Standing on stage when a show starts is comparable to watching the sunrise and feels exactly like magic. All of a sudden nothing else exists, just me and the other actors, who have transformed into the characters they have been chosen to portray. A stage becomes the world, plywood trees come to life, and house flats turn into 3D homes full of family and history and everything - everything - is really really real.
Months of dedication lead up to that moment. Countless hours of memorizing, rehearsing, and learning have paved the path to a successful opening night. People have (probably) cried, there have been ungodly amounts of sweat, and most likely some blood. Hair has been pulled out, directors have shouted, and memories have been made. Oh, and 50 or so people who have never met before have created a family, and with that, a living, breathing production for the enjoyment of the audience.
But we don't act to please audiences - okay not entirely - mostly we act because we have no greater joy than walking onto that stage and becoming a whole new person. Again, and again, and again. I believe that actors live many lives. We live as ourselves, as our characters, and through our performances.
I was introduced to theatre - and musical theatre in particular - by my grandmother when she took me to see the Omak High School production of "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" the first time it played on the PAC stage. I was entranced by the idea that people did things like getting together and just putting on shows. It made me so jealous and excited that these high schoolers got to parade around in fancy costumes and sing and dance and people wanted to watch them. Every year we would go see the Children's Dance Theatre show in the winter and the OVOC (Okanogan Valley Orchestra and Chorus) musical in the spring. After a few years of this tradition, I yearned to be up onstage with all of them. These were people I looked up to and admired. Admittedly, I was a little starstruck by all of them. I had seen so many of them in these plays and met a lot of them in the lobby after the show that I felt like someday I could be one of them, someday I would be up on that PAC stage acting with Ugo Bartell, who I first saw as Gaston, and Doug Leese, who I saw debut as Rooster. Lisa Bauer played a French Maid in the same show Carine Wood played Belle and I wanted to be just like both of them. The girl who played Kim Macafee (Janelle Cutuli) I thought was so fun and young - if she could do it, why couldn't I? My main point here is I grew up watching these people, wanting to be these people, and seeing these people in many roles with the Community Theatre group. Watching normal people get to be stars in their own right inspired me to start acting.
Seeing Les Miserables, June 2012
Now I'm in a show directed Janelle Cutuli and co-starring Ugo Bartell. I have worked with Doug Leese on several productions, I worked at a drama camp for Lisa Bauer and Carine Wood and I see each other every summer for the Princess Party where she reprises her role as Belle. These people have continued to push me to be a better actress and work hard for my dreams, just by continuing to pursue their love of theatre. My point here is that Community Theatre plays a huge role in people's lives. Some places don't have access to big shows and big theatres like those who reside in Seattle or New York might. We don't get to see Broadway casts tour through the Omak PAC and leave us awestruck. We have doctors who leave work and go to rehearsal. We have teachers, and moms, and dads, and bus drivers, and retirees, and news paper photographers who put a smile on their face just from seeing the clock strike 6:45 and heading out the door to go to their 7:00 blocking rehearsal. And all of these people put on a show that will touch the lives of a child in the audience.
Community theatre gives children and young adults a venue in which to explore a potential career, something that could turn into their life or maybe just a hobby. It gives people a chance to see shows they would otherwise never get to see. It gives small town dwellers like us Omakians a chance to be big stage stars for a couple months, and it's pretty fun, too. Theatre isn't just for the geeky kids in high school, I believe that theatre is for everyone and a good community theatre can give a whole town - heck, a whole county - a way to see magic happen right before their very eyes.
Alexis Olmstead is an aspiring Broadway actress and Dorothy in OVOC's spring musical "The Wizard of OZ". She works out of a tiny town in Washington as a part time waitress, and a full time diva. For more insight on her life and useless opinions about other things, check back often.
In this day and age, beauty has become a social construct. Advertisements and magazine articles constantly bombard women, specifically between the ages of 15 and 22, with rules regarding how we dress, walk, talk, stand, eat and basically live so that we may be perfect, some may say beautiful, and basically unattainable to the opposite gender.
