PEOPLE OF THE WEEK.

     So, hi. I know I wrote a post yesterday, but it's Saturday (no work) and I have the plague (no health) or something so here we go! Round two! Wudup!
     I have two people that I want to talk about today.
     Person #1. Hannah from "Girls". If you haven't seen "Girls", you are actually missing out on a very important part of life. I didn't watch it for a while based solely on hipster principle. I hadn't yet seen "Girls" for the same reasons that I haven't seen "Downton Abbey" or "Sons of Anarchy". I've already got "The Walking Dead" and "Adventure Time" to worry about, you know? My hipster TV show cred is, like, through the roof as it is. But I was talking to my cool friend the other day about "Girls" and she was all like, "You have to watch it! It's actually like hanging out with friends, it's not even a TV show." And that had me convinced. So, coincidentally (I'm thinking my friend gave me this illness on purpose), I got insanely sick over the last few days and became confined to my bed. I started "Girls" and I finished it in two days. It's actually one of the best TV shows I've ever seen. The story line is pretty similar to "Sex and the City", which is a planned thing, I think. Four girls living in New York, trying to figure their lives out and dealing with men along the way. But there's something about it that pulls you in. Maybe it is the hipster aspect that's attractive - fashionable clothes, tattoos, drugs, well-read teenagers - but part of me feels that it's the honesty. These girls actually just have no sense of which way is up. There's a certain existentialist/absurdist quality to the show. Shit just happens from one moment to the next and no one has any idea what's coming their why or why anything happens. Sometimes conversations between people go on for a little too long, to the point where it's uncomfortable, but that just makes it all the more real. And HANNAH. Hannah is a piece of work. I've never seen a protagonist who's more like myself in my entire life (Charlie from "The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a close second, but that's a book, so yeah). She's anxious all the time about everything and she's so weird! She's actually just so abnormal that it makes her insanely attractive to watch. Also, speaking of attraction, since this show is on HBO, we know there's a whole lot of sex. And normally, when we watch these types of programs, the women who are completely naked are perfect and sweaty and glistening and well-proportioned. Hannah isn't. Hannah has small breasts and some extra cushioning around the middle and tattoos that depict scenes from children's books and honestly, I've never wanted to be someone as badly as I want to be Hannah. She's so unbelievably sexy. She's perfect in the most confusing way. I've never seen anyone who loves to eat cupcakes as much as her or has as much OCD. She doesn't care what anyone thinks of her; she's so confident, it's unreal. I admire her character so thoroughly. She's the perfect role model for women. She's chubby, she wears what she likes, she cares about her work an incredible amount, she thinks she's beautiful, she explores/is comfortable with her sexuality, she cares about what she wants above what others want and she just generally doesn't give a fuck. And I think she's great.
     Person #2: Macklemore. That guy. Macklemore. My best friend and I were in a choir in 2011 where we met these awesome people and we bonded hard. How did we bond so hard, you ask? Music and thrift shopping. No joke. Before it was "hip", we went to Value Village with a handful of other choristers and we rocked the shit out of teal, floor-length trench coats. We were about to head to the same choir with the same group of wonderful people in 2012 when about a week before, one of these crazy kids sent us a link to "Thrift Shop" by Macklemore and we all cried a little bit, I think. It was our theme song. (Also, choir Value Village trip version 2012 consisted of fur. A shit ton of fur.) Of course, now, it's disgustingly overplayed and everything, but I'll have a special connection to that song forever because of my best friends and our memories. After hearing "Thrift Shop", I had to see what the rest of Macklemore's stuff sounded like and I've come to the conclusion that Macklemore, in and of himself, is a fucking revolution. After "Thrift Shop" did it's thing, radio stations started playing "Same Love". If you haven't heard that song, here: http://youtu.be/hlVBg7_08n0
This song, without a doubt, has done wonders for the self-esteem and confidence of LGBTQ people all over the world. I've never heard a rap song, actually, any song for that matter, so obviously supporting the rights of homosexual people in such a forward way. Past these two songs, Macklemore just gets better. There isn't a song on his album that doesn't mean something to someone on an incredibly deep level. Whether you're dealing with sexuality, a tough break-up, religion, drug abuse, etc., Macklemore has got you covered. And besides the incredible content of his songs, the way he raps is really personal. There's this feeling I get from listening to his music that make me feel as though we're having a one-on-one conversation. It makes me feel a lot less lonely. Overall, I think he's one of the most amazing musicians of our time and "The Heist" is a fucking masterpiece and if you don't own it, you are missing out on a great, big, beautiful thing. Thank you, Macklemore, for the beautiful controversy you've acknowledged in our society and for helping some of us kids get through the shit we can't get through alone.
     Well, I'm gonna go cough up all of my organs now and I'll probably end up writing another post later. I'd really like some emails or something to look at whilst lying on my death bed, so if y'all have anything to say about what I say, any ideas for things that I could write about, or cute cat videos, I'm in. Thank you for reading my blog. You're really nice.

