Space In A Relationship

When you are committed to someone it is important to communicate especially if you want that space. Space is important to have because you have to miss each other and not be under each other's skin because then it will fall apart. How much space is too much space, though? Some people might just say a long time, but what is considered too long? A couple should take time out to hang out with friends and family and also have that me-time so that way when you go back to your partner you can maintain healthy intimacy. If you are always together you will get on each other's nerves depending on you guy's personality and when that happens, you want to have space anyway away from the bickering so either way space is kind of necessary. At the same time you need to have an open communication with each other to make your connection with each other and understand each other's boundaries when you are off doing your own things and recognize the behaviors of your partner.

Cuffing Season

Since we are kind of in the middle of fall i should mention cuffing season. I realized it started months ago, I'm just now mentioning it. For those of you that don't know what exactly is cuffing season is the time of the year when people seek out a "boo" to cuddle with while it gets cold outside and have an intimate indoor relationship with them until the seasons over or if you want to take the relationship to the next level. It is pretty much the silliest way of saying "hooking up" and just made it a fancy word. You are basically cuffing someone to be with you for the winter time. It is such a dumb way of getting with people because suppose you fall in love with that person. You can't mix love with a stupid trend because eventually someone does get hurt, but if you are just doing it for fun just be safe. If you take it seriously, chances are the person you cuffed isn't. In the video clip above, the guy explains that he thinks that cuffing season was invented by a women because she was lonely and needed a man. Even though it sounds funny it might be true. Whether a female or a male invented it, it still something ridiculous to deal with. Teens make it prevelant to have something to do, it might be fun and all, but things don't always turn the way you want to especially if you cuffed the wrong person. Some people will cuff someone and then break up with them in the summer and start the process all over again which doesn't make any sense. You are pretty much using someone to be your indoor buddy just so you won't be by yourself. That's not a relationship. That's just wrong.

Appreciation

People tend to forget the positves that they have going on in their life because they focus on the negatives that is becoming a distraction. I understand that we want to fix things right away. I know I do, but it's important to understand the value of giving and receiving. Be thankful for all the blessings that came into your life and know that there will be many more to come.

Celeb Gossip

Celebs are always the talk of the day whether it is good or bad, but it's only right when we talk about the positives that are going on with them. Celebrities have a right to privacy just like everyone, but when you are a public figure it seems impossible. Sometimes I wonder how in the world do celebrities handle the hatred in the blogs and the press in general. I can just imagine what's going on with them mentally. At the same time I commend them for being very strong through all that chaos.

Crazy Acts Of Violence

The amount of violence has increased drastically. People's behaviors and issues has been outrageous and in some ways uncontrollable. Most of the acts are always caught on video for entertainment and to put people on blast. One video that was shown was where a boy was set on fire because he was gay. That video broke my heart because I'm sick of people making fun of the gay community. It is not fair that they cannot seem to live their lives the way they want to because of complete ignorance. So many people are getting shot over the stupidest things. A 16 year-old girl got shot because she wouldn't give up her tattoo ink to this guy. Why should that be a reason to shoot anyone at all it is ridiculous. Teen violence is pretty much becoming a sport as well because everyday is a different story about kids getting into a fight in front of the wrong people and over unnecessary situations. Our generation has been giving way too many bad impressions that is making the older generation look down on us thinking we have no future since we are ruining our future. Women in jail are fighting each other while being pregnant. I can understand the frustration of being in jail, but when you are carrying a child, you must have to be completely furious to take that type of risk. Gang violence is also becoming even more prevelant. Just recently there was story about an old man getting jumped by gay thugs. That is pretty bizarre. You don't hear stories often about gay thugs and when you do so many questions come to your minds. This world needs a lot of prayer. We don't seem to make any changes to make it better because we are too lazy about what's going on right instead of what we are going to do in the future. We need to start praying now.