But there is more to beauty than make up and clothing, or knowing how to giggle or how to look nonchalant at all times. These aspects have nothing to do with beauty. I strongly believe that beauty comes from within. And now, more and more people are beginning to realize that Photoshop is not a mirror. Photoshop does not create the standard for what beautiful is. Real, live, men and women do. And we create that standard of beauty for ourselves. The definition of beauty is being rewritten, and it is being rewritten on our terms.
Shakanna Inman, a sophomore at Western Washington University recently sat down with a group of young women to discuss their definitions of beauty and feminism. Feminism and beauty are connected in a way that many people don't piece together at first. But in fighting for equal treatment to men as a gender, we are also fighting for our societal norm of beauty to not be dictated by Vogue. The women that Shakanna talked with, myself included, expressed many things about themselves, their concept of what beauty means to them, and whether or not they thought this made them a feminist. The answers varied on many things, but one of the points that came up over and over again was that beauty is the ability to be yourself.
And as many women know, we aren't always accepted for being who we are. We are told to just be ourselves, but the hidden message is actually to just be ourselves as long as you look flawless 100% of the day. Women have been told for so long that our natural selves are so wrong that we spend hours a day staring at ourselves in a mirror doing our hair, our make-up, our eyebrows. And when men tell us they prefer the "natural look" they don't mean that they like girls who aren't wearing any make-up. No, they prefer girls who wear neutral tones of eyeshadow. And men, if you are reading this and thinking to yourself "that's not true" try to imagine why women as a whole are rarely seen without make up. I once had a teacher tell a girl she shouldn't wear make up because she was so pretty and when she came to school with no make up on, made fun of her for appearing ill. She had to be dismissed from class because she couldn't stop crying.
But the day when women are not ashamed for going out barefaced is coming. Already women around the globe are embracing their definition of beauty. These women fight to be heard and to be able to say that they are beautiful just the way they are.
As the following interviews will show, young women are over the whole "let society decide what beautiful is" trend. "What is beauty?" they were asked. Beauty is strength. Beauty is confidence. Beauty is joy. These were all answers that came back.
Michelle Fields is a 22 year old feminist who believes that the most beautiful thing a woman can do is smile. "It's hard not feel beautiful when everyone around you is sharing your enjoyment". Michelle is very adventurous and has traveled around the country, and has even swam in the Arctic Ocean! She is a lifetime girl scout member along with her mother, whom she bonded with over their responsibility to "take care of the men".
"Being a feminist to me is feeling like a woman and being comfortable with that".
Fields is a feminist because she believes that power should be equal, along with rights and opportunities being the same for both genders. The example she used was the disrespect she receives from not wanting children, which is becoming more and more common in our generation. "I do not believe this supports equal rights or opportunities," she writes, "men and women should have equal legal rights and be looked at equally as individuals".
Alex Synnodis-Butler agrees. "To me, feminism is being proud of yourself as a woman, no matter what that
entails". And what makes Alex feel beautiful? Confidence. "I feel most beautiful when I feel confident in myself".
Alex is a 19 year old sophomore who wants to major in Spanish and travel to Argentina. She considers herself a feminist and says she is happy with the rights she has and "feels good about being a woman". I personally find Alex refreshing.
It is hard for a lot of women to feel confident in their own skin. For someone to so openly embrace everything about themselves is amazing. Confidence goes a lot of way in making yourself feel good about your own brand of beauty.
If we, as women, can start to feel more confident about how we look, how we feel, and ourselves as a whole, we can start to feel genuinely beautiful about natural selves.
For Tara Noir, a Junior at Western, that's what beauty is. Being carefree, with no makeup and without all the hair styling. You know, just being natural.
Tara is conflicted about whether or not she is a feminist but she's pretty positive she is. "To me, feminism means being most like yourself, and you shouldn't have people judging you for doing what you want".
