If you had a million dollars to research

If you were to be granted a million dollars to research a specific environment, which environment would you choose? I personally would be interested in learning about different makeup techniques in different environments of the World. I understand that makeup technique, meaning, and culture is different due to different environments. In the United States it seems that the first thing people think of when they hear the word “makeup” is beauty and glamour. In the U.S makeup is mainly used to enhance natural features to make the face appear more attractive. Makeup is used in movies, music videos, news, and on the average woman. I would love to discover what other countries use for their makeup and what tools they use to apply it. Here in the U.S makeup artists typically use brushes, sponges, applicators, etc. Also I would be interested in the techniques they would use as well. I once got my makeup done while I was in Mexico and it was completely different than how makeup is done in the U.S. I also noticed that in the U.S there are many male makeup artists but I had not seen a male makeup artist in Mexico. I am curious to learn about the norms about men being makeup artists or if it is seen as forbidden.  I would love to learn how makeup is applied in different countries and which makeup line is the most popular. It would also be interesting to discover what types of makeup looks are desired the most depending on the country. For example, I know that in Brazil, the women love to wear red lipstick on an everyday basis. In America red lipstick isn’t an ideal color for everyday but the women here do love more neutral colors. I wonder if the makeup trends desired are molded by advertisements shared in certain countries. As you know makeup is my life and it would be amazing to be able to research the culture of it in different places around the world.

able or unable

Society has formed an environment where disabled people need to prove themselves more than ever. Today in a class discussion we talked about an article that was about disabled people in wheelchairs playing rugby. As we know, rugby is a physical contact sport and can easily lead to injury. One of my peers mentioned that these people in wheelchairs are jumping from one stereotype of being “crippled” to the next stereotype “masculine/macho”. I wonder if the disabled people truly wanted to take up rugby because they truly like the sport or if they were trying to prove a point to society. I can never understand how it feels to not be able to use my legs on an everyday basis but I have torn a ligament in my elbow once and was not able to use it for a month. I injured my right arm and I need to use that arm in order to write, cheerlead, or do makeup because I am right handed. During the month that I was unable to use my right arm, I felt sad and lost about who I was. I feel like I defined myself in a way by my physical capabilities. In my head I saw myself as a cheerleader or a makeup artist; I would explain who I was through things I did physically. I felt useless because I was unable to partake in my everyday normal activities and it really hurt my feelings. I am thankful for being physically healthy and I feel like if I were unable to use my body like everyone else I would want to prove a point as well to society in terms of being able to still be athletic and active. The article we talked about was very interesting and was able to help me try and understand the point of view of people who are unable to do certain things physically.

Misundertand me

Today in class we talked about how people can misunderstand you or how you can misunderstand other people. People mentioned how they can be misunderstood by their looks, race, or who they are friends with. Sometimes I feel like I can be misunderstood by my sarcasm. I used to be extremely sarcastic because in my family, everyone uses sarcasm therefore I naturally became immune to it. Soon my sarcasm started to affect people in a negative way and I was approached by my good friend about how some people didn’t know if I was being serious or not with my sarcastic humor. Since then I try only being sarcastic around close friends and family and if I choose to use sarcasm with a new friend, I’ll make sure to say “I’m just kidding” at the end. I also feel misunderstood at work sometimes. For example, I am a professional makeup artist for MAC Cosmetics and there is a reputation for MAC girls to be extremely intimidating and snobby. I do not see myself as intimidating or snobby, if anything I am there to teach people how to do makeup in the most effective way and educate them about our products in the nicest way possible. I would feel hurt if people felt they couldn’t approach me because I feel like I am a nice and helpful person. I also mentioned that sometimes I feel misunderstood by my texts. Lately in the texting World, if someone writes the punctuation mark of a period after a text it can insinuate that the person who sent the text is feeling upset. The texting world can easily make people misunderstand each other which can be extremely dangerous and potentially damage relationships. I truly believe that people take things in the way they want to which means that people will make meaning of messages the way they choose to; you cannot make perfect sense to every single person but further communication will always bring clarity.

To participate or not participate?... that is the question.

In a recent class, some of my peers and I facilitated a discussion which focused on what drives students to participate in class and what discourages students from vocalizing their thoughts in class. Personally I enjoy to participate in my communication classes because I am truly interested and engaged when it comes to the class discussions. A point that I brought up during our discussion was that I am not naturally a person who always participates; I never participated in classes such as meteorology because I was not interested in the content of that class or felt as if I would never answer the questions correctly. Another part of participation willingness has to do with how comfortable the student feels in that class. For example in my SJSU communication courses, the dress code is comfortable and casual which I feel lightens up the mood in class to a relaxing setting. Personally if I were expected to dress in formal wear every day to class, I would feel uncomfortable, out of place, and hesitant about vocalizing my thoughts in class. On the other hand, many students in today’s discussion expressed that the dress code wouldn’t have any effect on them when it came to participation. One of my peers explained that she went to a Catholic high school and they were required to dress in uniform but she never participated much then and now even if she is able to wear casual dress she still does not participate much. We then talked about how sometimes students learn better when they just observe the class discussions rather than volunteering in them which makes sense to some extent. All in all I felt like this discussion was extremely interesting because it allowed me to see from different points of views on the subject of participating.