My Old Town

I grew up in Bergen County, NJ, a county that is known for having housewives with plastic faces and silicone boobs.  The town I lived in is right next to Franklin Lakes, NJ where the Housewives of New Jersey are from.  I just moved this year from a school called Ramapo High School where I went to school with several sons and daughters of people with superficial lifestyles.  At Ramapo High School, it was not uncommon to see girls walking into school with bigger boobs or new noses after their 16th birthdays.  My parents are not superficial people so it is surprising that we lived in a town for 17 years that was right out of a reality TV show.  Like many parents in town, they saw a good school district, safe streets, and a quick train ride into New York City for work.  Little did they know, walking into Ramapo High School was like walking into a firey-pit of judgmental people.  The girls were always expected too be thin, pretty, smart, and just overall good at everything.  My friends from home are the same people I was best friends with in first grade, so luckily we've all managed to stay down to earth.  As a whole, the girls at Ramapo look nice, but they are not nice at all and do not do nice things.  This is probably why they have been called "Ramahos" generation after generation.

The Beauty Myth and Killing Us Softly 4  remind me of how superficial my old school was.  It is really true that "Today, what hurts is beauty" (219).  Striving to be beautiful is what causes the girls at Ramapo to be so superficial.  What is even worse is that the girl who do not think they are pretty enough will become a typical "ramaho" in order to be visible to the boys at school.  The girls at Rampo truly personify what was talked about in Killing Us Softly 4. These girls make me wonder how much the media actually influences our society.  I would love to know if it is the superficial environment of the girls, or if over all their years, they feel their expectations for themselves are actually realistic and necessary because of the media.

Identity 2

While in Paris with my friend Jaclyn over break, we began talking about our names.  Jaclyn is not a very common name and Alex is an extremely common name.  This started to get me thinking about Jasmine and how she constantly associated herself with whatever names people called her.  Jaclyn and I then came up with the question: does your name have anything to do with who you are? Shockingly, Jaclyn, which  is the more unique name, is more shy than me and my common name.  Maybe over my years I have become more outspoken and outgoing because I need to compensate with always being one of several Alex's.

Jasmine's name seems to drive her through most events in her  life.  Her name depends on whichever guy is most prominent in her life and that persona is who she tries to be in that moment.  For example, when Bud refers to her as Jane, that is who she decides she wants to be: "Plain Jane is all I want to be. Plain Jane is a role, like any other" (26).  Jasmine sees each of her names as a role to be played and that is how she defines herself.

To answer my question (does your name have anything to do who you are?): I feel that your name gives you identity but does not show who you actually are as a person.  I feel that it was a weakness for Jasmine to view herself in the way that each of the men in her life viewed her rather than as an individual.