We the time-travelers

As an artist, I crave all beautiful things. And as I try to recreate them, I can't help but think, nothing can match up to the imperfection that is the natural world. Even though I am a painter by nature, I have always been mystified by the pristine quality of a photograph. Nothing can capture the simple essence of a moment like a camera. The almost perfect replication of the world holds a supernatural quality, where we can relive moments that have passed or never even happened. Photographs make us time travelers, often transporting us to moments we need to remember. They help us heal. And while some like Sontag may not understand it, the job of a photograph is not to explain a process, it is to capture a fraction of time in hopes of preserving it. Like all powerful art forms, photographs cannot be read verbatim, they must be analyzed and interpreted. To take any information at its face-value is pure folly; it is the duty of mankind to decipher the world around them. It is not the photograph that misconstrues the information, but the human that views it. And in that manner, anything in the world can be twisted. We see the world as we want to see it. Photography is an art: another form of self expression.  The smile we wear upon our face or lack thereof is our badge to show the world. In that sense, photographs are no less construed than the clothes we wear everyday. While they may not be the perfect example of our personality, they are a part of the whole. The minute, trivial details of a whole city cannot be captured by a single snapshot: it is up to the human mind to know its own limits, to fill in the blanks that cannot be explained. The power of the naked lens is to display a moment of truth: nothing else can capture the human spirit in its hope and sadness.

 

Just a Trim

      Haircuts. They're never quite what you expect. Either you've been getting the same, boring cut for over a decade (in that case, boo you) or you like to change it up from time to time. As a member of the latter group, say that hair cutting in general is risky business. First and foremost, one has to find the right salon. Choosing a hair salon can be tricky, and it's usually a matter of personal preference, but I highly recommend one that is not located inside your local Wal-mart. One thing I've learned is that nothing good comes out of a haircut that costs $5.99. Next, find a hairdresser whom you trust. The right hairdresser for you will have a sixth sense about your desired length and the limited extent of your styling abilities. She will magically know that four inches off means a trim. These are a rare breed so if you find one, make sure to hold on tight. Good, now you have a 50% chance of being satisfied with your haircut.
     Sure you may walk out of there feeling great, until you realize that you can never make it look the way your hairdresser made it, because she obviously sold her soul to be able to work magic like that. Soon you're left with a limp and frizzy mess, praying for the day that your hair grows out so you can swing your lovely tresses in everyone's face. And after months of staring wistfully at images of long-haired goddesses, your hair finally inches to desired length. And after a week of peaceful hair bliss, you find the devilish split-ends. That is only the beginning of the problems. Showers end up taking over 45 minutes and you've got nothing to show for it except sore arms. Your hair starts pooling in your lap, getting caught in your backpack, or flying into your food. It would take too long to curl it or straighten it or do anything at all for that matter. At this point, you are completely fed up by your endless, damaged hair and you decide to go rogue. Just a trim, you think, just to change it up a bit. And you walk into the salon again, trying to describe to your hairdresser exactly what combination of new hair trends you think will look good based on blurry images found in obscure corners of the internet. The cycle repeats itself.
     Really, nothing can satisfy a woman's quench for perfect hair. The good hair days always die young, as they say. It could be the fault of hair salons everywhere, who capitalize on women's need to beautify their hair.But the quest for perfect hair is futile in itself, for no woman wants the hair she was given. Cursed with silky, straight, ebony locks, a girl wishes that her hair would hold the serpentine curls her friend has. The same friend, with spiraling golden tresses, yearns for the effortless brown waves her sister was blessed with. And the list goes on and on. The endless supply of chemical products promising to increase shine, or adjust hair color, or tame frizz, just cater to the growing number of girls who think that new spray will fix their self image issues. As Sedaris pointed out, we always want what we can't have, or in some cases, what we used to have. Maybe it would be better if we were all just bald.

Disclaimer: This is not about me: I would say my hair is too short, but I like to live my life without regrets. 

