Texas tall tales
16 OPINION
Lights, camera,
9. 30. 16
actual representation SENIOR TAKES STANCE ON BODY IMAGE
“Taking care of our bodies should be revolved around health, not a scale or a measuring tape.”
WAFA KAZMI culture editor
Girls. Some of us pick at our flab and cry at the mirror, some of us eat diet pills for lunch, some of us drown our faces in foundation to hide the “faults”, , and all of us- every girl under the sun- has looked at a magazine, photoshoot,t or internet model and thought: “why can’t I look like that?” It’s a problem old as time, that has burgeoned into a monster fed by modern media. What we see on our screens and magazines is a product of photoshopped, starved, and painted girls, sold to us as reality. Companies often don’t offer XL sizes to keep up an image for their brand. When online publication Salon asked about why Abercrombie and Fitch didn’t offer plus size options, CEO Mark Jeffries responded, “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive Alll-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A
Photo by Bri Gonzalez.
lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” This exclusionary principle, while still remaining prevalent, has begun to be challenged with an uproar louder than ever before. With social media sites like Tumblr actively glorifying body positivity instead of specific body types, there is a responsive shift in media. Aerie, for example has recently launched their “Real” campaign, in which the company has promised not to
photoshop any of their models. Weight, tattoo and piercing requirements have been thrown out the window, and the lingerie models feature women of all shapes and sizes. Tattoos, stretch marks, muffin tops galore : it’s the most beautiful revolution in all of media history. The movement expands beyond fashion, too. Barbie Dolls are being reshaped so that little girls grow up with realistic ideas of what women look like. Shows like “The Mindy Project”
and “Criminal Minds” cast female leads who don’t resemble photoshopped Vogue models. And the best part? Their “imperfections” have nothing to do with their role or part in the show at all. So what does this all mean? Hopefully a future generation of girls who never fall into the superficial expectations of paper people. As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder in the past, I know firsthand how damaging self deprecation can be. It seems like every magazine at the grocery store is dying to tell you how to lose those last fifteen pounds so you can finally impress “the one.”. But why? Why should we? Taking care of our bodies should be revolved around health, not a scale or a measuring tape. Hopefully, as modern media inches towards a more inclusive future, our generation will learn to love every feature about ourselves, from flat chests to stretch marks.
Texas tall tales
SENIOR DROPS INSIGHT ON HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CLAIRE MYNATT sports editor
In 2013, 54,347 people attended it. I’m not talking about Austin City Limits, or South by Southwest. No, I’m talking about the record shattering attendance of the Texas High School Football state championship in 2013. It’s a phenomenon that every corner of the nation knows about. NBC has even created a TV show about it, the famous Friday Night Lights, which I’ll admit I haven’t watched. I’m not going to bash it, I love football and I love going to games to cheer on Cy-Fair. Texas High School Football has become sort of a tall tale all across the country, the almost cult like following seeming to be larger than life. There are high school football stadiums that seat 20,000 people and cost millions of dollars. Often times, districts will tailor their budgets to be able to build the Colosseum of high school sports. Our own district spent 84 million dollars on the Berry Center and the recent renovations to Pridgeon Stadium cost 24 million dollars.
But why does Texas in particular seem so weirdly obsessed with the sport? Maybe it’s the fact that we only have two professional sports teams, and they’re not super bowl worthy. The college football teams here are pretty good, people seem to flock to Texas A&M no matter how their season is going and the recent upcoming of the University of Houston after their amazing season last year is gaining a lot of attention. But why do people put so much money and focus into high school football? The answer is simple: town rivalries. In the book Texas by James A. Michener, the History of Texas from when the dinosaurs were around till when it was published in 1985, towns used to be competitive about the state of their courthouses, and as anyone who has read “To Kill a Mockingbird” knows the courthouse is a symbol of the town’s morals and who they are. When times changed they went from pouring their money into their courthouses to, guess what, their local high school football team. It became a back and forth thing: “our team can beat yours” and who has nicer stuff. It eventually dissolved into what it is today crazy, intense competition. Or that’s what it seems like to everyone.
There’s this movie, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and at one point a reporter says, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” I think that’s what has happened with Texas High School Football, it seems like a tall tale, so hyped up beyond what it actually is, that people go with the tale to keep interest. I’m not saying people don’t care about it, obviously people do care about it for
it to be this big of a thing, but it’s not as big as people make it seem. High School football has developed a large following all across the country, twitter accounts dedicated to getting the latest scoop from schools around the United States. I think that since it originated in Texas people automatically put it on another level because, hey, everything’s bigger in Texas.
