photo diary 5

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The soft pale sky and delicate falling snow create a quiet hum. It's as if the whole world has fallen asleep buried in its winter cave. The ephemeral life of a snowflake makes it even more sweet and sad. Don't you think? I spend these halcyon days brewing coffee and reading "My Antonia" by the fire. Here's a lovely quote from the novel: I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. 

This coming new year I am going to devote myself to seeking that happiness, the kind that comes with the simple pleasures of life. I want to Wake up early in the mornings and meditate, walk in nature, eat almonds and tomato soup, press flowers, find poetry, grow herbs, watch French films, and learn the stories behind stones and stars and great people.

snow white

some film photos of my sister from a snowy evening.

cousin

photo shoot with my cousin.

photo diary 4

It will be Christmas eve in about three hours...all the snow has melted, leaving behind bare trees and faded grass. It started to flurry again though. It lasted for only about a few minutes. Listening to Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata makes me feel warm. 

drama club

behind the scenes photos from my school's production of "The Diary of Anne Frank"

the room project

my sister's sweet room

my perfume bottles

the kitchen

street harassment is a big deal

     Comments like "hey baby, lookin' fine" and "you'd look good on me" and to whistling to girls on the street may be considered "compliments," but to the victim of the harassment,  it can just be uncomfortable, rude, and scary. An innocent walk in the street can quickly turn into an awkward and painful situation.

     "It's [street harassment] a symptom of a greater problem of misogyny and the objectification of women, and homophobia. It's almost the starting point of gender-based violence," said Debjani Roy, the Deputy Director of Hollaback, a non-profit and movement to end street harassment that started in 2005.

     They define street harassment as, "unwelcome or unwanted verbal, nonverbal, physical, or visual conduct based on sex or of the sexual nature which occurs with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person."

     Their website has a blogging platform where people who experience street harassment can share their story and gain support. They also provide a free app which includes a map marking incidents of harassment that happened in the area. It also gives information on how to react when being harassed or witnessing a victim.

     70 to 99% of women experience street harassment at some point of their lives (ihollaback.org). Although the experiences may vary in which they escalate, the catcalling and whistling are surprisingly very common despite the appearance, race, size, or sexual orientation of the person. In other words, it can happen to anybody. Another source (aifs.gov.au) stated that 9 in 10 women have experienced at least one incident of public harassment.

     "It's almost like an equalizer. Every woman you speak to or most LGBTQ+ people you speak to across the globe will have experienced a similar type of harassment and it makes you feel similarly as well," said Roy.

     Even in a small town like West Lafayette, street harassment is very prominent, especially in the Purdue campus area. It's  not a rare occurrence for the cross country team, who often practice and run in the campus area and are subjected to vulgar comments yelled at them from passing cars.

     "They just drive by and feel awesome because they know you can't catch them," said Jasmin  a cross country member. "It makes me feel awkward and uncomfortable. I don't like it."

     "We just ignore it," said Delaney who also is on the cross country team.

Roy said that if you ever experience street harassment, you are the expert of the situation in assessing your sense of safety. If you ever feel uncomfortable, the best thing to do is just to ignore it and keep moving. Being firm and direct and responding by saying "that's disrespectful" or "I don't appreciate that" is also a good way to avoid giving them an opportunity to start a conversation. 

     Also, if you witness or are a victim of any illegal acts like stalking, groping, and public masturbation, do not be afraid to ask for help and report it to the police. Equally, if you weren't able to report it, do not feel bad or guilty because it is not the victim's fault.

     Street harassment is a common occurrence in many people's day to day lives, most of the victims being female. For many, it's difficult to understand the difference between a compliment and harassment. The key part is that if it makes you uncomfortable in any way, then it is definitely considered as harassment. If a person is not welcoming it, then it is not a compliment.

     "We've been told to ignore it [street harassment], that it's not a big deal, that it's just part of our environment, it's part of our scenery," said Roy. "But it shouldn't have to be."

how to revamp thrift shop finds

"I'll wear your granddad's clothes, I look incredible" Recently for my school newspaper I wrote an article about how to revamp thrift shop finds on my fashion column, Style Diaries. Here is a short how to video. The dress and shirt were both purchased at Goodwill. Enjoy! xxx

tea with a splash of passion and a dash of dreaming

My lovely and dear friend, Abbee and I wrote an article about passion.... and here it is:

            All our lives, we've wanted to live in New York City when we grow up... well, okay, maybe Candy Land for a while.  We come from a medium sized college town in the Midwest, so we understand we sound like a cliché plot for a high budget chick flick, but this doesn't damper our enthusiasm.  Quoting John Lennon's classic hit “Imagine” “you may say I'm a dreamer,” and it's true. Our passion is to make our dreams come true by our own doings.  And the movie plot gets cheesier.

            So sitting here sipping Mao Fung Shui tea (a green tea from Zhejiang, China, with a sweet taste and an aroma of freshly mown grass) at one of the two non-chain coffee shops in our town, we ponder our future.  We attend an over-achieving high school where it's easy to describe the overwhelming majority (skinny jeans, American Eagle t-shirt, Ugg boots, and a North Face jacket). So part of the reason we are so passionate about leaving this town is we don't want to be stuck in the crowd, aka the bubble.  

