A Guide to Body Positivity

 

During the time I have been in health I have learnt a lot about body positivity and I feel I have a good understanding of what body positivity is. Something huge I took away was that everyone is unique and the way our minds are set is also unique so I should always watch what I say about someone, especially what I say about someone’s appearance. I have learnt that everyone has a right to feel good about themselves and the way they look, no one has to or should be defined by the world around them. 

Something really important we looked at was how businesses don’t care about us, nor how we feel they just want to take our money which is why Jameela Jamil made an accusation that the Kardashian’s were “lining their pockets with blood and diarrhea.” This is because the Kardashian’s promote and sell products that say “eat this” but also say “starve yourself” when you look deeper. Most businesses in my opinion promote diet products and try to get people to buy them, in my opinion, these products lead to mental illnesses, etc. Social media, magazines, and advertising (which we see everywhere) play a big role in this in particular. Social media platforms are something most people all over the world use on a daily basis, but the thing about social media is everything we see/read can be fake/edited yet we fall for the lies. 

I think that it is really interesting how companies can make young people feel ashamed about their body, or unworthy because of the way companies promote their products and the influence famous people with a “perfect body” have on the world. It’s sad really to see that companies would devalue us young people and try to minimize our worth just to get money. One great thing that is happening now is that more famous people and educators are using their voices to promote body positivity and body neutrality which helps us feel better about ourselves and encourages us, young people, to feel safe and beautiful in our own body.

3 Tips I have to encourage those who don’t feel positive about themselves :

1: Unfollow anyone on social media who makes you question yourself, or just has a negative impact on you and others in general. Replace these people with accounts that promote positive body image. This will help by changing your intake and what you choose to allow into your mind each day.

2:  See a counselor, councillors are there for your well being and are open to talk to you but especially listen to how you feel. A counselor can play a big role in helping you see your worth and realizing that all bodies are beautiful. (You can find a counselor in your school, we have one here in the health centre).

3: Write down positive thoughts about yourself - and if you don’t have any write down things you're thankful that your body helps you do. (e.g I am thankful for my hands because without them I wouldn’t be able to write, work, or do much.) This could help us become more body neutral. This is because instead of focusing on our appearance we could focus on other things that are important.

Visit from our Auckland City Councilor

This term in Social Studies our focus is the government and council, in advance to that yesterday we had a visitor, Josephine Bartley. Josephine Bartley is a part of the Auckland Council she came and talked about her job and what she does. Some new facts 9PKr learnt was about how we should not swim in a beach after it rains because the sewage pipes and water pipes mix which means when you swim, your swimming in sewage water. She also told us about how it's her job to make this community better and listen to what the community has to see. We asked her what she thinks about the new houses because they’re very close and small, She said she’s thinking about adding more parks around Panmure and Glen Innes because state houses now are small and don’t have much space. She informed us about groups in the council and how they want 11 members in their team so they can do whatever they like, she told us how their wants are more important than the community’s. She was very honest and kind and let us know about a lot of new plans in this community, I felt surprised that someone would actually come and inform us about issues and new plans that may affect us in the future.

Recount of my eye Dissection Experience

 On Wednesday period 6,my class tried dissecting a cow's eye. We were split in to groups, then chose our pair from our group. I was with Cerenity. First we put on a glove to protect one of our hands, then we grabbed a newspaper so that we didn't get the tables dirty and also were handed two tools, scissors and a scalper. Then Miss Wells came around and placed the cow’s eye on our newspaper.

We then watched a video which told us what to do with the eye first, it was to remove the fat. I started to cut away the fat but it was a bit difficult so I let Cerenity try, we were using scissors and noticed that they weren’t very sharp so we decided to change tools to the scalper. The scalper was very sharp and cut away most of the fat, but we still had a bit left. We then had to stop so we wouldn’t run out of time and watched the video for step two.

Step two, one of the weird parts. We had to stab in the middle of the eyeball then make a cut, it took a way at first because the cornea was a thick layer that made us have to push the scalper in very deep. After 2-3 tries we finally got the scalper in. Making the cut was harder because we didn’t want to make the cut to big so we were very nervous. I slit the eye and a black liquid came out, that was the aqueous humour which had the yuckiest smell, aswell as a clear jelly substance which was the vitreous humour and I thought was weird because I wasn’t expecting it, but at the same time I felt the vitreous humour very satisfying. We then carried on to step three.

Step three, to cut in the middle of the eye, which Cerenity tried but it was very hard because we found that our tools were slippery and not as sharp as we needed it. She couldn’t quite get it in  help so I tried to help her out. I got the scalper slightly through then Mr Dunn came and thought he could do it for us so he cut it for us. Out of that came even more bad smelling aqueous humour came out and it spread everyone, including the table and even on our hand with no glove. We then had to clean the rest of the aqueous humour out of the front of the eye, gently I pulled the slimy substance out  making facial expressions I couldn't express in words, but luckily that was most definitely one of the easiest parts. We then looked like the iris and also saw some of the blood vessels. The last thing we looked at which was already to the side, was the lens and the pupil, the pupil was as soft yet rough. The lens in our cow’s eye was very small, so we figured that the cow must’ve had bad eyesight or have been very old. When we looked through the lens we noticed that it was like a magnifying glass, but our lens was a bit blurry.

We learnt a lot about the cow’s eye and also some extra facts. Did you know cow’s can only look up, down, left and right? Unlike humans we can roll our eyes around instead of always moving our head.

My First Tamaki College Post

My first Tamaki college post. This has been a weird start considering I had to get along with new people & become friends with new people. Its different and I really like going to the tuck shop but I dont like waiting in long lines.

Team Taapas Act Of Kindness

Today the team taapas (Tiana, Anika, Anghela, Mrs Faalili , Anitimoni & Steven) attended Glen Brae School to complete our act of kindness/service. We baked a bunch of goods, And wrapped them up in cellophane. We added ribbon & words of affirmation. Here are some photos.

My Quickwrite

Today for Quickwrite I had a image called "Look Down" . Here is my Quickwrite from Today.

Film Festival 2018

Expectations Vs Reality
Film Group - Anika (me) , Danielle, Hela, Tracey Lee, Anitimoni.We are the Fantastic Fish Fingers.Our film is about what kids expect getting ready for school and school is going to be like, but some of the realities some kids face.The thing I mostly enjoyed about our film was getting to see the finished product at the end and see our progress. 

I hope you enjoy our film :)