The Dangerously Empty Lives of Teenage Girls

Dee

Dec 12 2012

Inside the Dangerously Empty Lives of Teenage Girls

“More than 1 in 4 high school girls is binge drinking”. In what state, province, or country is this statistic taken from? The article “Inside the Dangerously Empty Lives of Teenage Girls” written by Dr. Leonard Sax seems quite inaccurate to me. I believe this article has some correct facts, but overall it makes preteen and teenage girls look like self mutilating disorderly young girls.

            Dr. Sax seems to be mentioning young girls between age 12-15 in his article. One point that he brings up is that girls are pushing sex more than boys this day in age. I believe that to be very untrue. I do not think many girls are “cornering the boys, and giving them blowjobs.” And if so, I believe his point about boys being unsure as to how they should respond is untrue. Boys twelve and over know exactly how to respond to something like that. Sex is less meaningful and very much more common in teenagers today, but I believe it is a team effort, and a lot more likely a boys idea than a girls.

            Another interesting point that this writer makes is about obsessive behaviors that girls can develop. Just a few mentioned are binge drinking, obsessing over food and fitness, and self harm. Where did he acquire his information? I disagree with his comment about boys being less likely to self harm. Him saying “the girl who’s very popular, captain of the basketball team and doing well in school, is as likely-maybe even more likely-than the average girl to be cutting” comes off as a bias opinion.

(to be continued dun dun dun...)

Dee

Dec 12 2012

The Dangerously Fulfilling Lives of Preteen Girls

            “Toddlers in Tiaras” and “Dance Moms” are just a couple of the shows out there that profile the wonderfully fulfilling lives of young girls, whose mothers are living through them vicariously. These young girls are put through brutal beauty pageants, and tiring weeks of dance practice, wearing heavy amounts of makeup and tight revealing clothing. Who wouldn’t want to see their daughters parading around on a stage in provocative clothing, gyrating their hips? When I become a mother, I will most definitely make sure that my daughter is up on that stage shaking her prepubescent booty.

            Beauty pageants are a way of comparing people in front of the whole world, to prove who is better looking. They test girls on their personality, but mostly how they look parading around in a bikini. So why wouldn’t you want to put your children in a teenybopper beauty pageant? It will teach them to be superficial, spoiled and self centered later in life! Everybody loves a stuck up little girl in a crop top! The show “Toddlers in Tiaras” promotes every mothers dream…having a screaming princess as a daughter with more boyfriends than they can count on their fingers! It teaches girls that it is okay to be sexy, no matter what age you may be!

            An eight year old girl, walking her dog wearing daisy dukes and a tube top, that’s the sight I love to see first thing in the morning! Seriously, how classy is that? Their mothers must be so proud of them, for being independent and dressing their own way. And what’s the best thing about these wannabe Paris Hilton girls? They are not dressing for anyone but themselves! So many girls try to impress boys with the clothes they wear, but not these post beauty pageant, dancer girls. They get up every morning, put on eight pounds of makeup and their new mini skirts (even though its winter) because it makes them feel good! The media does an amazing job of portraying young girls, making sure they know they need to step their game up and shop at Victoria’s secret. 2012 was a time of progression; I cannot wait to see what the New Year has in store for these young girls, real life puppets for their loving mothers. It’s magic.

