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Friday, November 7, 2014

The McCandless Project: Cosplay in Society

Earlier this week, I went school wearing part of a cosplay (cos·play: the practice of dressing up as a character from a movie, book, or video game, especially one from the Japanese genres of manga and anime) from the anime Attack on Titan to test how my peers would react. This cosplay included makeup, a strange jacket, and most notably: an orange-brown wig. This odd and different look awarded me with many different stares and remarks. Just a few of these remarks included: “Gasp! Your hair is red and orange!”, “Ooo! I love your hair!”, “I like your hair, and with that jacket, nice combo!”, “I like your jacket; are you cosplaying?”.
Most verbal responses proved to be overwhelmingly positive. Despite this, some stares I received in the hallways irked me. For the most part, I am used to cosplaying in public spaces. This tolerance has been built by attending conventions, going on bike rides, and visiting public spaces such as Kroger and Coffman Park in full cosplay. However, having people that see me everyday observing such a societally strange side of my life proved to be more nerve wracking than expected. I anticipated confused, disapproving looks, however I had not prepared myself for the self conscious-ness that I experienced. While I was not exactly “out of my comfort zone”, I was surrounded by people who had certain societal standards, and the way I was dressed may have pushed those standards. This realization made me strangely nervous around nearly everyone I passed.

I consider myself as someone who tries to not listen to society’s rules, I rely on what my common sense deems as a good or bad thing to do. If I see someone in public doing something I’m not used to, I try to understand it, ignore it, or just not make a big deal out of it. I strongly believe that people should be able to do what they love without having to worry about being judged by society.

Sunday, November 2, 2014

"So I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we will never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."

I chose this quote because it is from one of the best, most powerful, books on my shelf at the moment; The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chbosky. While this novel could not considered "lengthy" by any stretch of the mind, it is choked full of meaningful quotes and  laced with themes of self discovery and recovery. This quote represents my beliefs because one thing I will always believe is that you can choose how to live your life, even if you can't choose what events have lead you to go down that path. No matter how bad or good things seem, you can change the outcome, even if you can't change the circumstances. If I lived every moment as my quote states, I think the my outlook would just always be very positive, and I would feel very in control of my life at any given point.