What's Ugly...America's Top Model, Bre Sounds Off...

America's Top Model finalist, Bre sounds off as a Swarm columnist for Honey Mag and her words and thoughts are so true. We have to really question what we read or hear in the media. While the media is a wonderful tool and quite beneficial in circulating news, promoting and selling goods and services, it also molds and shapes attitudes, opinions and can create turmoil and biases when stories aren't fairly reported. Here's what Bre has to say:

While watching the news and reading a variety of blogs over the past few days, I noticed a familiar theme taking shape. One headline read: “CNN’s Anderson Cooper Rescues Boy from Looters in Haiti” another read: “Looting Flares Where Order Breaks Down,” while yet another media outlet reported: “Troops Take on Looters in Haiti.”

It’s starting to sound very much like the picture that was painted about victims after the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe: starving men and women of a natural disaster being described as nothing more than criminals by the press. Hearing these victims referred to as looters feels both hurtful and confusing. Are these people thieves or are they just hungry?

I can only image how someone who has just lost everything – family, friends and all material possessions – might feel. They don’t recognize anyone or anything around them and have likely not enjoyed basic necessities like clean water or food for days. If by some chance I were in their shoes and happened to stumble across food and water, I would not hesitate to take whatever I could. This is common sense, is it not? I would not consider my actions to be wrong in light of the situation. How could anyone blame me? I’m disoriented, exhausted, emotionally crippled and starving! To find out later I was labeled a looter in global newspapers would not only be unimaginable but leave me feeling distraught. I would probably wonder if the people labeling me a looter spoke the same language. What’s the benefit in misrepresenting my actions? Who does it help for me to be viewed this way? Could it be that the word “looter” is more provocative and enticing? Whatever the answer to these questions, I’m just not sure how I could rationalize them labeling me as such.

It’s no secret that media outlets have long made inaccurate assessments and embellished situations in order to increase their audience and earn more advertising dollars. In today’s economy, where media outlets like Air America go bankrupt every day, who could blame them for feeling that publishing racy headlines is more compelling. As a victim in Haiti, taking food that I didn’t pay for, because without it I would die, is no different than a media outlet creating sensationalized headings in order to sell more newspapers. They too are trying to survive. These are both acts of desperation; but because the media’s voice is bigger, their tactics of survival are overlooked while Haiti’s sick and starving are being perceived as criminals. Personally, I believe it’s time to turn the light on and place blame where it belongs: the press. We need to continually question not just what is being written and shown in the media, but why. We need to ask deeper questions like, who gains from these types of negative labeling and at what cost? Honestly, it is purely inhumane to use someone else’s misfortune and then manipulate it for monetary gain. This is exactly what these media outlets are doing with Haiti coverage. I’m really saddened and embarrassed at how we treat our fellow man.

-Bre

Source: www.honeymag.com/

 
 
 
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Being and Feeling Beautiful...

“I feel beauty is an issue that’s plagued women for centuries. Unfortunately, we live in a society where image does matter. In many cases, women just aren’t aware of beauty options and enhancements.

It’s natural for a woman to want to feel beautiful and important that she does! The right shade of lipstick, the cut of a garment to minimize or accent, a deep tissue massage, vitamin therapy, exercise, healthy food choices and embracing one’s individuality help to radiate beauty.

Many of us are stuck in adolescence in how we view ourselves, therefore, carrying with us an outdated childhood self-image. In order for women to be empowered, we must redefine beauty and find what works externally in terms of apparel, makeup and hairstyling, fitness and nutrition, rest and relaxation (good music, books, films, social activities, vacationing) to intrinsic values that generate self-worth and confidence…the heart and soul of beauty!”


For More Visit:

http://www.fineandfabulousmag.com/

Not Interested!

I'm really not interested in so much of what I see on the TV or the Internet!  Not really interested in headline news, some will definitely get my attention like the earthquake that hit Haiti, my heart goes out to the people of Haiti and their families around the world. While I do vote, I find myself tunning out what each political party is saying about the other, who's right, who's wrong, the country taking on socialism when I see it as humanity, not interested in what politicians say. I'm interested in some of the publicized bills that are hopeful in becoming laws, more physical education in our schools to help fight youth obesity, the gay and lesbian community getting the same legal rights as other unions, with or without legalizing same sex marriage. I want the troops to come home, but I'm not interested in why we're there, it's too late, but I do want our troops to be treated like Hollywood royalty, a fantasy I know when benefits and healthcare is a problem for many returning soldiers.

