"Cinderella At My Daughter," the book that made my eyeballs pop out of their sockets at the "OMG THAT'S MY LIFE" quality of it

I read this book. AND IT WAS AMAZING.

IT'S PLOT SYNOPSIS TIME (thank you Amazon):

Pink and pretty or predatory and hardened, sexualized girlhood influences our daughters from infancy onward, telling them that how a girl looks matters more than who she is. Somewhere between the exhilarating rise of Girl Power in the 1990s and today, the pursuit of physical perfection has been recast as a source—the source—of female empowerment. And commercialization has spread the message faster and farther, reaching girls at ever-younger ages.

But, realistically, how many times can you say no when your daughter begs for a pint-size wedding gown or the latest Hannah Montana CD? And how dangerous is pink and pretty anyway—especially given girls' successes in the classroom and on the playing field? Being a princess is just make-believe, after all; eventually they grow out of it. Or do they? Does playing Cinderella shield girls from early sexualization—or prime them for it? Could today's little princess become tomorrow's sexting teen? And what if she does? Would that make her in charge of her sexuality—or an unwitting captive to it?

Those questions hit home with Peggy Orenstein, so she went sleuthing. She visited Disneyland and the international toy fair, trolled American Girl Place and Pottery Barn Kids, and met beauty pageant parents with preschoolers tricked out like Vegas showgirls. She dissected the science, created an online avatar, and parsed the original fairy tales. The stakes turn out to be higher than she—or we—ever imagined: nothing less than the health, development, and futures of our girls. From premature sexualization to the risk of depression to rising rates of narcissism, the potential negative impact of this new girlie-girl culture is undeniable—yet armed with awareness and recognition, parents can effectively counterbalance its influence in their daughters' lives.

Cinderella Ate My Daughter is a must-read for anyone who cares about girls, and for parents helping their daughters navigate the rocky road to adulthood.

Basically this book is about how "girlie-girl" toys and marketing affect young girls, if you didn't want to read all that.

This book, besides being pretty much amazing, dissected every girl culture fad from the 21st century, AKA my childhood: American Girl dolls, Twilight's popularity, the Disney Princesses, the Disney stars, EVERYTHING. AND SHE WAS SO RIGHT!

Some of this book was a little bit far-fetched for me though. I experienced everything she talked about in the book, and I don't think I'm "damaged" like she fears. I don't undermine fellow girls and I don't have that much of a problem communicating with boys. But still. This book was so gaspingly amazing.

I highly recommend this book, especially for girls my age, because we've experienced first-hand everything she wrote about.

So I rate this book 4.75 Milky Way bars out of 5 Milky Way bars. It was JUST THAT GOOD.
What do you guys think? Have you read this book? Do you think that 21st century girl culture is hampering to young girls or is it beneficial to them? Do you think girl culture is better now than in the past? Who do you think girls should idolize instead of idolizing stars like Miley Cyrus etc?

Aunt Tinny has a point / a Ron Swanson joke!! Ha ha ha!!

 HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYBODY!!
"Happy Holidays" because my mom pointed out that it's Passover too, not just Easter! That's just my typical religious oblivion on display.

 I don't know why. Just enjoy it. Just enjoy it.

Anyways, during Easter dinner, my great aunt Tinny started talking about celebrities. As an avid watcher of daytime TV (her words not mine), she complained that she hates how every celebrity talks about how they  "had an abusive father, used to be a drug addict, had family problems, yada yada, come on, didn't ANY of them have a happy childhood?!"

She has a point. It seems like so many famous people had a deep dark past and "rose above it" to become the successful people they are today. But Aunt Tinny doesn't buy a word of it. "Like we're supposed to believe that," she said repeatedly.

The question is, is having a deep dark past a publicity tactic or are celebrities genuine in their histories?

 Now I have a Ron Swanson joke for you! Look at me, catching on to Internet culture!

Okay, here it is: Look at the above picture: the plate on the left, is that Ron Swanson's plate or my little brother's plate? Ha ha ha, hardy har har, funny funny funny, I'm so funny! Put this on the Tumblr LOL page you guys!
What do you guys think? Is having a deep dark past a publicity tactic or truthful? Did you have a good holiday? 
RANDOM QUESTION: what's your favorite holiday food? Like Easter chocolate or your grandma's pie, etc. 

Jelly donuts and the deep meaning behind them

I call this post an "Irish Entrance." According to Mindy Kaling (I got her book as a Christmas present; my family knows me so well), an Irish Exit is when you leave a party without anybody noticing. Well, this post is an Irish Entrance because hopefully I'm entering the blogsphere without anybody noticing I was gone... so imagine me slyly opening the door to the Internet and sneaking in all super spy like.

Besides entering all Irish-y, I'm going to dedicate this post to donuts. Donuts are just so taken for granted and I really wish that people gave them the respect they deserve. 

