This is a poem by a slam poet named Rafael Casal. I found out about this poem from Russel Simmons “Def Poetry Jam,” a TV program featuring slam poets. Please read and enjoy.
Sometimes I feel like I’m sittin’ in the back of Barbie and Ken 101.
A class we are all in, but never seem to learn from.
Some general ed requirement for
Students of American culture:
One that convinces even the brightest
Of young women that sex is survival of the thinnest.
And I’m sick of this education that doesn’t serve our best interests.
My teacher has no face.
She is every Revelon model women have ever chased.
Her lectures can be seen in the backs of magazines, beauty ads and marketing campaigns.
Shit, just turn on your TV:
“This just in, a skewed perspective for today’s youth. Y’all ladies ain’t thin enough, fellas ain’t trim
enough, wanna be sexy?
Y’all don’t go to the gym enough, cut to commercial, come on just tune
into their maintenance team, tell you you’re ugly then tell you how to fix it with Maybeline.”
Perpetually started by these dolls marketed in the late 50’s named
Barbie and Ken,
Hence the class I’m in.
Are you following?
Shit didn’t end.
They keep moldin’ Barbie to fit new trends.
Maybe next they’ll have club hoppin’ Barbie
With thongs as accessories,
Video hoe Barbie,
Abusive boyfriend sold separately,
Underaged Barbie,
Cobey Bryant included,
Or 9/11 victim Barbie
and Ken is proud to get recruited.
Problem is all these teachings are womans decay,
And I’m startin’ to worry cuz my girl is up front and she’s getting an A.
This is where I start getting pissed off, Ok?
When the f**k did it become all about
Tuckin’ in the gutt. I gotta get the bigger breast.
Shit I wanna fit a little better in a dress,
So let me get a little skinny gotta fit into an itty bitty
Size slimmer so I livin up the chest.
Please.
Teacher, teacher, I wanna give my oral presentation
Cuz I have a problem with the class, and matter of fact, I have, a fat ass grudge with the
Whole administration.
You’re the reason my girl won’t eat in front of me in restaurants,
The reason that she thinks she’s overweight in over ten spots.
Less gut, less pudge, less lunch, less real, more looks, more love, more Barbie appeal?
F**k Barbie and Ken.
My future daughter will never play with them.
You’re the reason 15 year old girls arms are slit.
You made 12 year olds think skinny was a compliment.
And now it’s too late.
I can’t write my way through this bathroom door,
So I raise my hand in class cuz I can’t stand it any more.
“Teacher teacher your lectures all backwards!
You got mothers and daughters forgetting what matters!
Cuz above tits, ass, lips, legs, and ugs,
The most attractive women are the ones who don’t give a f**k.
So screw your teachings, your lessons and plans.
You skewed sick distant relative of the man.
Your plan for brainwashin’ my baby I reject.
I’m walkin’ out of this class, and I will proudly take, my F.
The poem speaks to me in many ways. While it mainly focuses on women, it does mention the pressures put on men to be muscular, tall, and tan. In life, we are constantly shown what is masculine, what is feminine. Who the real men and women are. But, some people are sick of that game. Sick and tired of being told that they’re not good enough because they’re not like Barbie and Ken. I like how the poet takes something we understand, a class, and uses this metaphorical classroom to explain his point.
Just reading the text of the poem doesn’t do it justice. Please watch the video below of the original performance.
I think it’s about time to set forth the rules I’ll be following over the next year. Stressing out is not supposed to be part of this project. It’s not supposed to be about worrying all the time about whether or not I will be able to write my blog post or if I’ll be able to take my pictures. So, I need to set forth a few rules that will make my life a bit easier.
Rules for Blogging
- Blog posts must be written within a week of their respective day. This would allow me the leeway to write when I have time. Now, this is not an excuse for not writing, but a way for me to feel alright if I forget to blog one day.
- A day will not be defined by time. Writing a blog post past midnight still counts.
- A blog post must be at least 300 words, or cover a topic in enough depth, to be judged by me.
Rules for Photography
- Pictures need to be taken on their respective days. The purpose of the project is to use your camera every day. I will have some leniency, and allow a picture to be made up within 48 hours, if need be.
- Pictures need not be creative or amazing. A simple picture of something I ate that day will suffice. Pictures do not need to look like they came out of a professional photography magazine.
- Pictures must be uploaded by the end of the month. At the close of each month, there needs to be as many pictures uploaded to my flickr account as there were days in the month.
And now that my rules are set, I can sleep a little better knowing that I’m not a failure because yesterday’s blog post won’t be uploaded until tomorrow.
Our lives hold many secrets. In life, we hold things from those around us, and sometimes, these secrets fester and grow within us, changing us, holding us back from who we want to be. We hide these secrets from our families, our friends. We hide them because we are ashamed or afraid of what has happened in our lives. These secrets bind us, hold us in their chains, governing the way we live our lives and inhibiting our personal growth.
But how can we change this?
A secret has a reason to be a secret. Sometimes, a secret can bring harm to someone. Sometimes, a secret can endanger someone. But what if we were able to relieve ourselves of these secrets without putting ourselves in danger? I believe that if we can find a way to let go of our secrets, let go of that part that prevents us from living our lives, then we can truly be free.
But how can we do this?
