Childhood

It's about

Growing up

And quite about changing,

Going     all     the      way  

From

Pretty pink dresses

To black skinny jeans

 

From a princess on Halloween,

And a ninja on the next

 

From being so absolutely positive of being a cowgirl when I grow up

To not even knowing

Entirely

who I am now

From every morning,

Complaining and complaining

On and on about hair that went on and on

To cutting it all off,

Once with permission, and again without

 

From braids like Katniss

To bangs like Sara

 

From nothing but pink

To mostly black

 

From pop and back

To emo, then punk

On to the 80's, then forwards to 90's rock

And all the way back to indie

 

From trying to be just like becca

To counting down the days

Until she finally leaves for college

 

From that time when I wore a mustache all day long

Just for the hell of it

To getting really pissed when

I am stereotyped

And get stared at and redirected to the girls' section

When I shop sometimes in the boys'

 

From not caring one whit about school

To always completing the endless studying and projects and homework

That are just oh-so-important for

Everything

Although

It can be awfully hard to tell how,

Sometimes

 

From only having boys as my friends

To getting gossiped about for it

But then deciding the girls aren't really that bad

I happen to be one, after all

 

From being terrified to even cross the street

Being afraid of drains

Because there's an alligator

Living

Down in the sewer, of course
(or is it a crocodile?
Now I can't even remember)

To taking the subway

Alone

Everyday to school



And that's growing up

and Changing

and most things in between

                       For me.

'Beauty Queens' by Libba Bray


What do you first think of when you hear 'beauty queen'? Probably a girl who isn't very smart and is obsessed with her looks, right? Well, that's also what most of the female characters in the book 'Beauty Queens' might seem like at first, but as the plot progresses, it becomes apparent that there's quite a bit more to the girls then that first impression. A theme that occurs rather often in the book is women (and girls) don't have to be stereotypical, nor do they have to be the way other people ('society') wants them to be.

By being contestants for the Miss American Teen Dream pageant, the girls the book focuses around are shown on TV as being very stereotypical beauty Queens. But once their plane crashes on an unfamiliar island, the Miss Teen Dreamers are left to find themselves--as well as food, water, shelter, and as many beauty products as can be salvaged from the wrecked plane.

One of the characters, Petra, used to be a boy. But by changing gender, Petra really becomes herself, and not the way 'society' wants to see people--boys being boyish and girls being girly. At one point in the book, Petra says '' I'd say, I'm too f**king fabulous for one gender". This quote shows how Petra is who she, not he, really is.

And then there's also Nicole, who is the only African American contestant to make it into the Miss Teen Dream pageant. She is constantly being judged at back in her hometown because of her race. " I'd say I'm not a race, I'm an individual". Also, Nicole notices and often thinks about how on many kids TV shows, there's that "black sassy sidekick best friend" to the main character, who is often white, and that this character will have one or two 'sassy' lines, but then just fade into the background. But then when its just the Miss Teen Dreamers working together on the island, Nicole is just treated as an equal to everyone else.

And as a last (but not least important) example, there is Sosie. Sosie is hearing impaired, and a little confused about her sexuality, or at least simply doesn't want a label. She makes a joke at one point about having "majored in straight but with a minor focus in gay". Sosie also says "I'm hearing impaired, not invisible." These are both quotes that show Sosie being herself, and also being tired and annoyed at people stereotyping her.

In conclusion, the book Beauty Queens  by Libba Bray teaches the reader that its important to be yourself, not just the way society 'wants' you to be (especially for women/girls).

The character that its post is about is named Samantha Kingston, and she is from the book 'Before I Fall' by Lauren Oliver. (Due too budget cuts, we had to sell the stage. Sam, we apologize about that, and invite you to step up on this cardboard box and imagine it's a stage.)

So. Samantha. "Sam''. Where to begin? How about a summary of the plot.