I'm Always Serious And Angry, Okay? Eat It.

      "Magic Mike." Remember that? Gosh, that movie was a big fucking deal for a while. I have a lot of mixed emotions about it. Wanna hear them? Cool.
     So, my initial reaction was all like, "Hey! A movie about male strippers! Finally!" I had this reaction because I thought it was kind of neat that men were finally being looked at the way women have been looked at for years and years and years. I thought it was cool that there was a sort of equality in this regard, if that makes sense. After a while, though, I realized that other women weren't really thinking about it like this. They weren't really thinking about it in terms of equality. They liked that there were just naked men up on their TVs, dancing around in front of them that they didn't have to know or talk to or necessarily like at all, for that matter. Women were objectifying men. And I get it, you know? It's hard (pun not intended) to not be into stuff like that when you're a sexual being. But there has to be a line, and I drew the damn line: I didn't ever watch it.
     I felt wrong about it; the whole concept. I didn't know how I could justify looking at those kind of images when objectification of women makes me so uncomfortable. And the fact that so many people were okay with a movie like this pisses me off. First of all, men. Guys. I know that you were uncomfortable with this movie. You were uncomfortable with your girlfriends watching it. You were uncomfortable because Channing Tatum has the body of a god and you "don't" (you do, I just mean in the eyes of a society that hates normal-looking bodies - you're beautiful). Come on, guys. Women have had to deal with scantily clad women with guns in their garter belts, Lara Croft, the obligatory "I-run-around-in-panties" girl in horror movies, etc. Deal with it. It makes me mad that men were uncomfortable with this movie based solely on the fact that they were finally being objectified the way we are CONTINUOUSLY objectified. I'm not saying I agree with this movie in any way, I'm just saying that this happened and you should accept it because we've been accepting shitty soft-core, B-list movies with surgically "improved" labias all up in our faces for long enough. This is pay back. You don't deserve it, but there it is. Sorry about my harsh attitude, but it's the truth, kids.
     Secondly, here's no way in hell this movie ever should have been made. My thirteen-year old sister wanted to watch this movie so badly and I had to explain to her exactly why I wasn't taking her and exactly why she should tell all of her friends not to watch it. A person exploring his/her sexuality is very important, especially in the early teen years, but not through pornography. And that's what this movie is - pornography. I know that a lot of people reading this are gonna be like, "Oh, Jenelle! You're so serious! Just relax!" But I'm not going to fucking "relax". Ever. I disagree with the porn industry more than I can even begin to express and that doesn't change with gender, you know? Why should it? The human body is a sacred thing. I will repeat that over and over, throughout all of my blogs forever, I swear. People should not be seen as objects, no matter what gender. Young girls should be learning about the beauty of male (and female) bodies in rational, loving ways, not through the vicious sweat and violence of stripping and porn, just as young boys should be learning about the magnificence of the bodies of women (and men). We all need to be treated with respect and love.
     The reason I brought this up is because I was scrolling through my cute little Facebook news feed and I saw a picture comparing Channing Tatum to some other dashing fellow, both with their shirts off. The caption said: "'Like' for Channing, comment for [insert other dude's name here]!" And I thought, "Would I be cool with this if there were two beautiful women with their shirts off, being judged by the world of Facebook based solely on how closely their bodies come to society's idea of 'hot'?" No, I would not be cool with it. Because of this, I am not cool with objectification of men. I am not cool with objectification of anyone. All people have personalities, all people are beautiful, in their bodies and minds, and all people deserve respect. In case my point here isn't clear, I HATE OBJECTIFICATION.
     Jen, out.