Thanks to a brilliant man named Frank Warren, people now have the opportunity to share their secrets with the world in complete anonymity. With his community art project entitled “Postsecret,” people from around the world are able to share the burdens of hidden secrets without endangering themselves. And what an amazing thing it is. Looking through the published anthologies of submitted secrets, all in the form of a postcard, one can find solace, peace, and solitude in the secrets presented on the page. To think that someone has made the choice to share their secret with you, to tell you what is troubling them, is an amazing thing.
And what an amazing thing it is.
My debate coach once told us to go into a debate “with chalk in hand.” He explained that invading armies would use chalk to mark everything that was theirs. They would invade cities and claim what was theirs. My coach explained that going into a debate round with “chalk in hand” is to say that you go in knowing that you’ve already won, and that the only thing you need to do is claim your victory.
I’ve found that this mentality applies to all aspects of life. It’s not hopeless optimism, it’s being smart. If you go into something expecting a bad outcome, you have no drive to achieve a good one. But, go in knowing you’ve won and that the only thing you need to do is claim your victory, and you’ll be expecting a victory, so you have to keep up your self-esteem and do the best you can. In life, we frequently underestimate ourselves, and bring ourselves down with negative thoughts and pessimistic thinking. If we’d just be a tad bit more expecting, a tad bit more optimistic, and a tad bit more hopeful, it can do wonders for yourself.
I recently took final exams. Into each written examination, I went in with chalk in hand. Literally. Having the chalk reminded me that I’ve already taken the course, I’ve learned all the material, and this is my time to show it. Thankfully, it really helped me not to freak out. My finals were very low stress thanks to this method of thinking.
So, if you only take one thing from this post, take this: go into life’s troubles head first, and with chalk in hand.
In life, we expect too much. We expect to accomplish great things each and every day, we expect to change our lives with every decision we make. The only thing we are setting ourselves up for is disappointment. Now, I’m not saying not to have goals and aspirations in life, in fact, the opposite. But, sometimes, we need to lower our expectations, because being letdown too many times is not good for one’s self esteem and morale.
I’ve always been expected to go to some prestigious college, get my degree, and enter the workforce making six figures a year. As time went on, I began to expect that of myself with everything I did. I began to feel the pressure to succeed at everything I did. I was always told that I’d be great at anything.
Boy, was everyone wrong.
Being great at everything is impossible. Being great at everything you do is an impossible task. So, I’ve decided to just be the best I can be. I’m not settling, I’m not tossing away my dreams. I’m just realizing that life would be much better for me if I just relaxed a little. Sure, I still want to go to a good university, but I don’t want to kill myself in the process. I know I’ll do fine, not great, but I’ll be just fine at whatever university I attend. I know that in the end, it’s not going to matter what I learned or what my degree is in; what’s going to matter is if I use that knowledge and that degree to do the things I want to do.
And right now, the only thing I want is to be happy. I’d much rather be happy at a state university than stressed, broke, in debt, and depressed at one of the top schools in the nation.
And I’m perfectly fine with that.
I’ve never been the one to make New Year’s Resolutions. But this year, with participating in Project 365 and all, I thought it’d be a nice opportunity to make a list of the things I want to accomplish this year:
- Write a blog post everyday. Sometimes, it may be just a nice short post, but at least it’s writing everyday.
- Take pictures every day. Just like writing, I’m sure that taking pictures everyday could improve my skills and knowledge as a photographer.
- Worry a little less. Life is too short to worry. I want to live a little more by worrying a little less.
- Taking a page out of the Google book, I will try to devote 20% of my time to doing the things that I love, such as reading, writing, and taking pictures. If we spend too much time doing the things we are obligated to do, we begin to forget the joy that doing the things we loved once brought us.
- Lower my expectations. Not in a bad way of course, but stop expecting to give 110%, 110% of the time. I need to stop working at my max all the time and start taking more breaks, and stop worrying that I’m not doing my best.
- Sleep a little more, and sleep a lot less. At school, I hardly get any sleep. This semester and the following fall semester, I am going to try to get a little more sleep. And then, I am going to try to not waste my day sleeping, as I have done many times before. Sleeping until 2PM is not, in any way, good for you.
This list is not all-inclusive. I’m sure that I will discover more things that I want to do, and I’m sure that I won’t achieve all of these resolutions all of the time. But, if I can at least try to make my life a tad bit more enjoyable by worrying less and spending more time doing the things I love, I would consider that a successful resolution.
Happy New Year everyone.
Today is a day of beginnings. Today marks the first day of January. Today marks the first day of the year 2009. And today marks the first day of Project 365.
Project 365, originally a project in which one takes at least one photo every day, is a journey more than it is a project. In my version, I will take a photo each day of the year, documenting my daily life along the way, and I will write a blog post in addition.
Ask any writer what is their secret and the majority will tell you the most repeated piece of advice in the writing world: write everyday. By writing a blog post every day, I hope to develop my skills as a writer, and document my life along the way.
As with writing, taking a picture every day helps you grow as a photographer.Throughout this year, I hope to learn as much as I can about how to capture the world in a photo.
And speaking of learning, one must never stop. You must never close your mind to learning. In fact, just today, I learned that one must never pass a cyclist whilst driving on the road without their signal. It gives the rider time to brace themselves to make sure that they are not injured by the gust of wind that will follow your car.
Learning is a journey. It cannot be monetized, and it cannot be restricted to the walls of a schoolhouse. Each and every day we are alive we are learning; we just have to be open and receptive to the knowledge that comes our way.
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