Disney Princesses are Horrible Role Models

I know, I know… this is a highly controversial subject. Some people cling to their childhoods so strongly (and I am not really one to judge on this) that they are unwilling to believe the heroes they cherished so strongly as young girls are not all that great. Note that while this mostly applies to young girls, there are boys out there who loved the Disney princesses as well, and no, they will not always turn out to be gay. Thanks a lot, stereotyping. Still, I will mostly call the audience girls for this.

This is mostly because most young children like to pick their own gender as role models, so mostly young girls are affected by this problem. The problem is princesses never seem to do much.

Think of all the classic disney movies you have seen. No matter what Disney princess comes to mind, there are three things that set her apart: Looks, singing, and talent for invoking sympathy.

All Cinderella did all day was whatever her stepsisters wanted her to. While a lot of the situation was not her fault, she rarely if ever attempted to take matters into her own hands. When she finally does, it is only with the help of a fairy godmother who was summoned because she cried too much. Are you telling me if I cried enough a nice old magical lady would appear out of thin air, and give me whatever I wanted to make me feel better? Yes, that’s a good lesson to teach a six year old girl, especially if she’s at the store, shopping with her mother.

Ariel saved the Prince from drowning, but did he bother to remember her for that reason alone? No, he tried to find her by finding girls who sing well, to the point where he dumps the girl he’s genuinely interested in because of her personality, for the one who he knows nothing about aside from she can sing.

In Alladin, Princess Jasmine is slightly better than her predecessors, but she still rarely manages to do anything on her own.Alladin may like the princess for her personality and free spirit later on, but in the beginning, he only rescues her because of her good looks.

All in all, while the movies are good classics, and there is nothing wrong with enjoying them, we need to be careful of what behaviors we teach young girls, or else be unsurprised when our children begin to imitate that behavior. Also, please note that princesses such as Rapunzel and Tiana are exempt from this lecture. Perhaps there is hope for the next generation after all.

Beauty is Optional!

No matter where I go or who I talk to, there is always one thing that people seem centered on, and I have a feeling it would never change even if I ran away to China. It is fixed in our minds, whether we know it or not, and we never have a chance against it.

I am, of course, talking about beauty.

I am not sure how we as a culture began to obsesses so strongly on the aspect of physical perfection in a person, but it is clear no human being, especially not women, can escape it. Now, as a general rule, there is nothing wrong with looking good. Good looking men and women exist everywhere, and I have no problem with that. But I do have a problem when we become so obsessed with beauty we go to extreme lengths in order to feel beautiful.

But we go too far, and deep down inside, we should realize it.

Think about it. We buy hundred dollar makeup that could feed a family of four for a week. We will refuse to wear certain clothing just because we don’t think it looks good enough on it, even if it is far more functional. We risk cancer and skin diseases just making sure we fall into the perfect shade of skin color. We pay thousands of dollars to inject ourselves with jellyfish venom, for crying out loud!

This has got to stop. Our obsession (yes it is) is getting out of hand. Heck, it got out of hand when we began to develop real psychological conditions based on the fear of not being beautiful.

But I think all of America, and especially the women, need one crucial reminder: beauty is not the center of the universe. I mean it, just think for a second. If you were the most beautiful human being in the world, with the hair of a Disney princess and the face of Helen of Troy, would you really feel better about yourself? Would your problems all really be solved? Would school suddenly be easier, all your worries gone? Would you be able to pay your bills? Would you fight with your family or friends less? Of course not. Life doesn’t revolve around looking good, why should you?

And finally, what if you weren’t pretty? What if there was absolutely no redeemable quality about your looks (which trust me, there’s something)? What if you were absolutely, hideously, irredeemably (GASP!) plain?? What then? Would you just give up on life? Surrender and stay in your parents house until your dying day, where you die alone and unloved?

