I Just Wanna Be A Girl!

I am fresh off the heels of my last Ethnic Walk in college. Wow... am I ever nostalgic. First of all... no, I didn't win a prize, but I think I won a lot more.  I feel so much more confident because of my opportunities to be on these stages. I have actually been observing what happens to me on stage and during practice, and I feel myself becoming a different person through these experiences.  I initially wasn't going to walk for this Aurora. This used to be a place I loved and laughed and rejoiced, but it had turned into one of isolation and despair. I thought long and hard about whether participating was worth it. The only reasons I could think of for not doing so were because of other people. On the other hand, the pros said that I would enjoy it and love it, and it would be a perfect farewell to my time here. I decided I owed it to myself to do this for myself. And so I did.  When I'm on stage... I lose myself. I get to be someone who is admired from a distance. People...

One of my seniors posted something on his Instagram story recently that got me thinking. He said that he thought people showed their true colors while on their 'college trips.'  I was wondering why that is. I mean... obviously he didn't mean what I was thinking about, but I found it interesting. Every time I've heard about stories of college trips, I hear about some massive friendship blow-up or some betrayal or devastation. But... these are the people you've spent the last 2 or 3 years with. Right? Why is it that those relationships crumble, especially if they weren't tenacious to begin with?  I think it's because people tend to put on a face and facade in front of their friends in college. In that sense, I mean that they don't really show their true, raw, unfiltered sense. People hang out with these people, and then they can go home, and they have a different life there. They can become different people. However, on trips like these, people are togethe...

There are so many ways to reinvent oneself. It started thinking about this because a new year symbolizes a change, and that change can be a change in one's self.  Now, that change could be many things. It could be a little resolution. It could be determination to achieve something that you have been looking towards for a really long time. It could be setting aside time for yourself, making sure that you aren't overwhelmed by things around you. Or, it could be bigger.  You might want to change yourself... You might not have liked the way you were the previous year, or the way people saw you and treated you. You might want to reinvent yourself in a way you like. Now, this is easier to do in a place where no one knows you. You get to pick who you want to be. You can be anything, and no one would know that it isn't who you used to be. But... even if you are stuck with people who have seen you before, you can still make small changes. Those changes will put your haters down. It ...