Editorial

Often after I write a blog post, I'm very pleased with myself for about ten minutes, and then I start to wonder if I said something stupid in the post.  I go back, look it over, fix a few spelling issues, then re-post it.  But slowly I start to realize some of the things I said might be a little over the top or even wrong.

So, this is me realizing that some of what I said in my last post could be taken the wrong way.  First of all, although I personally have decided I don't want to put up pictures of celebrities on my wall anymore, that doesn't mean I think you should do the same.  But I do want you to ask yourself whether you're objectifying those celebrities.

Second, it's not wrong to recognize attractive qualities in the opposite gender.  If you think Brad Pitt is good-looking, that's not a bad thing.  If people weren't attracted to each other the human race would be doomed.

What bothers me is when people start comparing wonderful, amazing people right in front of them (including themselves) to images.  It's when you see a poster of a guy and all you can think is, "He's hot," when right next door there's a beautiful man who's got so much soul but you don't recognize it because you've started to objectify men and see them only as good-looking things (same goes for women).

I think I've got all my bases covered this time.

The Objectification of Men

Okay, before all the feminists jump down my throat, I certainly recognize that women are objectified in our society, that it's a real problem, and that it needs to stop.  But I feel that men are similarly objectified, and few people are talking about it, at least that I know of.

A while ago, a friend of mine showed me her friend's Pinterest board entitled, "I Just Love to Look at Him."  The pins were of attractive male celebrities, and most of them were shirtless.  My friend and I didn't necessarily approve of the board, but a male friend of ours happened to be in the room and said something to the effect of, "Oh, so when a girl oggles a shirtless man it's okay, but if a boy looks twice at a girl in a bikini it's not?  How would you feel if I had a Pinterest board devoted to attractive, scantily-clad women?"  We tried to explain that we were only looking at the board because we thought it was funny that the board existed, not because we were oggling.

But it got me thinking about how often I get offended when men talk about "hot" girls in movies, yet that's
exactly how I described Chris Hemsworth when I saw him in Thor.  In fact in high school I had a wall in my room devoted to pictures of Orlando Bloom and Tom Welling, though in none of them were they shirtless.  I had never thought before that I was doing exactly what I wouldn't want my guy friends to do: comparing real people to a false ideal.

We talk about how young girls' perceptions of beauty are skewed because of how women are portrayed in media, but is a similar thing happening to young boys who see their sisters putting up the latest calendar of ab-sculpted firemen?  This video is from a while ago, but I think it's still very pertinent.  Women may not see themselves as beautiful because our standard of beauty is fake.  I wonder if men feel similarly.

According to a parody on Dove's Real Beauty Sketches, the answer is no.  In the original, women describe themselves to a sketch artist, then another person described them, and they saw the two results.  Invariably, the second picture was more beautiful than the first because, as the ending states, women are more beautiful than they think.  In the parody, the same thing happens with a group of men, except the results are opposite: the first picture is of a movie star, and the second is horrible.  At the end, it says, "Men, you're less beautiful than you think."  While hopefully we can chuckle good-humoredly at the joke, I think we should also recognize that it is a joke, not reality.  Men don't necessarily see themselves as beautiful.

Many of the men I've interacted with, in fact, don't have high self-esteem.  They see themselves as too fat, too thin, not muscular enough, too short, and even too tall.  They don't like their hair color, or say they don't have enough hair.  They criticize themselves as women do, offhandedly and usually without malice.  Once, several of my girl friends and I wanted to organize a group and sing to the men who lived in our apartment complex, "That's What Makes You Beautiful," by One Direction.  I regret that we never did it.  Those men didn't realize that we saw them as amazing, attractive guys just as they saw us as amazing, attractive girls.

With all of this on my mind, when I started dating my last boyfriend, I glanced up at the framed picture of David Tennant on my wall and I took it down.  I wouldn't want him to think that I found The Doctor more handsome than him.  Nor would I feel comfortable if he had a picture of, say, Billie Piper on his wall, possibly comparing her to me.

I think it's time we recognize that objectification happens to both sexes and it's not okay, and that all of us, men and women, are beautiful the way we are.

A Nook Versus a Book

A couple of months ago, I got a Nook.  I've enjoyed it, but recently I've had some experiences which got me thinking: is my e-reader really that much better than a book?

First of all, there's the battery issue.  My Nook requires that I charge it every other day on average if I want to be sure I can continue reading without my device shutting down in the middle of a chapter.  This is especially an issue if I know I'm going to be reading in the car or somewhere far from an outlet or my charger.  A book never needs to be charged, and I never need to worry about where I'll be when it loses power.

Also, I'd never considered before this month how important location is when reading my Nook.  I went on a trip to Europe and took my Nook with me so I could read on the 8-hour flight.  However, I remembered after taking my seat that until we got to a certain altitude, I wouldn't be allowed to use my device.  I was literally sitting next to a girl who was reading a book during take off while I had nothing to do but stare out my window.  This may not seem like a huge issue when you think about how long it actually takes to reach a safe altitude and how often I fly, but at that moment it was a big deal.  Are there other places a person would be restricted from using an e-reader but allowed to read a book?

My next complaint is primarily about the Nook and not necessarily about other e-readers.  The Nook has a nice feature called "LendMe" where you can share books you've bought with your friends.  One problem is that your friends also have to own Nooks (not Kindles) and therefore if you're the only person who owns a Nook in your circle of friends, you cannot share or borrow books, which is something I've relied on heavily as a reader through the years.