P.S. My "Person of the Week" post will be coming soon. It has to do with "Girls" (*hushed whispers and excitement in the crowd*). Bye.
   

It's Time To Do Something About This Shit.

     So, it has been recently brought to my attention that we live in the fucking stone age.
     I honestly can't even begin to describe how infuriated I am by the fact that it's 2013 and women are STILL continuously disrespected in society every single day. It's gotten to the point where it can't even be called disrespect anymore, you know? We might as well be getting spit on every five minutes.
     A sixteen year-old girl got drunk at a party. She passed out and was then raped and violated, not just once, but repeatedly, by several boys. And now she's being blamed. The "Steubenville" case. This girl probably woke up the morning of the party and thought, "I'm so excited!", because who doesn't like parties, right? She probably spent all day trying to decide what to wear. She probably knew she looked fantastic. She just wanted to have a good time. I doubt that she ever thought, "You know, there's a possibility that I could have permanent psychological damage after tonight."And now she does.
     I can't even write this without crying. Forget for a second that she's a girl. What human deserves that kind of treatment? I'm so upset. This doesn't even have anything to do with feminism for me right now (I'll get into that later) - it has to do with the fact that human beings treated another human being as if she were a fucking thing. Not a human, but an object. And you know what the worst part about it is? Worse than what they did to her, worse than how she feels, worse than all of that? This happens thousands of times every fucking day. Over and over and over. The worst part about it is that all of the things that happened in this one incident are being acted out continuously by heartless humans onto other humans that they treat like objects; like nothing. And the majority of the time, these incidents aren't even reported. That's what I can't get over: that this is something that's normal.
     I vow (and have vowed in the past) to never, ever hate men. Because I'm a feminist, and feminists don't hate men or women or any one specific group of people. Feminists are about equality. I always write posts about how awesome women are and how beautiful women are, and the reason I don't write them about men isn't because I don't like men; it's because men know how awesome they are. A man in our society has a thousand times more power than any woman does. I don't know what it was in history (the idea of God being a man is my guess) that made people decide that men were more important or whatever, but it's not okay, you know? Especially in 2013. So, this is me saying to all men: Please use your power and strength in the best ways you possibly can. Women can do so many things for feminism and for ourselves, but nothing is going to really change if men don't listen to us. Please, for the love of everything in the world, listen to what we're saying. Men need feminism just as much as women need feminism. And women need men to want to help. We've got to do this together, guys. I can write as many blog posts about feminism as I want to, but if it's only women reading them, we're not getting the whole of society in on this and that's what we need. It's really discouraging to me that half of the men reading this (if there are any men reading this), don't know who Germaine Greer, Anais Nin or even Gloria Steinem are. Men aren't scared to go to the bathroom alone in fear of someone hiding in there who could easily hurt them. Men aren't scared of wearing short skirts because people assume that they're "asking for it". Look at how these men at this party used their power towards this girl. There's nothing worse to me than seeing such a corrupt group of young people who think this is completely acceptable. How can we let our children grow up in a society like this? People, of all genders, need to be protecting each other.
