Month: October 2019

When first presented with the passion blog, my first instinct was to write about my dogs. The passion I possess for my dogs, for dogs, for animals in general runs deep into and through my veins. For quite a long while, I contemplated studying to become a vet. However, with much thought and consideration, I decided against it. Though, I still plan on having ten dogs when I grow up (Are we still allowed to say “when I grow up” now that we are in college?). 

You may be thinking to yourself how it is that animals, especially dogs, relate to kindness. Hold on and walk through me with this. Today I will specifically be referring to my dogs, my three dogs. I have two Labradoodles, Mia (13) and Coco (2), and one Maltipeekapoo, Brandi (2). For the first 16 years of my life, my family was always a one dog family, and I always thought we would stay a one dog family. Though, when Mia turned 11, my mom believed we needed another dog, Coco, to keep her company and youthful. And Brandi…oh Brandi, my mom calls her an orphanage. Brandi was my grandmother’s dog for the first six months of her life. Very suddenly and unexpectedly, my sweet grandmother passed away, and my family inherited the dog. 

There is nothing like coming home at the end of the day (or even an hour after I have left my house) and being greeted by my dogs. This feeling to me is/was my daily dose of kindness, and filled my heart on both the best and the worst of days. Coco quite literally smiles when anyone in my family walks through the door. A learned response from us smiling at her, she shows her kindness and excitement through her smile. Never has anyone been so excited when I’ve walked through the door. Dogs support you, always listen when you need to talk, give you endless love and support, and can even save lives. 

Just imagine if humans could be just as kind as their dogs or cats (nice cats). Have you ever met a human who loves you endlessly, always forgives you, continually wants to be by your side, never judges you, and only wants to be loved. Not only all of that but your dog protects you (to the best of their ability). The other fantastic thing about dogs and possibly dog culture is how they allow us to connect to other people, strangers even. There is nothing else that I can think of that engages and encourages strangers to talk to strangers in such a thoughtful way. Think about it. Have you ever asked someone to pet their dog, or has anyone ever asked you to pet your dog? Exactly. 

 

Choose Dogs.

Choose Kindness. 

With love, 

Nina 

Many of us have seen this exact statement in a variety of ways. Either on bumper stickers, T-shirts, poster boards, and more commonly on social media, we all that these five words are referring to climate change.

Without further argument or explanation, the analogy is simple. In the green text, we read the words ‘Plan B’, referring to an alternate solution if the first one fails. Though, in the picture, we read ‘There is no Planet B’ referring to how there is no alternative solution, backup planet if we destroy this one.

This bumper sticker is the hierarchy of logos. It makes perfect sense to the viewer whether or not they agree with it. The logical appeal used is, as I mentioned earlier, if we destroy this planet, there is no other planet we can move to. This sticker calls for action now, before it’s too late and bring awareness to the issue of climate change. We, through our next steps and actions, determine the fate of the planet.

Although, with this specific bumper sticker, there is some humor behind it as well. As seen, ‘Plan B’ is in all green. Some have taken this with the interpretation to relate it to how there is no Plan B pill to fix the planet. Plan B is emergency contraception that helps protect against unwanted pregnancy. Connecting to the grander idea that there is no artificial method to protect the earth or quick-fix solution.

Climate change and the current state the planet is currently in is nothing to joke about. Though, through this humor, it helps remind citizens that this is something to joke about and that there truly isn’t any backup plan, or simple pill (solution), that reverse the effects and the damage overnight.

Sometimes, only ever once in a while, I truly believe the universe is against me and fills my week with unfortunate events. Indeed, I have a story that inspired me to write about and reflect on this week’s message. Though, instead of telling the story, I’m going straight into the message. I believe this is an important one and something we all need a little reminder of. 

As Hannah Montana sings, “Nobody is Perfect.” We all make mistakes, have slip-ups, hick-ups, and much much more. Sometimes we hurt people’s feelings and can are inconsiderate. Sometimes we can be described with other words *bad words*, too. Let’s back up to hurting people’s feelings. Even when we try our best, someway somehow somewhere along the path of life we have hurt someone close to us. Usually, we do accidentally, but sometimes maybe even purposefully (try not to fall into the hands of the devil). When these unfortunate events take place, our concern always falls on who is affected and how they handle it. 

 Here’s today’s message through kindness. The way in which we handle this harmful or hurtful thing. Possibly one of the hardest life skills we may ever learn and will always, ALWAYS be working on is being the bigger person. 

Life and the people we love can throw some of the nastiest curve balls at us. And ultimately, despite how terrible that curveball may be, it all depends on how we react. (Do we decided to hit the curveball or catch the curveball?). With the greater idea of how we then, in turn, decide to treat others back. 

When these bad things happen, we have the choice to either treat that person in a similar way or to “kill them with kindness.” 

