The Teenage Tunnel

What most excites me about reading Teen Ink is that I don’t have to read in a certain order. There are no rules for reading this book, and no one can judge me if I decide to read more stories from a certain topic. I wish life was like this but as I live through my teenage years I find myself stuck in a tunnel with no light and certainly, no exit.  To my comfort, I know I’m not the only one in the tunnel. As I read five different stories and poems from Teen Ink, I learn about things that have occurred to other teens from all over the world. Some stories I didn’t relate to but there was one I found very familiar.

Lisa Gauches lost her best friend, Tyler. Their relationship was “one of those situations where you know the other person better than you know yourself” (2). For as long as Lisa could remember, Tyler had been sick. It wasn’t until she started “watching him grow thinner and thinner that her positive feelings turned into a façade and she worried all the time” (3). In the end, Lisa talks about how tough it was to lose Tyler when they were only seventeen-years old.

As I read Lisa’s story, I thought how my Tyler was called Mariana. We weren’t best friends but we were very close since we had known each other from way back. Unlike Lisa with Tyler, I didn’t know Mariana would die. A terrible accident happened to her and I didn’t have time to say goodbye. This catastrophe was only in my first year of being a teenager but it still marked me forever.

So far, the different stories in Teen Ink have been very interesting and meaningful. In our teenage years, we make a collection of memories and stories that in the end help us get to the end of the tunnel. I’m glad John and Stephanie H. Meyer decided to put together some stories and make this book. 

Vocabulary:

Cystic Fibrosis- a common hereditary disease that appears in early childhood, involving generalized disorder of the exocrine glands, and a deficiency of pancreatic enzymes

The Glamour Spell

The months that follow New York City’s Fashion Week are very busy. Critics talk about the designers that rocked their collections and about those who should probably retire from the fashion industry. They also talk about which catwalk was the best and which ones made the public sleep. But one thing that has been ignored over the past years is the force labor that makes Fashion Week possible: the models. Ashley Mears decided she would not let this issue remain unattended so she wrote the article Poor Models. Seriously. for the New York Times.

Having been a model before, Mears understands how modeling works: “That and a buck will get you a cup of coffee.” She remembers how at her first fashion show at age nineteen, she lied to the casting agents and said she was eighteen. “We are meat and it gets bad as it gets old,” said a Parisian male model to Mears at a recent interview. She discusses some conditions models have to go through and how even after fulfilling all requirements, models are not treated fairly. Ashley Mears, now an assistant professor of sociology at Boston University says she “feels lucky to have a job with a future.”

Why does being “a paid beauty” bring no future? In what ways does modeling become grueling? How can all of this change?

I agree with Ashley Mears completely. Things have to be done and the issue cant be ignored anymore because not only is it happening in America but in the rest of world too. I might love fashion, glamour and style but I also love to stand up for what I believe is right. Like Mears, more models or ex-models should speak out and let the world know the conditions in which they are working. After all, the fashion world wouldn’t be the same without them. Some solutions can be organizing alliances or groups that can serve models in organizing what they do to create real jobs. For example, the nonprofit group Model Alliance created by Sara Ziff. Ziff is a model working with Fordham University’s Fashion Law Institute. Another issue that can’t be left unspoken is the big number of models that have eating disorders.

“We shouldn’t miss the opportunity to change the terms of fashion’s labor,” says Ashley Mears. I support her opinion and will hopefully make others notice the conditions fashion labor is going through. Fashion doesn’t have to be linked with any type of drawback and discomfort. Anorexia is not in this season.

Here I include a video in which some famous top models are interviewed during Fashion Week. What Do New York Fashion Week Models Eat? Watch carefully for this part: “The last delicious meal? I can’t even remember the last time I ate a meal.”

Vocabulary:

grueling- (adj.) extremely tiring and demanding

Not a Photogenic Group

Section 10 pictures. At least we tried! 

They are in the order in which they appear in the book Cinematic Storytelling. 

Group: Natalia Ordoñez, Camila Franco, Isabela Uribe