Teenage Violence

One of the worst, seemingly unavoidable problems that teens have faced since the dawn of time is violence. This one word contains so much meaning: the freshman who is constantly bullied at school is a victim of violence; the wife who goes home every night to an abusive husband is a victim of violence; and the dead body lying in a random parking lot, the outcome of gang-related tension, is a victim of violence. All of these situations are circumstantial, metaphorical, and yet they are true somewhere in the world. How can one word describe so much heartache, devastation, disaster? Teenagers today learn by example, whether they witness abuse at home, or catch an old re-run of a cop show on TV. We see the gangs portrayed in cinema, and we are not oblivious to the racial cliques and outdated slurs. The adults recognize this problem and many have invested time and taxes in bringing us teenagers together in unity with programs such as DARE, but ultimately the responsibility lies with us.

I believe that the whole idea of violence stems from one of two things: peer pressure, or jealousy. With teens, fights can break out over boy/girl trouble, or the fallout of a friend talking about another behind their back. With every fight that breaks out, there is always a group of supporters backing each side, whispering in the other’s ear, escalating the drama and causing more of a scene. The older boys or jocks at a high school are constantly trying to live up to that standard: the tough guys, always seen giving nerds wedgies in classic references. I’ve witnessed the gays of our school being teased and looked down on on more than one occasion. Jealousy or insecurity plays a strong role in the violence we teens witness every day.

I think it’s disturbing when as soon as a fight breaks out, regardless of whom is involved, a horde of people surround the scene, pulling out their camera phones, encouraging, degrading. I know the idea of unity in a high school is unrealistic, improbable, and will almost definitely never happen, but I still imagine what life would be like if us teenagers were all understanding and compatible. Alameda High with no racial or sexual tension, no jealousy and no unnecessary fighting. Teenagers are territorial and insecure, but we need to realize we are not eachother’s enemies.

Family Matters

When people turn on the television to one of those popular nineties TV shows, possibly Roseanne or Full House, the audience is greeted with a surprisingly realistic take on family relationships. In Roseanne, for example, the family was constantly dealing with financial issues, sibling rivalries, and rocky adult romances. Full House slightly cushioned the sometimes dark aspects of family life by adding a pair of cute twins, and a decade full of hugs. However, speaking from personal experience, issues aren’t always resolved with a joke, and sappy music filling the background.

My sister and I are extremely close in age; we not only have to share a house, but also a school, makeup, and the occasional pair of jeans. I am very thankful for some of our differences: for example, we have extremely different taste in guys. Phew. Another thing, she is very interested in team sports, and that’s just not my forte. Her and my brother seem to get along oddly well, sometimes double teaming me, forming this weird posy of red-heads that dominate the house-hold. My family’s past includes my aunt and uncle, who died of drug overdose two weeks apart from eachother, leaving two children, Kenny and Jenny, behind. Jenny became addicted to everything, and while Kenny rebelled and was a frequent smoker, drinker, and Juvi resident, he has managed to overcome a lot in these past fifteen years: he just had a baby girl with his girlfriend, Lucy, who is adorable.

My grandparents on my dad’s side are old-fashioned, the fake blonde with the long nails and the strict marine. My grandparents on my mother’s side are hippies: they in the woods of Orinda, and are extremely kind-hearted. My aunt Tiffany had a questionable past, but now she just had a baby, and has the most genuine of boyfriends. My great-grandma Nonie loves talking about her alcoholic past, her abortions, and all matters of nonsense: she just turned 87, but you’d never guess it. And of course, my Mom and Dad, now divorced, have always been my rock. We are all very close, meeting together every Sunday night for dinner, all sixteen of us. But we are hardly traditional; yes, we have the typical holiday celebrations, filled with love and war, but we as individuals are so different. We truly are a random group of people, but with one similar belief: that it’s family that matters.

Behind Closed Lockers, Pt.2

Anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating, over-exercising, night eating, and orthorexia: these are all uncommonly known forms of eating disorders, commonly found in school environments. Peers of those suffering from one or more of these disorders don’t always recognize the more discreet of signs. Most recognize their friends and family as having an issue when they are starving themselves, or always dashing to the bathroom after a particularly filling meal. However, what about the teens who never leave the gym, those who constantly count calories and nutrition facts until it becomes a serious obsession? These signs may be less noticeable, but they can reveal a serious form of self-consciousness.