From a very young age, I have always been told to be the bigger person, or at least to try to be. (Now, as a child, I was abnormally shorter than everyone else, so at first, this was quite the concept.) The core of this, to be the bigger person, is forgiveness, one of the greatest attributes any one person can possess. Forgiveness is filled with kindness, the kindness to be able to forgive oneself, and to forgive others. 

In the worst of moments, try always to remember this. Some may say that the truth will set you free; I say that forgiveness sets you free. The next time something crappy happens to you, choose the kind route, choose forgiveness, choose to be set free. 

Choose Kindness. 

With love, 

Nina

I believe that a critically important story that needs to be told is the one behind ideal body image and its impact on society, especially women, throughout history. 

Many are aware of today’s outlooks and opinions on the ideal body for women, with the greater overarching theme of loving yourself and your body just the way it is. Although, this mindset has not been the prevailing mindset throughout history, and more specifically, the 1900s. Something I believe needs to be understood is where this all began, how it has changed, and the shift from a body-negative to a body-positive mindset. 

Still to this day, may women of all ages struggle with the ideal body. This struggle has lead many to a toxic relationship between mind and body. Learning more about ideal body history and it’s meaning will deepen my (and hopefully others) understanding of how we can’t take all of this so literally; furthermore, in the sense that we should learn from it and do what’s best for us. 

This story will begin in the early 1900s, right after women ditched the use of a corset. For the corset was used in western culture from the 16th century through the early 20th century and promoted one ideal body. After being exhausted for nearly 400 years, other ideas came into play. Through the 1900s and early 2000s, the ideal body has changed many times.

 

Main Question:

How has the ideal body image in women changed over time, especially to the mindset of today’s society that all body types are ideal bodies? 

Subsidiary Questions:

How was the ideal body portrayed in the media throughout time? How did the media change? 

Who were the celebrities at these times? How did they influence women around America to change the shape of their bodies? What type of remedies did they “recommend”? 

How did the ideal body influence women’s health along with rises or declines in eating disorders? 

Where there any other factors that shaped the ideal body?

Heads-up. This blog post may seem way off-topic. This blog post may even seem as far away as kindest gets. Stick with me through it. You’ll see the kindness.

We were eating dinner at the AMAZING dining commons, just having the time of our life. Every one of us was looking pretty worn out, tired and wet (it was raining outside), but still happy to have a plate of hot (kind of) food and the company of each other.

In the mists of all of this chowing down were some solid conversations on test scores from the previous week, Instagram and Snapchats, and of course, the WHITEOUT game this upcoming weekend. This is where the unkindness comes in.

(Let’s say one of my closest friend’s name is Patrick.)

Patrick was sitting next to me at dinner and pretty much out of nowhere, commented to me, a very harsh, rude, insensitive comment out of nowhere. Now I will not repeat what was said, but merely say it was about being a tryhard overachiever.

Now, I still can’t figure out quite why this pushed my buttons the way it did, but at that moment, I looked away, and tears just started rolling. After being exhausted from 3 back to back exams and so much more on top of that (something all of us can relate to), I couldn’t take it. In truth, I needed to get up, walk away, and breathe but was quite literally trapped between 4 people in the booth. All of us are here for a reason; for education to propel us into whatever is next in life. I know that so many students, especially Schreyer students, try their best and give it all they got to succeed. It’s the mentality, the nature of it all. At that moment, being insulated for my dedicated work ethic, the base of my core shook me.

We left dinner, and it was awkward. About 2 hours later, Patrick’s name appeared as my phone continuously buzzed, a call. Without any introduction, there was one of the most sincere apologies I believe I have ever received in my life. It was whole-hearted, truthfully, and quite frankly kind. Though a thorough explanation of self and no excuse attached, I realized something. How often do people sincerely apologize these days? I feel so often apologizes overlooked and uncommon for “It’s never my fault” is a mentality of the current society.

But genuine and kind apologies go such a long way. It shows true kindness.

Choose Kindness.

With love,

Nina

Here’s a little background information: 

One of my greatest passions is within helping others. More specifically, medical mission trips. I’ve been fortunate enough to go and plan two trips to El Negrito, San Jose, Honduras. A small mountain village filled with love and kindness. And currently, I am working on a third trip with my parents to take this upcoming summer to Gana (Gana is a country in Africa). 

 

So, naturally, this past week, I have been reflecting on my previous trips. Now, if you have ever met someone who has taken a mission trip of any type, you probably know that they could talk for hours about the trip. Guilty, this is the case. But I promise I won’t do that here. Instead, I’m going to talk about one small thing that made the whole trip big;  kindness in strangers. 