Photo credits: Lauryn Walker
Lights, camera,
9. 30. 16
actual representation SENIOR TAKES STANCE ON BODY IMAGE
“Taking care of our bodies should be revolved around health, not a scale or a measuring tape.”
WAFA KAZMI culture editor
Girls. Some of us pick at our flab and cry at the mirror, some of us eat diet pills for lunch, some of us drown our faces in foundation to hide the “faults”, , and all of us- every girl under the sun- has looked at a magazine, photoshoot,t or internet model and thought: “why can’t I look like that?” It’s a problem old as time, that has burgeoned into a monster fed by modern media. What we see on our screens and magazines is a product of photoshopped, starved, and painted girls, sold to us as reality. Companies often don’t offer XL sizes to keep up an image for their brand. When online publication Salon asked about why Abercrombie and Fitch didn’t offer plus size options, CEO Mark Jeffries responded, “In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he told the site. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive Alll-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A
Photo by Bri Gonzalez.
lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.” This exclusionary principle, while still remaining prevalent, has begun to be challenged with an uproar louder than ever before. With social media sites like Tumblr actively glorifying body positivity instead of specific body types, there is a responsive shift in media. Aerie, for example has recently launched their “Real” campaign, in which the company has promised not to
photoshop any of their models. Weight, tattoo and piercing requirements have been thrown out the window, and the lingerie models feature women of all shapes and sizes. Tattoos, stretch marks, muffin tops galore : it’s the most beautiful revolution in all of media history. The movement expands beyond fashion, too. Barbie Dolls are being reshaped so that little girls grow up with realistic ideas of what women look like. Shows like “The Mindy Project”
and “Criminal Minds” cast female leads who don’t resemble photoshopped Vogue models. And the best part? Their “imperfections” have nothing to do with their role or part in the show at all. So what does this all mean? Hopefully a future generation of girls who never fall into the superficial expectations of paper people. As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder in the past, I know firsthand how damaging self deprecation can be. It seems like every magazine at the grocery store is dying to tell you how to lose those last fifteen pounds so you can finally impress “the one.”. But why? Why should we? Taking care of our bodies should be revolved around health, not a scale or a measuring tape. Hopefully, as modern media inches towards a more inclusive future, our generation will learn to love every feature about ourselves, from flat chests to stretch marks.
Texas tall tales
SENIOR DROPS INSIGHT ON HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CLAIRE MYNATT sports editor
In 2013, 54,347 people attended it. I’m not talking about Austin City Limits, or South by Southwest. No, I’m talking about the record shattering attendance of the Texas High School Football state championship in 2013. It’s a phenomenon that every corner of the nation knows about. NBC has even created a TV show about it, the famous Friday Night Lights, which I’ll admit I haven’t watched. I’m not going to bash it, I love football and I love going to games to cheer on Cy-Fair. Texas High School Football has become sort of a tall tale all across the country, the almost cult like following seeming to be larger than life. There are high school football stadiums that seat 20,000 people and cost millions of dollars. Often times, districts will tailor their budgets to be able to build the Colosseum of high school sports. Our own district spent 84 million dollars on the Berry Center and the recent renovations to Pridgeon Stadium cost 24 million dollars.
But why does Texas in particular seem so weirdly obsessed with the sport? Maybe it’s the fact that we only have two professional sports teams, and they’re not super bowl worthy. The college football teams here are pretty good, people seem to flock to Texas A&M no matter how their season is going and the recent upcoming of the University of Houston after their amazing season last year is gaining a lot of attention. But why do people put so much money and focus into high school football? The answer is simple: town rivalries. In the book Texas by James A. Michener, the History of Texas from when the dinosaurs were around till when it was published in 1985, towns used to be competitive about the state of their courthouses, and as anyone who has read “To Kill a Mockingbird” knows the courthouse is a symbol of the town’s morals and who they are. When times changed they went from pouring their money into their courthouses to, guess what, their local high school football team. It became a back and forth thing: “our team can beat yours” and who has nicer stuff. It eventually dissolved into what it is today crazy, intense competition. Or that’s what it seems like to everyone.
There’s this movie, “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance” and at one point a reporter says, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” I think that’s what has happened with Texas High School Football, it seems like a tall tale, so hyped up beyond what it actually is, that people go with the tale to keep interest. I’m not saying people don’t care about it, obviously people do care about it for
it to be this big of a thing, but it’s not as big as people make it seem. High School football has developed a large following all across the country, twitter accounts dedicated to getting the latest scoop from schools around the United States. I think that since it originated in Texas people automatically put it on another level because, hey, everything’s bigger in Texas.
Photo credits: Lauryn Walker
