Society Tag

I am not a doctor. I do not hold a PhD. I am not writing this from a research lab strewn with papers on the subject I am (sort of) going to discuss. I am a 23-year-old creative writing graduate that lives with her parents. I am currently student teaching high school English. And I am writing from this bed where my clean clothes still lie in a pile (and will probably never be put away because that’s just how I roll). I have no authority on this matter andRead More

As the year ends, it’s time that we take stock of everything that has happened in the last 365 days and make sense of it all. Like any other year, 2014 was a time of highs and lows, ups and downs, the good and the bad. But ain’t nobody got time to focus on the bad stuff, so let’s take a look back on the BEST things we’ll remember from 2014. Here are my picks for the best of 2014.   Best Movie of 2014: Gone Girl I most certainly didRead More

Let me preface this by saying that I have no issue with beauty pageants…or whatever the politically correct people of the Internet want to call them. If you’re beautiful with a rockin’ bod, hats off to you, my friend! However, I do take an issue with the fact that we are still pretending these beauty pageants are anything more than beauty pageants. Yes, these women are philanthropists and scholars and diplomats and general do-gooders. But first and foremost, they are beautiful. They are beautiful women, who are ALSO those otherRead More

When you’re on a date with someone and there’s a lull in the conversation, sometimes that lull grows into a black hole of silence that there is no returning from. And the more you realize it’s growing, the more you panic, the deeper you sink into the quicksand of quiet. So before it gets to the eerie point of a borderline monastic silence, you should enlist the Art of So. The Art of So is centered on the theory that people love to talk about themselves. This is usually theRead More

You’ve seen it everywhere lately. Unless you’ve been hiding under an incredibly immense boulder, you’re aware what’s going on in Ferguson, Missouri. You’re aware what’s going on in New York City. You’re aware that widespread protests, riots, and general civil unrest are permeating the streets of American cities and towns from coast to coast. You know the material facts – that two unarmed black men are dead, killed by police officers. You know that there are two sides to the issue – one side defending the police officers’ actions asRead More

To be considered beautiful in our society is to be skinny, slim, have that endearing little thigh gap. Plus Model Magazine claims, “Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.” How far is pushing the scale to be “pretty” in our society? We are made more aware of the immense prevalence of body image and how they affect females of all age and races in Western societies. The weight loss industry is so successful because it preys on peoples’Read More

On December 9th, 1988, 27-year-old Scott Johnson, a gay American mathematician, was found dead and naked on the rocks near Blue Fish Point in Sydney, Australia. No unusual conditions were noted. It was reported a suicide. A judge corroborated this theory. Scott’s older brother, Steve Johnson, thought differently. After hiring a private investigator, it became clear to Mr. Johnson that suicide was most likely not the case. Instead, it was discovered that Blue Fish Point was, in fact, what was known in Sydney as a ‘gay beat’, which is toRead More

I’d been working for two weeks straight and it was my day off so I was a little apprehensive when my housemate suggested we go see a movie called Gone Girl. I was totally unaware of this movie, hadn’t seen any trailers. Somehow it was totally off my radar. “Gone Girl?” I thought, “Why are we going to see a chick flick?”   Looking ahead at a day of playing Borderlands and not wearing pants, I thought that I may as well schedule some time to stretch my legs andRead More

A few weeks ago I wrote an article on the prevalence of lists in current internet news media. News, (popular culture aside), it seems, has begun to appear more accessible to readers in this particular format. Why is that? I conducted a brief study, emailing folks a link to two articles discussing marriage in the 21st century. One article was presented in list-form. The other was not. I asked them to tell me which article they’d rather read. The result? 70% of people preferred the article in list-form. When askedRead More

So, two nights ago, I saw a movie I’d been wanting to see for quite some time – Gone Girl. Having never previously read the book upon which the film is based, my enthusiasm came from my appreciation for director David Fincher and the enticing previews I had seen. First things first: the film was fantastic. I recommend that each and every one of you go see it ASAP. But now, a few days removed from roller coaster that is Gone Girl, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the movie as a commentaryRead More

If only Facebook had a dislike button… If Facebook users everywhere could just NOT be that guy…that’d be great.     1. Inviting friends to play Candy Crush Listen up Candy Crushers, we are all very much aware of the inescapable presence of Candy Crush on Facebook. So if we don’t have it, it’s because we have no interest in playing it, and therefore made a conscious decision not to download it. Maybe you’re a first time offender and didn’t consider the aftermath that could potentially stem from you clicking theRead More

Maybe you think you’re helping, but the thing is, we’re all becoming awesome individuals according to our own standards, desires, beliefs, and values. So these lists — Things That You Should Know lists, regardless of which gender it’s directed at — have to stop.  I’m far from being a Helen of Troy, but I’ve never sat at home and scratched my head (or balls), wondering what I needed to change in order to be more attractive to others.  I guess it’s cute that people are trying to help, and IRead More

That was the title of the article. I saw it on Facebook and instantly clicked it because…I was sitting in my room, watching re-runs of Seinfeld, eating a bowl of the kind of cereal that makes you poop, wearing my tangerine high-waisted shorts, and suddenly…regretting all of my decisions. And as it turns out, guys HATE high-waisted shorts. They think they are awkward and unflattering and should be burned at the stake. (Along with your rompers, which according to the article, look like pillowcases and your maxi-dresses, which apparently makeRead More

1. Putting out those “Leave your S.O. for me, he/she can’t love you like I can” songs. My bae, God’s voice bestowed upon us in human earthly form, Sam Smith has this song called “Leave Your Lover,” which is exactly what it sounds like. Like bruhhhh, why does this trope exist? Of course her man can’t love her like you can, but maybe that’s why she chose to be with him over you? You think you can love her “more,” that’s debatable, but more is not necessarily better. You can putRead More

Here’s a question worth asking: why does contemporary news come in list-form? It used to be we’d get the occasional, yearly ‘Top 10 Albums’, ‘Top 10 Movies’, ‘Top 10 Books’ lists, and so on. In recent years, though, the practice of utilizing lists became somewhat of a go-to platform for authors of popular culture. Lists ranking a year’s most entertaining television shows evolved into indexed accounts of where to find the most delicious nonfat lattes in southern California. If you were wondering why giraffes should be your favorite animal, BuzzfeedRead More