#SIFWW/I Hope Someone Agrees With Miley and I.

     HEY BLOG! Wow, I missed this thing. I've wanted to write for a few weeks now, but things get in the way (e.g. seeing cool bands play, staying up all night, singing, drinking beer, being stressed out about everything, etc.). I am back now though, and it feels good! Well, I guess I should say that I'm back for a while. Like, I'm back specifically for this post. I'll be starting school pretty quick and I don't know how often this blog will be used by my brain, so I figured I should get a big ol' spiel out before I disappear from the internet (except to retweet Obama and hashtag dumb stuff on my Instagram - oddly enough, I always have time for that). I started off with wanting to talk about one thing, but then something happened today that led me to another thing and this is EXCITING because it means that I just get to say more stuff about stuff and have my opinions be all up in your mind and that sounds really good to me right now. Also, as you may already be able to tell, I am incredibly sleep deprived due to incessant partying and my self-diagnosed insomnia, so this should be interesting. Shall we begin? Good.
     I'd say about approximately a week and a half ago, Twitter blew up with the hashtag "#SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen". I was super interested in this and so I looked into it a little more. Basically, women are getting fed up. Here, take a look:

     So, obviously it's an issue that's bothering a lot of people. I'm not writing this post to say that this particular idea is wrong or flawed, and I'm not writing this to tell you how to be fair to women who aren't Caucasian. I'm writing this post for the same reason I write every other post - to make the person who is reading this (THAT IS YOU) think about why this is an issue, empathize with those facing the issue, and think about doing her part to fix what she can. I'd also like to tell you how seeing this made me feel. I felt really sad for these women. Unbelievably sad. I have my oppressors and so does everyone else, so even though many people will say that I don't, I feel that I understand a small part of what these women are feeling. I felt alienated by this hashtag. I felt guilty for being white. I felt that this was partly my fault, and mostly, I felt that I needed to do something about it. Then I stopped and thought, "Holy smokes, is this what men feel like about feminism in general?" And I think it might be. I am not a man, but I can't help but think that the feelings I had when I first saw that this stuff was happening are similar to how men feel when they first realize what every woman deals with in society every day. I felt so bad about it and I felt that I was responsible. I don't mean to say that these feelings are the feelings people should be having, but I'm just trying to relate here. I hope this is making sense. When I made this connection, I took a step back and looked at the situation and thought, "Okay, so here I am feeling this way about this issue and this is probably pretty similar to the thought process men go through when faced with the challenges of women being oppressed in general - what would I want a man to do if I were struggling with oppression? I would want him to sit back and listen." So, here I am. I'm talking about this issue because I want people to tell me about it. I want to be informed and I am ready to hear about what I can do to help. This oppression is not mine, but oppression is oppression and I'm ready to listen. If anyone reading this wants to give me any articles to read or discuss this with me personally, I'd love to do so.

     Now! It's funny that I posted that tweet about Miley Cyrus because of her so-called "scandalous" performance at the VMAs a few hours ago. If you haven't seen it, you can find it yourself on YouTube or, like, any other website on the internet ever. To sum it up, Ms. Cyrus is singing with Robin Thicke on stage in a nude bikini sort-of outfit, dancing very sexually with a foam finger, like, those ones you use at football games? Yeah, so it was a thing that happened. Before it blows up on the media errrywhere, I want to tell you how I feel about it. Miley is a young human being. Young human beings are not old human beings, and therefore, are still searching in their heart of hearts for what truly makes them happy about themselves, gaining experience and wisdom, and growing every day. People choose to do these sorts of things in many different ways and guys, Miley is just doing Miley, okay? I can't even tell you how many young women (myself included) I've seen dancing in a sexual manner at house parties, concerts, bars, bathrooms, cafes, etc. (not with the foam finger though - that was new for me). I hate to break it to you, society, but people are sexual and because of that, at certain points, sexual things are going to happen. Miley is doing exactly what a lot of other young twenty-ish year-old people do, it just so happens that her growth process and self discovery are happening in front of the whole entire world. Sure, it may not be what you want your seven year-old daughter to see on television but a) why is your seven-year old daughter watching MTV, it's messed up and b) she's going to know what sexuality is in about five years and she's going to experience it too, just like Miley Cyrus is doing right now, just like I'm doing right now, just like all of my friends are doing right now - it isn't something to be ashamed of. I say that and I know a lot of people are going to be all like, "Um, yes, but it just seems wrong for a young person to be exposed to such crass behaviour". And sure, that's your opinion - raise your kid the way you want to, of course, but also think about this - why is it crass? Because it isn't virgin-esque? It isn't pure? She isn't wearing a sweater? That's not how Miley wants to do things at this point in her life right now and that should be okay. Sure, it's a little shocking and unnerving to my mom, but people will get over it, and hopefully learn that what Miley Cyrus does with her body is no one's business but her own. I said it once and I'll say it again, it is a shame that her personal growth has to be documented by every news crew in the entirety of the United States, but she's a brave girl and she's doing things her way. A lot of people will disagree with her actions, and that's fine, but leave her alone. Every single person does things her own way. One performance by Miley Cyrus isn't going to cause nuns to run to the streets in their underwear begging to be ravished, you know? Miley's being Miley, nuns are being nuns, you're being you and that's cool.
     Do I even want to go to university in nine days? Should I just stay with my parents and watch "Lost" and eat Cheetos all day? I'm scared. #help. Thanks for reading my word vomit about the universe and all of its creatures. You're probably really cool and I bet we would get along if I ever met you. Stay nice and compliment people on their intellect, especially if they're unaware of it. Goodnight. *somewhere in the distance, a bag of Cheetos crackles with the entrance of a Jenelle hand...*

