Forza Azzurri

Forza Azzurri! Best dressed. Who needs actual football attire when you can just play in a Dolce & Gabbana suit.

Festa della Repubblica

Today's Google doodle celebrates Festa della Repubblica, Italian National Day. 68 years have passed since Italy became a republic, after World War II and the end of Fascism. 

Mia in Santa Barbara

Just realised Mia moved to Santa Barbara! The sun is precisely why I loved it.

Pretty Hurts

This song has possibly just converted me into a Beyonce fan. Recently, I heard people talking about a ‘stiletto camp’ that was being run by a beauty pageant, which I found out later was Miss Universe New Zealand. I’m shocked that these competitions still exist. It’s great that there is a little more emphasis on the minds and intellectual thoughts of the entrants than there was before, but there is nothing empowering in beauty pageantry.

Fashion, beautiful clothes, heels, and make-up are all so much fun, and I love them, but not when they start to define us. Of course, intellectualism and physical beauty are not mutually exclusive, but we have to wonder, as women are reaching higher levels of education than ever before, why are we still continuing to rely on and resort to physical beauty? We want respect and equality, but when we support and praise conventional ideals of beauty, what message are we actually sending?

The awful tragedy in Isla Vista last week reveals just how detrimental the idea of ‘perfection’ is when it infiltrates our psyche. It’s astounding that any self-respecting woman would put herself up to be judged and objectified in such a manner, or pay any attention to a competition that has made ‘Keep Calm and Wear a Tiara’ its slogan. A couple of years ago there was also talk of an American company looking to bring child pageantry to NZ. Why any parent would even consider entering their child is beyond me.

And we wonder why insecurity, over-sexualisation, misogyny, eating disorders, and depression continue to plague society. As a nation that became the first to give women the vote, why are we still entering and supporting such ridiculous competitions?

I’m not saying that we should disregard ‘fashion’ altogether, but I think it’s important to be critical of what we are feeding our minds.

When Great Trees Fall - Maya Angelou

When Great Trees Fall

When great trees fall,
rocks on distant hills shudder,
lions hunker down
in tall grasses,
and even elephants
lumber after safety.

When great trees fall
in forests,
small things recoil into silence,
their senses
eroded beyond fear.

When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.

Great souls die and
our reality, bound to
them, takes leave of us.
Our souls,
dependent upon their
nurture,
now shrink, wizened.
Our minds, formed
and informed by their
radiance,
fall away.
We are not so much maddened
as reduced to the unutterable ignorance
of dark, cold
caves.

And when great souls die,
after a period peace blooms,
slowly and always
irregularly. Spaces fill
with a kind of
soothing electric vibration.
Our senses, restored, never
to be the same, whisper to us.
They existed. They existed.
We can be. Be and be
better. For they existed.

- Maya Angelou

I.V. I Love You

This past week has been one filled with sadness, pain, and horror at the terrifying events that took place in Isla Vista, Santa Barbara; the same streets and neighbourhood I called home last year. Through all the dark talk about the NRA, misogyny, and politics, has shone the beautiful light of I.V. and UCSB’s community coming together in love and support. It hurts not being there, but you are all so inspiring and I love you so much. I will always believe that guns have no place in everyday society, and feel upset and angry that in some places the fear is made very real. The gunman’s actions cannot in full be blamed on his weapons, but the ease at which he could legally obtain three firearms and over 400 rounds is astounding. His twisted ideology highlights the importance of women’s rights, not for the quick call upon feminism, but because blaming his actions on insanity is not enough. He felt entitled to women, and there is something so devastatingly wrong with that. It is something that must be universally addressed, here in New Zealand too where groups like the Roast Busters are not dealt with seriously enough. To honour these victims and others worldwide we must change our mentality and the way we treat and talk about these cases, and in doing so, help prevent more atrocities from occurring.