     This is completely scattered and all over the place, but I just have a lot of things to say and I'm too damn angry to put them in a nicer format.
     Ladies; I'm sorry. I'm so sorry that we have to deal with this every day. It makes me more upset than you can imagine. On top of everything else in our lives - school, work, kids, finances, etc. - we have to worry about how late it is when we walk home alone at night. In "Vagina", Naomi Wolf talks about how even the smallest sexual threat to a woman can harm her for years. She says that even if a woman is in a situation (fully clothed, with other women) where she feels even slightly sexually threatened, her brain (connected to her vagina and other sexual organs through a vast number of nerve systems) remembers and it's harder for her to enjoy her sexuality in an easy-going way. Women that are intensely sexually abused take years to recover and sometimes, they're never able to have healthy sexual relationships with anyone. The fact that this kind of psychological damage is being blamed on the victim in this case actually makes me want to throw up. Sexual abuse or assault is NEVER the fault of the victim. Ever. Consent is ALWAYS mandatory. Even if you're married, consent is in order. Even if a woman has been saying "yes" all day and then decides on a "no"at the last second, that has to be respected. Why shouldn't we be able to make decisions about what happens to our bodies? Someone else deciding for us doesn't make any sense! We all have brains and we're all extremely capable. I'm so frustrated.
     Women are goddesses. In ancient India, scripts were written about the importance of female pleasure. It was said that women carried a sort of psychological and physical medicine in their mouths, breasts, and vaginas and in order for men to live a full and healthy life, they had to give as much pleasure as possible to the women that they loved just to receive even an ounce of the goodness that a woman carries in her. Isn't that beautiful? I just don't know of anything more fascinating and lovely than the body and soul of a woman. We used to be so respected and important. Female sexuality used to be seen as a sort of mysterious gift to the world. Our bodies can do amazing things, you know? We can carry life for nine months. And we're being called sluts and hoes and being put into situations we don't want to be in and being forced to have sexual confrontations with which we're not comfortable. It's so sad. But, even through all of this bullshit, I know that I'm a goddess. I know that you're a goddess. I know your mother is a goddess, and your grandmother too. And the most important thing that we, as women, can do is to never, ever forget that. Always keep it in your heart, okay? Even when you're being called fat, or ugly, or you're getting paid less than your male co-workers. Be sure to tell your fellow women that they're intelligent and incredible and you admire their uteruses. We're amazing human beings and even though we don't always get the respect we deserve from society and from others, the least we can do is remember that and hold it dear to us. We deserve at least that.
     Tell every single person you know about feminism. That's the only way it's going to work.
   

