-Your life on Earth Project-
“My life” By Iris Dement
[Verse 1]
My life, it don't count for nothing
When I look at this world, I feel so small
My life, it's only a season
A passing September that no one will recall
[Chorus]
But I gave joy to my mother
And I made my lover smile
And I can give comfort to my friends when they're hurting
And I can make it seem better for a while
[Verse 2]
My life, it's half the way travelled
And still I have not found my way out of this night
And my life, it's tangled in wishes
And so many things that just never turned out right
[Chorus]
But I gave joy to my mother
And I made my lover smile
And I can give comfort to my friends when they're hurting
And I can make it seem better for a while
My Life Lyric Analysis
For me, my solo song entitled “My life” by Iris DeMent sums up my morals and overall hope and wishful outcome for my life. Throughout this project, it has made me realize how much we as a society and myself personally need to slow down. We need to take the time we have on this planet to make a movie that's worth watching. We are constantly in a rush, trying to get ourselves to this idea of perfection and success. When along the way we forget to cherish the moments in between. My solo truly speaks wonders to my heart. I can relate so much of my personal life, and morals to this song that it helps me become the best performer I can be, which is something I truly cherish in my life. The overall breakdown of this song, and how my choreographer Taylor Shultz explained it to me, is this journey of a woman at the end of her life reflecting. Seeing how she may have made many mistakes, how she wasn't perfect, but it was the little things like “giving joy to her mother” or “comforting her friends when they’re hurting” that “can make it seem better for a while” To me, these are all important aspects in my life. I strive to be the kindest version of myself I can be, although it can be hard at times. I fight for those little moments of cherishing the time that I'll look back on. The beginning of verse one starts by saying “My life, it don’t count for nothing, When I look at this world, I feel so small” To me, this resonates. I worry a lot about the future, and wanting the opposite of my life feeling like a “passing september” I feel this goes for many others as well. We all have the fear of being forgotten, getting lost in the crazy mess of the world. So, how do we avoid this? That's a vague question and one that can be answered in many different ways. For me personally, it's making sure that I put my best step forward in anything and everything that I do. But you know one thing that all humans have in common. Lack of time. Time for a reality check, The truth is we don't live forever. So how do we make the time we do have worth it? Yet again, another super vague question that can be answered in a million different ways. But you see that's the exciting part! We don't have much time on this gorgeous spinning rock, so why waste the precious time we have worrying about the future when we could be missing the best parts of our lives that are right in front of us? You know when you are watching a movie, and you just so happened to be talking at one of the most vital points of the movie, and now you have no idea what's going on? Yeah, that happens in life as well. Fortunately, in movies, you have the luxury of rewinding and being able to replay that scene almost instantly and it sets you back on course. Unfortunately, we don't have that luxury in real life. So why talk at the most vital points of your life? Why stop paying attention? Slowing down and taking time to appreciate all the little things around I feel is truly underrated. Much like verse two in the song My life, “my life is half the way traveled, and is tangled in so many wishes” and I feel myself getting so caught up in the worries of the future and the fear of never achieving my goals, but the minute that I take a step back, slow down and then take the time to feel and sense the space around me it helps me “feel better for a while” The biggest lesson I have taken away from this project is to value every moment in our lives. When we slow down and take the time to reconnect to our humanity it strengthens so many aspects of our lives. Dance is the biggest outlet that allows me to do this. Not only does it help me connect to my passion for performing, but as my competitive dance career comes to a close with the world of adulthood inching closer everyday, it has helped me cherish each moment that much more. Allowing ourselves the time to take everyday one step at a time, and valuing the smallest moments within gives us a movie worth watching.
-Project Reflection-
Paragraph 1: Project Description
For my project, I knew I wanted to incorporate dance. Not only is dance a huge part of life, but it is a huge backbone for me. Dance has always been there for me when other things have not. While thinking of project ideas, it sort of just clicked for me. My solo entitled "My life" pretty much summed up all of the feelings that our studies in humanities brought up. The song put my emotions into words. As talked about in my artist statement above, I have truly learned to slow down and cherish the smallest moments in life. While dance is one way that I express myself, writing and music are another. That is why it was important for me to have a really strong writing aspect to my project that connected the lyrics of the song to my personal philosophy and or realizations.
