Where I'm From

A few weeks ago in English class, our teacher gave us George Ella Lyon's poem "Where I'm From" and asked us to use it as a template to write our own poem. It was almost like a mad lib asking for things like product names, plants, family traditions & tendencies, things you were told as a child, and more. It was so much fun and I was actually pretty pleased with the result.

Where I'm From

I am from library books in brown paper bags, from Lipton sweet iced tea,
and cherry Benadryl.

I am from the long gravel lane, the front porch swing,

and the scent of fresh-mown grass.
I am from the daffodil, the oak, and the tiny hemlock cone.

I am from broomsock and brown eyes,

from Jesse and Annie and Noah.

I am from the hard-headed and spunky,

From Be a lady! and Don’t be sassy!

I am from the Old Rugged Cross,

stiff white bonnets, and long swishing skirts.

I’m from Madison and Big Valley and sweet Georgia peaches,

From moonpies and Christmas fudge,

From Bibles smuggled across the Berlin Wall,

And the preacher at CO camp during the war.

I am from sticky yellow albums, dusty slide trays, and well-worn Bibles,

From patchwork quilts on display on my mother’s wall.

I am a part of them.

They are a part of me.

Like links in a chain

Or limbs on a tree,

We cannot be separated

And still remain whole.

A Dangerous Obsession Part 2

Here's part 2 of my paper on the way women are portrayed in the media and its effect on us. This part is a little more positive since I wanted to focus on how we could be part of the solution to the problem. 

Our sights are set on physical beauty, not health, not inner beauty, nor even on the beauty of others, but on our own narcissistic desire for outward perfection. Little girls are taught from a young age that physical beauty will get you fame, fortune, and an entourage of fans. Audrey Brashich, former teen model, says, "As a culture, we are on a first-name basis with women like Paris Hilton or Nicole Richie. The most celebrated, recognizable women today are famous primarily for being thin and pretty, while women who are actually changing the world remain comparatively invisible" (qtd. in Hellmich). “Today little girls constantly rate the supermodels high on their list of heroes, and most of us know them by their first names alone…Cindy, Elle, Naomi, Iman. Imagine--these women are heroes to little girls, not because of their courage or character or good deeds, but because of their perfect features and poreless skin” (Kilbourne, 60). Our obsession with beauty rewards women who spend hours perfecting their appearance and ignores women who give of themselves tirelessly to others.



The American obsession with beauty may leave us feeling helpless and unable to take a stand for real beauty. What can be done to combat the unrealistic standard of beauty portrayed in the media? The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty has started a trend in using women that are closer to average in their advertising campaigns. Their models are often freckled, wrinkled, or even a little plump. It’s a small step in the right direction. I don’t propose that the media display obese women in their ads. Health should be the deciding factor in portraying models in advertising. If the new standard of beauty would be health, rather than thinness, perhaps young girls would grow up wanting to be strong rather than thin. These are small steps, but small steps that lead in the right direction.


A large step in the right direction could be the realistic portrayal by the media of more women who have shown courage, strength, and intelligence--women who deserve to be called heroes. When little girls want to be like Florence Nightingale or Amelia Earhart rather than Paris Hilton, we will indeed be on the right track. Let’s give our daughters, sisters, and friends heroes worth emulating.


What can the individual do? A good start is to be aware of the problem. Simply being aware that we are all affected by the images we see in media everyday can help us realize the true “normal” that’s around us in the real world. Being aware of the problem is the first step toward the solution.


We can also look for beauty in others. “Statistical analysis reveals that women who are more satisfied with their beauty are significantly more likely than those who are less satisfied to believe that every woman has something about her that is beautiful” (Etcoff et al. 41). It’s a cycle spiraling upward. Finding beauty in others helps us to realize that beauty is as diverse and varied as the human race. This, in turn, helps us realize that we, ourselves, also possess beauty, even if it’s not the perfect beauty portrayed by the media. Seeing beauty in ourselves opens us to seeing beauty in others. When we comment on the beauty we see in others, they feel more beautiful and are able to see the beauty in even more people.


Imagine a world in which every woman knows that she and all women around her were created with a God-given beauty. The image of the ideal beauty perpetuated by the media may make it seem impossible, but we can start with ourselves and with the women around us. Let’s encourage each other to see beauty in everyone. Let’s make our own standard of beauty instead of letting the media dictate what is beautiful. Let’s start our own cycle of beauty that spirals upward and outward, letting every person on earth know that beauty is as diverse as the population of the world, and that strength, courage, and character make a woman far more beautiful than makeup ever will.






Works Cited


Etcoff, Nancy, Susie Orbach, Jennifer Scott, and Heidi D'Agostino. "The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report." Dove. Sept. 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .


Hellmich, Nancy. "Do Thin Models Warp Girls' Body Image?" USA Today. USA Today, 26 Sept. 2006. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .


Kilbourne, Jean. Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising. New York, NY: Free, 1999. Print.


Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, Pamela. "Just What IS an Average Woman’s Size Anymore? « Everyday Fitness." WebMD. 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .


Postrel, Virginia. "The Truth About Beauty." Atlantic Monthly Mar. 2007: 125-27. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .


Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York: Perennial, 2002. Print.

A Dangerous Obsession (Part 1)

     (This is the first part of a paper I wrote for school on the impact that images of beauty in the media have on women. I was stunned by some of the things I discovered as I did the research. This first part is a bit depressing (Sorry), but I promise the second part is a little more positive.)