No Harm, No Foul? No.

     Once again, Instagram has opened my eyes to some pretty interesting view points. Who knew that it was good for anything more than just bubble bath leg selfies and pictures of kittens? My brain hasn't elaborated on what I was presented with very extensively yet, but I'm just gonna tell you what I read and how I feel and that's all.
     I stumbled upon a picture of a young girl. It read: "When we force children to submit to unwanted affection in order not to offend a relative or hurt a friend's feelings, we teach them that their bodies do not really belong to them because they have to push aside their own feelings about what feels right to them. This leads to children getting sexually abused, teen girls submitting to sexual behaviour so 'he'll like me' and kids enduring bullying because everyone is 'having fun'." - Irene van der Zande.
     Now, like I said, I haven't had much time to think about this. Also, I haven't done any deep research yet on van der Zande (she seems amazing so far - definitely a Person of the Week candidate), so I'm not quite sure where exactly she stands on a lot of things. But at first ponder, it really does make sense. There are also some things about it that I disagree with, or at least want to correct so it makes sense in the context that I'm addressing it in. First of all, I don't believe that all sexual abuse is the result of parenting or faulted guidance. I'm sure that van der Zande isn't saying that forced submission to adults is the only reason for sexual abuse, but I think it's important to point out this flaw anyway. Sexual abuse is the result of the sexual abuser. Nothing before the incident could have stopped the abuse and it is wrong make this the fault of parenting in most cases (you get it). Secondly, I don't believe that teenage girls always "submit" to males. Women enjoy sex as much as men do. A lot of young, adolescent women are enticed by and curious about the idea of sexual activity and there is nothing wrong with that in any sense. I will say, though, that it is definitely a lot easier for young women to be taken advantage of in sexual situations than it is for men and this sort of thing happens way too frequently.
     I do, generally though, agree with van der Zande's point so far (please enlighten me if you disagree -  I'd love to hear what other people think). Why should children be forced to be so giving of themselves so lightly? I know, like most childhood experiences, at the time, it doesn't seem like a big deal to the parent or to the child. I've mentioned things like this in my blog before (e.g. Men saying to young boys "You throw like a girl!", not allowing boys to play with dolls or pink things, etc.). But it's the long-lasting societal and emotional effects that are important in situations like this, as van der Zande is saying. What are we teaching children if we force them into uncomfortable, intimate situations and expect them to like it? At what sort of value are we putting their feelings? I can actually remember a few occasions during my childhood in which I was forced to hug a certain relative when I really didn't want to because I knew and felt, even as a child, that this person was a stranger to me. I believe that young children should be taught that their bodies are exactly that: theirs. By telling a child to hug or kiss or hold the hand of someone they do not know, we are a) casting aside their feelings as completely unimportant or of lesser importance than our own and b) controlling them and teaching them that control by others is okay. It's not okay. Children are humans and humans have instincts; therefore, children have instincts (your basic logic lesson for the day, ladies and gentlemen). Internal, primal, gut instincts of any person should not be ignored. Sure, there's room for negotiation and conversation at times, but a child's decisions should at least be acknowledged, especially by someone as important and integral to their personal growth as their parents.
     Again, I'd love to hear some alternate opinions or add-ons to what was said here. Sorry that it's definitely underdeveloped and not as awesome as it could be, but I'll get there. I'm going to think about it more and I'll probably write about this again.
     Also, the Instagram account that I get all of this sick shit from is called "justanotherfeminist". It's pretty neat. Have a nice night. I'm going to go eat a lot of desserts now.

Watch Your Sisters' Backs, Sisters.

     Hi!
     If you are a male, you may see this as being aimed more towards women, but it's totally relevant to you as well. Just translate the stereotypes into ones that you have been personally affected by and it'll all make perfect sense.
     It was recently drawn to my attention by my favourite Instagram account that sometimes, I have misogynist tendencies.

*gasp* 

   
     "Well, Jenelle! How could you have misogynist tendencies? You are obviously so feminist!" said the beautiful blog reader who actually reads this blog and who Jenelle so deeply appreciates. You're right, reader. I am really feminist, obviously. But there's something that all girls deal with that I'd never really thought of as misogyny, just the truth, and it's terrible! It's so upsetting that this idea is so completely accepted by women. Before I get ahead of myself, though, let me explain what I mean.
     Girls, please picture the following scenario:
   
     Gossipy girl whom no one likes says: "Oh my gosh, did you see what [insert name here] was doing with [insert name here]? I can't believe they did that!"

     Boy whom is sexually attractive to you overhears gossipy girl and says to you: "Ugh, I hate it when girls gossip like that."

     You: "I know, right? I hate girls. I'm so not like all of those other bitches. That's why I'm only friends with boys."

