First, life is unpredictable. Secondly, I like reaching small, obtainable goals. Like exercising at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes or drinking water 8 times a day. Those are simple, realistic goals, but those are NOT the goals that I want to reach right now because I hate exercising and I am obsessed with soft drinks right now. I drink water from time to time, but I am not a big water fan.
I have starting this measure to plan out my life more clearly and deliberately. I am getting out of this house and this is like my ticket out. The more I think myself as an old, pitiful 30 year old man (not a guy but you know the stereotype) living in the basement of his mom's and dad's house, the more I want to haul. So, I have decided this plan to keep my life in shape and in focus. Each month, I will post my monthly plan. I hope to complete all my October goals so by Halloween, I know what I need to accomplish in Novermber. Here is what I aim to do for the rest of this month:
October Plan:
-Apply to more internships/jobs online.
- Organize my very own mock interviews.
- Reconnect with friends and spend time with them outside of this house.
- Network with Smith College alumanae.
- Start my career by earning a committing job .
- Get more sleep.
- Research more on my companies of interests. (ie. Google, Mediabistro,etc.)
- Stay update with industry news in the media, entertainment, and technology industries.
- Continue writing my blog at least 5 times a week.
I will cross off the goals that I have accomplished by the end of October. Wish me good luck!
I'm not a child
But I know
Where the wild things are.
It's out there.
Not waiting for me
It's just out there.
I'm ready for it.
No more white lies.
No more illusions.
Wild things are out there.
Silly dreams
Are dreams too real to imagine.
You can find them
Where the wild things are.
- By LadyMel (Inspired by my life right now, and the new Hollywood movie adaptation of the book that I haven't read, but I will pretty soon.)
I said about a week that I love fashion and I do. But, as someone who admires the fashion and entertainment industries, I am also a critical critic with some of its practices and regulations. I am critical because I learned as a Smithie to challenge and question the status quo. I do it all the time now. Recently, French Vogue launched its November Issue and has anyone buzzing about Dutch model Lara Stone's blackface photos in her thirteen page photo spread. Thanks to Twitter and other online blogs such as my beloved Jezebel.com for updating me on this matter. I seriously do not understand why a magazine publication would do this. How can magazine editors see this as art?
If you read the comments below this video on its Youtube page, people are commenting that this is a cry for black people to shout out "racism, racism, racism" every time some non-black people puts on blackface or allegedly does or say something racist towards black people. But I have some thoughts everyone should take into consideration:
1. The United States just elected its first black president. If you haven't noticed this even if you are not an American, remember that there wasn't a black president until 2008. There were 42 white presidents before him.
2. Wow, we just elected our first black president. Hooray! Racism is so over! We are free at last! If you follow this philosophy, where have you been these past 500 years?! Many political figures are spreading anti-Obama hate all across the country. This post-November election world is bombarded with people who do not think that Obama is an American citizen because his father was Kenyan and that he is spreading his socialist ideology to every facet of our society, including our children. Let just say the 2008 presidential elections brought the racists out of the closet.
3. There is always this misconception that France, Great Britain, and other European nations are more racially-tolerated because slavery ended in those countries way before slavery ended in the United States in 1865. But is there is a black or non-white British prime minister? No. I admire French culture, especially its intellectualism. Famous African-Americans in the late nineteenth century such as W.E.B DuBois left the U.S to France because France was more accepting of racial minorities than the land of the free. Fast forward to 2009. Paris has a strong, present North-African immigrant population. Algeria was a former French colony. Yet, they live in the poorest Parisian neighborhoods around. Secondly, France has more strict immigrant and assimilation laws than the United States. So, I am not surprised if these people are having a harder time being accepted into modern French society because they also discriminated based on their ethnical backgrounds.
4. Europe started modern imperialism and the bondage of non-white people. So, don't make it seem that Americans are overly sensitive to these issues. Racism is everywhere.
