid answer.

Photo: Google Images

As we grew up, something changed about the way we were talked to. In elementary school it was most of us listening to what the teachers had to say and to try and absorb as much knowledge as we possibly could.  In elementary school they taught us and we didn’t usually question what the teacher said ever because they were the grown up and they knew more than us.

Once we got into high school however we start to not take the teachers words for granted. We ask questions that can be controversial to try and find out what we ourselves believe to be true and false. This is how we figure out our belief system and these beliefs with constantly change for the rest our lives. We start to figure out who we are in these beliefs and who we want to be, and as the world continues to change and generations continue to grow up so differently to the one previous to it, outside of a school setting, us young people are never asked to share how we feel about real issues.

Why should the world know how the younger generations view the world and all it’s problems?

The answer to this question is simple. In 5-10 years, It’s the younger generations who are going to run towns and cities and maybe even countries. It’s going to be us who change thing to how we see fit. We live in a world where people were growing up and the tv was still black and white. Where women didn’t work because males were stronger and more capable. If  you weren’t straight, you didn’t tell anyone. because it wasn’t excepted. The world is so different now! We have women running strong businesses and in high ranking positions at companies recognized globally. 15 countries have made same sex marriage legal and others on their way to join the club. Our phones now are portable t.v.’s and entertainment that fits into our pockets and can take professional looking photos.

It’s us who adults should be turning to to figure out problems, we’re the ones who have to fix it if something goes wrong. We also are pretty smart people and know a lot about a lot. We are the future of this world. We will be the new change.

This page explores different views on topics from technology, to separation/divorces and relationships, to politics, to society. This page is a different younger perspective of the world we live in. I hope you realize how much the world really has changed and how much the younger generations really have to offer.

-Emma