Tampons And Vodka Trend

Teenagers keep finding new ways to get the feeling of being high and drunk. One of the ways that they are doing is the most dangerous because of how much it effects your health. Kids are putting tampons in vodka and inserting them in their rectum and vaginal area to get a quick buzz. The reason behind this is the fact that when you insert any liquor in your rectal cavity you get drunk quicker because of the mucus membrane that lines that area. The thinness of it can absorb the alcohol making your blood alcohol level go from 0 to about .09-.12 in a matter of 45 seconds which is pretty quick and quite buzzlike so kids figure why not do something to get that type of high really fast. They also figure it would beat a breathalyzer because you are not consuming alcohol orally to have the smell in your breath and in your mouth which is not true because the breathalyzer measures the alcohol in your bloodstream so it doesn't matter how you intake it because either way it goes in your system. We need to pray for our people's seriously!

Social Dynamics Of Gender In The Media

There are so many stereotypes when it comes to gender. This world claims to want equality, but keep complaining when the equality gets stronger. There is so much irony and contradiction that it's causing more problems than we already have. Some people are so stuck on this fairytale lifestyle where the wife is suppose to stay home to cook, clean, and take of the kids and the man works all day and just provides and the household is just 2 kids with a white picket fence. That doesn't neccessarily exists simply because of the fact that it is a fairytale. We live in such a fantasy world that we tend to confuse it with reality until the reality hits us. Since we still live off of the fairytale mentallity the world is steretyped to be controlled by male domination because the men has to be the heros, but so do women. We want to feel like we saving the world in some kind of way as well and be appreciated for it especially since we are the emotional ones.

Music Videos

Music videos are the biggest factor in music in general. It's all about the money, power, and respect which is also said in a few people's lyrics. MTV started in 1981 with videos and it has been so popular ever since as well as other stations like BET, VH1, FUSE, etc. The documentary dreamworlds 3 covers all the aspects and basics of videos as far as imagery and visual fantasy. Music videos possess a sense of sexual control and male dominance. This idea of exploiting women has so many conflicts going on and double standards. It is said that women are stuck in a pornographic phase to tell a story by having a desire for someone. Different camera angles show a women's body in a provocative way or a certain position. Even female artists start to blossom into a super grown women status to get attention. The more skin you show the more money.

Advertising

Advertising is everywhere in our faces whether it is in a magazine, on a billboard, on a bus, online we just can't seem to get away from it. We see more than 3,000 ads a day without even realizing we are seeing that much, but at the same time the images in ads add to the misrepresentation of women. Different pictures exploit the idea of violence against women by showing them in revealing clothing with bruising all over them or other images shows women in very provocative positions showing the idea that all women are, are sexual objects. This world lives in a fantasy for men since women are the ones that have to based everything on their looks to get attention. Even the most innocent product is put in a sexual way or area. It gives the viewer something to look at since the product has to look good to sell. The more sexualized the better chance the product will sell. The documentary "Killing Us Softly" explains every single dynamics of altering women in ads to seduce the male vision. The documentary has 4 different versions of it.

The Art Of Editing

Editing is something that is very useful to do in any source of media whether it's doing a newspaper, a show, a computer game, etc. It shows the fact that it can be very artful in so many ways because the whole point of it is to make it look good anyway. When it comes to reality shows editing is very prevelant. They have to do it so it can fit the time of the program as well as to protect certain things about the subject. When it comes to editing advertisements or retouching it is also to make something look good because when it comes to media is constantly and always will be about the money.

Paparazzi

Celebrities are constantly being stalked by cameras because they are legally a public figure, but are celebrities really the cause for camera men to get out of hand? It kind of started with the incident with Princess Diana when her driver was trying to dodge paparazzi and then it caused her car accident. Snapshots are unhindered by law so most of the time celebrities make deals with their publicist to give the paparzzi something to shoot pictures for. At the same time they instigate by bribing celebrities to places where they socialize at or go on a regular basis just so they can take pictures of them and then the picture goes to the highest bidder and then get money off of it. They also pay the informer for the information about the star explaining their whereabouts as well as making deals with autographers so that way the star can get an autograph to take pics of the celeb to make money off of selling the pics. The main thing out of all of this is money.

