Current Release: September 11th, 2007 | Vol. XXIV Iss. 10

Why’s everybody always picking on me?

By Lauren Paolino

lepaolino@vwc.edu

We’ve all done it, including myself. You see someone with a foot high Mohawk, black nail polish and spikes coming out every which way and you think “oh that’s scary.” But what you never think about is the person that’s underneath all the accessories. Sometimes I think that our culture puts a lot of pressure on the way we dress and that can affect how we are perceived. If a girl doesn’t get that “hot bag” or a guy doesn’t dress the way everyone else is, they can sometimes be shunned by their friends. I feel that this has a lot to do with the recent explosion of the teenage socialite soaked media. Shows like “The Fabulous Life” on VH1 and “My Super Sweet 16” on MTV show all too well what people like Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton do to our younger generation. Do I fall victim to this? Oh yes. I’m not going to lie. Do I get super excited when someone suggests a mall trip? Do I feel like hyper ventilating when I see a shoe sale? Yes. But one thing I do try to do is not to judge on first appearances. I feel that if you take one look at a person and decide that they look weird or mean you’re really losing out on a possible friendship. So what if they can’t get that new Gucci horse bit hobo bag? I know I can’t. But that doesn’t make them a bad person. Now I’m not saying that I’m Ms. Perfect and give everyone a chance, because I definitely don’t. But that is one new thing I am really going to try to do. A New Year’s resolution?