Tara is going to be the first woman in her family to graduate from college is doing things for herself, and not worrying about what other people think. While she was living in Omak, WA she was sexually assaulted. "I want to be okay with it and I’m going to school to
empower people to help them be okay with what happened to them".
To me, empowerment and strength are synonymous. And while empowerment is the strengthening of spirit, many women believe that bodily strength is what makes them beautiful.
"My big brown
eyes, my size, and the slow but sure growth I see in myself at the gym (make me feel beautiful). That’s
why I wore a sports bra and yoga pants—I feel the most beautiful when I know I
am making small accomplishments for the sake of my health and strength, those
accomplishments make me happy, and it’s hard not to radiate beauty when you
feel happy and strong".
Monica Griffin is a sophomore at Western studying behind the scenes music production and journalism. She loves music "more than anything else and concerts are my spiritual home - there is no better universal language than music". She works out almost every day, in case you couldn't tell. "I love waking up sore because it means I kicked my ass the day before".
Monica considers herself a feminist, "but not a femi-nazi. I still appreciate a little chivalry. I am not blind to the mistreatment of other genders and do not think feminism is the answer to all societal problems." When asked what feminism meant to her, Monica replied, "feminism is a
support network for women. It helps every woman get what she deserves and gives
the community of womanhood a voice among the rest of the world".
Celia Peacock also believes that beauty lies in strength. "I get a secret satisfaction from lifting more than boys".
Celia enjoys her independence. As far as whether or not she is a feminist, Peacock says no.
Celia wasn't the only model photographed that wasn't a feminist. Madison Hatch, another Sophomore and a hopeful exercise physiology and nutrition major believes that beauty shouldn't be determined by what you look like, but what you are doing in your surroundings.
She believes that feminism means respect for females and equal opportunities for both genders. However, she has never considered herself a feminist because she has always felt that she has had equal opportunities in life and never needed to change how she was treated as a woman. "Personally, I have never had to think about woman's issues".
This poses an important question. Are there people who aren't feminists in the world just because they haven't thought about gender inequality or women's issues? Unfortunately this was a question I never got to ask.
And then there's me. I believe that a person's best attribute is their ability to shake themselves off and move on with life. Yes, I too believe that there is a certain beauty about strength.
I am a 20 year old girl living in Omak Washington who frequently blogs about feminism and how hard it is to be a woman in today's world. So yes, I am a feminist. And to me, that means that women as a community band together and fight for equality.
I applaud Shakanna for putting this project together. It is important to see women being able to feel beautiful in their own terms, instead of adhering to the cookie cutter woman that society would have us be.
So, reader, after seeing these young women and reading about their brand of beautiful, what makes you feel beautiful?
"This project is dedicated to women of all
kinds. I want women to embrace what makes them feel beautiful. You
can be told how pretty you are all day, but if you don'tfeel beautiful
then it doesn't mean anything. I want women to focus on feeling beautiful,
instead of what society says beauty is. Most of the women I interviewed
said that they feel the best about themselves when they are most natural;
not wearing makeup and not worrying about how they look. However, women feel
they must conform to society to make themselves "beautiful". When we
try to be someone else's misconfigured version of beauty, we are only hurting
ourselves". - Shakanna Inman
All photos in this post are by Shakanna Inman, copyright Shakanna Inman, 2014. Except for the photo of Shakanna. That's by me, copyright Alexis Olmstead, 2013.
Until I started working as a waitress I never wore make up regularly. I actually had a really difficult time applying make up. Growing up my grandma stressed that I didn't need to wear make up because I was beautiful without it, that I had gorgeous skin people would die for, that I only needed to wear it on special occasions to be fancy.
During that time I had no problem waking up in the morning and doing my hair, not doing my make up and finding no fault in how I looked. I had no problem thinking I was naturally beautiful. I always told myself that if I didn't feel pretty without make up, I wouldn't feel pretty with it, either. I went through all of high school and a year of college not wearing make up and not caring.
