Miss Unlimited, do you know Jean Kilbourne? You’re about to meet her. Please take a break today (the video is in two parts, 20 minutes each) and I promise you will be wiser, sharper, more in tune with yourself and the world around you. You will stop. Your jaw will drop. If you think your self-esteem isn’t adversely affected by media and advertising, you’re dead wrong. And I know this to be true because I thought it myself before I saw this YouTube gem.
Now watch. Even if you only have time for the first few minutes I will be thrilled. I know you’re moaning and groaning because I did the same thing. I don’t typically watch a lot of stuff online, but this is an EXCEPTIONAL exception. If you want to change your life and other women’s lives, you will press play.
Good morning, sleepy head. What did you get, about 9, 10 hours of sleep last night? You are a beautiful growing gal and of course more sleep just makes you more fabulous. For years popular science has given your age demographic the all-mighty sleep nod and proclaimed that teenagers need about 9 1/4 hours of sleep a night JUST TO FUNCTION.
(Oh my God. I just got a bit faint at the very idea of 9 1/4 hours of sleep.)
If you are one of these teens cashing in your, “sorry, I can’t help you with that, I need to be sleeping” cards, you might want to sit down, because I have a bit of news for you. A new study has just come out and the results proclaim that teens only need seven hours of sleep a night.
And these guys kicked it up a notch. Not only do they say you only NEED seven hours, they say that you will rock school work better with logging in seven hours with the Sandman instead of nine.
Whenever I feel dissapointed with myself, I always recall this story:
Once there was a boy named Jamie. He desperately wanted to participate in the annual school play. He practiced hard for his audition and had his whole heart into it. However, his mother knew that he wouldn’t get selected. The auditions were held and results announced. Excitedly, Jamie rushed up to his mother and told her, “Mommy, I have been selected for sitting in the audience to clap and cheer for them!”
This short story has given me a lesson for a lifetime. Though Jamie did really want to act in the play, not being selected didn’t make him lose his confidence. He was still positive, happy, and satisfied with what he got.
I can tell you when we met. Not because I have a magical memory from when I was three and a half. Because it was an important enough event that we went back and figured it out.
I have a fuzzy picture of the two of us standing in the doorway. I don’t know if it’s a true memory, or one I’ve constructed from others’ recollections. Either way, it’s precious to me.
We were best friends before I knew the importance and significance of a best friend. She liked to play house and swing on the tire swing with me.
I lost that special, unique connection when I skipped third grade. We would see each other at recess and birthday parties, but the occasional sighting isn’t enough to keep a friendship alive. Not a best friendship.
When I graduated high school I didn’t really have a focus on what I wanted to do with my life. I gave up college to marry young and we set out in the military, where my then-husband was in the army. I’d worked at a video store (before movies could be sent to our not-yet-existent…
Today is February 15th. It is the 1503 anniversary of Khosrau being crowned king of Persia. It is St. Louis, Missouri’s birthday. It is the day of the Flores Theater fire in Acapulco, Mexico. It is the day after Valentine’s Day. From the time I was twelve, I’ve kept a Valentine’s Day Journal to record…
Girl, I know you’re stressed. You’ve got exams, papers, a social life to tend to, college applications to send off, extra-curriculars and family stuff. I get it. And I’m not going to be one of those adult women who say, “Ha! you don’t know stress. Try having a job and kids and a lazy husband.”…
My Dearest Kyra, Valentine’s Day might be an over-commercialized excuse for companies to shove jewelry, sappy cards, 2-for-the-price-of-1 dinners, and stupid stuffed animals holding “I *heart* U” pillows down our throats. Don’t get me wrong; I love love and the idea of celebrating it, but the marketing sometimes leaves me bit jaded about the holiday…
So it’s almost Valentines Day. A lot of you are hopelessly single, drifting from fantasy to reality, wondering if you’ll ever find “the one.” Chances are, what with all those years ahead of you, you will definitely find the one. It may seem now that everyone in the world is coupled up and cheerful, unlike us…
In today’s media, teen girls are often portrayed as pathetic people torn between a few overly-hot guys. First of all, I don’t know about the rest of you, but my school seems to lack seniors that look like they’re twenty-something and are actually attractive. (There are a few seniors that look like they’re twenty-something, but…
