Youthful Life: X

The 20s are all about tough realities. Everything is not what it seems and what it seems may not be what it is in the first place (see what I did there, or maybe not). The world is complicated. Life is complicated. People .... are complicated. What's not complicated are feelings, emotions, and beliefs. What makes sense are intentions, motivations, and reasoning. What is simple are identities, humanities, and truths. Prepare yourself for a tricky one - this is Stockholm syndrome.   *This post is my official break up letter with dominant society in two-fold. 1) for it's dehumanization of my subordinated identities (race & ethnicity) and 2) for it's continued disregard for diversity in humanity. Over the past 24 hours I changed my coveted relationship status to: in a relationship; it's complicated; and finally back to single. Why? Symbolism for this long overdue process . Just over a hundred people liked the relationship, no one noticed the complication phase, and...

The 20s are all about stepping up your digital footprint. In this day and age, we stay constantly connected (perpetually enslaved) tot he interwebs with our smartphones, smart TVs, smart cars, and all the rest of our technologies. It's rare for you to be somewhere and people not be on their phones, texting, tweeting, posting, liking, sharing, browsing, scrolling, and doing the infamous double-tap of likeytude. Oh what a privilege it is to have access to these items but also to be able to disconnect and live life in real time as opposed to vicariously through a touchscreen. Ten years ago, when people entered a restaurant they asked for the non-smoking section and now they ask for free Wi-Fi (and where's the pizza #JLaw crazy voice). There is a constant flood of information and it's a struggle to sift through it all but we do it daily. Some people just have a knack for engaging others on social media. I'm just saying, like my status. It seems like everyone has that ...

Being a teenager is all about sharing every part of yourself. Our generation has become known for not being one for secrets. We post, like, and share everything and we want the world to know who we are. Everything we we are and everything we've been through, we we want people to know every aspect of our lives. We want to matter and to be seen in our most unadulterated forms. This is baring it all. Confessions . Our entire society is obsessed with them. Whether it be Usher's songs (parts 2 and 2), Lifetime Movies where the crazy woman goes ape ish crazy and murders people, or online where people post anonymously all their darkest acts. We absolutely love it, look at some of the most popular shows, PLL (we all want to know who -A is and who killed Ali), y'all should know by now who Gossip Girl was (no XOXO's necessary), and even Oprah where people went to confess their sins and get some kind of pop culture atonement with the queen of afternoon talk shows. Seeing people...

Being a teenager is all about being aware of not only yourself but your surroundings. It's such a weird thing to be conscious of not only you, but everything else around you as well. Sometimes you're in a situation and you can't possible fathom how everyone else is not seeing what you see, or how someone could saw what they just said. People miss the little things, and they don't pick up on. You're on the cusp; you're on the edge; you're at the precipice. Awareness is one of those semi-creeptastic things. Just like noticing the little things, the quirks and the body language of other people. It's one of those small things that I see about other people. The eye twitches, the wincing, and the looks of shock right before someone composes themselves to pretend everything's okay. It's what makes us all human. Shoot, if I didn't do that I'd be a fricken robot like Robo Cop or Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator. I'm so quick (to quote t...