Paragraph 2: New Insights
Throughout this ongoing project in humanities it helped truly open my eyes to the world. While I have always been very connected to my spiritually and the sense of euphoria created throughout life brings me so much joy, I have caught myself over the past three, and now almost four , years of high school taking it all for granted. Reading the story of Chris McCandless reminded me how much I enjoy the feeling of being free. No cares in the world, and just simply being. This project also changed my views on what the idea of meaning and or success truly entails. While I have always known I want to have an impact on this world, I think I got too caught up in the idea of what being successful looks like. To most, including myself, the typical idea of being successful means, having a ton of money, or running your own company, and getting loads of recognition for your work. While this does seem successful to me, having nice family relationships, being able to perform work I love, and overall being known as a kind and supportive person is more the idea of success I now dream of.
For my project, I knew I wanted to incorporate dance. Not only is dance a huge part of life, but it is a huge backbone for me. Dance has always been there for me when other things have not. While thinking of project ideas, it sort of just clicked for me. My solo entitled "My life" pretty much summed up all of the feelings that our studies in humanities brought up. The song put my emotions into words. As talked about in my artist statement above, I have truly learned to slow down and cherish the smallest moments in life. While dance is one way that I express myself, writing and music are another. That is why it was important for me to have a really strong writing aspect to my project that connected the lyrics of the song to my personal philosophy and or realizations.
Paragraph 2: New Insights
Throughout this ongoing project in humanities it helped truly open my eyes to the world. While I have always been very connected to my spiritually and the sense of euphoria created throughout life brings me so much joy, I have caught myself over the past three, and now almost four , years of high school taking it all for granted. Reading the story of Chris McCandless reminded me how much I enjoy the feeling of being free. No cares in the world, and just simply being. This project also changed my views on what the idea of meaning and or success truly entails. While I have always known I want to have an impact on this world, I think I got too caught up in the idea of what being successful looks like. To most, including myself, the typical idea of being successful means, having a ton of money, or running your own company, and getting loads of recognition for your work. While this does seem successful to me, having nice family relationships, being able to perform work I love, and overall being known as a kind and supportive person is more the idea of success I now dream of.
Paragraph 3: Further Questions and Intellectual Work Left to Do
This project brought up a ton of question about my future, and overall just my meaning, and what the heck Im supposed to do on this spinning rock. Some questions this project brought up for me are the following.
This project brought up a ton of question about my future, and overall just my meaning, and what the heck Im supposed to do on this spinning rock. Some questions this project brought up for me are the following.
- How do people see me differently than I see myself?
- What are areas of my life I can improve on?
- How can I remind my self to slow down?
- What do I want my life to look like in 10 years?
- What are the moments I cherish most in my life?
- What would my life look like if I wasn't scared?
"The world of Photoshop"
Rhetoric & Ideology Project
-Artist Statement-
We know that social media, although fun, has many toxic undertones. Why do we still encourage the use of Photoshop and unnecessary editing of images if they are creating an unrealistic standard of beauty? Every day the normalization of the harmful use of over-editing is pushed onto men and women. With the use of social media exaggerating this exposure, even more, we have to identify how harmful of an effect the use of photo-editing truly has on our mental, physical and social health. Social media can create a fake reality with the help of one small tool called Photoshop which can create unrealistic beauty standards as well as toxic ideas of the “perfect” life. As talked about in the article “The Negative Imapacts of Photoshop'' written by The Buchtelite “These types of photos lead us to believe that beauty can only exist in an unachievable body type; that it’s even remotely healthy to look like the models in the photos we see. It teaches us that it’s appropriate to try to hide our flaws at all costs instead of embracing them.” Many times I have been scrolling through Instagram and have come across a picture that has been retouched to be unrecognizable. I have been a victim of this myself as being involved in the modeling industry can be a very hard world to be in. With the constant retouching done to your pictures, you can fall into a trap of only seeing your imperfections. As shown in my artwork, you can see the same image of myself. One is completely unedited and the other one has been retouched. My very first reaction to seeing the edited picture was “that doesn't even look like me.” I felt sick to my stomach, I was so unhappy with the image because I was not used to seeing myself in that way. Imagine being a young teen on social media and constantly being exposed to images that look like this. The truth is, even if we don’t realize it, we start to hold ourselves to these standards of beauty that are only created using Photoshop. We are all human. We all have lumps and bumps, and “imperfections'', but this is what makes us unique. While I understand that in the eyes of photographers and advertisers photoshop can make a product or an image more appealing in the eyes of a consumer. In the article “Why i’lll photoshop your face and