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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Thicke Headed (and Seriously Messed Up)

Robin Thicke strikes again! His latest single "Get Her Back" is a sort of promising attack on his ex-wife that he wants her back, and he gets what he wants.*

**

Love is about respect. If someone doesn't want to be with you, you have to respect that. It'd be a different story if this song were a lament about how he missed her and felt bad for how things happened etc. but this is clearly a plea to "Get Her Back"---of course, who would expect Robin Thicke (of all people) to have any respect for what a woman wants? Patton, and every other person on the planet, gets to decide who they do or do not want to be with, for themselves. Just because you want someone doesn't mean you should force yourself onto them. With an intimidating show of blood and violence, this video clearly demonstrates force.

When a relationship ends, I'd presume ESPECIALLY a marriage, the two people must grieve and process on their own in order to adjust and move forward. When one person refuses to leave the other person alone, that is not only disrespectful, it's abusive. It's called stalking and harassing. Not to mention that taking all of this private relationship drama and dragging it into the public eye is extremely manipulative. He's attempting to show the world how worthy he is of her (this actually has nothing to do with her) and make the world feel sorry for him---if the public sympathizes with him (because look at how "vulnerable" he is! He's so genuine! This album--totally created and controlled by him--truly give me a look into what kind of person he is and how his relationship was!!!!) then why shouldn't she?! Now he's turned her into a monster that broke his heart and refuses to accept his sincerest apologies. Which is bullshit.

There is nothing sweet or romantic about threatening: "This is only the beginning." She's obvioulsy made it clear that "It's too soon" and she's done because he "ruined everything" but he just won't leave her alone. Because he wants her back and what he wants is what's really important.

As usual, it bears repeating that this "artist" is 100% in control of what he says/does/releases and he gets to choose how he comes across within his music. Just because he wants to appear vulnerable and genuine doesn't mean he's actual making himself vulnerable. Unless making himself vulnerable to being on the receiving end of a restraining order counts. Thicke is not the first musician to take this route regarding his pursuit of a lover and, unfortunately, I'm sure he won't be the last. That doesn't make it ok and I say we, as a society, refuse to accept this pathetic romanticized stalking into our hearts or our music charts.

*just typing that made me feel slimy, very reminiscent of
**lyrics if you'd rather not watch for whatever reason, one being the fact that watching contributes to views which contributes to him/his ego/his bank account/his perceived popularity etc. but i did watch and it was gross and disturbing the entire time so I basically wish I hadn't

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Happy Juneteenth!

Juneteenth--the holiday celebrated as being the official Independence Day of Black Americans.

I had never heard of it before, but thanks to Twitter, I found the hashtag this morning and did my research into what it was all about. It was in January of 1863 that the Emancipation Proclamation was signed into law, but it wasn't until June 19th of 1865 that the law was read publicly in Texas, informing the slaves there that they were now free. Those slaves had been kept in enslavement for an extra two years, totally unaware that this was now unlawful. At long last, they were finally told they were free people. However, society hadn't changed much---clearly---and, therefore, it was still exceedingly difficult for former slaves to improve their lives, with difficult journeys north and a hard time finding jobs. 

I vaguely remember this fact may have been mentioned in passing throughout a history course early on in my high school career, but it must be stressed that the Emancipation Proclamation did not just come out of the blue and rectify the horrors that had been perpetuated since the beginning of America's founding. It has been a long, hard journey for our country to get to where it is today. And we've still got a lot of work to do. 

The hashtag #Juneteenth quickly grew throughout the day, spreading knowledge and awareness about important black history that is so often forgotten. It was great to watch it unfold, akin to the excitement about the #yesallwomen hashtag of a couple weeks ago (though, hopefully, without all the opposition).

You can learn more about Juneteenth here: Juneteenth.com

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

2014: The Year of Freaking Positivity

I AM LOVING ALL OF THE POSITIVITY I SEE LATELY!

I hope it's not just the corner of the internet I hang out in, because there is so much love and acceptance and self-acceptance and that should be shared in by all.

Self-image videos, encouraging posts on tumblr, loving tweets, the week of self-image love on instagram; It's a selfie celebration, out there. These are such great ways to be using this enormous resource we have to connect to each other. I know it may seem small, but it can be important. My friend Alexa has always been a big supporter of the Kindness Campaign, spreading the message that being kind matters because it makes you feel better, it makes another persons life better, and a wave of positivity has to start at the micro level to get bigger and spread out. The smallest things in life can have the biggest impact.

I don't care how stupid or cliche it may sound, I would love, love, love to see more selfies throughout 2014. Life would be so much better if we all loved each other more, or at least accepted each other. Life would be infinitely better if I loved myself more, if we could all love and accept ourselves.

I know that it isn't that simple. There are a lot of disorders and illnesses that can prevent one from being able to truly see oneself properly, I'm not trying to downplay the seriousness of that. But everyone is worthy of love, and so if we could love each other as well as ourselves, wouldn't that make a difference? Just simple compliments, support, encouragement.

Let's talk about it! Conversation is key to making change, we have to keep discussion going. What is one thing you can do to love/accept yourself more?

Whatever is happening, it is such a good thing. Let's keep rockin'.