Once again, the answer is of course not. Even if you didn’t fit into what our culture classifies as “pretty,” you would still be fine. You would still graduate school, get a college degree, find a good career, and, even if you don’t believe me, you will find someone who will love you for what’s on the inside. Besides, culture’s belief of what is beautiful changes all the time. Hey, anybody here remember when fat was considered beautiful?\

Signed, a plain and proud Saga staffwriter.

Blue

Do you want to know what my favorite colour is? Blue.

Not some pale imitation of blue, mind you.

Not some stupid “robin’s egg” sort of thing.

Not the color of the sky over Los Angles during the day (because let’s be honest here, there’s so much crap up there, it’s hardly even capable of being called blue).

No, I mean that dark, lovely, rich Sapphire Blue. Just think about it. Picture it in your mind. The colour of the sky right when the sun goes down, and the moon comes up. The colour of the sea about 50 feet under. The colour that sometimes forms in those nebulas way off in deep space, if you’re a fan of astronomy.
That blue. Pretty, isn’t it?

Just the fact that I was able to describe those sorts of things to you tells you about what kind of colour this is. This is the colour that is rarely man-made; it appears naturally, in the wide, sweeping, vistas our world is capable of creating. It also brings to mind adventure, the place beyond our backyard fence. It makes us open our eyes and our imaginations to the world around us, because if such a beautiful colour can exist for so long without us knowing, what else are we missing in life?

It’s scientifically proven that different colours can change your mood. Blue relaxes you, calms you down, helps you think peaceful thoughts. Many bed and hotel rooms are designed to incorporate blue because of this. Some people even like to meditate on the color blue for this reason.

I fell in love with this colour when I got Pokemon Sapphire Version. I was putting in my game (for nowhere near the first time, mind you), when all of a sudden, it hit me. I looked at the game, I mean really looked at it, and I realized something: I’ve never done this before. I never noticed all the little designs and pictures they put onto the GBA cartridges. I never took time to appreciate the cover design, or the Nintendo logo at the top, or the way they stealthily hid the screws in the plastic so it wouldn’t draw the eye and distract from the picture. But most of all, I never took time to notice that shade of blue.

It is a really pretty blue.

Homecoming Spirit?

The problem I encounter constantly whenever homecoming is brought up, is most people don’t even know what homecoming means, let alone care about it.

The idea behind homecoming is a time to invite PV alumni back to campus to enjoy and reminisce on the days they were there. While it’s fair to say that doesn’t happen nearly as often nowadays, is it really fair to say it’s the EX-student’s fault?

Students have a minimal amount of school spirit today compared to the amount of spirit they did twenty years ago. They complain about everything the administration tries to do for them, yet never offer feasible alternatives. (Realize that I am generalizing, as some students do have a lot more spirit than others, but the majority of teenagers fit this profile to some degree at least.) With spirit at such an all time low, is it any wonder graduates don’t really want to come back?

Homecoming is supposed to be about the school. At an ideal homecoming, you would come to the game with your friends dressed in your school’s colors, hang out in the bleachers and cheer on your team, then greet the older students who came to the school before you and maybe even get advice on your classes. Yet no one does this anymore because every time I bring it up around campus, I hear comments on how homecoming is “lame” and “pointless” and “no one wants to come watch football game.”
I think a serious attitude adjustment is necessary in order to fully appreciate what homecoming is about.

Plagerism is about more than just “cheating”

Look, let’s be honest here. You have probably plagiarized on some paper at some point. If you haven’t, which is highly unlikely, you know someone who has.

But the consequences of plagiarism are most than just purely academic. Plagiarism teaches you that it is okay not to work hard for your grade, and that laziness can always come through for you. In short, it kills your own work ethic, and when you are asked to do something that doesn’t allow for plagiarism, like an in-class assignment, or working at a job.

In addition, would you like it if someone else took your work and named it as your own without your permission? Of course not. All citations ask for is simply that common courtesy.

About me

Perhaps, if I am going to blog and write for the Saga, it would help if you knew a little bit about me.

I am in my senior year right now, but am currently in the College Connections program, which means I am gone for 90% of the school day, either at Butte College, or working on homework from home.

