Modern Art?

Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Alice in Wonderland; classic Disney movies that myself and my siblings grew up on. They taught us to see the good in others, use our imagination, fall in love, never give up hope and a few other life lessons. They projected the image of these perfect teenage girls that just had fallen on bad luck or met their Prince Charming and somehow although disobeying one of their parents they wind up perfectly happy and live happily ever after. Recently I stumbled upon some photos of said Disney characters given a rather “punked out” and “rebel” makeover and I must say that I definitely enjoy the newer versions. They show the characters with piercings, tattoos, band t-shirts and some have slightly different coloured hair. This makeover to me resembles the stereotype of the rebel teenager that disobeys their parents rather than the image of perfection Disney gives them. I grew up a child that strove for perfection. I was an athlete, a scholar, in the band, and cared about nothing more than to make my college applications look as pristine as possible. I had my rebel years when I wanted more freedom, stay out later, break out of my shell and socialize more than I used to. In college I wanted more piercings and eventually paved the way for tattoos. I still cared about my grades, my career and finding true love eventually and I didn’t think piercings or tattoos detracted away from knowing who I was. So I really adore these “Rebel Princess” drawings.

Alice in Wonderland, A girl stumbles upon a crazy world that is unlike any other… it doesn’t exactly surprise me to see her covered in tattoos and sporting brightly coloured hair. Ariel, defies her father because she falls in love with a human, wants feet to explore land, and meet this man that captured her heart. Belle, daughter of an inventor learns the value of trusting what is on the inside of a person rather than their appearance. Cinderella, defies her stepmother to attend a party she was told she wasn’t allowed to go to, almost misses curfew and still gets the Prince. Rapunzel, busted out of a tower she was supposed to stay locked up in, has a blast, meets a guy, and cuts her hair off.

If Disney portrayed the princesses as they’re seen in the pictures parents would have had a meltdown about the image that Disney is sending out to kids; that we should get tattoo piercings, and defy our parents [in my opinion]. However, Disney portrayed them as flawless and the message was to see good in others, to forgive, and to find true love. I can tell you from experience that my mother thought myself and my sister were just shy of freaks for getting our piercings and tattoos, and that if Disney showed that there would be no way we were going to be watching it.

Tattoos are going to be a topic of discussion very shortly, and I would love your opinion on body art… for it, against it? Reply or email me!

lifeaswethinkweknowit@gmail.com

Teenagers: first love

First love is a little foolishness and a lot of curiousity

–George Bernard Shaw

It’s high school and aside from all the classes, homework, extra curriculars, and athletics, you can’t control the hormones of adolesence buzzing through the crowded halls. You have a boyfriend/girlfriend for maybe a week, break up, bounce back and forth in this game of limbo. There may be another teenager thrown in the mix but it’s all the same – an endless cycle  of on again/off again boyfriends.

Who knows how it starts, it’s different for everyone, you see them whether it’s across the hall, at a football game, or passing each other in the cafeteria; maybe you have a class with them. All you know is that they have your attention and for some reason you are drawn to them. You start talking, hanging out and getting to know each other. Feelings develop; you whisper to your friends that you’re crushing on the special someone in your second period class. One thing leads to another and suddenly you’re boyfriend/girlfriend.

You spend most of the time in your classes writing notes to each other for when your apart and when you leave school you spend countless hours texting them. Those countless hours turn into “No, you hang up the phone first” arguements. You’re friends get jealous they see how happy you are, they want that. Time is going by quickly you barely even realize. One day you are just meeting each other at the  lockers and not trying to hold hands [because you still get sweaty nervous palms around him] and now you’re holding hands and strutting for the world to see. It’s been a MONTH! Longest relationship ever, and you’re starting to think this could be the one for you, that you’re actually starting to more than just LIKE THEM LIKE THEM, but you don’t want to say anything. They’re your first kiss, the romantic kind that you see in the movie and everytime you kiss them after that you get these butterflies you can’t explain. They’re in your head when you’re hearing the sappy Taylor Swift love songs on the radio. They soon become you’re everything and you’re beginning to be able to picture a life with them. They’re the first person you’re going to say “I LOVE YOU” to and mean it. You’re actually going to know the feeling too, not just think you know what the feeling is, you’re actually going to feel it.

They’re your first love.. scary huh? It’s the first person, other than your family, that you’re scared to not have around you anymore. You get scared that they will leave you. You see your future with them and can’t picture it without. This is first love, in my opinion, it’s one of the scariest things to ever experience as a teenager. Like the quote stated above “First love is a little bit of foolishness and a lot of curiousity” is exactly right. It’s foolish to think that at such a young age that you have found the person that you are destined to spend the rest of your life with. It’s foolish to think that you actually know what you’re life is going to look like outside of high school. It’s foolish to think that being someone’s first love, means that you are going to be their last as well. It’s a whole lot of curiousity because you’ve never experienced it before. You’ve never felt the emotions before, never felt the electricity before. It’s curiousity because you have these hormones gearing you, fueling you, and you want to explore. You’re curious to know about the other, mentally and physically. You’re foolish to think that you are old enough to know that these curiousities can’t get you into trouble. You’re foolish to think that these curiousities won’t lead to something foolish and unplanned.

First love: that first person that took your breath away, stole your heart and you didn’t want it back. The first person you thought was going to be the one you were going to spend the rest of your life with. The one person with the means to destroy you just by simply leaving. First love is that whirlwind of emotion as if you are falling into wonderland and can’t/don’t want to stop.

First love ends. I hate to break it to you, but more times than not; it ends. It crushes you and that’s when you realize it’s first love. You don’t want to eat, you cry yourself to sleep, and you try to avoid everyone that seems happier than you are. You play “My Happy Ending” by Avril Lavigne on repeat for two weeks while avoiding eye contact with said first love in the hallway. Honestly, you think you are never going to be happy. You never think you will find that one person to spend the rest of your life with, because in your eyes, they just left.

I’ll tell you something; the next few boyfriend/girlfriend you have after this first love, you will compare them to that person. You will, but eventually… in time you won’t. The sad songs won’t seem as sad, the sun won’t seem so bright, and you’ll have moved on. You won’t be angry, you won’t be sad, you won’t feel the twinge when someone mentions their name… you’ll be free. And in being free, you’re able to search for your last love….

And can I tell you a secret? Being somebody’s first love it great, but being someone’s last love… that’s an amazing feeling completely indescribable.

Skeletons – Souls

Everyone has souls.

The skeletons we hide in our closet.

The souls we hide in a drawer.

We don’t expect them to ever come out –

ever be told, ever to be spoken about again

…but they sit there.

What do we do with them?

We can’t forget about them.

Can’t pretend they never happened…

…and so we keep them, locked up tight –

living in constant fear that someday,

someone is going to stumble upon them…

they’ll no longer be skeletons hidden or souls locked;

They’ll be free.

-Victoria M.

I wrote this piece some time ago, when keeping skeletons hidden seemed to be a big deal. When the only person that knew every thing about me and my skeletons was my husband. Skeletons we keep hidden torment us. They constantly prey on our minds and want to get out, they want to be told. It’s in telling someone that these skeletons get freedom, that they get the chance to not haunt us anymore. We shouldn’t be afraid of our past, we shouldn’t regret anything that’s happened. These skeletons should be lessons learned and instead of hiding them, fearing them, running from them; we should organize them in a file, bookmark them as our experiences, and take from them what we can.

You don’t need to run from your past, and you don’t need to embrace it with open arms. You need to recognize that it’s there and that someone, somewhere will love you for it.