all of my best friends are in different countries right now, and they are all writing in blogs about their adventures. coming to New York and attending Columbia instead of going abroad was a decision a made a long time ago, when I was in a different place in my life and had different goals. Now, all I want is to be in a foreign land. Why? Because all of I've ever dreamed of growing up is living in a million different cities and countries. Because I want to connect with a different community, I want to be surrounded by completely new smells, noises, colors, textures, and scenery. I don't want to speak English. I want to explore and get lost and bike through the forest and eat fruits and vegetables that don't grow in America and experience different perspectives and values and make a million new friends and be challenged. I want to be in a place where money and careers aren't the focus. Where people find other ways to be happy, through their families and communities and culture. But I've decided to change my attitude. I'm going to have a blog about my adventures, too. I'm going to make this experience exactly what I want it to be, and I'm going to be the happiest girl in new york city :)
so here i am, listening to simon & garfunkle, a.k.a. quintessential new york city music.
I'm taking some pretty cool classes, my education class being my favorite so far. The professor is a really critical, firm, straightforward woman. Mallika & I are starting Odissi dance classes downtown this week and we've never been more excited. Indian classical dance is my heart and soul and I want to be 60 years old and still performing. After 14 years of Bharatnatyam, I'm thrilled to be trying a new style, especially alongside Mallika who is equally as passionate about it as I am. I'm also going to be mentoring high school students and hopefully teaching health education every Friday in a local high school. I want to find some sort of program where I can speak Spanish with native speakers outside of the classroom. All I need now is a yoga mat & an inexpensive cycle to pedal around on and I'm all set!
CANEKAAL & the rest of the Scripps family...know that I miss you all and think about you daily.
A few days ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing Juliana, a woman who works closely with students at my school & who I had always admired from afar. Juliana has a striking presence; she emanates warmth, strength, and confidence. She passes everyone with a smile and never fails to say "Hi! How are you?" whenever she sees you. I didn't know her too well before this interview, and now I am so glad that she took the time out of her day to meet with me. Pay close attention to Juliana's insights, for they are wise, affirming, and offer a different perspective than what we usually encounter in the society and culture that we live in today.
Just to start off with, can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Where you’re from, what do you do here at Scripps?
I was born in Brazil, then moved to the US when I was young for my dad to get his PhD in Iowa. I was there for four years and then went to San Diego for my dad’s post doc, and I grew up in Encinitas for most of my life. Then in the middle of high school we went to Brazil that summer, and for my last two years of high school I moved to Virginia with my dad and went to Virginia Tech for college. I really wanted to move back to California and growing up I watched my mom have women friends all her life who were like aunts and took care of us and were good to her, and I saw Scripps students interacting in that same way and I wanted to be part of that, so here I have an RA staff, I’m hall director and SCORE (Scripps Communities of Resources and Empowerment) coordinator where I work with RA’s and students in under represented groups, and plan programs for students and serve on call so I’m there for the crises’ and meltdowns but mainly I connect with students.
Would you say that’s your favorite part?
Yeah, when I had my campus tour, the student said, “I hope to see you in the fall!” And that was so nice, I kept thinking about that. It’s beautiful, and its fun to live in a community with students where I’m not that much older and to say things I wish people had said to me when I was in college.
What are things you wish people had said to you when you were in college?
I wish people had said more than manage your time well. Being Brazilian influences this a lot, our culture in America doesn’t support people living healthy and balanced lives. I’ve always been a pretty happy person, so when I’d see people drinking for their problems I didn’t identify with them. I wish people had said that it’s good to live a healthy, happy, positive life. Here there’s a high demand for us to be perfect in every way but there aren’t enough people who say you’re good enough! Instead of “Party it up!” I wish they had said to lie in the grass and go to the pool. That doesn’t make you lazy and an under achiever, rather this is the only time in your life that you’ll have this sense of community as far as this country goes.
Would you want to move back to Brazil?
