Editing my face

Editing my face by wearing makeup is one way I edit the way I look. I also tend to straighten, curl and blowdry my hair to manipulate it into ways I would like it to look. I almost always wear makeup when I go out. I use a lot of foundation to make my skin appear clearer then it is. At school you'll rarely find me without foundation. On very rare occasions you may find me with only foundation and no other makeup. But I usually wear mascara along with my makeup. If you find a guy that says a girl looks better without makeup, you've found a liar. (In my opinion.) I think almost everyone has a flaw or two they need to cover up.

Everything from that spot on their cheek to too think of eyebrows, makeup can fix. Some things are a little harder to fix like if you dont like the shape of your nose or your triple chin phenomenom. That being said, I don't think makeup needs to be used as a mask all the time. It can be used to compliment the wearer's natural features. (Most makeup companies boast they will bring out the natural beauty in person inctead of msaking or covering things up.)

Take for example Vichy's mission statement:

Since its creation in 1931, the brand has imposed a new vision of cosmetics through its founding idea: target beauty by making health the focal point of our approach, in addition to advances made by applying the rigour of a medical approach to enhance healthy skin.

To me makeup is a useful tool for editing ourselves so that we may be able to see our true beauty.

Tattoos on this town

My friends love getting tattoos. Some have one or two and a couple of them have up to 4 tattoos. This bothers me. I feel like tattoos don't contribute to the natural beauty of a human being. I think humans are beautiful just how they are. (or how God created them, depending how religious you are) To me, tattoos scar the skin in a permanent way. They don't "add" to the landscape of a human. They are such a sharp contrast to the natural creaminess of human skin. To me, images of dragons and flowers don't compliment the skin. They take away from it.

But don't get me wrong. I can appreciate a beautiful piece of art. Sometimes my friends show me their new tattoos and I'm truly blown away by the artistic detail put into them. But I still think the images would look better on paper.

Sometimes we change our bodies through tattoos and sometimes we change places we've been. But it seems no matter what we're always changing and editing how we act, do hings, and what we do and then the physical places we've been are  also changed by us. We can leave "tattoos" on almost anywhere. I remember putting our hand prints on the walls of our elementary school. It was a class project and from grade 1 when we did it all the way to grade 8 I remember seeing those handprints on the way. (Until the painted over it of course.)

"Tattoos on this Town" is a song by award winning country music singer, Jason Aldean. The song talks about the physical marks that him and his friends left behind on their hometown.

"There's still black marks on that county road, where we drag raced our pick-ups and mustangs
And weathered all the sun and rain
And to this day up on that overpass, even underneath the new paint, you can still see,
Allie, will you marry me? "

 It also goes on to say that the town left it's marks on them, physically as well.

"There ain't a corner of this hallow ground, that we ain't laughed or cried on, it's where we loved,
Lived and learned real life stuff
It's everything we're made of"

The song illustrates that nothing ever stays the same. That town still may have the print of you on it, or that wall may have my hand print under layers of paint but it's still changed. You're always changing like a tattoo on your side that marks where you've been and where you'll never be again.

Editing you're interviews

RC - Notre Dame Campus, before going in for the interview

My IPP is a video documentary. So needless to say I've had to do lots of interviews. I noticed that my interview tactics are improving however.
For my documentary I'm filming myself learning the basics of vehicle maintenance while interviewing experts, people in the street and a female student at RRC.

My first interviews were streeters. This means I basically would walk up to women on the street and ask them if they owned a vehicle. Then I would explain I was shooting  a documentary on women's vehicle maintenance habits. So one way I would start the questions would be with a few warm up questions. "How long have you owned your vehicle?" "Who do you typically go to for vehicle maintenance?' And the more I interviewed the easier it would be to remember the questions. Once I got over and technical difficulties I may be having, I find myself sounding more confident and much friendlier. I though at the beginning I sounded so nervous and clueless as to what I was doing, that my interviewees weren't confident.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to interview a girl in the automotive program at Red River College Notre Dame Campus and I found I was the most confident I had been. I wasn't as nervous of equipment failure (something did fail me however.) And I felt like it was more an conversation then me hammering out questions. I got stories from her - something I had trouble getting from people. I asked how it felt -  something I was always a little nervous asking.

So by trying it over and over I have finally edited my interview habits so that I ask the right questions and as a result I've started getting the right answers.

Emotions.. when to let them show and when to keep them in check

I had  to deliver an eulogy this summer for my beloved grandmother. Her death wasn't a surprise to us - she had been bedridden for the better part of this year from battling cancer. But it was still upsetting as I had a very special relationship with her and would visit her a few days a week, at least. So when iIwas asked to write and deliver the eulogy I had to think of ways to make it interesting and not too sad.

After all, it was a celebration of her life and not really a "funeral". I'm talking about this because of the article I read in PR Daily today called "3 tips for handling emotion during speech or interview". The article deals with emotion in speeches from a PR perspective. It talks about when emotion is appropriate (a few tears when discussing a  tragic experience as a burn victim) and when its not appropriate (as a speaker in the senate.)

It is appropriate to shed a few tears when giving a eulogy. But I felt like the message I was trying to get across was that she had a great life and I acknowledged the things that she enjoyed the most. As much as I missed her I didn't want to go up there and cry and cry. So I first wrote the eulogy and then I practiced, practiced, practiced. The first couple times I did cry and cry but then it got easier. On the day I was to deliver the eulogy I didn't cry- I only let my voice waver at one point. To keep from crying I smiled. It's a common fact that  if you feel like crying all you do is smile and the tears should stay away. I'm happy I did this as I felt my eulogy was more effective without tons of tears.

Photo courtesy of http://stephanieannsolis.blogspot.com/2010_12_18_archive.html

On the other hand, as this article says, sometimes tears help emphasize a point. Like a person that was domestically abused or recalling other accounts of horror in their life. Sometimes these are appropriate to stir up emotions in the audience. As long as the speaker can still get their messages across.
This article looks at editing your emotions when giving a speech. The flicker of a smile versus a tear, they all help communicate the meaning of the speech on a deeper level.