Pretty Girls vs Girls Who Are Pretty

You might have heard this speech before, I kind of tell it a lot. It is the story of the Pretty Girls versus the Girls Who Are Pretty.

Pretty Girls are the arch nemeses of Taylor Swift in all of her music videos. They are Pretty because of their power. They are Pretty because they have something that you don't. It doesn't matter what it is, it could be their weight, their hair, their talents, their social status, but they have it and you don't. They are Pretty because of The Cheerleader Effect (coined from HIMYM). They are confident, they prey on you, sad girl in the corner with a book. Or you, girl who can't walk in heels properly, or you, girl who would rather spend your Saturday night watching Doctor Who than taking shots of Tequila.

They hold the power, because we let them, we Girls Who Are Pretty. Being Pretty is not a physical trait, not really. It isn't super hard to take someone who looks "plain" and fix their hair/makeup/outfit, and declare them Pretty, just look at Cinderella.

There was a show on TV during 2004 called The Swan. It was horrific. They found women who were "ugly" and made them "Pretty", and by Pretty, I mean completely unrecognizable due to a TON of cosmetic surgeries. At the end of it, the "winner" received  a modeling contract, a designer wardrobe, a week in Honolulu, Hawaii, a weekend in Las Vegas, $50,000 educational scholarship at Western International University, $10,000 of personal coaching, A 2004 Jaguar, $50,000 cash... JUST FOR BECOMING PRETTY. 

But, less about them, more about us.
Us Girls Who Are Pretty. And we ARE Pretty, I mean, physically Pretty, even though maybe we don't all know it. We are the girls who spent our adolescence in the mirror mimicking the Pretty Girls, trying to befriend them, analyze them, become them. But really, we were Drew Barrymore in Never Been Kissed, tripping up the stairs on her way back into high school. And maybe you're still Drew Barrymore and you still trip up the stairs, and that is ok. Because even if you can walk up the stairs like a normal person, that won't make you Pretty.

But I can tell you what will. Loving who you are will make you Pretty. Being kind to others will make you Pretty. Reading books and learning as much as you can about everything you can will make you Pretty. Surrounding yourself with people who love you for tripping up the stairs will make you Pretty.

This is not a Pretty Girl bash. And this is truly nothing about physical traits. You can be incredibly beautiful, and still not be a Girl Who is Pretty. Pretty Girls are Mean Girls. Their beauty is hurtful and they just it to put others down to put themselves up. If you're reading this, and you're a Mean Girl, at least be this kind of Mean Girl.

I could go on and on about what makes one Pretty, but I just feel that this explains it the best.

But, if not, this will.

-Amy Pond, Doctor Who

What do you do with a B.A. in English?

"What do you do, with a B.A. in English? What is my life going to be?

Four years of college, and plenty of knowledge have earned me this useless degree.

I can't pay the bills yet, 'cuz I have no skills yet, the world's just a big scary place.

But somehow I can't shake the feeling I might make a difference to the human race."

                                                                                           -Avenue Q

I quote this constantly, because it is incredibly applicable to my life, and is the story of why I am moving to New York in 10 days.

We children of the 90's have grown up with such an amazing mentality, we don't believe in living to work, but working to live. We think that the world is ours for the taking, that the limit is truly the moon. To us, social, economical, racial, gender status is not inhibiting. We want everything, and then more, and I think it is fantastic.

The world to our parents and grandparents was so much stricter. They were born into a life that they would probably live until they died. If their father was a blue collar worker with a family business, then the son would grow up and take it over, it didn't matter if he wanted to do something else. College was for the elite, not for the dedicated. Women were, and are still, primarily mothers and secretaries, (some other day I will discuss how motherhood is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't mean it is the only option), but we have come so far.  

So now, we all grow up with these dreams bigger than we are, and we go to college, no idea what those dreams even are or what they mean, but we have them, and then, we graduate, some of us have a plan, most of us don't.

To those of you who know your dreams, congratulations, you are light years ahead of the rest of us, who are just wandering around.

To those of you who don't, you're lying. You know, maybe you're afraid, (read: Nicole), but you know. You know if you want to quit you're well-paying job and go back to school and teach little kids, you know if you want to say eff it and audition for American Idol, YOU KNOW.

So, in one of my dream worlds, I am a writer. I am funny, and witty, and people don't mind that I am slightly whiny and self-obsessed (jk) (jk about jk), and so I started a blog. In another one of my dream worlds, I am a New Yorker, and so in 10 days I am moving, to New York.

I don't know what I can do, I don't know who I will be, I don't even know what I will be,

but somehow I can't shake the feeling I might make a difference to the human race.

I challenge you to realize your dream, and realize what is stopping you. (This is a YOLO moment, FYI)

When someone asks me about my move, I usually answer by saying that I am making a mistake no matter what I do. Leaving Delaware where my life is safe, comfortable, where I have a good, stable job, is a total mistake. But spending the rest of life never going after one of my oldest and biggest dreams, for no reason but fear, would also be a mistake, and it is the mistake I would rather be making.

As Elphaba once said, Everyone deserves the chance to fly!