In May, I left school as a biochemistry major. It was in the final moments of spring semester, once my last final was submitted, that I realized I was unhappy. When every second was stacked full of chemistry exams, calculus homework, and an endless stream of identical biology quizlets, it was impossible to notice the dread I realized was obscuring the rest of my life. The truth was, I hated Chemistry and I hated Biology.

All year, late each night, and for as long I could keep my lids peeled above my irises, I read. Over the course of the year, I read 50 books. And at each and every book, no matter the content, I sobbed my eyes out at the final page. In that final sleepless week, I picked up a poem collection by Sylvia Plath titled Ariel. And if you have read Sylvia Plath you will know that her writing is not necessarily joyful. The book contained many themes of death and despair; but at the time, the recurring themes of regret spoke to me the most. She expressed how easy it is to feel regret about one’s life, and how torturing it is to spend life doing something without purpose.

 The final line of the final poem in the book, titled “Wintering”, reads:

“Will the hive survive, will the gladiolas

Succeed in banking their fires

To enter another year?

What will they taste of, the Christmas roses?

The bees are flying. They taste the spring.” 

These lines release Sylvia of her worry about her lasting legacy as a mother and more so as a writer. This poem was written in the days leading up to her death, yet she chose to end it with hope. 

Of course, it caused me to bawl for several minutes. And it also caused me to come to two realizations. First, if something has such a powerful influence over my heart, that I tear up during every interaction, then perhaps that is my purpose. And secondly, I considered the idea of my lasting impact on the world, and I knew firmly that I did not want to be known for Chemistry. 

This month I happened to pick up Ariel again. When I flipped through the small book, what I took away was no longer despair and grief. Instead, I studied the prose and dove deeply into her complicated language. Once again, I noticed regret, but it flitted by. No longer a concern of mine. 

“Brittany, Joey, Court, Emilie, Olivia, Madisyn, Natalie, Kate, Megan, Margot, Tiffany, and of course, founder Montana Holt decided to combine their alluring forces of great hair, mediocre dance, and over 100 million combined TikTok followers, to create their new business endeavor The Groove House”

The tabloids were buzzing. The 12 biggest names in Tiktok dancing had all decided to move in together, in order to increase their output of entrancing TikTok dances. The news editors of the Daily Mail, Seventeen Magazine, and Enews were all foaming at the mouth attempting to ascertain the latest information on the girl group. This was the biggest news they had printed in months. Ever since Montana Holt swore off dating when her Soundcloud rapper turned Lamborghini YouTuber boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend Tiffany (and then she in turn dropped a diss track, and revealed that she actually cheated on him first with his brother). But unfortunately, she and Tiffany talked it out on their podcast. There was no longer any ill will between them, and there had been no printable news since.

Reporter after reporter reached out to the twelve girls for comments, gossip, or any sort of information about the inner workings of the house, but again and again, they were shot down. A particularly pernicious journalist at the less prominent TeenNewsDaily was feeling like his job was on the chopping block. So in order to save it, he decided to get the scoop of the century. He took all his savings and bought hair plugs, 100,000 TikTok followers under the name Johhny Jones, and a bottle of fake tan. He was going undercover! After one week of successful social media influencing, he had a successful DM conversation with influencer Noah Hall, and he got an invite to the exclusive Boost housewarming party. He was in!

He put on his most Y2K outfit and set out ready to do some serious investigative work. Mr. Jones attempted to converse with the first of the girls, Olivia Fox, but his questions got him nowhere, every attempt at conversation was met with a feminine giggle. After Olivia walked off to go fix her mascara, the reporter looked around to try to thank Noah Hall for the invite, and see if he could wrangle any information out of him, but he was engaged in filming a dance battle with his girlfriend Joey May. Mr. Jones spun in a circle, his vision began to blur. He could no longer tell who was who! He couldn’t hear anything over the sound of hundreds of Tiktok audios replaying again and again. The last thing he saw before his mind went blank, was Montana Holt’s famously shiny blown-out hair inches from his face.

TeenNewsDaily never did publish their exposé on The Boost House. Although a newly hired reporter is working on an even more promising piece titled “The Mysterious Rise of Johhny Jones, Overnight Tiktok Sensation”

This 1930s Chrysler ad is the perfect example of reinforcing gender roles through media, and advertising. The ad uses highly gendered language for advertising the car to both “she” and “he”. Beginning with the woman-centered approach, the ad states “For the first time in my life, I feel at home behind the wheel”. The generalization that women aren’t good drivers is used to subjugate women and justify their subordination based on the fact that they are not as capable as men. The excerpt titled “She” also calls the car “gorgeous looking”. These two quotes are also based on patriarchal ideas of women’s obsession with personal appearance and beauty. Beauty is essential to the patriarchal standard of a woman. Enforcing very strict beauty standards has always been a tactic used to subjugate and demean used by the patriarchy.

Contrarily the “He” section of the ad is an ode to masculine strength and power. It reads “that swift, silent getaway… that never-say-die power… that romping. eager, mounting speed… were put there for the sterner sex.” This quote is attempting to appeal to men’s sense of masculine dominance. The ad uses physical language such as “swift” “romping” and “speed” to affirm the patriarchal idea of men’s physical superiority.

Advertising particularly aimed toward men and women preys on people’s endless strive to fulfill their prescribed gender role, in order to sell them material goods.