Hormones For Kids

At a very young age such as toddlers, kids realize who they are as human beings. They recognize the parts and what it's used for and can identify themeselves gender wise. With that being said doctors debate on whether or not it is ok for kids to get hormone treatments once they realize themselves pychologically and that it should match with them physically. Some doctors say they are too young for hormone treatments and feel that whatever the child is feeling is a phase and will eventually outgrow it. Other doctors say let them have it so they can grow up not feeling like they were born in the wrong body. Tyra had an episode explaining this exact issue.

Homosexual Family Dynamics

I'm sure there are some people that wonder what it's like to live in a household where your parents are a gay couple. Well it is actually no different from a straight family home. A study actually showed that kids that grow up in a gay family environment are 5 times more happier than straight families because they are more open-minded and recognize the diversity of society and able to accepted the different. Over 80% of gay families find it beneficial to live this way.

Intersexed

A lot of people don't really know much about the gender term intersexed because it's not common, but if you say the word "hermanphrodite" they are a bit more familiar with it. Hermanphrodite is the slang term for intersexed which is the medical term and it pretty much means that you are born with both parts. 1 out of 2000 people are intersexed which is the same amount of red heads in the world which is not that much. This gender conflict deals with anatomy alone and not necessarily sexuality. There are babies born with full-blown female parts and a few male parts as well as full-blown male parts and a few female parts because of added hormones that developed as a fetus. It is often confused with attraction and confusion with identity because the child often times get altered at birth because of what the doctors want them to be gender wise since there is so many gender biases. What matters is what the child identifies themself pyschologically of what gender they are as well as who they are attracted to.

Same-Sex Marriage

Homosexuality is something that should be appreciated especially since you can't help to be who you are and who you fall in love with. Therefore they should be allowed to marry who they want as well. Sex-sex marriages has been such a growing conflict because of law enforcements and religious beliefs. So many people are for it because it is something they are naturally are and others are against because it is against the bible. With that being said 10 countries has allowed same-sex marriage laws to be passed and only a few countries allow it as well. I really feel like every state and every country should allow it because people are in love with who they are naturally in love with and if anything they are probably more happier than straight couples.

Keeping Bullying A Secret

A lot of people don't tell anyone that they have been bullyed mainly because of retaliation. A few years ago kids made snitching such a big deal because they felt that anyone who is a tattle tell is a punk and have no business telling anyone else anything after something has been done to them or if they witnessed something. They even made shirts with a stop sign that said stop snitching telling people that if you tell on someone then something happens to you. A study showed that about 41% of kids don't tell anyone after they are being bullying because they are afraid that the bully might come after them.

High School Standards

A lot of times bullying happens in high school based on appearance. Looks are such a big deal because in high school your body is changing, your hormones are raging out of control, people are dating, etc, but people tend to take things too far. The standards that student makes in high school can come from stereotypes and upbringings which makes up the social dynamics of peers. There are always these cliches such as the jocks, geeks, popular girl, smart girl, bitches/mean girls, etc. It's like as soon as you enter school you are categorize. That's when the bullying comes in. You pretty much have to look a certain way to get accepted or else you get picked on. You either have to be pretty or have a strong personality and if you have both it is an advantage. Of course every school has a different level of pretty because certain prettys isn't enough. It's ashame that people are not given chances to prove themselves to the world the spark that they have within themselves.

Cyber Bullying

With the technology becoming so prevelant because of how much it has upgraded, bullying has been able to translate through our everyday sources. Cyber bullying is also something that has gotten extremely out of control. One story in particular that made news headline was the Meghan Myers story which is show in the clip above from a segment on Tyra Banks show. At just 13 years old she committed suicide by tying herself up in her closet after reading harsh words from a mystery person on Myspace. She thought the person a boy her age in her neighborhood that she thought was trying to get with her, but was later identified as a grown women who lived down the street from her which is insane. Meghan's mother has been going on different TV talk shows to promote ending cyber bullying and the Meghan Myers foundation. We have to be more careful with what we put out there on these social networking sites so we don't loose anymore of a genertion.

