Movie of the Month

"Poor cat! Poor slob! Poor slob without a name! The way I see it I haven't got the right to give him one. We don't belong to each other. We just took up one day by the river. I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I'm not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It's like Tiffany's. "

Working but not yet accomplished writer Paul Varjak moves into a New York apartment building and becomes intrigued by a striking, unique neighbor of his named Holly Golightly. Holly's lifestyle confuses and fascinates Paul. In public she mingles and mixes through parties with a sexy, sophisticated air, but when it is just the two of them she changes into a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses.


After watching this movie discuss how this matches up with your experience of Girl World. How do the characters match up with societies expectations of relationships, girls, boys, and parents and how do they counter them?

(Idea adapted from Queen Bees & Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, summary from IMDb.com, and photo from minimalmovieposters.tumblr.com)

Book Review: A Wrinkle in Time

“Nothing is hopeless; we must hope for everything.”

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeline L’Engle: Meg Murry, a high-school-aged girl, who just doesn’t seem to fit in with most people, is transported on an adventure through time and space with her younger brother Charles Wallace and her friend Calvin O'Keefe to rescue her father from the evil forces that hold him prisoner on another planet. A Wrinkle in Time contains a powerful message about the power of love and the need to fight the darkness of ignorance and conformity as well as recognizing your own personal talents and abilities.

Discussion Questions:

1.       Meg, though certainly not an everywoman figure, has characteristics many people can relate to. Using specific textual evidence, create a description of Meg. Is she a character that you can relate to?

2.      How does Meg’s character effect the decisions she makes and the actions she takes in the first six chapters?

3.      Meg experiences various types of love throughout her adventure. How does her understanding of love develop over the course of the novel?

4.      If you had the opportunity to time travel, would you? If you could chose the time, what time period would you travel to? The past? The future?

(Adapted from 100 Books for Girls to Grow Old On and lifestreamcenter.net and photo from Wikipedia)

Here's A Thought...Get Over That Girl Hate!

 

1. Separate girl hate from real hate.

It’s probably someone you don’t know too well—maybe you have mutual friends, or she’s in one of your classes. When you see her or she’s mentioned in conversation, you panic a little on the inside as your mind immediately goes to anything about her that could be at all negative. Find it! Quick! Reassure me of her flaws! Step one is seeing these annoying feelings for what they are: girl hate. Girl hate is not hating someone who happens to be a girl, it’s hating someone because we’re told that, as girls, we should hate other girls who are as awesome as or more awesome than ourselves. That there can ever only be ONE cool girl, ONE funny girl, ONE smart girl, etc., in a circle of people. Now that you know that, you can understand how stupid it all is, and differentiate between the girls you hate because you’re told to be jealous and the girls who might actually just not be nice people.

The bad news is that sometimes jealousy is more personal than that, and really does have to do with just you and her. You probably feel a little threatened by her because you two are so similar, but you’re afraid she’s an even better version of you. Here’s the thing—the horribly, eye-rollingly cheesy thing: no one can be a better version of yourself than you. And becoming the best possible example of your you-ness does not include focusing on how much you dislike another person.

2. Realize it has nothing to do with her.

Seriously. Look at her. You barely know this girl. She walks a certain way, answers questions in class a certain way, wears stuff no one else could pull off? Look: confidence is not a crime. It does not mean she thinks she’s better than you. It just means that she likes herself. I don’t want live in a world where any girl with healthy self-esteem is not cool, or where you have to dislike yourself to be considered a nice person. People not liking themselves seems to be where their hating other people begins. So get ready to reevaluate your opinion of this girl. Break the habits of looking for any little things she has done that could count against her, quit listening to gossip, stop judging her pictures on Facebook, and start giving her the benefit of the doubt.
 

3. New and improved, try Girl Love!

Trust me—you secretly want to be best friends with this girl. Because she’s like you! That’s where the jealousy comes in, remember?  Sometimes we can convince ourselves that pointing out flaws in others makes us feel good, but ultimately, those moments of pleasure are fleeting. In the long run, they get you in the habit of looking for flaws in everyone, including yourself.

4. And above all, maybe the most important thing to keep in mind…

She’s probably insecure about herself, too. We’re all going to be insecure no matter what. It sucks, but it’s why we can find friends and things we love to make it easier. Let’s not make it harder for one another or for ourselves.

(Adapted from Tavi Gevinson for Rookie)