But then I started wearing make up. I started having to work an extra 15 -30 minutes into my routine to "put on my face" and it changed everything. I would like to pretend that starting to wear make up didn't change the way I perceived myself, but it totally did. And I know that some women wear make up to feel pretty, some women wear make up to enhance their beauty, and some just like the process of putting make up on. There is no fault in that. But I started wearing make up and suddenly I felt ugly without make up. I can pin point the moment when I changed the way I thought about how I looked with make up on, too.
Someone saw me on the street while I was walking to work, and after not seeing me for literally years their first comment was "ohmygosh you look so good...with make up on!" Their one comment killed my self confidence. And I know that is a lot of power to let one comment hold. But after going through 20 years of life believing I am beautiful without make up on, one person making it seem like I should wear make up 24/7 to continue looking pretty really just shatters all that work.
So I am fighting back. And again, with another lesson from my grandmother. Every morning when I don't put on make up and look back at the mirror, see my face, and get disappointed, I look myself straight in the eyes and say "I love you". Because to love someone, even yourself, is to love them (you) in spite of them (yourself). In spite of all the imperfections, the frizzy hairs, the pimples, the eyes that look so small without eyeliner, and in spite of the lack of self confidence I feel without make up now. Because believe it or not, I still get stopped on the street and told I'm pretty. Not often. But who goes out of their way to tell someone that they are good looking? One in a million people. But people still compliment my eyes, my smile, they tell me I'm kind for treating them well at the grocery store, on the street, and those are qualities worth loving.
And if the "I love you" trick doesn't work, I turn on Feeling Good by Micheal Buble and listen until I feel good. We shouldn't have to depend on things to make us feel gorgeous. I know we all do. But we are all beautiful in our own unique way. I have a friend who is seriously one of the most beautiful women I have ever met just because of the way she carries herself and her willingness to help anyone at any given moment. Beauty comes from your soul. Let's all try to remember that.
Alexis Olmstead is a part time waitress, and full time diva who strongly believes winged eyeliner will be her undoing. She is currently consuming too much coffee and trying to maintain her foothold on sanity. For more opinions and reflections (and a lot of ranting) check back often
When people ask me what I hated most about high school, I cannot usually give them an answer. Honestly, I have a hard time recalling moments or events from my high school career that I actually didn't like. But I got to thinking the other day, and one thing stood out. The dress code. I really did not care for the high school dress code. I understand, reader, that at this point you are probably thinking to yourself that my reasoning was because I was constantly in violation of it. You would be wrong. I never got in trouble for breaking the dress code because I exist in baggy sweaters and skinny jeans or pants. I always just thought it was unfair that as I female I was being punished and being held to this laundry list of rules dictating how I was allowed to address because apparently teenage boys are uncontrollable.
Holding students to a standard of wearing professional or semi-professional clothing to school makes sense. Demonizing the female body does not. And if you don't agree with me when I say that dress codes demonize the female body, then please continue reading. By telling girls and only girls that they have to wear certain clothing so that school can be a place of education free of distractions, you are telling them that their bodies are distracting and that is a bad thing. I'm sorry but if shoulder blades are so distracting that high school boys cannot control themselves any longer, then I think there might be a deeper issue. Like how shoulder blades became sexual. I'm not being ridiculous by using shoulder blades as a point. Most high schools (mine included) prohibit girls from wearing spaghetti strap tank tops. If I remember correctly I was once told straps on tank tops had to be at least an inch. Excuse me, but who is going to go around and measure that? "I'm sorry, Sally, your tank top straps are too thin, and John over there is about to die from the sexual tension between him and your very arousing shoulder blades."
Screw. That.
