What is Beauty?

This morning as I paint on my face, literally, I started questioning our society again.

What is beauty?

Due to social media I have questioned our society multiple times before in regards to peoples actions and morals, but surprisingly, I have never questioned what the definition of what beauty is. This morning it got to me though as I dug through my make-up box for my foundation. I begin painting the foundation over my red cheeks and the scars and blotches on my forehead. Soon my face began to look like a porcelain doll. Next, I grabbed my black liquid eyeliner and began to paint it on my top eyelid to form ‘cat eyes.’ Following, I reached for two different eye shadow pallets and began brushing a smoky eye look on my eyelid above my eyeliner. 20 minutes later I finished my make-up with two coats of mascara. Not done yet though, I blow dried my wet curls. Was I done getting ready for the day? Of course not, I proceeded to backcomb my hair while using what seemed like half a can of hairspray. I stepped back and looked at myself in the mirror.

Does this look okay? Yes. Will society think this looks okay? Questionable.

I began to tear myself apart. “I need to go to the gym and eat healthier so I can lose 10 pounds. I need to re-dye my hair. I should get eyelash extensions. Next week I should go get my nails done.” I am average height and a healthy weight, so why do I feel that I need all these bodily improvements? Last night, my question was answered.

As I am getting ready for bed, my roommate yells out “Oh my god!” Quickly, I rush to her room to find out what the issue was. Now remember, last night the 2013 Victoria Secret Fashion Show aired.

“My boyfriends friend just tweeted ‘VS Fashion Show, girls take notes.’” She says to me.

We’re told to love ourselves for who we are, but how are we supposed to do that when there are thousands of other sources telling us what true ‘beauty’ is? Almost everything we seen in magazines and on TV are edited to portray an ideal beauty; however, that beauty is unrealistic. Multiple articles and books have been written explaining the use of Photoshop to edit women, yet society still views these unrealistic images as true beauty.

As a photographer I have the luxury of owning Photoshop. A few months ago a friend of mine asked me what my exercise routine and diet plan was. I responded, “Photoshop.” I then explained to my friend that I rarely workout and eat extremely unhealthy and when I take photographs of myself, I make myself look thinner through Photoshop. 15 pounds was never easier to lose.

“You ever go through Facebook and see a post of someone who lost like 100 pounds and think they need to keep going? Yeah, like this chick, check it out!” I literally just heard this comment come out of someone’s mouth as I’m writing this.

Where do we draw the line? Even Dictionary.com objectifies women.

Beauty [byoo-tee]

1.     the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations, a meaningful design or pattern, or something else

2.     a beautiful person, especially a woman

3.     a beautiful thing, as a work of art or a building

Do I know the true definition of beauty? No. Media and others around me will forever skew my personal definition of beauty. I believe there would not even be ‘beauty’ without the influence of society and media. Each day, movies, songs, billboards, testimonials, magazines, television, friends and countless other sources influence us and adjust our viewpoints. This is inevitable.

Budding Agriculturalist.

I think it is time to share a little bit about who I am. Sometimes I struggle with my identity and who I feel I really am. Today, though, I decided I do not have just one identity and it is okay!

I grew up in a small town in Minnesota of about 3,500 people. Norwood Young America [and yes that is the name of the town] was about a 45-minute drive west of Minneapolis. My mom is a cake decorator and a previous printer, my dad is a printer, my sister is studying graphic design at the University of Minnesota, and I am studying agriculture economics, public relations and advertising, and agriculture communications at North Dakota State University.

            “Do your grandparents farm then?”

No, my grandparents do not farm, my aunt and uncle do not farm, my great grandparents do not farm, and I do not farm. I grew up in the middle of my small town and played every sport imaginable and was in every club imaginable throughout high school, so that included FFA [Future Farmers of America] and 4-H. When people ask me where I gained my passion for agriculture that is where I tell them I started. In FFA and 4-H I was able to learn about animals and agriculture without ever have been exposed to agriculture. It was an amazing experience and I am so glad I had the opportunity to learn about it when I did! I showed llamas and poultry and spent most my time in the beef barn during the county fair.

