Autobiography for me.

I am a genuinely good person. I care about the people in my life and try my hardest to make them feel comfortable and loved.

I am a psychology major, planning to work in a high school and help kids, like my younger brother, who have learning disabilities and have to overcome them (on top of peers trying to bring them down.)

I also deem myself the councilor-in-house where I live. My futon is always open when girls are having a hard time. Not to pump myself up, but it seems that people feel comfortable talking to me. I'm a listener, which is good, seeing as my future profession calls for lots of listening. I am hardly trained and I know my counseling skills will continue to improve through school, but I am on the right track. It feels good to know that already people trust me with their problems and can come to me when they don't know what to do. I don't offer much advice (because I'm not a trained councilor) but people seem to feel a little better after letting out their stress or frustration. I always feel better after venting to a friend or parent, so I know it helps to have an open ear that wants you to feel better.

That is why I know I am on my way towards the right profession. I always thought I was going to be a teacher. My mom is a teacher, as well as several aunts, my grandmother and many close family friends. It was all I knew, so I resorted to it when people asked. One day, I think during my junior year of high school, it hit me! That was THE LAST THING I WANTED TO DO WITH MY LIFE! Psychology, especially in schools, is not far off from teaching so getting to know my brother's councilor and seeing what he did felt right. It was such a relief coming into college knowing what I wanted to major in and every psychology class I take gets me more excited for the future.

That was a lot of personal rambling, but writing exercises like this are powerful. This post is not meant for anyone else. It is meant for me. I can reread it and know that I am on a good life track.

on the other hand.....

http://www.salon.com/life/feature/2005/07/22/dove


This is condemning the ad for selling cellulite cream and telling women that they can be curvy and natural, but god forbid they have cellulite.

check this out!

So I remember being in the subway in NYC in high school and seeing this ad for Dove soap. It made a positive impression on me and was a big hit in the media. The use of "normal" everyday women as models in their soap ads, was a wonderful idea to go against the negative body image that we get from most ads today.

BLOG #2

Hi everyone, hope you enjoyed that weather change (from 90s to 50s within a week). It has made my allergies go crazy!!

Anyways, I really liked the reading "Strip!" in Body Outlaws. I have always found transgendered and transexual individuals fascinating. I have a very liberal outlook and find myself accepting gender differences and wanting to know more. As embarrassing as it is, I got into the show Nip Tuck this summer (I rediscovered the local library and all of their TV series rentals). I watched the show, not because I like the idea of plastic surgery. I think it is appalling that people will pay so much money to change their boobs, butt, thighs or cheeks so much and expect the surgery to make them happier. The show brought up some very controversial topics, like gender reconstruction surgery. In it, the two main doctors help several transexual individuals with their reconstructive surgeries because they had perviously gone through secretive, unsanitary and unqualified means for surgery and had ended up mutilated, embarrassed or dead. This is a problem in our society because people do not accept these individuals and may deny them the right to change their bodies into what is comfortable for them.

The show is very sexual and drama filled, but I like that they expose viewers to unconventional people and ideas, hoping that we can change societies views and become a more accepting people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nip/Tuck_characters

Have any of you watched the show? Thoughts?

Hi classmates!

Well to start off with, my name is Margaret McKnight, but I go by Maggie. I have never really liked my full name. My mom has always told me, just incase I want to be president of the United States some day, she gave me the name Margaret. Thanks mom...Anyways, I am a junior undergrad studying psychology and picking up a minor in sociology. I plan to go straight on to grad school in 2 years (crossing my fingers) and eventually go for a PhD. I plan to be a school psychologist, which is very different from a councilor. I DO NOT want to help kids plan their schedules or get in to college. I want to help kids going through rough times with family and friends or who have learning disabilities and need adjusting in school. My younger brother worked very closely with the psychologist at our high school so I got to know him well. He does school psych and works in a private practice doing counseling on the side. That is what I hope to be doing in 10-15 years.

I chose this particular junior English class because I am a woman. Easy enough, right? But I was really excited to learn that the class focused on Barbies and body image. I had plenty of Barbies when I was little so I can certainly relate. But I have also dealt with body image issues all my life. I honestly thing everyone does. Discussing them and learning about others with body image concerns is a perfect way to learn about yourself. I hope to be a more proficient writer and to learn a little about myself through this class. I also hope to come out of it with an A!!!!!!

As a child I had lots of Barbies and two American Girl Dolls. I played with them a lot but was really bad at making up stories and acting them out with the dolls. More than anything, I liked dressing them up, creating their houses and decking them out with accessories. I did their hair and set up scenes with them, but never liked "playing house" or telling their stories. I'm not sure why?

I also loved playing with my mom's vintage Barbies. They all looked so different from mine, even their facial expressions and make up were different. They had unique cloths, lots of which my mom sewed and created when she was that age. I adored one of her Barbies that had an extendable and retractable ponytail. I had to be careful with it but really liked that I could do more than dress her up. I hope I can think of more Barbie memories as the class goes on. I will ask my family for memories as well. They are bound to come up with some pretty funny stories.