'Before I Fall' is about Sam and her clique, Lindsay (she's sort of the ringleader of the group), Elody, and Ally. The book takes place on 12 February, the Friday before valentines day. At the school it's 'Cupid Day', where other kids, mostly freshmen, hand out roses. Its a sign of popularity to have a lot of people buy you flowers. Anyway, Sam and her friend's get through school, go to a party, get drunk, and end up in a car crash in which Sam dies. But wait, if she's dead, how is there a story? Is it told from the afterlife? Well, sort of. It's like Groundhog's Day but with rich 'badass' high school girls doing just about every awful thing they want to.

So Samantha's problem is what to do when that same day, Friday 12 February, happens again. And again. For a whole week.

A quote from the back cover of the book says "Readers will love Samantha best". Its a bit tricky to love someone who' is spending her time smoking, drinking, gossiping, bullying, keeping secrets and telling others', and worrying whether she should actually do it with her boyfriend or what. Or at least that's what she's like in the beginning of the book.

As Samantha repeats her day, she tries different things: chilling with a stoner girl who has many issues, cutting class, breaking up at different times with her boyfriend, kissing some other dude, seducing her maths teacher, getting drunk, overhearing the gym teacher and vice principle kissing and later blackmailing them, and plenty of other awful things.

But then there's one day where she spends it with her family. She takes her little sister for a walk in the woods, the. Goes to dinner with her family like she used to before she got so interested in popularity, etc.

And then on the last day, she finally does everything right. She gets a present to the stoner girl. She stops another girl who her clique had been bullying from committing suicide,. She breaks up with her boyfriend and kisses the one boy she actually loves. And then, at the very end, she dies.

In the very last few paragraphs of the book, once Sam has already died, she says how that last time only the good memories flashed before her eyes, and she notes that that last time it happened, she wasn't afraid. She wasn't afraid because in those last few days (or really day) of her life, she did everything right.

So even though Sam does quite a few awful things in her life, its the good she does that makes us, the reader, love Samantha Kingston best.

This summer, I read the Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, partly because I had a copy on hand, had just seen the movie that spring, and because it was on the summer reading list. As I was reading it, I noticed that, in my opinion, the language in the book is nicer than the characters. Especially most of the women characters, who don't really have any character development. For example, I'll invite Daisy Buchannan to the spotlight. Daisy is seen as being attractive, as well as lovable. She also has a certain habit of murmuring instead of speaking clearly, causing the people around her to lean in. Nick Carraway, the narrator, points out that Daisy loves the attention that people give her.

Next, shall we invite the lovely Miss Baker to the stage? She is one of Nick's close friends, and goes with him to Gatsby's party. She seems clever enough, until we find out that she's a 'pathological liar'. Oh, and she cheats at golf. What a wonderful résumé.

Now lets add Myrtle Wilson, Tom Buchannan's very own mistress into the mix. She is described as being unattractive, as well as unladylike. Alright, that's fine. But then when Nick meets Mrs Wilson, he founds out that not only is she already married, she's cheating on her husband Mr Wilson by being Tom's mistress. And then she's also cheating in her own way on Daisy because she knows that Daisy is married already to Tom.

In this book, not only are most of the women characters shallow and not entirely likeable, but the men are, too. Let's take a look at this Tom. Mr Buchannan, please take the spotlight. When Nick goes to dinner at the Buchannans' estate, the talk during dinner is all about some rather racist book that Tom had just read. Tom is generally described as being conceited. Then Tom is very eager to introduce Nick to his mistress Myrtle, so he can boast about how much of a man he is and to make Nick jealous.

And now what about this Nick character anyway? Mr Carraway, the floor is yours. In the very introduction to the book, Nick states that he thinks of himself as having high standards because of his father. Later in the book, Nick says in a conversation that he doesn't like careless people. At the same time, Nick is friends with Gatsby, who careless at times, but has enough money that he can literally 'afford' to be careless.

So, after reading the Great Gatsby, I learned that there can still be a great book, with excellent writing and technique, and a fine story, despite having many not so nice characters.