Definitely. There’s an emphasis on being happy that permeates the culture in Brazil. Here there is such an expectation of sickness. Every time I got to the doctor she wants to find something wrong with me because it’s part of our culture that kids have to grow up here with a list of allergies attached to them. We also place this emphasis on what people do, but we’re already alive we don’t have to do anything but live. However while I’d like to go back one day when I have a family, for now being American has definitely been a part of my life, so I do also recognize all the goods things.
What are other ways to remain healthy, happy and balanced?
Affirming the possibility that we are created to be magnificent. We’re not supposed to be sick! I don’t get colds because I eat so much green food, unprocessed food and food from the ground. Also, finding the right kinds of friends. Here I have to make a commitment to be active, so I walk my dog, I’ve been getting into Bikram yoga, and I go to the Pilates classes at the gym. My roots are in real food, my family was a farming family, so now I only buy organic and I shop at farmers markets, and I work at farms locally, I trade produce locally, and there are a lot of fruit trees in the village. I also juice a lot, which makes eating vegetables easier!
How do you have the discipline to introduce these things into your life and stick to them?
I never drank alcohol in high school or college. I saw so much of the bad stuff in drinking and realized that there can’t be anything good enough to make that worth it, so while everyone is spending their money on that I had all this extra money for organic produce and massages! My priorities in my life have always been to be happy, I love art and color and travel, so the discipline comes from the fact that I don’t go out to eat that much because it’s not healthy, I don’t spend my money on alcohol, so I’m able to shift and do the other stuff. Also, find friends that have common interests. There’s a community and you have to find them.
Can you tell me a little but more about what art means to you?
I’ve always been a creative person. I think that’s why I’ve been able to enjoy being a raw vegan because food is a creative process. And in Brazil there are colors there that you wouldn’t even know existed. When I was young I was so shy I would express myself through color, my mom would let me paint walls in the house and everyone would say it looked like a different country. The world is pretty so I take so many pictures, I love art so I like to absorb it wherever I can see it.
Where did you travel when you took that year off after college?
I went to Mexico, Brazil, and Vietnam for a month and a half. My best friend and his family invited me to go for Christmas. I had never been to a country that had been through a war like that, and though we saw a lot of remnants of the war it was one of the happier countries I’d ever been to. It made me really aware of life. I found myself appreciating and photographing everything. I was just so happy to be alive.
So do you save up all your money for traveling, food, enjoying life?
I don’t like rich countries, I like poor countries because I like where people’s priorities are. When people don’t have money they find other ways to be happy.
How did you find confidence in yourself?
It took a long time, but it was just spending time with myself. When I moved to Virginia I didn’t know anyone, not even really my dad, so I spent a lot of time by myself. We are all really unique but we don’t spend enough time to get to know ourselves, and then we get to college there’s always people around you.
What do you think makes someone a beautiful person?
I’m a big believer in people’s energies. We’ve gotten so far away from this concept that beauty takes work, and it does because it takes work with yourself, but we are consumed with quick fixes whether that’s the lap band, makeup, Invisalign, all these things that are detrimental to our health and the environment. I look for an ability to just be happy with what you have and own it and like it. It’s a personal commitment to be in a good place with your self. I also believe in sunshine—if you’re out in the sun for 20 minutes, you just look better and healthier.
What is your beauty routine? Do you use only natural products?
Yes, all of that crap goes into your body when it’s on your skin. However I definitely went through a phase where I had it all, I didn’t growing up so when I could I collected it obsessively. But I saw the faults in that and now I am simple and just use Dr. Bronner’s soap for everything, and cacao butter or coconut oil for my skin and hair. It’s just so much waste and plastic bottles and crap and chemicals and they test on animals, and its nice to have a bathroom without stuff. And I don’t use deodorant anymore—I don’t smell, because if you’re not putting animal products and chemicals from processed foods into your body it won’t produce toxins and excrete smells. It’s good to get to know your body and know what you really smell like without perfume and deodorant. It’s hard to love yourself if you’re too busy masking it. You get to a place where you’re tired of fighting yourself.
What are some of your favorite things, such as book to read, color, place...