Telling girls they have a responsibility to wear certain items of clothing versus other options is telling them that being ogled at and possibly assaulted will be their fault if they made the wrong clothing choice. Telling young girls who are just getting in touch with their sexuality and developing their self image that if they wear short skirts that they are "inappropriate" and thus "slutty" is not going to make them feel good, it isn't going to stop providing distractions in school, and if anything, it is going to create more distractions because people are constantly judging what other people are wearing and if it doesn't fit within this pre-constructed idea of "good" that the school has set forth, then automatically the person inside of the outfit is a rebel, a slut, a girl your parents don't want you dating. And if a girl wears a skirt and looks "sexy" without trying, why is that her fault? And if she isn't pole dancing in the classroom, why is being sexy a bad thing? Teaching girls to have a positive view of their bodies and their budding sexuality should be being stressed in schools. After all, isn't high school supposed to prepare students for the real world? After 12 long years of girls being told that mini skirts are bad and strapless shirts are bad, and anything too tight is bad, they go into the real world and feel judged and dirty and bad when wearing anything against those dress codes. Why can I make that generalization? Because I can't wear my jeggings anymore without feeling mildly skanky because once, in high school, a male teacher asked if I didn't think my "pants aren't a little too tight?"
I'm sorry - wait, no I'm not - if you thinks my pants are too tight but I can breathe and I am comfortable and I don't feel like I'm being overtly sexual...in fact I didn't think anything inappropriate until you brought it up, teacher. And really, most of the time girls wouldn't be thinking about whether or not their outfits were sexy if school administrators weren't constantly policing girls to make sure that anything even hinting at sexy was immediately removed so the boys didn't get distracted.
Because after all, boys will be boys, right?
NO.
It is not my job to not be a victim. It is not my job to worry about whether or not a boy can control himself if he sees too much of my thighs. It is not my job to worry about getting raped. It is the rapists job to not rape. It is the rapists job to control themselves. It is the rapists to make sure they do not rape me. It is not my job to avoid being raped and ogled at. It is my body. I own it. And school dress codes remove ownership of the body by employing the "modest is hottest" method of shaming girls into robotically wearing and doing whatever the school wants them to do in regards to sexuality.
The female body is not sinful, it doesn't determine her character, and it is not any more sexual than a man's body.
AND THE FEMALE BODY IS NOT A SEXUAL OBJECT FOR MEN TO ENJOY.
Why is that being stressed? Because boys don't have dress codes. Administrator's don't worry about what girls will do if a boy wears a bro tank that is so tight that their abs are defined. They don't penalize boys for wearing pants so tight we can see their junk (ew) and I don't hear about kindergarten boys being forcefully removed from outfits deemed to inappropriate for school. For some reason administrators who write dress codes are still under the delusion that boys cannot control their penises whenever they see a girl in something that might be kind of sexual, such a short skirt, or a shirt that shows a tad bit of cleavage. But being a boy doesn't mean anything except they have a different body part and a different gender.
By ensuring they we aren't wearing anything that might make a boy want to rape me, the boys will be boys excuse is not only being reinforced, but their ill behavior is then condoned and excuse me, but why are we really marveling about the high rate of rape and sexual assault?
By telling girls that they have to dress a certain way because they are at fault if they become a victim, you are telling boys that they are somehow not to blame for raping a girl. In the same breathe you are are classifying girls as sexual objects and condoning bad behavior from boys.
This is how we have rape culture. This is how we have victim blaming. This is how come boys find rape jokes funny. I'm not saying dress codes are completely to blame, I'm saying they are part of the problem. I understand not wanting a distracting environment for learning, but not at the cost it comes with. Yes, it is bad to wear underwear to school. Spaghetti straps and mini skirts that are long enough to cover a girls ass? I think one could probably let that one slide.Students go to school to learn. If all we are teaching young girls is that their bodies are bad, and showing skin makes them even worse, what are we accomplishing?
Recently I read your article in the Los Angeles Times about this seasons Super Bowl match up. Now, as an avid fan of the Seahawks I was interested on what you would have to say about their upcoming bout against the Denver Bronco's, a team that has come out on top in two of their Super Bowl appearances. But as I read your article I could hardly contain the vomit that filled my mouth. Rarely are there such biased pieces of reporting that so blatantly screw up when it comes to fact checking.