When it was time to come to college I thought I wanted to go for economics; that ‘thought’ will be explained later. After a few weeks into college I thought I wanted to go for agriculture economics. I made it through almost all my courses in that degree, I joined multiple agriculture clubs on campus, and I made numerous friends in the agriculture field. I knew I loved agriculture; however, the second semester of my junior year I knew I did not love economics. I have always had a passion for speaking and communications and after hearing a few speakers in my communication class I knew I wanted to go for public relations and advertising in agriculture. This was one of the biggest, but one the best of decisions of my college career to add public relations and advertising and agriculture communications as majors in addition to agriculture economics.

I have 4 pairs of cowboy boots and a pair of work boots, but I rarely wear them to school. I have multiple bedazzled belts, cowboy hats, and farm hats, but I rarely wear those to school. If you wanted a stereotypical description of how I dress, it would be considered a ‘city slicker.’ I work at a radio station, as an intern, and yesterday morning I was wearing my ‘city slicker’ outfit and one of the guys on the morning show asked if I liked pigs as he pointed to my backpack. I had completely forgot that I had 3 pig key chains attached to a couple zippers on my backpack, and I realized that those key chains are such a great conversational starter about agriculture! Besides the pigs, I also have a combine key chain and soybean key chain. I finally understood that my attire does not define who I am, and I can connect with others in unexpected ways since I come from such a different background.  A ‘city slicker’ with a passion for agriculture, how unique, what a great way to break through the barrier of the 98% population not tied to agriculture. I am a budding agriculturalist and I am not afraid to state my opinion on agricultural topics if I feel strongly about and I am not afraid to teach others about agriculture.

Left Photo: 87th Little International

Center Photo: Photo Credit: Mataya Creations

Keychains: SPAM, York,  Cloverdale Meats, CLAAS,  North Dakota Soybean Council

Currently I am in the first semester of my senior year and practicing advocating agriculture as I attend school and work 4 jobs. I would not change anything. I am happy with what I am doing, and I cannot wait to see what my future brings me and what I can do for agriculture one day!

You Can't Believe Everything You See.

The HSUS (Humane Society of the United States) has had ahold of my email address for 7 months now. When I received my first email from them I was upset that they would have the nerve to email me newsletters as someone who promotes agriculture. I eventually got over the anger, and realized that this could keep me up to date on the activist side of agriculture. Today, that proved beneficial to me. Matthew Prescott of the HSUS sent out an email today with the subject header reading: Unbelievable. Of course this subject header caught my attention and my first thought was, now what?

The email read:

Hi there. As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, yet another video was released today in which Tyson Foods contract workers are seen just blatantly beating up pigs. You can view the video here. This is some of the most shocking footage I’ve seen, and I’d welcome your thoughts on it. Additionally, as you may recall:

·Just three weeks ago, another disturbing video showed a Tyson supplier abusing animals on tape.

· Last year, after an investigation at a Tyson supplier in Wyoming, several workers who were caught abusing animals were charged and convicted of criminal animal cruelty.

Thanks, and looking forward to hearing what you think about this video.  

Best,

Matt

I clicked the link to see what type of Youtube Video was produced this time. And not to my surprise it was a video of harsh abuse to pigs produced by Mercy for Animals. Curious, I searched Tyson Foods and the HSUS to see if a statement had been released in regards to the video; however, after reviewing the video and seeing that the views was only at 250, I assumed that Tyson was still doing research and working on a press release. According to this article, Tyson has previously investigated the abuse on the farm shown in the video. In result, Tyson had no association with the farm that the video was filmed at, and this may be another exam of that. 

As an agriculture student, I have taken classes on proper techniques of castration and docking, which is not done in this video. Many classmates and friends of mine own pig farms and care deeply for their animals and actions such as these do not take place on their farms and do not take place on many farms across the United States.