     Okay, so maybe your scenario went a little differently and a few words were swapped around here and there, but you catch my drift, right? Every single woman has been in this situation before. And honestly, before it was seriously brought to my attention, I'd never thought about the effect this might have on society. I will now explain, first of all, why this happens and secondly, why it's so harmful.
     I don't care who you are, what you do, or what you think you do, every single person in the world wants to be seen as an individual. And that's completely understandable! That's definitely something that is important to me. I don't want to blend in with the crowd or whatever. The problem with this is that sometimes, to make themselves seem more likeable and more unique, people throw others under the bus. And that's what's happening in this situation. If someone says something negative about a group of people that you belong to, obviously you're going to try your best to stand out from that group so that you, as an individual, aren't seen in the same negative light. In this really difficult situation, women are putting their sisters down in an attempt to seem cool, basically. They want attention, and recognition for being nice, not gossipy, not catty, etc. and in doing this, they, without even thinking about it, undermine the kindness and respectfulness of other women that also don't fit into this terrible stereotype.
     Now, the reason why this is so harmful should be pretty apparent already. Women have to put up with so much shit from every angle, at all times, every day of their lives. And now, with these kind of situations, not only do they have to deal with being called bitches, being stared at, being objectified, being at the receiving end of never ending sexist jokes, now they have to deal with their sisters, their fellow women, putting them down as well. There's already enough hate built up against us, ladies. We don't need to make more by agreeing with people about these stereotypes! Not all women like to gossip or read magazines. Some do, and that's fine, but not all. It's so important to understand that equality is equality in every sense. I can't believe that I didn't see how awful I was being when I agreed with people on these points. I know a lot of women that do these things, some of whom I like and some of whom I don't. And that's okay, because the way that they act isn't my problem and I shouldn't be making it my problem. People should be able to be free and not have to worry about stereotypes of any kind. Especially women, guys. Come on. Women are so fucking oppressed already. We don't need this. We don't need it from men and we REALLY don't need it from women.
     So, this is me apologizing to all of the women that I've ever mindlessly stereotyped because I wanted people to think that I was cool. I'm really, really sorry. Every woman is beautiful and intelligent in her own right and it's not okay to put us all into one big box. The individuality and respect of every woman is way more important to me than how others view me. Even if they are attractive men.
     What I'm getting down to here is, the next time you try to break free of stereotypes, break free hard, girl! But leave us other women out of it, okay? We're all individuals too and we deserve recognition for that.
     

You Best Be Makin' Up Yo Mind.

     I used to not wear make up for a few reasons. I went through a "realization period", I call it, in my last year of high school. In this span of time, I came to realize that there's a lot of stuff that matters more than what that girl might have said about me behind my back last week. Of course, deep down, I always knew this. I had always been environmentally conscious throughout my adolescent years and all that good stuff, but it took a while for me to realize that I actually had to do real things in my own life to make any sort of a difference in other peoples' ideas and lives. So I started to take on my ideology in a physical sense. I stopped eating meat, stopped doing anything to my hair, stopped washing my hair, and of course, stopped wearing make up. I focused my energy on learning and reading everything I possibly could about all things. And I enjoyed my life so thoroughly in that year! I learned so much and cared so much about a bunch of different things. The most valuable lesson that I took from this stage in my life is that once a person looks past superficial bullshit, she can really appreciate the amount of time and the amount of space in her life that she has for more important projects and information. And I think that's pretty cool. But I don't ignore my appearance anymore and I now wear make up most of the time, though I'm not saying it's wrong of you if you prefer to not wear make up, of course. I think that's awesome! I still try really hard to learn as much as I can about a lot of things, but I've changed a few aspects of myself since those days and now I'm going to tell you why.
     When I first started learning about feminism, I was all like, "Shit, I shouldn't wear make up ever again." This was due to the fact that I was pretty uneducated and in the early stages of my feminist development. I was still under the influence of the stereotypes that said "real" feminists should never touch a tube of lipstick ever. I had learned about the atrocities of advertising agencies: the never-ending vicious cycle of the anti-aging conspiracy, the fact that most CEOs of make up companies are men, the constant reoccurrence of the "ideal woman", etc. Of course, a feminist is not supposed to look like the "ideal woman", so why would she buy make up, right?

Maybe because she wants to?

     I struggled with this for a while - the idea that if I started wearing make up again I wouldn't be taken seriously as a feminist or I would be labelled with the ultimately offensive term: "lipstick feminist". Then I realized that a) I shouldn't give a shit and b) I really shouldn't give a shit. First of all, I should be able to do whatever the hell I feel like doing whenever I feel like doing it. If a person chooses to take my feminism less seriously because I adore filling in my eyebrows, then I know for a fact that I'm not the one who needs to rethink her basic morals. Second of all, and this goes along with my first point, I should never be looked down upon, especially by other women - feminist women (where is the sisterhood?) - for what I choose to put on my face. Another person who shares the same feelings about equality as I do should not be discriminating against me because of the way I look. On a person to person basis, that's completely wrong. 