Dee

Nov 2

A walk in his shoes

            Every time I come to the mall, I miss her. Every time I sit at this very table, by myself, I still smell her. I am old now, and I knew I would out live her…but sometimes I still cannot believe it. I sit at the same spot, drinking the same juice out of my Styrofoam cup every Thursday morning. I put on my tortoise shell reading glasses, and grab a paper from Louise, the food court janitor. Today, I decided to dress up. You never know what kind of opportunities can strike at the Cherry Lane mall. Ha, yeah right. Considering I am in dress pants and wearing a polo shirt underneath my favorite green sweater, I am quite comfortable. Sometimes I forget where I am, and start daydreaming. I never really read the newspaper. It depresses me. I wonder now, what my two children are doing, and if their children are having a good day at school. Suddenly looking up from my daydream, I notice there are some considerably young people amongst the rest of us seniors. I wonder what they are doing. Attending to my newspaper, I go to turn the page. My big hands do not cooperate as well as they used to. It takes me a minute, but I finally grasp the page and turn it. I scratch my white hair as I read the classifieds. “Female Escort Wanted.” That’s something you don’t see every day. Or maybe I just don’t pay much attention. The sounds of the food court seem to whir together, between the laughing and chatting of those who have friends, the beeping of monitors at the fast food stations, and the clinking of change as people pay for their coffee and meals. I wonder where my friends have gone. Maybe I should give my kids a call, and see how they’re doing. It has been roughly an hour, and I realize I should start heading home. Although I live alone, there is a hefty amount of laundry to do each day, as my cat sheds enough for twelve! Making sure nobody is looking at me; like a spy I slowly take off my reading glasses, tuck them over my shirt, and quietly shuffle out of the food court, still missing her.

Dee

Nov 2

The Chat

“Really?” I glare at Bobby.

He doesn’t even look up from that stupid newspaper he has in his hands.

After a momentary pause, he yawns “Yes, dear?” still not looking up.

“What the hell is the matter with you?”

“I am not sure what you are talking about, Ashley.”

He knows damn right what I’m talking about. “You know damn right what I’m talking about.”

            “If this is about me not coming home until late last night…I’m sorry but I told you I had a staff pa-“ at this point, I am enraged.

“I KNOW. You had a staff party. But you did EXACTLY what I told you not to do. You got stupidly drunk and drove home. You’re not a teenager any more, get over yourself! I knew I should have made you take a cab, or carpool.”

“Look,” he starts, “I know I messed up but I didn’t wreck the car, and you are exaggerating, I was not that drunk…”

“You stumbled into bed and smelled like you had been bathing in tequila.”  He knows that he is an idiot, right?

“I know I’m an idiot.”

“You were supposed to pick up milk for the kids cereal.”

Now Bobby is sheepish. “I’m in the doghouse aren’t I?”

I always get the last word. “Woof.” I sneer. And with that, I turned out the light, and went to sleep.

College Admissions

Dee

Oct 23 2012

College Admissions Essay

      

       My name is Destiny. But what makes my name so special is that I do not only have one last name, I have two. My full name is Destiny Rose Plangg/Viens. That is guaranteed to be the most incredible name you have ever laid eyes on. Destiny, meaning fate, is what I determine. I create my own Destiny. There is much power in this name. Bears run away when they see me approaching. I can take on King Kong while eating banana pancakes. Technically speaking, I am the real batman. I can catch flies with my bare hands, while making banana pancakes. Mondays hate me. Just looking at an exercise machine causes me to lose five pounds. I can lift a truck with my pinky finger. Fridays love me. For the seventeen years I have lived, I have created seventeen different ice cream flavors. I pay my own phone bill. I eat Alberta beef because I cannot get sick. Viruses attack each other in my own body. I co-wrote Justin Biebers ‘Believe’ album. Justin Bieber is my second cousin. Tim Hortons pays me to drink their coffee. My body is eighty percent blood. My body is lined with aluminum. My body is indestructible. I have the power to make raw fish get up and walk away. I have the power to walk on water, but I choose not to. I know where Waldo is. I am a good sewer. Of all these outstanding, extraordinary talents I possess, I have not yet broken the barrier to post secondary education.

Sam the Athlete

Dee

Oct 15

Sam The Athlete

        Everyone goes through those ‘awkward preteen years’ of school. The short story “Sam The Athlete” by Stuart Maclean is a comical tale about a young boy, starting his first year of middle school. This story portrays humor and a good theme in many ways, and shows how Sam’s character develops throughout his first few weeks of middle school.