P.S. Man, there's this really odd/radical CBC short film weird thing about the Japanese internment starring David Suzuki who smokes a JOINT on TV and wow it's really neat and it's called "Tora" and you should watch it because I think it's really inspiring that such a show was created and David Suzuki is a real bad ass motherfucker. Runonsentencesftw.

Long Time, No Blog.

     Well, hey there bloggin' friends. How goes? It's been a while! Sorry about that. Well, actually, I'm not sorry. I've had a lot of time to think about a lot of things, so I think this little break has been good. Plus I don't know if anyone actually reads this. But I'm back and I am into this stuff! So let's start, shall we?
     My life has changed a little since we last spoke. I am now unemployed and this didn't happen by choice. Yep, I'm a bum. And I hate it. I really, really hate it. But I'm job searching right now and it's going okay! I just have to be patient. I've also just joined a new choir and that makes me SO happy. It's such a refreshing atmosphere.
     So I have been thinking about a lot of stuff, but what I'm going to write about today, I actually just thought of, like, five minutes ago. My opinions and thoughts on this are super underdeveloped, so please don't judge me, I'm just thinking out loud over here.
     My best friend and I talk a lot about technology. It's amazing; the way we've progressed, the things we know now that we wouldn't have, the unbelievable connection between people all over the world, etc., etc. It's great and it opens up so many doors that wouldn't have been opened otherwise.
     Now, take a second and think of homeschooled kids. We all know a few and maybe you are a homeschooled kid yourself (Hi!). I really don't want to overgeneralize and offend and say that all homeschooled kids are "weird" because that's rude. I think there's definitely a ton of benefits that come from a homeschooled environment. You have an endless amount of class options, school only takes about three hours a day, you can wear your pyjamas 24 hours a day without judgement; overall, it sounds like a pretty sweet lifestyle! But we all know that if you are homeschooled, there is a disadvantage that is pretty common throughout the population: social skills. Many (not all) homeschooled children lack social skills. When faced with this fact, I think of all of the things I've learned throughout my thirteen years in school but not in class: wrong facts about sex at the age of eight, being exposed to the cruelty of some of my peers' parents, learning that it was cool to use bad language and all the rest of that fun stuff.  When I reflect on all of those things, I almost wish that I hadn't been exposed to so much social interaction. It made me really confused and I think it made me grow up a lot faster than I should have. But, it also made me the person I am today, and I think that having those experiences really shaped my worldview.
     So! Back to technology. This is the main reason why I wrote this post at all (sorry if it seems a little scattered). More than anything, I really wanted to ask what people think about this: Is it possible, in our day and age, for homeschooled children to become socially adept with such easy access to technology? There are SO many opportunities for communication and connection with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Can these kids grow up being confined to their homes and still have the same kind of confusing, weird, uncomfortable experiences that I had in my public school days? I really hope so. I had never thought of this aspect of technology until today and I think it might end up being one of the most helpful. If these social media websites can bring these kids out of their shells, we might have a whole new, better, more free form of education to consider. Let me know what you think guys! Again, this is really underdeveloped, but I would absolutely love to hear your opinions and broaden my horizons.        Have a nice day!

P.S. I'll be starting a food blog soon! If you like yummy vegetarian eats, it might be right up your alley.