     I understand that advertising agencies want me to look a certain way. I understand that theoretically, make up is a male's invention to make women appear the way that men want them to appear. And I do care about this. Of course I care about this! But I like the way that my face looks with make up on. I also like the way my face looks without it. I like the way my legs look unshaven just as much as I like them when they're smooth. My nails look pretty good when I cut them sometimes; should I feel guilty about that too? My body is my body and I am free to do what I want with it. My opinions and thoughts shouldn't be of lesser value simply because some days I choose to wear red lipstick. Whether I'm wearing lipstick or not, the ideas that come out of my mouth are still intelligent and relevant and worth listening to. And of course this applies to men as well! If men want to wear nail polish, their opinions shouldn't be of any less importance. Frickin' equality, guys. That's all I'm saying. Sure, I could wear make up or I couldn't. Either way I'm still  a human being and I still deserve respect. 

     This argument translates into a lot of other aspects of life as well. Basically what I'm trying to get across here is that a socially conscious woman/man should be able to do whatever she/he wants to her/his face - piercings, eyelash extensions, tattoos, war paint, more piercings, no make up, lots of make up - and still get as much respect as any other person would. Discrimination is uncool and I'd really like for people to be able to make their own decisions without being frowned upon for it. 

     Peace out, kids.

Sing, Sang, Sung.

     Today, I just want to talk about how much I love being in a choir.
   
     I never really understood sports, ever. I liked gym class because there was no competition, I love to pedal bike, I love yoga, I like to walk around to places sometimes; you know, easy, fun stuff. I never understood why everyone loved full-contact, violent, bloody, primal sports. I couldn't share the passion. And I always felt extremely left out because of that, but I just couldn't force myself to do it. To me, sports are always super fun when you're just playing outside with your cousins because the weather is great, but competitive team sports actually make me want to vomit. I played soccer for three years and for the whole three years, I swear,  I was actually either a) on the bench or b) hiding. It was a disgrace, really. Don't get me wrong, I think it is so bad ass when people like sports and play them, I'm just sharing my opinion/personal experiences.

     Anyways, I figure that the reason people like to be punched in the face by basketballs so much is because they get to do it with people beside them who support them, love them, and have things in common with them. Teams, groups, clubs, alliances, guilds, etc. all have support and love. Basically, they're like a family but with people who actually understand you, and what could ever be better than that? This, my internet friends, is why I love choir.

     I've always loved singing. Ever since I could talk, I could sing. But I always did it alone and I didn't know any different. I joined choir in junior high, but it was a group of tone-deaf girls and one boy who all tried to sing in unison and ended up singing cluster chords. Anyways, the first time I heard a choral piece was in grade 10. This was also the first time I'd seen a piece of music with four parts. I was terrified. But the second I could feel I was singing the right note, and the second I could feel the basses, the tenors and the altos singing their right notes at the same moment as me, I knew that choir was where I belonged; I knew that choir would always be where I belonged. I understood, in that moment, why people liked team sports. I knew that everyone else in that room felt the same thing I felt. I knew that we all understood how incredible it was that these sounds were being made with our bodies; that this music was being made by muscles. It's magic. There's no other word to describe it.

     My choir is my second home. The people there understand what I do. When I try to explain to my parents that it's possible for a person to sing two notes at once or that when a chord is sung perfectly in tune, notes simply appear because of said perfection, I get a "That's nice, dear." And I'm not saying I don't love my parents, or that they don't appreciate what I do, they just don't understand it on the level that my choir family does. There is no other place in the world where you hear the words, "A tritone? YES!", or "Dude, your falsetto is fucking sweet." Every single person understands why the person beside them is standing there. We're all connected on such a different level than other people. I have a support group, I have fellow musicians who I can discuss my ideas with, and I have friends for life.

     Okay, I'm done gushing. I hope you all have a special group of people whom you can share your lives with. Have a nice night.