I'm not interested in how well others are living, but how well we're ALL are giving to those less fortunate. I could care less about Forbes richest entertainers or people in the world, kudos to them, but what I want to read is the Forbes list of the most "whole" or fulfilled people in the world.  I'm working on not being affected so much about what other people are having, being or doing.  It's a part of my therapy, an essential tool in creating my own universe while focusing on what really matters.  I have my own reality show!  I go through my struggles, truimphs and learning experiences. But, the great part is what I'm now convinced of...convinced that if you work hard and never give up, life has some good things in store for you!  But, you have to be interested in your own life and your day to day actions will guide you to or away from your destiny!

Be Free in 2010...Comfortable with yourself!

Stake your claim for your own personal freedom in 2010. Forget all the excuses, going along to get along, trying to avoid conflict as if it’s a dirty word, when it’s needed for resolution. No, you won’t slay all of life’s problem with winning one battle or several, so enjoy today and allow tomorrow to have it’s day! There'll always be something that needs fixing, repairing, mending; life is full of fragments, puzzle pieces begging for our attention. The good thing is that we get to pick and choose our battles, response to outright idiots, button pushers, control freaks and yes, even to the legions of haters who swarm this earth! I truly believe freedom is what we’re all searching for in some shape or manner. Whether it’s financial freedom, religious freedom, self-acceptance and self-approval freedom, our hearts thrive off of freedom. Freedom to risk love with the possibility of getting our hearts broken and trampled on once again or the freedom to do what we love for a living or the freedom to exercise courage and be the person who doesn’t join in to ostracize the person taking a brutal beating of alienation. Freedom is so precious, any type of oppression is draining and dehabilitating.

So if you’re catching hell on your job, a job you love or just there for a much needed paycheck, keep the feeling and reality of freedom alive, regardless of what today looks like! Let your freedom ring when others feel uncomfortable around you because they can’t hear the song in your heart and understand the philosophy of your mind! Just stand back when you see the feelings of inadequacy make individuals react to you in a harsh or deceptive manner, they actually like what they see, I mean feel. Take a deep breath when a hater is in your mist and want to assign some bogus blame or launch inflammatory comments to and about you, it’s what we humans do when we feel frighten, less than and allow our egos to govern our emotions.

You just might have to sever ties with people you love with all your heart, but you’ve become “frenemies.” It’s ok, the departure just means that you two have completed what you were supposed to do and share at this time, who knows what the future might hold. It’s imperative to understand human nature if you are to be free. So many of our headaches come out of our relationships and they do determine the quality of our life. I’m not talking about things, but what and how we share. Our sharing is what makes us fulfilled and it takes freedom. Free from acute self-consciousness, wondering if everyone is looking at your flaws, often you’re only one with a microscope and distorted view. For naysayers and those human beings with envy and jealousy oozing out of their pores, allow them to have their way, you just step back and observe them in futile pursuit. Now with freedom comes integrity, wisdom, humor and joy. Be a wise friend, attend to your needs, along with the people you help to take care of and nurture. We nurture with our spirit and soul as we rock and soothe those caught in a tight spot, between that perrenial rock and a hard place, the disillusioned and disenfranchised within balance and giving only what we can afford. When we sacrifice, make sure first and foremost the person can receive what it is we have to give and share.  People can easily take, but to receive is not often the case for those in need! We consume, over consume, so our desires become insatiable and the mere insanity of never feeling full makes his selfish, greedy, empty and sometimes cruel.  It takes freedom to walk the talk, to pursue dreams, to share and operate with a heart if generosity and  integrity.  It takes courage to fight for our individual freedom, to accept what we can't change, to keep forging ahead after one set-back after another.  But, one day or in simple moment, we realize that we're free, full and whole as works-in-progress!