Secondly, I believe if Mercy for Animals, the HSUS, PETA, and other animal activist groups truly care for these animals, why would they not be going to farms such as these to put an end to the abuse rather than become a bystander and videotape the abuse. Seems a little controversial to me. Which brings me to further believe that maybe these videos are not ‘undercover’ videos. I may be wrong, but it does cause my mind to wander to all possibilities. As a student with a background in videography and photography I understand the ability to alter images and make something seem like one thing, when it is not. In my mind, it would not be hard to put together a video portraying animal cruelty, when in fact no harm is being done to animals – they do it in Hollywood all the time.

I will be curious to see what research brings up on this production. My final statement is that you cannot believe everything you see and not all your sources may be reliable. Do your research before you are in full belief. 

Naïve.

As a college student, I work as a server in a restaurant to help pay my bills. It came to my attention today, although, that I have never run across a group of more naïve people. Many of my co-workers were asking me today how WeFest was – which is a large country music festival in Detroit Lakes, MN. I proceeded to tell them that I did not go to the Carrie Underwood concert, because many of my friends and I study agriculture and are extremely passionate about it, and that Carrie Underwood is a vegan and goes against everything she grew up with and associates herself with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). I also was explaining to them how I have had many run-ins with the HSUS through a few agricultural conferences I have attended. Curious, they asked me what the HSUS is.

“Humane Society of the United States” I responded.

The servers then stated, “Well, they are in charge of all the humane societies with the cats and dogs. So why is that bad?”

“Actually, they are not associated with them at all.”

I did not think I could be so shocked by what I heard next in response. “Well, I’m from the cities so I don’t know about that stuff, so I’m not going to believe that.”

I sit here now stunned and ponder multiple things:

              1.     How does one become so naïve?

              2.     Where does one get their facts?

              3.     Why did I not respond with anything?

              4.     How do I change someone’s perspective of agriculture?

Ultimately, I have to keep educating myself in order to educate others. I have gain their attention and keep their attention and make them want to learn more about agriculture and what goes on in our country and world.

In Memory Of.

This past week has been fairly hectic. Last Wednesday, I had to drive home to the cities to buy a new car from my dad, since my car had broken down the week before. Only issue, the new car was a stick shift and I have never driven a stick shift before. Luckily, I caught on fairly fast since I had to be in Aberdeen, SD by 2pm on Friday for a tree planting for a friend of mine, Casey Luedke, that had past away this past January.

I had met Casey when I was a sophomore in high school; he had been the neighbor across the street of my high school sweetheart. In high school we did not hang out much, but we had definitely come in contact with each other multiple times. Last summer, I had an internship with South Dakota Wheat Growers in Aberdeen, SD. The first month I was there I was extremely bored and was having a hard time meeting people since my co-workers were an older crowd, and then I had remembered that Casey went to Northern – a 4-year college in Aberdeen. I remember the night I texted him and let him know what I was also living in Aberdeen for the summer; he invited me to go to his roommate’s softball game that night, and I decided to take him up on the offer. That was the moment that Casey and I became better friends, and the moment that I began to have a good time in Aberdeen and meet other friends. I am extremely thankful that Casey introduced me to all his friends and invited me on the many activities that we embarked; they are memories I will always remember!

The moment I learned of his passing on the morning of January 1^st, 2013, I was shocked, angry, confused, and in denial. It was hard to go through since no one in Fargo had known Casey and could not understand my devastation. This past weekend was a wonderful memory of the great friends and family that Casey has. A tree and plaque were donated by the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks and was planted about 6 miles West of Aberdeen. A group of about 20 family members, friends, and co-workers showed for the planting of the tree. It is planted in a spot that Casey would absolutely love!

Casey was a wonderful friend that would do anything for anyone and was extremely accepting. 
He will be missed by so many.

"When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first."

- Ernest Hemingway