I love the book The God of Small Things, I love that book and read that book so many times, I don’t know her but I feel that she appreciates the things in life that I appreciate, she never lost her childlike spirit and I feel like I never lost mine. The other thing is that I’ve always had an aversion to saying my favorites because then people don’t let you grow if you change your mind. But I usually like bright colors, and dark purple is my favorite right now. I love beaches, I have an aversion to cold places and cry when it’s cold, so anywhere outside where the sun is shining.
Do you wear sunscreen?
No, never. If I’m outside for a long time I’ll wear a hat or cover up but I don’t believe in rubbing chemicals into my skin.
I just went through my blog again, re-reading a few of the interviews. I came across these words from Emi & they made me so thrilled and excited for life, for the ways in which we all can grow throughout our lives and why we live in the first place. I wanted to repost them for everybody to take a second look at.
"Talking to women from other countries about women’s issues was powerful. It also showed me an inner strength that was beyond my grasping before I had traveled there and there’s nothing cooler than knowing the extent of your own personal strength."
Thank you for these words, Emi, & for being one of the coolest ladies I've encountered! :)
& here's a picture of Chloe Sevigny, because she's 100% herself and that's awesome.
Here's the thing, Teen Vogue. I love you. I am interning for you & I will forever be thankful for this incredible, dream come true opportunity. You've inspired me since your inception. I love how you give teenagers the credit to be savvy, knowledgeable, creative, and conscious of fashion's history. And you usually do a really great job of making young girls feel great about themselves. Your covers in the past year have been racially diverse (i.e. there were women of African descent on your cover, including a pregnant teenager), your DIY and street style photos and articles are creatively juicy, and you always strive to include articles about issues affecting teenagers such as online hazing, drug and alcohol use, eating disorders, sexual health, and relationships. You’ve let the magazine grow Anna Wintour style by featuring celebrities on the cover since it’s inception, with the occasional exception of Gemma Ward and Chanel Iman. And while Karlie Kloss’s cover looks great, the article inside is what really disappointed me.
Printing an article about the model on the cover of a teen magazine in which she is praised, lauded, and perfected in every aspect is not going to be good for any young girl’s self esteem. Models already appear perfect in magazines and notoriously set the standards of beauty in our society today. Featuring one on the cover is a throwback to the history of magazines in the first place, that is to say, it’s totally fine. But when that model becomes the perfect human being as per her own quotes and quotes about her, she no longer becomes a healthy role model for anybody, boy or girl, young or old. In this article, Kloss is described to have perfect grades, study backstage as opposed to smoking cigarettes with other models, bake cookies for the staff backstage, be your average girl from the Midwest, and also be versatile and exuberant in her professional career, all at the age of seventeen. And while this may all be true, and props to you Karlie for living life they way you want to, it also cannot be the whole story.
What I am asking is that Teen Vogue be more conscious of their impact on the self-esteem of the young women who are reading their magazine. Now, I am older and stronger in myself, and articles and features such as these wouldn’t affect me. However, when I first started reading Teen Vogue, they certainly would. I don’t look like the models that are featured, and I am not perfect. I look up to Diane von Furstenberg, Grace Coddington, and Diana Vreeland, women who have been through immense hardship, are not your average beauty, and yet positively shimmer with their brilliance and radiance. Please feature real young women, Teen Vogue. The truth is what moves people and inspires, not a depiction of a young girl who is not only already considered physically perfect, but also perfect in every other way, too. Nobody is perfect, and a real role model is one who exemplifies their strength in overcoming challenges and personal imperfection. I’m not saying Kloss hasn’t been through anything in her life, no doubt she has, but it would be beneficial to the young women readers to learn about that side of her, too, as opposed to all of the ways in which she is the perfect seventeen year old. Ultimately, models are a clothes hanger; they sell the item, they are photogenic, they fit the popular look. Their hours are long and tiring, their work is hard and it is necessary to the industry, however it should not be idolized and the models themselves shouldn’t be either.