why I believe its okay” The author Frank Mutari says “when I “heal” blemishes and re-touch skin, it isn’t because I am trying to give the illusion of perfection or make us mere mortals envious. The number one reason is always because temporary pimples, bumps, and blemishes are not the essence of a person.” This is a very fair point. Some also believe that photoshop isnt the biggest issue the world is facing. Amy Odell, a journalist for Buzzfeed, says that we should focus on the main stream issue of “the thin-obsessed culture that's become part of daily life for millions of women across the country.” What we dont realize is that the use of photoeditng on social media fuels this idea. We don’t have Photoshop in real life. We can just take out a smoother tool and smooth out the bumps on our skin, or pinch our waist to make it smaller. Instead, many teens who are exposed to these unrealistic standards of beauty turn to unhealthy methods of creating what they see online. Not even realizing the images are completely fake. According to the Polaris Teen Center “4% of adolescents and teens, ages 13-18, suffer from an anorxia, bulemia, or binge eating disorder. Another statement made by Polaris Teen Center is “ Those with anorxia also have a distorted body image. They still feel “fat” regardless of how thin they become.” Being a model myself I understand the pressure we put on ourselves to keep up with our images. When a photographer retouches your pictures you have to keep yourself in the mindset of “this is what they think looks good.” But the truth is I know many brands such as, Aerie, Target, Seventeen Magazine, Dove, Asos, and Modcloth who refuse to use photo editing in their advertisements, as well as including all ethnicities and body types. The interesting thing is all of these brands are extremely successful. For me, these brands stick in my mind because they show realistic advertisements. I think it's extremely noteworthy that they promote body positivity. Imagine if all brands used this method; how much more welcoming and inclusive your company would feel to a consumer. The world and the fashion industry is changing, and society has to move along with it. Ending the negative use of Photoshop to create these unrealistic standards of beauty is the first step.
-The world of photoshop Collage-
-Reflection-
For my humanities project, I decided to take a deeper look into the harmful effects photoshop has on our mental, physical, and social health. Specifically, I looked into how social media can inflate these effects. I had a really hard time figuring out how I was going to share this with my audience. Originally I was going to make a social media post of an unedited picture of me and compare it to the same image only retouched. Because I chose to represent my message in this way I chose not to make a social media post. I was worried that the photographer of the image I chose to use would be offended. Overall I used the same idea but only posted it on my digital portfolio. I don't believe this was the most effective way to get my message across. I wish that maybe I had thought of a way I could still make a social media post, but not have it as directly related to me. I feel the overall art piece of my project was somewhat unfinished because I had to change my plan at the last minute.
After taking a deeper look into politics this year, my political identity has been made extremely apparent to me. I have always kept myself out of politics, not because I didn’t care, I honestly just didn’t know a whole lot about politics. Out of fear of being shut down, I just never really let my political ideas out. My household never really talked about politics. Although my Grandma on my mom's side makes her opinions very apparent. My opinions tend to differ from hers a lot, and any time I would try and have a conversation with her about politics I was always shut down or belittled, so after a while, I just didn't see the point in talking about politics. I see this a lot in the political community and it was extremely vibrant this year due to it being an election year. People on opposing sides can not have a civilized conversation without blaming one another. This makes me fear for the future of politics. After the ideology panels imparticular I could identify where my beliefs stood on both sides of the spectrum. While I tend to fall more left socially, I fall mostly right economically. Throughout this whole process, I wouldn’t say my political views shifted in any way. I would say they were more clarified for me.
Throughout this semester I learned that almost everything can be considered rhetoric, and depending on where you stand on certain issues you can either agree or disagree. I also learned how important rhetoric is in our everyday lives. We see it almost everywhere we go. We see rhetoric on social media, in advertisements on tv, even at work. Our whole world is based on this idea of rhetoric. Our world is also based on ideology. We all have differing opinions, and although we may sort ourselves into groups based on the ideology we share, we still are never going to fully agree. Ideology and rhetoric can support one another. We use rhetoric to convince someone else/the opposing parties of our ideology.
I think for us as a society to have success in politics we have to play with this idea of “willingness to be disturbed.” It makes me extremely scared for the future of politics when opposing sides can barely have a civilized conversation. If we implement this idea of “willingness to be disturbed” by ideas that differ from our own into the conversations we have, imagine how far we could get in our political ideas. Not only would this allow us to have civilized conversations with one another, but I also think if we hold this idea to heart it will be a lot easier to understand all sides of the political spectrum. I think it's important to remember that we are all human, and we all have a common goal of creating the best possible society. While we may differ in our ideas of how we get there, we have to remember we all have a common goal.