I personally enjoyed your attempts to slam the Seahawks for talking trash when your whole article does nothing but put them down. Like, really, Bill? Can I call you Bill? K, thanks. Yes, the Seahawks do talk trash. But then again, the Broncos probably do as well. In fact, sometimes the only way to get pumped up on the sidelines so you can have a 15-3 season is to smack talk the other team. Where is the problem there? Yes, the Broncos have a large fan base, but so do the Seahawks.
And then there's the whole "they whined about the officiating thing when they lost the Super Bowl" thing. The NFL publicly apologized to the Seahawks for the bad calls during their one Super Bowl appearance and it is the ONLY Super Bowl in history to ever be decided by the officials. Had the game been called correctly we would have seen an entirely different Super Bowl back in 2006 with a much closer result that could have tipped either way. But Super Bowl XL is in our past. Super Bowl XLVIII is in our future, and statistics favor the Seahawks as the winners.
"It's Manning versus Sherman" Yeah, Peyton Manning (isn't he getting old?) is all over television. He likes to be on tv, we get it. He's a great quarterback. But in the past year he has dropped more passes than Russell Wilson did in the past TWO. Out of Manning's 659 attempts (the most in the NFL) 43 were dropped, averaging about 15 passes per drop. Wilson averages about 29 passes per drop and ended with 14 drops on around 400 passes. If you add that to last years stats, which were 24 dropped passes, you'd still have less dropped passes than Manning with 100 more attempts. Sherman, the Seahawks cornerback who has declared himself the best (he just may be right), will be attempting to intercept or block Manning's passes (assuming they don't get dropped anyways) and with a record like Sherman's and moves like the ones he displayed during the playoff game against the 49ers, you can be damn sure Manning is going to have a helluva time getting anything past the Seahawks defense. One can assume that Sherman will be pitted against Demaryius Thomas, the receiver that Manning has been using as a crutch all season long. Now, Thomas is a big man and in the past season has been able to dominate the corners placed against him just by sheer size. Richard Sherman, however, is also a big man and as stated by bleacher report "is seldom tested by opposing quarterbacks". If the opposing cornerback had only allowed just under two catches a game with an average of 13 yards a catch and 8 pick offs during the regular season I wouldn't mess with him either. So yeah, it is Manning versus Sherman, I get what you're saying, but why is that a bad thing? How can you be the best unless you prove it against the best?
And yes, Manning is the provincial "what a good guy" character, and Sherman gave an interview after the
game that started with yelling and shouting and stuff...but let's start by saying his team had just made it to the Super Bowl and you shoved a microphone in his face. But it wasn't just any player that you shoved a microphone in front of, it was the man who had just swatted away a pass and caused an interception that won the Seahawks a ticket to the Super Bowl. I would yell like that, too. And here's the thing. you mention that Sherman flashed 49ers player Micheal Crabtree a choke sign and then was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. However, Sherman's "choke sign" came after he attempted to shake Crabtree's hand and Crabtree shoved Sherman in the face. Funny how you left that part out, Bill. You could say I'm making that up, but then I would tell you to look to the right. Yes, Sherman apologized for his post game interview, stating that he could have "obviously....worded things better...and had a better reaction and done things differently" but its all in the past now and we can just accept it and move on. Even Sherman says that the interview was loud BECAUSE it was in the moment.
"Knowshon Moreno vs. Marshawn Lynch". You go on to talk about how sentimental and loveable
Beast Mode #2 vs The Saints 31 yds Seahawks win
Knowshon is and how he cries during the national anthem and yada yada yada. That's nice. Sentimentality doesn't win football games. Talent wins football games. Hard work and dedication win football games. Furthermore, in this match up why does it matter if Lynch didn't appear in front of the media? I wouldn't either! How well I talk to journalists does not relate to how well I play football. AT ALL. Now as running backs go, Knowshon is pretty good. This season he has 241 attempts with 1, 038 rushing yards (longest run 31 yards) and 10 touchdowns compared to Marshawn's 301 attempts, 1, 257 yards (longest run 43 yards) and 12 touchdowns. But you didn't want to comment on how well Marshawn plays, you wanted to comment on how he is called "Beast Mode". Well sir, when you turn a three yard run into a 67 yard touchdown ramble and cause an actual earthquake, henceforth known as the "Beast Quake" you get whatever nickname you want. The thing is, Marshawn enters Beast Mode on the field and ensures Seahawk victory. He is a key member of the Seahawks defense. Ask Russell Wilson. Knowshon Moreno is good. He just wishes he was Marshawn Lynch good.