Sun-Chasers

We are born chasing the sun. We have crossed oceans, built pyramids, and conquered lands, all in the name of the golden orb. The British empire once boasted of an empire where the sun never sets. As humans, we crave the light: the real and tangible. And as we seek out new horizons, one can wonder, are running towards new beginnings or away from the shadows. 
     When we are children, we are taught to fear the dark. And taught to love the noble night-light that protects us from the monsters lurking deep beneath the shadowy recesses of the bed. We grow up learning to fear what we don't know or understand. That which cannot be conquered is avoided. There is a fear of the limitless, of empty space and no restraints. We grow accustomed to our allotted spaces, confined by our need of comfort and safety. 
  The halls of childhood ring with the words "Safety First!" And every time I snap the buckle of my seat belt, these words reverberate through my mind. And seat belts have inadvertently saved countless lives. But if ever there were a real accident, where the car flipped ten times over and is mangled beyond repair, would a seat belt save me? Let's not forget the classic irony of the protagonist trapped in a flaming vehicle by the very seat belt meant to save them: the instrument of protection becomes an instrument of death. Locking the door doesn't prevent a kleptomaniac from chucking a brick through the window, and obeying pedestrian signals doesn't stop a rampant alcoholic from running a person over. 
     Precautions can only deter a predator, so why do these simple, routine measures give us such a sound peace of mind? Night and day, what makes one environment more pleasing or perilous than another, other than the humans and minds that inhabit it. The Okefenokee Swamp is clear demonstrator of the human mind's ability to perceive the environment in different ways; While one passage described it as a sanctuary the other depicted it as the mother of all horror. Reality is that the mind chooses how it sees the environment: nothing but the mind can transform a tranquil forest clearing into a murderous, fog-filled wood. Our lives are dictated by our surroundings, yet our surroundings are dictated by our subconscious minds. When safety is an illusion, the environment we occupy shouldn't dictate the limits of human ambition. 

Jesus, Pink Elephants, and Puzzles

Today, childhoods are nostalgically reminisced as times of innocence, adventure, and pure fun. We began our nights with fantastical tales of pink elephants, chivalrous princes, and mean witches, and ended it peacefully, comforted by the knowledge of the famed happily-ever-after. But once upon a time, not even a century ago, children toiled night and day in an effort to help their struggling families. While everyone rested blissfully, thanking Jesus for their satin sheets, these children dragged their "midnight luncheons" to sweatshops to produce the most meager of wages. In her speech, Florence Kelley utilizes the conventions of ethos, pathos, and logos to advance her policy for child labor laws and female political action: her use of diction, keen rhetoric, and command over structure develop a compelling argument. Kelley cleverly appeals to her audience (Women's Suffrage Convention) and effectively combines the fight for enfranchisement with the fight for child labor laws. She begins by quoting the census and reciting testimonies, eventually using them to evoke guilt in her audience. Her effortless transition between fact and emotion make the logos appear like pathos. Her words are powerful; she calls the children, "little beasts of burden," showing that their conditions fare little better than that of animals. Kelley's urgent, exclamatory tone serves as a call to action, as she enlists women across America to join her cause.

The Ambivert

      In respect to introverts and extroverts, most humans are like batteries. An introvert is one who needs down time to recharge, especially after spending time with a large amount of people. An extrovert is like a solar powered battery: it draws energy from being in the spotlight and feeds off the companionship of other people. What are you? http://funtestiq.com/personality/personalitytest39.shtml
      Congratulations! Common stereotypes find that extroverts are outgoing, loud, friendly, talkative, and more successful, while introverts are shy, reclusive, removed, private, and independent. If only personality could actually be measured in black and white.What many amateur online psychology tests fail to recognize is that the extrovert-introvert measure is actually a spectrum: 50 shades of ambivert. An ambivert is someone who is socially comfortable and interactive, but also someone who enjoys his or her down time (Mountjoy). Other common misconceptions include the fact that behaviors such as shyness are not an inherent part of personality. Both extroverts and introverts can be shy, but one is eager to be around people while the other is not. These tests cannot be accurate because people's personalities don't fit into one of two boxes (Sol). New research shows that most people are actually ambiverts. Quite frankly, your location on the personality spectrum depends on how comfortable you are in a particular situation (Sol).  So whether a person leans towards being an extrovert or introvert is simply based on different cultural, religious, and developed behaviors (Mountjoy). What are you really?http://lonerwolf.com/introvert-or-extrovert-test/
      While it is interesting to see how much environments and cultural dispositions can affect our personalities, it is not surprising. Our preference for public or private spaces can be traced to our varying experiences. In his essay, Staples shows how negative experiences eventually triggered different natural responses in public spaces. Staples' level of comfort in public spaces diminished, naturally affecting both his psyche and his confidence. In response, Staples deliberately changed the way he acted in order to display a different persona. If our personality is indeed shaped by the situations we experience, then negative experiences in public may make private spaces more appealing (i.e. an introvert) At the same time positive experiences would make public spaces and strangers more inviting (i.e. an extrovert). Ultimately, we are the culmination of our experiences. This goes to show that, often times, society molds us more than we care to realize.

Works Cited
Sol, Matthew. "Ambiversion: The Lost Personality Type." LonerWolf. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Mar. 2014
Mountjoy, Paul. "Introvert or Extrovert? Most of Us Are Ambiverts." Washington Times Communities.          Washington Times, 14 Sept. 2013. Web. 02 Mar. 2014.