But jelly donuts in particular have paid an important role in history. Okay, make that an extremely minor role in history but whatever I feel like sharing the one cool tidbit of history I know. Here it comes. History time. Rock and roll.

So, in 1963, JFK paid a visit to West Berlin to give this speech that was supposed to give the West Berliners hope (because they were pretty much stranded in Soviet-controlled East Germany) about freedom and stuff. And it was a terrific speech, EXCEPT, the President made a wee error.

He said:

Ich bin ein Berliner!

Which, in the cray cray world of the German language, means that JFK said, instead of saying "I am a person from Berlin," he said "I am a jelly donut."

However, this is highly disputed because although a "Berliner" is the name of a type of donut in  Germany, most linguists believe that the Berliners got the message JFK was going for.

Even so, it puts a smile on my face to think that a President almost called himself a jelly donut.

What do you think? What type of donut is your favorite? What interesting tidbits of history do you know?

Vintage Stuff #1: Cold War Era Globe

To keep up with cool fashion people share the love of old stuff, I decided to start a feature called "Vintage Stuff," where I post about the old stuff in my house. Here is the first one!

Photos by me!
I love maps, especially globes. They make such a complex world look so simple. Okay, scratch that, I was trying to be metaphorical. But the point is, isn't this awesome? Look at it! LOOK!

HISTORY OF THIS VINTAGE THING:
My grandma gave this to me a couple weeks ago, and we've been trying to figure out what year it's from. I would say the 70s, but Germany isn't split in two. But in contrast, Vietnam is Indo-China and most of North Africa is one giant blob. Can somebody help us out? Did Americans not consider Germany two countries or something? Maybe this is just a crappy globe.

WHY IT IS VINTAGE:
It's old, right?

What do you guys think? What makes something "vintage"? Do you know what year this globe is from?

Book Review: Looking for Alaska + a dog vomit ancedote

Ok, so I was commenting on blogs a couple of minutes ago, right? So I get up to, I don't know, pour myself some orange juice. But anyway, I get up, right? You following this? And there I am, walking through the kitchen, and then WHOOOOOSH I'm sliding across the tiles! I look down and saw that I had skidded through dog vomit! Thanks, Samantha! Best dog ever!

DISCLAIMER: I love my dog, and although she vomits frequently either on me or my school books, she is still a good dog.

My friend Gabby loaned me this book, Looking for Alaska by John Green. Thank you Gabby!

Here is a brief plot synopsis by moi:
So there's this kid Miles, and he's a skinny dork. He wants to make his life more spicy. He enrolls at the boarding school his dad went to and is almost immediately adopted by cool, smart friends who smoke like there's no tomorrow. He falls in love with this mysterious moody girl, and they plan these amazing pranks together, and then BAM the key part of the novel happens and you will sob your eyeballs out.

I make the book sound less amazing then it is, but trust me, this book is amazing.

My only problem with this book was the main character, Miles, AKA Pudge. I love Pudge. But the only problem is, boys like Pudge do not exist in real life. Like, honestly, when was the last time you met an ego-less skinny dork? NEVER! Because if Pudge existed, he would have girls like me and you who appreciate intellectuals dying to be with him. And then BAM there goes Pudge's humility. 

The beauty of this book however is watching all of the pieces fit together symbolically. This book is pretty much on par with To Kill a Mockingbird.

This is just a terrific novel. My favorite character was by far the Colonel. Just awesomeness.

So I rate this book 4.5 chocolate covered strawberries out of 5 chocolate covered strawberries. I guess you have to cut a strawberry in half then.
What do you guys think? Have you read Alaska before? Do you agree/disagree with this review? Have you read any other John Green novels? Opinions?

RETURN OF THE JEDI

HEY YOU GUYS HEY!! You probably don't remember me but it's Jenna! From this blog! Which your browser is open to right now! jhfnksjkhhsjdjsd Ok as you can see I've turned into a tumblrhead during my absence.

So, can you believe it, I'm posting? Neither can I! I'd like to thank the awesome Lydia from the amazing And This is Peak for my return. Thanks Lydia!!

I've missed you all!!!! I'm sorry for not being here for you guys!!!!

MY ABSENCE IN A HAIKU:

It snowed, I went to
a "magic show" at the ca-
sino, it was fun.

Anyways, I'm glad to be back. I stopped writing because I ran out of things to say I guess. I lost my vision. Or as Cody Simpson says, "YOUNG ARTIST, SINGER/SONGWRITER, DREAMER, VISIONARY." I don't know how that ties together.

Ode to Pizza! + Warning Labels on Photoshopped Ads Bill

HAPPY VETERANS' DAY! Thank you veterans!