 

When you take a trip like this, you don’t know a single person you’re going to work with/help. And that’s the best part. After each week-long trip that I have taken, I have left with the same feeling of happiness and joy. This happiness and joy fueled by the kindness I felt that week. You might be confused about where this is coming from, but the people in Honduras, in El Negrito, are some of the kindest people I have ever met. Yes, we were helping patients see clearly for the first time in their lives, but even before that, the kindness was coming. For me, the kindness was through smiles, was through little kids braiding my hair, was through the two words “Te Amo,” was through patients asking me to hold their babies or their bibles. Yeah, some of these things may seem odd, but all of these actions were with love and kindness from strangers. 

 

That’s the best part. Complete strangers. Because there, I didn’t assume anything about those people, and they didn’t assume anything about me. And from this, this open-mindedness and lack of judgment everyone was freely acting with kindness and compassion. Being able to experience this is a gift. 

 

Maybe it is American culture not to be as outwardly compassionate and kind towards strangers. Let me tell you something. Small acts of kindness and compassion can not only make someone’s moment, but their whole day, or their week. Even a smile, a tiny little smile, can make the difference in someone’s, some stranger’s day. 

Choose Kindness. 

With love, 

Nina

Let’s start from the beginning. This add was released by Bloomingdale, a high-end, luxury department store chain, coming upon the holiday season in November of 2015. Honestly, I’m not quite sure where to go from there, for this add makes no sense in how it is supposed to be selling the reader to buy clothes from this department store.

Right off the bat, there’s the pitch that I suppose the company found amusing and thought would create a little fun with all the holiday cheer. “SPIKE YOUR BEST FRIEND’S EGGNOG WHEN THEY’RE NOT LOOKING.” How about we don’t do that. First, this is down-right inappropriate. By publishing those, Bloomingdale is discrediting their ethos, their credibility. Especially in today’s society, spiking someone’s drink is a huge NO. For women, this is a scary situation. And for men, this is embarrassing to portrayed as a predator.

What is it that we see? Here, I believe the board members thought, “Oh, it looks like they are having fun. All dressed up! Holiday Party?!” As if the goal was to appeal to the reader’s emotion. They do this by correlating shopping at Bloomingdale; you’re destined to have a great time in our clothes. Though, you see, this isn’t the case at all. Here you see this girl who is laughing and having fun (possibly after her drink has been spiked) and this creepy guy staring at her as if he was the one who spiked her eggnog — looking at her as if he desires her. What does this imply? Bloomingdale completely missed what the audience thinks, for, in this case, it seems this guy has seduced this girl (INAPPROPRIATE), indicating this to be date rape possibly.

Through both the statement and the imagery, the persuasive appeal is off the mark. They tried to create an ad that showed how shopping at Bloomingdale for your clothes result in a quirky and fun experience. Instead, they created an ad that shows how shopping at Bloomingdale will result in a creepy, uncomfortable situation.

Artifact #1: Released on June 31st, 1962

 

Artifact #2: Released on June 21st, 2018

We’re still going to talk about kindness today, just in a slightly different manner than usual. I love to speak about it, to blog about it, to see it, to experience it, and most of all, to give it. Although sometimes it can be hard to write about for one reason in particular. Every person, especially in today’s society, views kindness and just about anything in a different light.

Late Tuesday night, I was studying/working on homework in my friends, Anna, room when one of our guy’s friends, Dan, came running in to tell us about his soccer practice. About 10 minutes later, my friend’s roommate, Emily, walked in (another one my friends) coming back from the gym. And after a few minutes of catching up, out of quite literally nowhere, Dan blurted out to Emily, “You have HUGE calves.”

COMPLETE SILENCE.

Nobody knew what to say or even truly what he meant.

After a few seconds of awkward gawking and mouth dropping, Anna proceeded with, “Dan, you can’t say something like that. People are insecure about their bodies, and that could be one of Emily’s insecurities.” This is where “kindness” comes in.

Dan was shocked, confused, and upset. He then explained that he was trying to be kind and thought he was complimenting her and her muscles. His reasoning, “if you said that to any guy, he would take that as such a nice compliment.” We all laughed and explained to him what girls like to hear, but understood where he was coming from.

You see, that the thing though. I believe that there is this fine, yet blurry line between what is seen as a compliment and trying to be kind and what is an insult, yet still trying to be kind.

It is so riveting to think about the concept of kindness is different from person to person, but the perception of kindness also varies from one to the next. So often, when we think of kindness and acts of kindness, we think of things like holding the door for someone, volunteering, or possibly buying someone coffee (My favorite are at drive-thru Starbucks where the kindness train continues from one car to the next).

On another note, it’s even more intriguing to think about kindness from generation to generation. I know from personal experience in learning from my parents and grandparents that what is considered as kindness has changed over time. Just let that sink and think about how it may change over our generation.

Choose Kindness.

With love,
Nina