And then you go and talk about Orange Crush versus Skittles. Let me stop for a minute here and tell you that Skittles aren't a team thing. They are a Marshawn Lynch thing, and if you knew ANYTHING at all, Bill. It would be that Lynch eats Skittles when he gets nervous or over excited because the sugar in the coating helps calm his stomach down. "Coach keeps them in the med kit next to the advil" he once joked. Orange Crush is the name fans have given anything the Broncos do...EVER. Seahawks fans, however, aren't only loved by our team, we are our teams 12th man and we put the team on our back. We support the Legion of Boom in whatever they set out to do, including but not limited to winning the Super Bowl.
The only thing that matters in this game isn't who is the good guy and who is the bad guy, because really there is no good guy/bad guy dichotomy in football, it is the fact that both teams are 15-3 and this could be one of the most exciting Super Bowls yet. So see you at the Super Bowl, Bill.
The Legion of Boom will be waiting.
Alexis Olmstead is an avid Seahawks fan and despises biased articles with faulty fact checking. She also wants you to enjoy this video entitled "What the Hawk Say". Go ahead, enjoy it.
"The girl in this photo has not been retouched. The real you is sexy". Since aerie Real's release earlier this month the ad campaign has been receiving major attention for holding themselves to a standard of natural beauty, and not retouching the models shown in their photographs.
Everything from tattoos to stretch marks has been left on the models, all for the public to see, and honestly, I'm loving it. Everywhere I go I see pictures of what I'm supposedto look like, and what I'm supposed to be, according to society and the fashion industry. But this campaign, and aerie, get it. Because so many images are shoved at us everyday that tell us that stretch marks are wrong. Thighs that touch are wrong. (side note: a very small percent of the population has a thigh gap and it's not important to anyone, least of all dudes who will never notice.) Belly rolls are wrong. Crooked teeth and uneven skin tones are wrong. Body hair is wrong. But the whole idea that women, in their natural state, are wholly disgusting and need made over is WRONG. However, this idea is cemented into our thought processes by the women we see on tv and in magazines, who have been so airbrushed they don't even look like themselves anymore. The women we see in magazines are lies. Those women don't actually exist. Because no woman has perfect skin and is perfectly shaped and also, who has the right to dictate what classifies a woman as a "real woman"? I digress.
Aerie's target demographic is women between the ages of 15 - 21, the group that is influenced most by what they see in the media, in regards to their ideas on beauty. But now...we are being empowered. We are being told that we are okay. That is perfectly fine to look like we do. That I, with my crooked smile, thighs decorated with stretch marks, and random mole on my face, am pretty.
Thanks, Aerie.
And yes, this is definitely a marketing ploy. But hey. If aerie is trying to move merch by telling me I'm sexy in my own skin, I'm going to let them. Because the world doesn't tell me that enough, and even though I'm a confidant young woman, it's really nice to hear the world tell me I'm hot without all the make up and photoshop once in a while. In a release, aerie stated that their whole intention with the campaign was to "challenge supermodel standards in young women". Aerie wants women to feel like we don't have to be supermodels all damn day long and that's sadly, revolutionary. So many companies make their money off of telling us what we could look like in their clothes, what we should look like and what products to buy to make us look that way and here comes Aerie, holding our hands and saying "hey, so what if your thighs jiggle when you walk. You still look cute in our underwear".
