Last Words

Hello lovely readers,

This is going to be my last note to you. The snow is starting to melt in New England (I finally saw some mud yesterday!) and our motley group of bloggers is moving on to other pastures. As everyone else has already said, we hope that you've learned something from this exercise; we have definitely learned a lot from this experience. 

Personally, I've learned that blogging is hard work. Thinking up something creative, interesting and relatable to write about at least once a week isn't a cakewalk; there were definitely days when I just sat in front of my laptop, waiting for inspiration to strike because I didn't have something to pull out of my hat.

More importantly, I've gained a greater appreciation for the myriad pressures — and, as some of our posts have demonstrated, inspiration — that young women today find in the media. I'm not much older than some of you, but I have to say, back in my day we didn't have 24/7 access to social media... and it's been really interesting to see how the ubiquity of media today has changed the teenage and preteen experience.

I'm going to sign off with one of my favorite quotes, which my middle school teachers put in every student's yearbook the year that I finished the eighth grade. It is truly advice to live by:

"This above all: to thine own self be true."

 -Polonius to Laertes, Hamlet

Achievement and A Life

One of the things I heard all time in high school was, "Do you even have a life?"

I was really involved in a lot of things in high school; I was the captain of the debate and mock trial teams, an executive board member of my school's Amnesty International chapter, an editor for our literary magazine and an active volunteer at my public library. On top of that, I was constantly studying for an endless cycle of quizzes, tests and presentations.

With all of those things going on, it was sometimes hard to have a life. But I already made time for my friends, and I hope all of you highly driven, overachieving readers are doing the same thing.

School-life balance is really important. Everyone needs friends to be their cheerleaders, inspiration and shoulders to cry on when things don't work out (and sometimes they don't).One of my favorite YA authors, Sarah Dessen says it best:

“Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend."

-Sarah Dessen, Someone Like You 

Minimum Wage at Gap

Today, Gap — which is one of my favorite retailers for cheap basics like plain tees and basic cardigans — announced its plans to raise minimum wage for its employees from $7.75, which is the current federal minimum wage, to a minimum of $10 by next year.

via Forbes.com

This is AWESOME.

Aside from the fact that it's always nice to make more money, it's really hard to survive on the minimum wage. For a taste of this reality, try this simulator at Marketplace.org.

I think that it's especially important for girls and women — who, let's face it, are bigger consumers of clothing than boys and fathers — to be aware of how our favorite retailers treat their employees.

I haven't shopped at Gap since last December, mostly because there isn't one close to my college's campus... but I'm definitely going to make a stop at one at my next available opportunity.

Leave us a shoutout in the comments and let us know: do you think it's important to know how stores treat their employees?

Feminist Art

I started taking studio art classes at age five, and although I don't get as much studio time as I'd like nowadays, I maintain a healthy interest in art. I'm also really interested in feminist expression, so you can imagine how excited I was to see some really cool feminist art/commentary on PolicyMic.com.

As an example, here's a piece by Lauren Salazar, called "No More I Love Yous." 

"No More I Love Yous" by Lauren Salazar, 2013. Handwoven and installed Cottlin, staples. Dimensions Variable. Image: courtesy of Lauren Salazar.

"If I'm challenging anything it would be the masculine, and the readily accepted mediums and practices of fine art — like painting and sculpture.  And I'm saying that the feminine, even the traditional, has always been just as complicated, interesting, and aesthetically beautiful." -Lauren Salazar on her work

Read more about Lauren's, and other awesome female artists', work in the original article on PolicyMic.

All Women's Colleges, or, How I Almost Went to Mills

When I was in early high school, I was really into the idea of going to an all women's college (the movie "Mona Lisa Smile," starring Julia Roberts as a professor who shakes things up at Wellesley College in the 1950s, may have played a big part in that). Being from the West coast, Mills— a small all women's college in Oakland, CA — was a top choice. Like at Wellesley, Mills women are very proud of their all women's history. And, like Wellesley's course exchanges with Harvard and MIT, Mills has students taking classes at Stanford and UC Berkeley.

I absolutely loved Mills' campus when I visited, too.

It looks like this:

via Mills College on LinkedIn

And it's in the Bay Area, which is one of my favorite parts of the U.S.

For those of you who are thinking about college soon, I encourage you to seriously consider all women's colleges. They have a number of advantages that you can't get from a coeducational experience, as well as generally fantastic financial aid.

Girls Who Rock: Really Young Figure Skaters

viz Salon

For those who haven't been watching the Olympics (and if you haven't, why aren't you?), this girl is phenomenal. And she's only 15. Her name is Yulia Lipnitskaya, and she's already being called a prodigy.

One of her competitors, American Gracie Gold, said, "She has no spine, but she has iron in her bones." An odd, but heartfelt, compliment for someone who's sure to be a star in her sport for some time to come.

And super-young Olympians are surprisingly common. See Tara Lipinski freaking out when she upset Michelle Kwan for the gold in Nagano in 1998:

via Pinterest

"Cankles in a Pantsuit"

via ABC

First: yes, embarrassing confession, I sometimes watch bad television (usually in the height of midterms season as a way to procrastinate). Second: I'm a little bothered by something I saw in a recent episode of Last Man Standing, which is an ABC comedy starring Tim Allen as Mike Baxter, a Republican outdoor gear shop manager in Denver, Colorado. In "Renaming Boy's School," Mike Baxter (played by Tim Allen) calls Hillary Clinton "cankles in a pantsuit" in a series of jokes about her as a potential presidential candidate in 2016.

This makes me really uncomfortable.

First, there's the fact that I — like many men and women — admire Hillary Clinton's distinguished career in public service. Second, I'm really bothered by the fact that this dig is based on comments about Hillary's physical appearance; why do television commentators, pundits and, yes, even comedy show writers focus so much on women's appearances to make them the butts of jokes?

Leave us a shoutout in the comments: am I right to be bothered by this, or am I being too thin-skinned about a harmless little joke?

Real and "real" women

Lots of people are really, really excited about Aerie's "real model" spring campaign. And yes, it's a huge step in the right direction in an industry that's incredibly focused on altering the bodies of already thinner, taller and more in shape than average women... but that's the point. These models are already thinner, taller, more in shape and therefore more conventionally attractive than the average women.

I admire Aerie for taking this first step, but can't help feeling that it still isn't enough -- there needs to be more attention to putting genuinely real women in print media and fashion advertising.

Introduction: Lorelei

Hi! I'm Lorelei, and I'm a junior at a small liberal arts college in New England. I'm a double major in Government and English and a minor in Public Policy. I'm an only child of immigrant parents who grew up on the West coast of the United States. Here on campus, I edit the Opinions section of our campus newspaper, conduct research in the government department and work with sexual assault advocacy. I'm really interested in women's issues, human rights, media and politics — so expect me to write about those things fairly frequently. I also enjoy online shopping; so I'll occasionally offer tips on personal style and commentary on the fashion industry.