Teenagers these days feel pressure to be the same size as the starved, over-exercised models and TV personalities in society today. One of the biggest issues we need to address is just how beautiful the individual woman is, and how no two body types are comparable. Girls who have naturally fast metabolisms may be envied by others around them who have to work for their body types, but how do we know if those girls are truly thankful for what they have? A friend of mine is constantly complemented on her skinny waist and non-existent butt, but she dreads shopping because she is always forced to look in the Junior section, she is never hit on by boys older than Junior High because she doesn’t look out of Junior High herself, and she is constantly grabbing Twinkies and Ho Ho’s in hopes of gaining that extra pound, a habit that has caused a semi-serious addiction to chocolate and fast food. Why are we all so unhappy being who we are naturally?

I support the idea of a healthy body, healthy mind; however, health is subjective. Those with a size 2 waist may look slim and healthy, but they may be constantly staving off hunger, pale from malnutrition under all their makeup. And those with a size 10 waist may come off as doughy or slightly overweight, but in actuality they manage 3 healthy meals a day, and have a consistent workout routine. Every body is different, and every way our bodies react to diets and exercise is different. I support a long future of healthy children, despite our rapidly increasing overweight society, but we as teenage girls need to realize we can be healthy and beautiful without looking like our favorite characters.

Paragraph Annotation of "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria"?

(10.) Prejudice is one of the inescapable consequences of living in a racist society. Cultural racism—the cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color—is like smog in the air. Sometimes it is so thick it is visible, other times it is less apparent,[9] but always, day in and day out, we are breathing it in. None of us would introduce ourselves as “smog-breathers” (and most of us don’t want to be described as prejudiced), but if we live in a smoggy place, how can we avoid breathing the air? If we live in an environment in which we are bombarded with stereotypical images in the media, are frequently exposed to the ethnic jokes of friends and family members, and are rarely informed of the accomplishments of oppressed groups, we will develop the negative ideas about those groups that form the basis of prejudice. […]

I annotated this paragraph by circling the first word “inescapable”, underlining it and writing “WE CAN EVOLVE!” in all caps. I believe that our society has shown great improvement in even the past century when it comes to respecting other races, and I think the word “inescapable” does not belong anywhere near this topic. I also took the phrase “cultural racism” and made a connection to other phrases that I believe personally affect society as well, including “cultural sexism”. We learn from our peers, advisors, and people in power. We as a culture are individually responsible for what we think as a population. I agreed with the statement that the “assumed inferiority of people of color-is like smog in the air”; I think this is such a strong analogy: we are all exposed to the negative effects of everyone around us, none of us are immune but we can each help reverse it. I also underlined the term “ethnic jokes”, expressing that they are not jokes if they are sincere. Every random remark is taken into consideration by someone out there, even if it is just a passing statement. And if someone says it, even as a joke, they are contributing to the already smoggy atmosphere we live in today.

Behind Closed Lockers, Pt.1

Gossip Girl, One Tree Hill, Supernatural: these are names of some of the CW’s most popular shows, and besides receiving high praise and acknowledgment for the plot lines and actor’s acting abilities, these shows are more commonly recognized for their leading ladies: the double 0’s who flaunt their jutting collar bones and pronounced rib cages. Today, teens and young children are more influenced than ever by what they see in the public, and when the television industry is capitalizing on these “sexy, youthful” women, who in actuality are scary thin, the desire to be that size can spread like the plague.

Every minute there are girls out there, obsessively counting nutrition values, running to the bathroom after a weak moment and sticking a finger down their throat; but why? Because we are raised to believe that thin is beautiful. And while being in shape and healthy is a desired look, the women and more importantly young girls out there are looking past the healthy aspect and instead focusing on the final objective and getting there by any means possible. I have personally visited the rooms of many of my friends, from the super-thin to the slightly chunky, and in most rooms, including my own, I’ve seen chopped up posters, magazine covers and ads plastered on the walls: some to reflect individual personality, and in the case of one of my closest friends, a seemingly unattainable goal.

I was watching an episode of a talk show, which capitalized on teenagers who go to extreme measures to look like women on TV, until they push it too far and begin considering even their idols as obese. One young girl was so desperate, she did nothing but eat baby powder mixed with water to quench her hunger; another would put toothpaste on her back teeth in chunks so she would carry around that flavor all day and not be able to eat anything. It reaches a point where the malnourished, gaunt look becomes unattractive and repulsing. So why do girls continue to do it? After all the dieting, over-exercising, binging and purging, does it come down to the want to impress a boy, to live up to that idol, to raise self-esteem? It reaches a point where the need to be skinny isn’t fueled by personal desire, but by the mind’s new warped idea that skinny is never skinny enough.