The Media's Influence on our Perception of Beauty
     Are you beautiful? A study by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty of over 3,000 women in 10 different countries discovered that 98% of women would answer no to this question (Etcoff et al. 4). Beautiful is a word most, if not all, women would love to use to describe themselves. The desire to be beautiful is almost inherent in our nature. Yet many women feel average at best and ugly at worst. Much of the way we perceive beauty has been shaped by our modern media. The media perpetuates a narrow view of what is beautiful and feeds a dangerous obsession with the superficial, but the battle for real beauty, that which begins with a beautiful heart, is one that is well worth fighting.



     Women today are bombarded on every side by images of perfect women. The average American is exposed to at least three thousand ads every day (Kilbourne 58). In the majority of these ads, women are portrayed as thin with perfect skin, hair, and bodies. Their symmetrical faces smile happily or pout prettily. These perfect women tell us that perfection is possible, even normal. If these ads are to be believed, with physical perfection comes success in career, romance, friendships, and family. 81% of women in the US strongly agree that “the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can never achieve” (Etcoff et al. 28). According to a study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, the desire of many girls to lose weight was connected to the frequency with which they read magazines. While only 29% of the girls were actually overweight, nearly half said magazine pictures made them want to lose weight (Kilbourne 132).


     Just how different are the bodies of fashion models from those of real women? Many models are 5-foot-10 or 5-foot-11, average 120 to 124 pounds, and wear a size 2 or 4 (Hellmich). Today, the average American woman is 5-foot-4, weighs between 140-150 pounds, and wears a size 12 or 14 (Peeke). Not only is the average woman 20 to 25 pounds heavier, she is also 6 or 7 inches shorter than most models.


     “Media images, [Nancy] Etcoff notes in an e-mail, are often so rarefied that "they change our ideas about what people look like and what normal looks like … Our brains did not evolve with media, and many people see more media images of women than actual women. The contrast effect makes even the most beautiful non-model look less attractive; it produces a new 'normal'" (qtd. in Postrel). It’s like women are the victims of a huge brainwashing scheme that’s working all too well. We know, consciously, that these images are most likely photoshopped and airbrushed so much that they bear little resemblance to reality, but our subconscious mind absorbs them over and over and soon they become our standard of normal. This new standard becomes the one by which we measure ourselves. One wants to ask, “Who are they to tell me what is beautiful?” What or who gives the media the authority to determine what beautiful looks like? After all, ads are all about selling something. If the media can control what is beautiful, if they can convince a woman that she must have flawless skin or shining hair to be beautiful, then they can sell her products that promise to accomplish these things. “They [advertisers] are just doing their job, which is to sell a product, but the consequences, usually unintended, are often destructive to individuals, to cultures, and to the planet” (Kilbourne, 75). We allow people who are trying to sell makeup and diet products to persuade us that we need these things to be beautiful and by extension, happy and fulfilled.


     This drive for physical beauty becomes all-important. In fact, in a 1985 survey of thirty-three thousand women, it was discovered that women would choose, if they could, losing ten to fifteen pounds over success in love or work (Wolf 185). 45% of women believe that beautiful women have greater opportunities in life and 59% believe that men value beautiful women more than the average woman (Etcoff et al. 25). It is no wonder then, that many would choose weight-loss over success, since they believe weight-loss will lead to a better life. It is as if women have been convinced that the only obstacles to an amazing life are ten or fifteen pounds.


     This fixation on physical appearance does damage in more ways than one. Women diet, exfoliate, pluck, style, and paint their bodies in an attempt to achieve the ideal beauty set forth in the media. In extreme cases, women even throw up, starve themselves, take dangerous drugs, or have plastic surgery in their pursuit of this new “normal.” Not only do women wreak havoc on their bodies with dangerous diet regimens, but this preoccupation is also damaging to one’s mental health. One study of 350 men and women found that the “tendency to view one‘s body from the outside in,” giving precedence to physical appearance instead of to health or fitness, can lead not only to eating disorders, but also to anxiety, depression, and even lower mental performance (Kilbourne, 132).


 (I'll post part 2 in a few days. It focuses more on what can be done about this drive to look like supermodels)

Works Cited

Etcoff, Nancy, Susie Orbach, Jennifer Scott, and Heidi D'Agostino. "The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report." Dove. Sept. 2004. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. .

Hellmich, Nancy. "Do Thin Models Warp Girls' Body Image?" USA Today. USA Today, 26 Sept. 2006. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .

Kilbourne, Jean. Deadly Persuasion: Why Women and Girls Must Fight the Addictive Power of Advertising. New York, NY: Free, 1999. Print.

Peeke, MD, MPH, FACP, Pamela. "Just What IS an Average Woman’s Size Anymore? « Everyday Fitness." WebMD. 25 Jan. 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .

Postrel, Virginia. "The Truth About Beauty." Atlantic Monthly Mar. 2007: 125-27. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 11 Apr. 2011. .

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used against Women. New York: Perennial, 2002. Print.

Things I love about Ava

1. I love that she is independent. She always want to do things herself without help.

2. I love that if you ask her name her answer is Ava Broot(Brooke) YOder, with extra emphasis on the YO.

3. I love that she loves hats of any kind.

4. I love that her first question to me after she says "Hi" is usually "Read a boot(book)?"  I love when children love books!
5. I love that she will unconciously sign words as she's talking. She doesn't even seem to know that when she says candy her little finger is digging into her cheek or that she rubs her chest whenever she says please.

6. I love that when we go on walks, she picks up everything(dead and crumpled leaves, stones, sticks) and claims them as treasures to take home with her.
7. I love that she repeats words she hears around her. For example, one day I said something usually did something and the next thing I knew, she used usually in a sentence, too.  For a while her phrase was, "Oh Wow" which I think she gets from her grandma.

8. I love that she has a mind of her own.