SO, a part of this post is about pizza! Pizza is amazing. That's why I put it on my "What Reminds Me Of Jesus" poster for Theology class! I'm normal.

New Haven is renowned for its crime pizza. My favorite pizza in New Haven is this place called "Modern Apizza." And boy oh boy is it amazing!

photos by me (they're from the summer, that's why the leaves are green!) 

If you guys ever for some reason come to New Haven, you must come to Modern. It is divine. I can't emphasize it enough. 

On another train of thought, have you guys heard about that bill about putting "warning labels" on ads, like fashion ads, that are Photoshopped? If you have, can you tell me what bill number it is, because man the Senate website is NOT user friendly. 

ALAS! It's called The Self-Esteem Act, and it is awesome! I don't really know much about it yet, but what I do know is that it's pretty much brand new. I don't think it's written yet. We have to get this show on the road! 

Why this bill would be amazing if it passed:

• 7 million girls have eating disorders. Do we even need to go into the reasons why?
• It's false advertising. 
• My 7 year old cousin always calls herself fat and wishes she was skinnier constantly, despite my family and I constantly telling her that she's beautiful, which she is. I just wish that somebody BESIDES us would tell her that those pictures of "beautiful" women are fake. 

What do you guys think? Pizza is amazing right? Are you in favor of this bill? Why or why not?  

Manufactured Marriage + Halloween Snowstorm + Nanowrimo

So Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries are getting a divorce, 72 days after putting a ring on it? Seriously, what is wrong with TV these days?

What annoys me is that people who refuse to watch Kim Kardashian's show out of principle admire her "business savvy." I used to think she was a good businesswoman, too. I mean, look at her! She's a mega billionaire by doing NOTHING! Obviously this marriage-divorce deal is a set-up to rake in more moolah for the show, and that it was a "business tactic," but it was a lowly business tactic! It was cheap! She's not only degrading marriage, but she's treating her fans like poop, with the together-not-together junk. And what about the people who actually admire her and watch the show? Are they supposed to pity Kim's faux pain?

It just bothers me that Kim Kardashian and other reality "stars" get so much money from being fake!

At least Khole Kardashian and Lamar whatever his name is are still married.

Anyway, it snowed Saturday night! Actually snowed! And today is Halloween! Holy guac!
I had school off today because half of Connecticut is out of power. It's Hurricane Irene all over again!

Tonight I'm going trick or treating with my friends, because you're never too old for free stale candy and/or toothbrushes! NEVER.

I'm going as a ninja.... Expect an epic trick or treating post soon!

On another sailboat, Nanowrimo starts tomorrow! Luckily, I have another day off of school because we reached our goal for this fundraiser thing and our award was a day off, so yay! A 4 day weekend! Hopefully I can use the remainder of this mini-break to spend all of my time on tumblr to get a headstart on my novel!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!!!

What do you guys think? Is Kim Kardashian's divorce real or fake? If fake, was it a clever business tactic or a lowly one? What are you being for Halloween?

EUROVISION! You have not lived until you've seen Eurovision!

Words cannot even begin to describe how amazing I think Eurovision is. 

I mean, each country facing off in an epic battle? Of SONGS? Come on! You have got to admit that THAT IS AWESOME!

Look Europeans who are probably making fun of me right now, yes I know "Push the Button" was from 2007, and I know I'm seriously fan-girling right now, but please note that I am American and we don't have amazing television like this here. Instead we have crap like "Whitney." Pity us. 

This is "Push the Button" by the Teapacks. I repeat. WHY DON'T I LIVE IN EUROPE?? (and since when is Israel in Europe? Is my geography really that bad?)

"I Love Belarus." Nothing else needs to be said. 

"Rockefeller Street" by Estonia. I'm pretty sure whichever Estonian wrote this song has never been to New York because there's no such thing as "Rockefeller Street" in Manhattan. GET YO FACTS STRAIGHT!

What do you guys think? Are you a Eurovision fan? Do you like American TV or Euro TV more? 

New York Comic Con + a vlog about it! Man this is belated.

Guys! Hey! Wasshappen'? Sorry for being MIA this week... I blame Latin class.

But anyways, I WENT TO NEW YORK COMIC CON 8 DAYS AGO. So that would be Saturday, October 15th. Yeah. I went. With my parents... I'm cool. 


It was an out of this world experience. I thought I'd be able to find my way around pretty easily because I had already been to the Javits Center or whatever it's called to see Rick Steves but the place had totally transformed itself. I can't even put together words to explain it.

I took this picture! IT'S MINE! 
I really can't explain Comic Con... it was something else. SO, you should watch my mini video to understand the craziness of it! It's only a minute and forty-eight second long! WATCH.

(note: my voice is not that terrible and shrill and gross in person! Believe me!)

What do you guys think? Have you ever been to a comic con? Do you want to go to one?