It is overall a very fun program, but generally demanding. it is also a bit inconvenient when, say, I want to do an interview for someone who is only available during lunch, which is right when I have Statistics. Or when Butte is on holiday, and PV isn’t.

 

What are Teens Talking About?

While on a previous post, I pointed out that not all teens like to get their news in traditional routes. Some people do not think it is a waste of time to watch the evening news, and do not feel like they should be spending time on websites like CNN.com.

But, they don’t remain completely uneducated and cut off from the human world, now, do they? Instead, they try to find other ways of connecting with the outside world. Usually, they go by word-of-mouth. Most teens hear their news from their friends, who in turn tell their friends. In this way, news get spread from just a few sources.

Obviously, there are more than a few ways that this system could not go over well, but for the most part it does not concern others, because they feel they are getting their news from a reliable source – their friends.

This actually does bode well for us, as what better position are we in to deliver the news to those people? We are their friends and classmates, and yet we know for a fact that our sources are reliable, and we are a professional newspaper, which would help get those teenagers ready for “grown-up” news.

Teamwork!

Maybe I didn’t exactly get off on the right foot with my team at the beginning of SAGA this year. For some reason in my mind I pictured last years SAGA staff all coming together (minus seniors) and simply picking up right where we left off. This fantasy, of course, was never realized, but in it’s place came a far better idea.

This team is probably the best I had. The newbies were welcomed with a warm greeting,and old friends were greeted like, well, like old friends. During a lot of the team-building exercises, there was a lot of complaining (yes, myself definitely included) but after a while, we really came together as a group, which is crucial if we want to get this newspaper up off the ground.

Why am I telling you about this?
A newspaper depends on its staff. If there is no staff, there is no newspaper. Therefore, by extension, a bad staff leads to a bad newspaper. If the staff cannot work together, the newspaper will fail.

Think about it. If business and advertising can’t communicate with page layout, how will the editors know how much to tell the staffwriters to write? Or what photos need to be taken, and what size they should be. A newspaper staff needs to work like a well-oiled machine, or the whole thing can fall apart.

My favorite high school journalism sites:

 

1. hsj.org – This earned my vote as my favorite high school journalism site, mostly because it is the only website I visited before receiving this assignment. It basically holds all high journalists together under one roof.

2. The Storm: hailing from a high school in Flomaton, Alabama, this website has a very good layout, and professional writers.

3. The Eagle’s Cry: Alright, alright, I admit, I mostly picked TEC for the kick-butt name, but I really do think the writers there are very talented, as well as having plenty of good stories to write about. Plus they’re from Alaska. But seriously, after reading a few stories, I cna say, they have good writers on their staff.

4. The Warrior Voice: A very well laid out page, with one of those time limited autoscroll-thingies! You know, those boxes that change pictures and text every ten seconds or so? Those are hard to make…

5. The Paw Print: While looking at the overhead banner kinda gives me a headache, the rest of the design is really good. Looking around, the teens here are really good at making stories that are both interesting and relevant.

How do Teens Get Their News?

The hardest part about making a newspaper isn’t doing research, performing interviews, or writing stories – It’s trying to get people to read the newspaper! As a high school newspaper, we are catering directly to teens. However, being right smack dab in the middle of the information age, teens tend to wasn’t to get their news from other sources. Turning our newspaper online helps, but it is only a step, while other news sources have been going strong for some time now.

A lot of globally concious teens like to get their news from long running, professional online newspapers like CNN and the New York Times (the online edition). Others prefer just to watch the evening news on television with their families.

Some don’t even like getting news themselves, and instead prefer to hear it by word of mouth from their friends. I think this is the attitude we should both build off of and change, which sounds like an oxymoron to begin with, but is possible.

Think about it. These teens would rather hear news from their friends, so, why not direct them to the Saga, where they can hear news from their own classmates? If we are truly successful, we will not only report the news, but get people to care about the news. therefore, we should get these people to want to read the newspaper, both helping us and educating them.