This raises another question.  Is there a system set up yet that will allow you to borrow books for a few weeks in a library format?  Until that happens, I may have to continue using printed books simply because I can't buy every book I want to read, and therefore must go to the library.

Now, of course the Nook and other e-readers have some positive traits that books don't.  They can hold tons of books, cutting down on weight and space.  E-books are less expensive than printed works because publishing companies don't have to pay for ink and paper costs.  I've noticed it's easier for me to sit in virtually any position and still comfortably read (one handed, I'll add, since I don't have to hold a page open).  There are other benefits that come with having a tablet, which is what most e-readers essentially are.

So who wins the competition, Nook or book?  I'm still not sure, but I think there are changes that need to be made before the world can completely switch from printed books to e-readers.

Is School Interfering with My Learning?

I know what the purpose of homework is.  At least I think I do.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's to give me a chance to practice what I've learned, and/or to increase my understanding of a concept outside of

I really do love school... Usually

class.  Furthermore, I know the purpose of due dates.  In my future career, I will most likely have dates when I will have to have projects or jobs finished.  Also, having due dates teaches responsibility and planning.  Now that that's established, I'm about to say some very mean things about homework, and I hope the reader will remember what I have already said.

Lately some interesting things have occurred in my education.  The other week I had a large homework load, with several tests to take within a few days, and the due dates for some projects were and are still looming before me.  I felt burnt out, but powered through the assignments, including one large paper.  This paper in particular was difficult because I would have to find two articles to back up what I'd already found in a book.  With everything going on that week, there simply wasn't time to find the articles, and I personally felt that what I had from the sources I'd already cited was good enough.  I also realized that if I didn't turn in the paper on time, I would get a 0 for that assignment, which would take me down to a B- in the class.  If, however, I could get only a 50%, I would keep an A-.  So I decided to skip the articles, turn in the paper the way it was, and actually do my Astronomy homework also due that day.  Something was better than nothing, right?

I was commiserating with my boyfriend and our mutual friend later that week about school, and our mutual friend mentioned that he had not yet turned in an assignment that had been due for nearly a week because he wanted it to be done just right; every day it was late he would lose a few percentage points, but he didn't mind as long as he could do a good job on it and be proud of the work he'd done.  My boyfriend and I looked at each other and basically agreed (paraphrasing Sweet Brown), "Quality work?  Ain't nobody got time for that!"  I have, sadly, been struggling just to get my assignments finished.  I know what I need to do to get a decent grade, and whether or not it's my best work I turn it in once it's done and move on to the next one.  That's all I have time for.

But I envy that friend who cares more about being proud of his work than about his grade.  After that conversation, I realized that for many of my classes, I have not learned a thing; I have done homework, and I have studied, but I have not learned.

Then something else happened.  It has become fairly clear that I am not going to be accepted to medical school this year.  While this is a blow, what's worse is knowing what to do next.  If I were to reapply this year, my application would need to show that I have had multiple new experiences since the least time I applied in order to be taken seriously.  I reviewed the last year and realized that I'd only volunteered at a retirement home for a total of 15 hours, and written my Honors Thesis.  That isn't enough to be truly significant.

I felt like an idiot.  Why hadn't I done more research or worked at a hospital or volunteered as a mentor?  I had two semesters and, basically, all I'd done was... school.  I'd been trying to keep my GPA high and take a few last undergraduate classes before moving on to more focused studies.  I thought over each of my 4.5 years of college and wondered, "What have I been doing?"  I realized that my extracurricular activities should have been more important than my schoolwork.  I should have taken more time to serve the community, get involved in more clubs, and work.  My best experiences have probably included tutoring at an elementary school, shadowing a physician, and serving the elderly.  But I didn't do much of those things because I was busy with school.

That's not to say I haven't enjoyed many of my college courses.  Anatomy, Physiology, Dissection Techniques, and Genetics were some of my favorites.  I've enjoyed nearly all my English classes (which is good, because that was my major).  I remember writing a paper about hair archetypes in art and how they have changed through the ages, and I loved it.  In that same class a group of students and I made a pamphlet describing how to wax a snowboard; it was fun.  That instructor told us to do whatever we wanted for our project, and so we got to be creative.  It seems that whenever I'm free to learn at my own pace in my own way about whatever I want, I like it more, I learn more, and I retain more.

I don't completely blame school or my instructors for what's happened; obviously I have to put forth effort and desire in order to enjoy learning.  But I have noticed that in classes where I have a list of things I have to do (I'm talking about stuff like, "You must write a five page paper on why birds fly south, and you must have four sources and at least one must be a book and at least one must be an article, and you have to use the vocabulary discussed in class"), I will absolutely do them, but it will be rote and with the minimum effort I can give.  And I will pull off an A.  In classes where I can learn about a subject I'm interested in without too many constraints, I'll run free and make a masterpiece, and I'll remember it forever.  I have gotten lots of B's in my favorite classes, but I don't regret those B's.  They were hard-won.

I can't blame a professor for giving homework, though I do resent it when he or she gives me a list of tasks rather than a plate of topics to learn about.  But I will say this: I wish I had done what I love more, instead of doing what I had to in order to get a grade.