After taking a deeper look into politics this year, my political identity has been made extremely apparent to me. I have always kept myself out of politics, not because I didn’t care, I honestly just didn’t know a whole lot about politics. Out of fear of being shut down, I just never really let my political ideas out. My household never really talked about politics. Although my Grandma on my mom's side makes her opinions very apparent. My opinions tend to differ from hers a lot, and any time I would try and have a conversation with her about politics I was always shut down or belittled, so after a while, I just didn't see the point in talking about politics. I see this a lot in the political community and it was extremely vibrant this year due to it being an election year. People on opposing sides can not have a civilized conversation without blaming one another. This makes me fear for the future of politics. After the ideology panels imparticular I could identify where my beliefs stood on both sides of the spectrum. While I tend to fall more left socially, I fall mostly right economically. Throughout this whole process, I wouldn’t say my political views shifted in any way. I would say they were more clarified for me.
Throughout this semester I learned that almost everything can be considered rhetoric, and depending on where you stand on certain issues you can either agree or disagree. I also learned how important rhetoric is in our everyday lives. We see it almost everywhere we go. We see rhetoric on social media, in advertisements on tv, even at work. Our whole world is based on this idea of rhetoric. Our world is also based on ideology. We all have differing opinions, and although we may sort ourselves into groups based on the ideology we share, we still are never going to fully agree. Ideology and rhetoric can support one another. We use rhetoric to convince someone else/the opposing parties of our ideology.
I think for us as a society to have success in politics we have to play with this idea of “willingness to be disturbed.” It makes me extremely scared for the future of politics when opposing sides can barely have a civilized conversation. If we implement this idea of “willingness to be disturbed” by ideas that differ from our own into the conversations we have, imagine how far we could get in our political ideas. Not only would this allow us to have civilized conversations with one another, but I also think if we hold this idea to heart it will be a lot easier to understand all sides of the political spectrum. I think it's important to remember that we are all human, and we all have a common goal of creating the best possible society. While we may differ in our ideas of how we get there, we have to remember we all have a common goal.
-Personal Connection Essay-
For my topic, I decided to talk about the harsh reality of the use of photoshop and editing in Instagram pictures, advertisements, etc. This topic hits close to home for me. I believe that the use of photoshop creates an unrealistic standard of beauty that many preteens and teens, such as myself, compare and hold themselves to. This can also be extremely damaging to our self-image. Unknowingly, we put this sort of pressure on ourselves to meet these beauty standards, not even realizing that they are only created through the eyes of photo editing, and when we can’t meet these standards, it can have a massive negative impact on our self-image, self-confidence, and overall mental health.
Not only do we hold ourselves to these unrealistic beauty standards, but we start to hold others to them as well. Scrolling through Instagram this week alone, I found a total of 25 images of celebrities and models where it was very obvious they had been photoshopped. What I find extremely heartbreaking is the celebrities or models themselves had not been the ones that retouched the images. Instead, it was fans or fan accounts that had retouched the images. Doing things such as enhancing the makeup, clearing the skin, brightening the eyes. This truly breaks my heart that for people, including myself, to feel confident in posting a picture on Instagram the very first thing they do is look at all the imperfections and get rid of them.Seen now more than ever is a generation that relies so heavily on social media. My generation, also known as “Gen Z,” is so influenced by social media. It is our only form of entertainment. Subconsciously we are a victim to the influence that the use of photoshop truly has.
Not only do I find myself being intrigued by this topic simply because I've grown up in a generation where retouching your pictures to “perfection” is normal, but I also have gotten into the modeling industry myself. While I always knew going into this industry about a year and a half ago that photoshopping and editing the images was just a part of the modeling world, it never ceases to amaze me in the pit of my stomach when I see an image of me that has been retouched to the point of being unrecognizable. I remember one of the very first professional photoshoots I did, which in itself was just not a fun experience, how unconfident and unbeautiful I felt. I have been diagnosed with cystic acne whichis not very common in the modeling industry, but in reality, this is only because those imperfections have been photoshopped out. The makeup artist at this photoshoot not only used a ton of make to cover up my acne, but she also covered up my freckles which to me are a key part of my look. So not only by her covering up my blemishes with makeup, she later went into photoshopped and edited and smoothed my skin out even more. When I got these pictures back I was furious because not only did I not look like myself, but I had paid five hundred dollars for images that just made me feel more insecure about my skin. Not only did this affect the way I view myself in the modeling industry, but now all I feel I will see when I look at images of myself are the imperfections and flaws they are trying to hide.