5. There were NO women of color in this French Vogue issue.
6. Fashion has a long history of not accepting models who do not go by the industry's standard beauty qualifications.
7. Did I forget anything?
Although, French fashion is art, I think it is best to be fresh and creative in other ways. Unless, magazine publications want drama and controversy added to their resumes. Maybe, just maybe, the editors and photographers were not thinking about blackface in the context of the colonialist history. Maybe there were challenging our traditional notions of "race" and "racism". But, people have to be more careful and considerate of the current state of race politics in the United States and in other countries. The United States is not the only country with this problem. Trust me.
1. The United States just elected its first black president. If you haven't noticed this even if you are not an American, remember that there wasn't a black president until 2008. There were 42 white presidents before him.
2. Wow, we just elected our first black president. Hooray! Racism is so over! We are free at last! If you follow this philosophy, where have you been these past 500 years?! Many political figures are spreading anti-Obama hate all across the country. This post-November election world is bombarded with people who do not think that Obama is an American citizen because his father was Kenyan and that he is spreading his socialist ideology to every facet of our society, including our children. Let just say the 2008 presidential elections brought the racists out of the closet.
3. There is always this misconception that France, Great Britain, and other European nations are more racially-tolerated because slavery ended in those countries way before slavery ended in the United States in 1865. But is there is a black or non-white British prime minister? No. I admire French culture, especially its intellectualism. Famous African-Americans in the late nineteenth century such as W.E.B DuBois left the U.S to France because France was more accepting of racial minorities than the land of the free. Fast forward to 2009. Paris has a strong, present North-African immigrant population. Algeria was a former French colony. Yet, they live in the poorest Parisian neighborhoods around. Secondly, France has more strict immigrant and assimilation laws than the United States. So, I am not surprised if these people are having a harder time being accepted into modern French society because they also discriminated based on their ethnical backgrounds.5. There were NO women of color in this French Vogue issue.
6. Fashion has a long history of not accepting models who do not go by the industry's standard beauty qualifications.
7. Did I forget anything?
Although, French fashion is art, I think it is best to be fresh and creative in other ways. Unless, magazine publications want drama and controversy added to their resumes. Maybe, just maybe, the editors and photographers were not thinking about blackface in the context of the colonialist history. Maybe there were challenging our traditional notions of "race" and "racism". But, people have to be more careful and considerate of the current state of race politics in the United States and in other countries. The United States is not the only country with this problem. Trust me.
I named my Blogger username after this new emerging pop diva. Lady Gaga. She has taken the world by storm and here are the reasons why I admire her:
2. She is now a gay activist. Now, I do not want to start a whole "Holy Bible, gay marriage" blog post because I understand that many people do not share my opinions on gay marriage and I do not want to create a partisan, one-dimensional online platform. But, I would say that is that I admire someone who values human rights for every person on this earth and values that people should fight for those rights regardless of race (I detest that word but that is another story), sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, and gender. If all people were treated with dignity and respect, this world would be in a much better place in the long run. Watch Lady Gaga speak in front thousands of gay activists at Sunday's National Equality March in Washington D.C. I do not think she did this for the publicity. She participated in the NYC gay community years before she went mainstream.
3. I love her music. It's pop music at its prime. But some of her songs especially her smash hit, Papparazzi discusses the recuperations of fame and fortune in a time when people value it more than their own lives. It's pop music with actual meaning to it. Her music gets you in the mood for dancing around your room without the care of the world, but her music comes straight from her heart. Issues of bisexuality, love, and fame came up in her debut album, The Fame.
4. She is not afraid to be herself. Critics say she overdoes it with her fashion picks on the red carpet (did you see her multiple outfits at this year's VMAs?!?!) , but is that relevant? Her role models are Andy Warhol, Prince, and Micheal Jackson, so she's in good company. Although, I like her feistiness and her power to resist the traditional social modes of femininity, she will inevitably become another social label. People will try to define her persona without knowing the real her and it is quite unfortunate. She does not care about the critics and that is why I like that about her.I think she will overcome that hurtle, you know. Let the critics say whatever they have to say about her and she will just ignore them. Hate and envy comes with the territory with being an entertainer in this industry. But I think bad criticism should not deny someone from pursuing his/her dreams. You only have one life to live, you know.
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