Hi, everybody! I haven't posted in a while, but my admiration of the beauty in people around me, such as my friend Kristina, who is pictured above, inspired me to get started writing about it again. Kristina is an adorable girl whose style I have always admired from afar until I finally got a chance to meet her when we both found out we'd have the same internship at Teen Vogue this summer! We bonded over our excitement to be in NYC, our love of Le Pain Quotidien, and, of course, our obsession with fashion. Kristina is sensationally kind, caring, and humble. Though she is Danish and German, she grew up in Hong Kong and went to school in Canada. Now, she attends college in LA with me :) Here is what she had to say when I interviewed her!
So, you’re about to start your fashion career with your first internship at Teen Vogue. What are you most excited about and what has inspired you to begin a career in fashion?
What I’m most excited about is just to be in fashion. Just to live it, breath it, be a part of that world. You usually see it in movies, documentaries, and magazines, but now its my chance! It’s my chance to be a part of it. Since the moment I’ve looked at magazines, or been in stores and seen images I’ve always wanted to be a part of it, and just be influenced by it, help them, be a part of it. There’s such an art in fashion that it changes all the time and its so much fun and there’s always something new and it never stops, and that’s why I want to be a part of it.
I completely understand that! What are your staple wardrobe items?
Anything that’s gray. Gray goes with everything, be it a gray cardigan, t-shirt, pants, it goes with everything.
You have grey pants?
Yes, just grey jeans. Anything grey and a pair of ballet flat shoes and a white tshirt.
What is your favorite white t-shirt?
A vneck tshirt from American apparel.
Can you count how many you have in your wardrobe?
Before I stained them and they’re not useable anymore, I had 3 vneck shirts and like 4 white tank tops, some from American Apparel and Aritzia.
Ok. You’ve lived and traveled all aournd the world. What would you say are your favorite places?
That’s a hard answer because each one is so different. I’m going to say Hong Kong is my favorite place on earth, but if I’d ever move back there is a different question. Vancouver is next, because it's so easy going and the people are so kind! Then comes New York and that is where I want to live. It’s been my dream since grade ten, the first time I ever went there it has satisfied everything I ever thought it was going to be the moment I stepped off the plane. Amazing places like Italy, Asian places like Bhutan and Mongolia... the people there are stunning and the cultures are crazy and amazing. And Europe in general is great. Any place can be beautiful and cultural and really interesting, it's just what you make out of your own trip.
So what would you say you like to do when you’re in a new place?
I don’t like to stay in the hotel. I have to get out there and go look around. Why are you there?? Get a guide book, try local restaurants, just go walk around, once you walk around you can discover the craziest things. Take photos!
Any travel packing tips?
I always over pack, I am always over weight. I always think I need everything! Basics, you need jeans, t-shirts, a pair of good walking shoes—flats that don’t give you blisters—a pair of Converse or Tom’s shoes, flip flops…depends where you’re going. Basics, don’t over pack, and just one nice outfit. I say this, but I make the same mistake every time!
Tell me a little bit about how you think about body image, healthy eating and exercise.
Ok I definitely think there has to be a balance between exercise and eating. Healthy eating is so essential to life. Body image is such an iffy topic and its sad in social norms and media norms, bcing skinny is NOT the best thing, its really about self confidence and if you can show that through who you are then that’s the best thing, you shouldn’t be worried about who you are or what people think about you. It’s so sad though these days, hopefully people are better than we think they are media wise—and things like that.
I hear that you have a kind of intense exercise schedule! Can you tell me about it?
It’s not that intense, but I exercised so much in high school. Just to wake me up I get up at 6:45 or 7 am and go do the elliptical for thirty minutes, then I go to breakfast, and the feeling after breakfast is amazing. Then I go in the evening to do weights, or go on the treadmill, and then I do yoga. Its so calming and it takes you out of this crazy stressful world sometimes. I also really like Pilates!
What are your favorite things to eat?
BREAD. Toasted, sandwich…
So Le Pain is your heaven!
Pastries, croissants, cakes, Indian food, rice, ice cream, fruit—mango. I miss mango. They don’t have it here! Anything that looks good, except raisins and mushrooms.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee! No, tea. I don’t know they’re both so good!
Ok, let's try this. What is your favorite in each category?
Latte with whole milk, not skim. Tea category: Coconut Chai, all the way.
