Slut Walk NYC

I'm so excited for New York's Slut Walk on October 1st! The whole event has gotten me into a feminist mode that I hope I will keep up. Hope isn't enough though. I need to start making real commitments to causes I believe in, so I guess I'll start with educating myself. I spent most of the morning reading online journals and watching news reports. In just the small bit I've seen today, my eyes have really been opened to just how big the issue of female objectification still is. I had never really felt the issue affect me personally, but the problem is out there, and it does affect every one of us. This may be part of the problem, a lot of people don't realize there is one. So many words and phrases are thrown out carelessly and without any thoughts to the implications. For example, the Fox News anchors speak about women in a shockingly derogatory way far too often (though any occurrence of that behavior is wrong). Here's a taste of it:

I also read a wonderful article that gets to the heart of what being a feminist means and why it's not ok to blame the victim of a sexual assault, which takes me back to Slut Walk. I've seen a lot of journalists putting the Slut Walks in a negative light. The popular opinion among these people is that "reclaiming the word slut"is the wrong way to go about fighting for feminism. Really, the point is that    slut-shaming shouldn't be tolerated. A woman should be allowed to have as much sex with as many partners as she chooses without being chastised for having no self-respect. Why should she be ashamed of wanting to have sex? A man can exhibit the same behavior without having those negative connotations forced on him.  "Even when a man is called a slut, it’s never just slut. It’s either man-slut or man-whore. It’s always derived from the feminine and there is never an original derogatory term for men who have promiscuous sex." 
So even if there is disagreement about the validity of the Slut Walks, at least the issue is out there in the dialogue. Because nothing is ever going to change unless it's brought to everyone's attention that the issue exists. 

A New Beginning In a New City

11 months ago, I began my Freshman year of college at Parsons the New School for Design.

Foundation Year. A severely insane experience. Not only was I adjusting to college and moving away from home, I was adjusting to living in New York City. New York is surreal and insane, and I love it. I'm very excited to be returning in a month, even if it does mean returning to the hectic life of a Parsons student. It's all worth it though. I fully believe Parsons is the best choice I could have made. I've already grown a lot over the past year, and I look forward to more growth this year, both in personal and artistic development. 

Let's begin with a review of my Foundation year. 

First semester included 2D, 3D, Drawing, Lab, and Art History. Second semester was a choice of more specific forms of first semester's courses. Here are a few of my favorite projects:

Rationalizations of Insanity: A Mission Statement

Through this blog, I hope to keep track of my accomplishments and what I hope to accomplish. I fear that if I fail to examine my life, I will become complacent and fall into a life without fulfillment.

Discovery: I'm a very fearful person.

Let's gain some courage.