As if the ad campaign isn't enough, Aerie has revamped their website to show REAL girls wearing sizes of clothing that you're searching for. On most websites you get a model wearing a 36C, pretty average (thought to be ideal but who is to say what ideal breast size is?) cup size, no matter what size you click on when taking a closer look at the product. On Aerie's new website you click on 40DD you get to see a model sporting a 40DD bra, and it is real, and it is wonderful. Aerie's site is a refreshing change from other sites that market to the same group of young women, who often use way photoshopped photos (some less obvious than others) to model their apparel. The worst offender? I bet you guessed it. Victoria's Secret who only shows one model and that model is plastic perfect in her photograph.
Aerie vs. Victoria's Secret and Forever 21
The #aeriereal trend is one that I hope other brands follow suit on. Instead of opening up Seventeen (yes, I read Seventeen) and seeing all these young ladies I can't look like because I didn't win the genetic lottery and become a superhuman, I would like to see a girl I could relate to and be one of. The solution is as simple as the Aerie Real campaign. More women need to be shown naturally, not retouched, in magazines and major advertising campaigns to let other women know that we don't have to look like supermodels day in and day out. It's okay to have a day where we just wear our hair in top-knots and go to the store in our sweats with no make up on. Anyone worth mentioning probably won't care.
So thank you, Aerie Real, for attempting to end the cycle of companies telling us what we have to wear to achieve some standard of beauty we can't actually achieve. Thank you for telling me that it is okay to feel gorgeous in my own skin, and that the real me is amazing, just the way I am.
Alexis Olmstead is an aspiring Tony winner who just landed a really cool gig portraying Dorothy in OVOC's Spring Musical, The Wizard of Oz. She frequently rants about gender inequality and how annoying she finds rude people. For more updates on her life as Dorothy or her general opinion on random things, check back often.
This summer, swaddled in a down comforter, skin still warm from the heat of the sun, I watched a day disappear. As the sky began to turn orange I closed my eyes and took it all in. The beauty of nature, one of our greatest renewable resources, the cool breeze that gently kissed my face, and the knowledge that no matter how many sunsets I saw, I would never see this one again. It was a masterpiece gone too soon. Whenever I'm feeling sad, or angry, I remember that sunset, and existing underneath it, and I feel at peace with the chaos surrounding me.
I humbly submit, reader, that you too have one of these memories. I have more, most of them revolving around the sunrise and sunset. Yes, many of my favorite moments occur when a day is dawning, but more likely when its ending. Admittedly I don't actually believe 6 am exists, because I'm usually sound asleep then.
But one summer, I did witness 6 am and the beauty a sunrise has to offer. In my most magical summer yet, I was 15 and had just moved to Omak, where met my eventual best friend and sister, Carissa. Shortly after meeting she took me to one of her favorite hangouts - "The Spot". From there we could see all the city lights, the moon, and the stars, twinkling, staring back at us, perhaps watching our little lives unfold. We laid on our blankets and tried to count all of them, but fell asleep before we finished. We woke when the sun did, and wrapped up in blankets and youth, watched the sun ascend into the sky. I believe that was the first sunrise I ever really saw.
Watching the sun rise is almost hopeful. It validates the fact that no matter what, night will become day and things will start anew. With this knowledge comes a choice that we have to make. Do we shy away from the light of knowledge and new beginnings, or do we greet it with a smiling face and an open heart? There is a lesson to be learned there, I think.
And the sunset is equally abounding with lessons. No two sunsets are the same. They are always changing, just as we have to do as humans. Change is hard, change is scary, and it doesn't really get easier as time goes on. No matter what, though, change will come in your life, be it big or small. But don't look back. Move forward, or you live in the past at the expense of giving up the future and experiencing the here and now. Yes, I'll never see that beautiful sunset again, but I can fondly remember it from time to time, and with every new day comes a new dusk, bringing an equally or even more spectacular sunset with it. We must change to grow and adapt, else we sleep, and miss all of the opportunities life has in store.
There is something to learn in everything, reader. And nature may just be the best teacher we have.
Alexis Olmstead is a part time waitress and full time diva. She is currently spending her every waking moment poring over her Wizard of Oz script preparing for the start of rehearsals. For more attempts at philosophical, soul-searching posts, check back often.