I want this to be my future career and I have put a lot of work into it, but I also want to have an impact on directing the industry away from using so much photo editing to create this “perfect” image. I think this is the harsh reality of the world I am moving into, but I had the realization that this shouldn’t be the reality. I want to be a model because I love the idea of being able to be a blank canvas for someone to bring their dream to life because I know how deeply I want my dreams to come true. Although I think the world of modeling is moving into the universe of more diversity and setting different beauty standards, I still think it has a long way to go. I believe this starts with showing the “imperfections” of unedited photos. Helping shine light on the realities of being a human, even if that includes skin “imperfections.”
-Work Cited-
Beile, Jennifer. “5 Brands Leading The No Retouching Movement.” Crossroads, 7 Feb. 2019, crossroadstrading.com/5-brands-leading-the-no-retouching-movement/.
Brown, Nikki. “10 Brands Leading the Body-Positive Movement with Unretouched Ads.” StyleCaster, StyleCaster, 4 Nov. 2018, stylecaster.com/beauty/brands-that-dont-retouch-models/.
Centerpolaristeen.com/articles/author/aribrown/, Polaris Teen. “Teen Eating Disorders: Statistics and How to Help - Polaris Teen Center.” Polaris Teen Center: Premier Adolescent Treatment Center in Los Angeles, 28 Mar. 2019, polaristeen.com/articles/10-statistics-of-teenage-eating-disorders/.
Dewey, Caitlin. “How 25 Years of Photoshop Changed the Way We See Reality.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/02/19/how-25-years-of-photoshop-changed-the-way-we-see-reality/.
Flynn, Caitlin. “Here's How Retouched Photos Impact Our Mental Health.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 Mar. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/how-retouched-photos-impact-our-mental-health-2018-3?r=UK.
Lago, Alexa. “The Negative Impacts of Photoshop.” The Buchtelite, 1 Oct. 2013, buchtelite.com/18294/opinion/negative-impacts-of-photoshop/.
Multari , Frank. “Why I'll Photoshop Your Face and Why I Believe It's Okay.” PetaPixel, 15 Sept. 2014, petapixel.com/2014/09/14/ill-photoshop-face-believe-okay/.
Odell, Amy. “Why Photoshop Isn't As Big Of A Deal As Everyone Makes It Out To Be.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 20 Aug. 2020, www.buzzfeed.com/amyodell/why-photoshop-isnt-as-big-of-a-deal-as-everyone-m.
Oliver, Amanda, et al. “4 Companies That Refuse to Photoshop-And Why That Matters For All Genders.” Groundswell, groundswell.org/4-companies-that-refuse-to-photoshop-and-why-that-matters-for-all-genders/.
Brown, Nikki. “10 Brands Leading the Body-Positive Movement with Unretouched Ads.” StyleCaster, StyleCaster, 4 Nov. 2018, stylecaster.com/beauty/brands-that-dont-retouch-models/.
Centerpolaristeen.com/articles/author/aribrown/, Polaris Teen. “Teen Eating Disorders: Statistics and How to Help - Polaris Teen Center.” Polaris Teen Center: Premier Adolescent Treatment Center in Los Angeles, 28 Mar. 2019, polaristeen.com/articles/10-statistics-of-teenage-eating-disorders/.
Dewey, Caitlin. “How 25 Years of Photoshop Changed the Way We See Reality.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Apr. 2019, www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/02/19/how-25-years-of-photoshop-changed-the-way-we-see-reality/.
Flynn, Caitlin. “Here's How Retouched Photos Impact Our Mental Health.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 Mar. 2018, www.businessinsider.com/how-retouched-photos-impact-our-mental-health-2018-3?r=UK.
Lago, Alexa. “The Negative Impacts of Photoshop.” The Buchtelite, 1 Oct. 2013, buchtelite.com/18294/opinion/negative-impacts-of-photoshop/.
Multari , Frank. “Why I'll Photoshop Your Face and Why I Believe It's Okay.” PetaPixel, 15 Sept. 2014, petapixel.com/2014/09/14/ill-photoshop-face-believe-okay/.
Odell, Amy. “Why Photoshop Isn't As Big Of A Deal As Everyone Makes It Out To Be.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 20 Aug. 2020, www.buzzfeed.com/amyodell/why-photoshop-isnt-as-big-of-a-deal-as-everyone-m.
Oliver, Amanda, et al. “4 Companies That Refuse to Photoshop-And Why That Matters For All Genders.” Groundswell, groundswell.org/4-companies-that-refuse-to-photoshop-and-why-that-matters-for-all-genders/.