         All Sam wanted was new sneakers. His mother knew his old shoes were perfectly good, but she understood the need to have “shoes that fit in”. When Sam’s mother Morley took him to the shoe store, he immediately knew what he was looking for. He ran over to a pair of red shoes with wings on them, put them on and “[cut] along the sidewalk like a terrier…so preoccupied by the wind on his face…that he ran right into a telephone pole.” This kind of humor is pretty abrupt, it makes fun of people getting hurt which seems pretty cruel, but it is a simple form of humor that is seen in society daily. This story pokes fun at Sam’s inability to play sports, and the story turns quickly when he joins the field hockey team…only to find out that the coach had been calling him “Samantha”. He was on a girl’s team. Under his breath, Sam breathed “uh-oh” as the coach handed him “[his] first ever skirt.” Awkward humor is one of the main elements in this story. Sam’s fumbles, him joining the girl’s field hockey team and his father walking in on him shaving his legs and dancing in his new skirt in front of the mirror all build on the awkwardness.

            The main theme of this story is that no matter what, never give up on something that you love, and always keep trying because you never know what will happen along the way. Sam is desperate to be a star athlete, and just as he lost all hope, he “spotted a poster outside the lunchroom, [and] stopped in his tracks.” He was overjoyed because the poster said “Field Hockey Tryouts”, hockey without skates! His hope was restored…until he realized that it was an all girls team. Being committed and ecstatic that he finally found something he had a knack for, Sam decided to stick with it. He did not give up because it was what he loved, despite having to wear a pink skirt as a uniform. This ties perfectly into the theme.

            Sam goes through many changes from the beginning to the end of this story. At first, he was a shy kid going to a new school with his new red sneakers and no athletic skills. Then, as the story progresses he finds himself on a school team…full of girl’s but regardless he was good at it and proud of himself. He overcame the uncertainties and decided to just keep playing, because he finally found something that he is good at. This story shows how much you can progress in middle school. It is full of big changes, and big realizations, and Stuart Maclean brings out these elements in “Sam The Athlete”. At the end of the story, Mark Portnoy, “the big bruiser, who had teased him relentlessly over the years and caused him so much pain” was standing on the sidelines, stunned. Sam finally showed his bully that he was more than just an awkward kid with no talent. He found what he had been looking for. In that moment he realized “his future might be brighter than he had thought”.

        As awkward as middle school can be, everyone finds something they are good at, which is shown in “Sam The Athlete” by Stuart Maclean. The humor, theme and character development all collaborate well to shape this piece of writing.

Cliche blog post- Of Mice and Men

Slim and George sat down at the bar. Slim put a hand on George's shoulder and stated, "Like I said, George, sometimes a guy's gotta." George was as white as a ghost. Replaying the image of Lennie's lit up face made him think "am i a man or a mouse?" Slim could see the sorrow and confusion in George's face. "Well, look on the bright side, at least you ain't gonna have that big guy followin' ya around causin' trouble no more." George was silent. Slim realized that it was too soon to be saying things like that to George. "Have another drink, on me" Slim softly spoke. Suddenly, George let out a small whisper. "He had a heart of gold." "Look George," Slim persuaded. "come hell or high water, you still deserve to chase your dreams. Just because Lennie aint around to be with ya, doesn't mean that it aint gonna happen." "It was our dream. It wouldn't feel right without Lennie." George was as cold as ice. Slim, as usual, stayed cool as a cucumber. "Cut it out George" said Slim. "Everything's gonna be alright, you just gotta deal with it, and i'm here to help ya out. Now drink up." "You're right!" George exclaimed. Suddenly a wave of reassurance washed over him. "I'm gonna make our dream come true, for Lennie. But first, i'm gonna get drunk as a skunk!" "Thats the spirit, George! Have at er!" So the men spent the next hour in the bar, dreaming up dreams and drinking up beers. It was the perfect end to the most heartwrenching evening.