Bullying Against Gays

Young gay youths are the most at risk when it comes to bullying because of society's views on homosexuality. Everyday there is always a story on the news about high school kids committing suicide because they couldn't handle the torment of ignorant individuals. High school is suppose to be a time of fun and experience things about yourself and others, but unfortunately it can be a dangerous time for our younger generation. Bullying has gotten so much worst and for some reason it doesn't seem to stop. Study shows that a gay student gets called a faggot, homo, punk, etc every 14 minutes of the day. That is way to much to say to someone that didn't do anything. 31% of teens have been threatened within the last year alone. The suicide rate as increased within the last year as well which is ridiculous especially when it happens to teens as young as 12 or 13 years old. The discrimination has got to stop!

Bullying

Bullying has become the most serious act of violence within our youth. Bullying has increased more than ever including the many ways of bullying. Whether it is in person or through the computer. Either way it is dangerous. With its increase came with an increase of suicide in young teens some even as young as 8 years old because of the amount of people ganging up on one individual. Something needs to be done because we are literally loosing a generation of kids that deserve to live. It is important to understand the behavior issues within the bully to get to the root of the problem and understand why some kids are so mean even though they are the victims being that they are lashing out because they are hurting inside.

Media Madness Mayhem

The media is something that society looks forward to exploring and checking on every minute because we constantly want to know what's going on in the world. It is to the point where the press gets carried away with what we want to witness and how much we put out there that causes a corruption of a system. I watched an interesting documentary on OWN called "Miss Representation" which is pretty much based on how women are treated so differently and poorly compared to men in this world, but they also talked about how media is so manipulative at the same time. The media itself makes you think that the stuff that they put in the tabloids, magazines and on TV is something the viewers request or always want to hear about when it is actually what the press wants you to see ande believe because of the business and relationships that publicist have between themselves and the celebrities. The publicist job is to make sure that things that are written or shown in the media are true statements, but the media also has the power to change things since they have a freedom of speech. The exploitation that media tends to be good at also has a lot to do with stereotypes, standards and manipulating the consumers for the sake of money. Greed is one of the biggest sins that people have in this country and we tend to make it worst everyday especially with the way this world functions. Until we stop complaining, and start making positives changes, this world will never change.

Viral Internet Relationships

The internet has been the most dynamic way of communicating ever since it was first invented. Most people have found their first love through the internet, or future husband/wife, but do we tend to get carried away with letting out our personal business? In order to relate to other people or network for other opportunities it is somewhat important to put yourself out there, but sometimes we don't realize how much we put out there. Online dating is one example of falling into the wrong trap. The internet and other social networking sites gives you the power the edit things and post whatever you want on your pages to get something in return therefore you have to be careful who you are talking to online especially when dating. As far as putting your relationship out there can also cause a lot of problems. Myspace and facebook are known for questionable status on people's profile. The problem is, is the fact that people would know things about your love life based on either knowing you as a person and what kind of things you put on your page. Ex girlfriends/boyfriends will then find these things out and you hope that they are not pyschopathic exes. I knew of some incidents where these situations have happened. A friend of mine had her man's crazy ex threatening them over the internet just because he moved on. Sometimes the statuses that people post are probably not real so you kind of have to know how to edit out your page for your own protection especially since the technology is only going to increase from here.

Most Useful Devices

Technology has been the rise of our generation. Even though Steve Jobs is gone he remains alive in everyday electronical devices. Technology has taken over our lives in so many ways to the point where we revolve around it within our daily activity and routines. We have ipods, ipads, iphones, a lot of items beginning with an I. Theses items created different ways of commmunicating within our social circle, but at the same time backfiring in other situations when we get carried away. With so many of these devices it makes you think what are the most useful and which ones can get you in trouble with your personal life. Since it's only going to upgrade from here we have to be careful on how we add our personal lives in to it.