Include Any and All, Post #5

Inclusiveness has always been something I try to embrace fully, and I love to see others doing the same. I have met so many amazing people do to random conversations and inviting people in to group activities. Even though sometimes it is hard to get myself to take the first step, it always seems worth it. This week I have two stories for you, one of a time me and my friends invited someone to hang out with us and one of an encounter just last week where I was invited to join a club meeting.

Back in high school I had a pretty tight friend group. There was only a few of us, but we all had great times. During our Junior year me and one of my friends had a math class with one of the foreign exchange students. We introduced ourselves and found out that she was from Japan and her name was Kaori. I offered to walk with her to her next class because we were in the same class. When class ended I invited Kaori to sit with my group at lunch. From then on Kaori hung around the friend group and we all became really close to her. She came to parties, sat with us at lunch, and at the end we all got notes from her saying how grateful she was to us for helping her through and being her friends. We were sad to see her go at the end of the year, but we had a great time while she was here.

This second story is about a club meeting I got invited to last week. I had stayed after classes and was waiting for one of my regularly scheduled clubs only to find out it had been canceled. Right before I was about to leave a lady walked up to me, introduced herself, and told me that there was a French club meeting in an hour where they would have food. I told her I would think about going. After short contemplation I decided that it would be interesting to stay and see where this adventure would take me. After waiting an hour it came time to go to the meeting. Honestly, I started to second guess my decision. I had already walked past the room that I saw everyone meeting in when I decided to just take a leap of faith, go back, and walk in before I could change my mind again. I am so glad I got up that courage. Shortly after showing up we separated into groups and were playing games. I met a couple really great people while I was there and they all were very inviting. I had an amazing time, and as a side note the food was great.

Being inclusive and having the courage to include yourself in activities is an amazing experience that I hope we all continue to do or try harder to do more. I sincerely wish everyone a lovely day.

Express Yourself, Post #4

Over the years I have come to realize that people often times use themselves as a canvas. They show off what they support, how they feel, and parts of their personalities. What fascinates me the most is how many different ways people express themselves using their bodies. We buy certain clothes, jewelry, piercings, tattoos, hair accessories, and many more things. Different people buy different things to express themselves and show who they are, obviously. I think it is important to note this though because we sometimes fail to see how people are expressing themselves. A coat may look like any other coat but there is a reason behind them wearing that coat that speaks to them as an individual. For my post this week I would like to focus on piercings, tattoos, and makeup.

Piercings really play into two categories with this. There is the usual earrings and then there are the other face and body piercings. Both have such a wide variety to them. You can get anything from studs, to dangly earrings that hang down to your shoulders, to some crazy awesome body piercings. There is no end to the varieties of colors, styles, and shapes. There was a guy that I met recently that dose piercings for a living. He is very meticulous about his work and it shows. Every piercing he had was perfect and symmetrical.

Around the same time that I met this guy I also met someone with some awesome tattoos. This guy had a tattoo from a video game that I know and immediately we had a mutual hobby. I think the biggest thing about tattoos is that when someone uses a common symbol and someone else recognizes it, they become closer. You are no longer talking to a complete stranger. This is another human with the same interest as you, instead of just a passerby.

Makeup is really high on the self-expression list. So many people use makeup and it is such a big part of culture. I have met people that have never worn makeup ever and I have met people that never leave the house without it. Allowing people to express themselves so easily and change their appearance without anything being permanent is amazing. This gives people the chance to try new characters or show a side of themselves they don’t normally show.

Expressing ourselves is important and quite fun. Hopefully you all try to express yourselves and encourage others to do the same. I sincerely wish everyone a lovely day.