            When our high school newspaper does the yearly pole on where the seniors are going to attend college, over half is the university in our town.  This leads to some people staying in this town for their entire lives.  One of our passions is to see the world. This is more cheesier than the plastic looking nacho cheese at our cafeteria. This small town has been a great place to grow up, but now we just want it to be a place we can refer to as home.  But unlike Dorothy Gale we aren't going to tap our ruby slippers. 

            At our age most people are trying to figure “it” out. The “it” is the thing that will lead that person to much success and money, and for most people in our town the words that come to mind are doctor, engineer, and science.  We have never had this out look, and this is coming from the daughters of engineers, who are wanting to pursue out of our town's norm.

            In five years we see ourselves bustling through the busy streets of New York City.  One of us working for a fashion magazine, and the other one trying to fulfill her dreams of being Ina Garten and renting a shoe box apartment with an exposed brick wall and hard wood floors.  The mere thought of being able to see endless city lights instead of endless corn fields makes us want to dance around to “New York State of Mind” by Jay-Z and “You Make My Dream Come True” by Hall and Oats. We know this dream will most likely require us to eat a lifetime supply of ramen noodles and although this may lead our skins to external suffering, we don't care.

            All our lives we have been hesitant to tell anyone about the entirety of our dreams.  When we have let select people into our tiny day-dreaming club, they give us the “that's-cool-good-luck-with-that-I'm-not-really-wishing-you-good-luck-I'm-being-sarcastic” look.  This just makes us more eager to fulfill our dreams.  At the same time we're scared.  We have big expectations, but we know we must strive to make them reality.  When we were little we were afraid of ghosts and zombie (The Thriller music video anyone?), but now that we've gotten older we're more afraid of tomorrow because we don't know what it holds and how to get where we want to be.  However without fear and judgment we would probably be settling for an easy life and job, Tivoing episodes of “Cake Boss” when we get home.  While this path is enough to keep our wallets and stomachs full, it is not enough to make us happy, because we are not living passionately.  We've realized throughout our endeavors thus far that passion is everything. If you are not passionate about almost every aspect of your life you may question your happiness.

            Here in our town we never feel like we can never truly be exactly who we want to be.  Not only our dreams but say the color of our blue dip dyed hair is restricted by the “what the . . .?!” look.  We are not afraid to be ourselves, but we find it easier to conform with certain aspects of our lives. But since when is life easy?  We don't necessarily want an easy life.  We feel that this kind of living is passion less and dreary.   One day there will come a time where you won't remember who might have laughed or scoffed at you when you wore purple lip stick or shared your dreams. Because you will be long gone.  When we think about this fact it makes us a little less scared of what lies ahead, and to fully express our passions freely to the world around us.  We believe that passion and hard work is the key that will open the door to the opportunities we want in life.

          So simply put our dreams lead us to be so passionate it keeps us up at night, but one night we hope that the city lights will keep us up instead. So now our teapot is empty and cold, but the passion is still steaming hot in our warm hearts.   So now we will get some more tea.

blue frosting

This is the story of two best friends; Carmen and Cee Cee. They painted their eyelids blue and their lashes matte and wore pale lace and patched denim. They went to a sweet sixteen party where they ate blue frosted cake and tasted their first bubbles of white champagne. It burnt their throat and warmed their stomachs as they made a teenage vow in the empty parking lot that they would never forget this feeling of being young and free. ♥

back on black

OOTD: Whenever I'm lazy, I always go for black. The black skirt is from Topshop and the red boots and nail polish from H&M. I have been looking forever for a holographic nail polish and "winter sky" from H&M although is not exactly holographic gives the same iridescent effect and I love it:). Happy fall everyone ♥

book worm

 I just finished reading "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov. My book is so torn up.... Anyways, let me just get this out of the way, it's super creepy. But it's interesting because the protagonist of the novel IS the antagonist pretty much and you can't help but sympathize with him at times... and you rarely come across novels where the "bad" guy is narrating it. It is also quite funny at times. Nabokov is a brilliant writer especially since English is not his first language. It's like poetry written in prose. However sometimes, I think he got too flowery with the language and it became hard to follow. but his descriptive language is like art. And of  course, a much lighter read, NYLON was perfect as usual even though I prefer the Japanese version so much better! Lana's interview was really interesting. Along with books I love reading interviews of fascinating people...

Now I am currently reading "Franny and Zooey" by Salinger. I loooved "The Catcher in the Rye" so this one will surely be added onto my favorites. I love weekends.... especially this one because it's fall break and we get a four day break! I intend to use this time wisely by reading, drinking tea, working..., blogging, and making art :)

Here are the books I recently received from my wonderful Grandparents for my 17th birthday last month :) Happy Sunday and happy reading everyone! P.S. TODAY IS SYLVIA PLATH'S BIRTHDAY OMG.

witching hour

Another photo set :)