Disney Promotes Identity Crises

I have come to a realization about the Disney Channel. They promote identity crises in adolescents. I think I was reflecting on Hannah Montana when I realized that this concept of being someone else is a recurring and central theme throughout the Disney Channel and their movies.

For example:
1. Lizzie McGuire was ok just being herself UNTIL! she went to another country. Then she wasn't happy until she was the popstar.
2. In Brink, Eric von Detton was way cooler and actually got paid to skate for Team XBladz.
3. The Thirteenth Year...the kid turned into a freaking mermaid because being mortal just wasn't cool enough.
4. The Famous Jett Jackson is yet another example of a kid with two lives: One in Hollywood and one in a quaint country town.
5. One day she's Miley Cyrus, the next she's Hannah Montana...who's cooler? The fake one!
It's like they're trying to say, "You're just not good enough as a normal kid unless you have super powers, a secret identity, or a fin."

Now, you might be wondering what I am doing investing so much thought into this at age 19. The truth is that I'm still 14 years old at heart and I think that this is a cruel injustice to the preteen population of our society. Why don't we start making shows about the kids who go to school with one identity and don't have an extraterrestrial step-sibling? What about the kids who mature to adulthood without discovering a secret superhero heritage? I propose a toast. Here's to the kids who went through their awkward years without special powers and actually survived! Thank you Disney for letting me find out for myself that there are no short cuts through middle school and life is infinitely more enjoyable after adolescence.

I Love Books!

Literary experience heals the wound, without undermining the privilege, of individuality. There are mass emotions which heal the wound; but they destroy the privilege. In them our separate selves are pooled and we sink back into subindividuality.
But in reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like a night sky in the greek poem, I see with a myriad of eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do.
--C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism

Isn't good literature so good? I love how C.S. Lewis put it. You can see with a myriad of eyes. To me, literature is a type of escapism. In moving beyond myself, I become myself. I don't want to say anything more because I can't come close to the poetic words of C.S. Lewis. So soak them up.

As is customary for all student wards throughout BYU, my ward hosted a talent show this past weekend. We had the usuals: guitar/singing, skits, parodies. But Breezy and I wanted to try something a little different. We call it "Acrobatic Adaptation." It's only a matter of time before the paparazzi catch on.