Plastic Covers......they're phony and they don't wear well...

Hi Sky, I hope things are well for you and that you are beginning to acclimate to your school surroundings. Just remember, everybody there is human and everyone has fears and weaknesses of some sort. School is a place to overcome your fears and to turn weaknesses in to strengths. That makes it a good place, a positive place. If anybody at your school is not in touch with that then they are on the wrong page, not you Sky. Maybe you could enlighten them or something.

School is supposed to be a place of challenge and struggle, that's just part of growing, sweetie, and high school is a place for growing as a person. It's not always easy perhaps, but if you engage your school experience with a sense of adventure and personal discovery you can really take a lot away(with you) from the experience, and really have some fun at the same time.

Discovery is the first step in learning something new. If you enter in to a new learning experience enlightened to the discovery process, then the opportunity to expand your knowledge and broaden your horizons could only be felt as a positive and desirable thing. That, in turn, stimulates your hunger for learning new things and once that craving, that hunger for knowledge, begins to take hold, well, then way more than half your battle has already been won, my dear(like 90% or something). At that point your whole perspective of school and the whole Idea of learning will begin to completely, profoundly, change. Now you can begin to see school as an opportunity and something you can be excited about as opposed to just some boring, humiliating experience that the "authorities" are making you go through.

Believe me, It's WAY better to have to do something your excited about getting involved with than it is something you have little or no enthusiasm for. The primary point I'm trying to get across to you darling is that you have an excellent opportunity before you right now. You would by far be best served by taking charge of your education and approaching the next several years(at least) as your learning experience that you own the rights to and that you decide to take control of and power that vehicle for your own good.

"Heck with'em, I'm going somewhere with my life", that's the attitude that I would take and as I do hold a particular fondness for you, my lovely young lady, that's precisely the attitude I would whole heartedly suggest that you should take as well. It could serve you quite well if you decided to attack this whole experience with vigor and relentless energy, now, while those commodities are readily and abundantly available and at your disposal. Jeez, I only wish I still had half the natural energy that I'm sure you probably have right now. Believe me honey, the proverbial "iron" is definitely wicked hot, and the time to strike is now. Just some food for thought sweetie, from a true and caring friend ;-).

To tell you the truth, that's not actually the main topic I was planning to talk about today but my drive to fulfill those intellectual father duties just sorta kicked in and took over for a minute, it's all good though, that was some important and potentially really helpful stuff, I hope it might serve you well in your adjustments toward school.

What I was planning on talking about today was something that I've come to refer to as "plastic covers" and furthermore the disintegration of any identifiable levels of self respect among society of late. Hmmmmmm, you say, yeah, hmmmm indeed. It appalls, disgusts and deeply saddens me when I see someone's very identity, their honest self, being sequestered away behind some false sense of "brand name label" security.

It seems that since I was about seven years old or so I have noticed these roaming "label whores" walking around just about everywhere. Is there that huge of a lack of ability to communicate to people the importance of just being ones self?
I mean, hey, if you don't actually avail yourself, I mean an honest version at least, then you can't possibly ever really be in the mix.
Skylar, hear me now my Love, and know this to be absolute, Sky. What's on the inside is all that really matters and if you don't show that true content then you are not ever going to be truly free to feel comfortable as You and you'll never truly be a part of any community. Think about these things if/when a temptation comes over you to recede in to some fake shell and hide behind the name of whatever brand name logo is currently popular. Don't get me wrong Sky, fashion and neat looking stuff to wear can be fun, but, it will never be anything more than just a cover for whatever is really going on beneath it.

Perhaps because this practice is such a foregone conclusion to so many and has become so deeply integrated in to widespread popular cultures subconscious as a social norm, you may be thinking, "what's the big deal?". Well, actually, the big deal here has less actually to do with any thing fashion oriented and more to do with the serious social issue of people just generally becoming more and more generic and fake(thus, out of touch) and less and less like genuine people with any sense of integrity and personal identity. It feels like the hugest ever mass human de-individualization process and it comes along with a seriously waning sense of overall self respect. I've never in my life seen so many individuals in any given area that have such an absent sense of being(belonging) and lack of any sense of ownership within their communities.

The self respect within popular culture is currently at an all time low and it can be confirmed all over this great land of ours. I don't know to what degree this is attributable to popular cultural trends and what level of the the blame should go toward the overspun capitalist machine that effects us all but I do know one thing, this current social climate we are living in is sickening, unhealthy and entirely unnecessary.

One thing is totally for sure, I most definitely don't want my daughter going around through life without a clue about what kind of corporate giants are out there threatening her freedom to have an enjoyable, toxin free life without some big conglomerate sticking their advertising garbage down her phyche and trying to manipulate the way she thinks. No way Jose, I will make sure that my family members and all people that are in my life are very aware of the threats that big business influence is currently having on our TRUE quality of life in this country. I don't want a giant helping of their plague and I don't want them trying to push it on my loved ones either.

Beyond the fact that some stupid t-shirt, or whatever type of clothing you want to use as an example, is only a stupid piece of clothing, the fact, more often than not, is that the high priced Item you think you purchased is in honest truth really only as cheap or cheaper than the "bargain basement" type stuff that aren't considered to be as cool. You've just been taken for the grand retail ride, oops, they got you. You've now become just another corporate sucker, and you get broke, and they get filthy rich from it. What gives here?

Getting caught up in worthless retail brand names and somehow allowing yourself to associate this stuff in any way with your personal self worth or general level of coolness you possess is a really stupid habit to get in to Skylar. I hope you can read though this and manage to grasp the point I'm trying to get through to you here. I Love you baby and I don't want something so ridiculously worthless to have any sort of guiding or self esteem effect on a beautiful capable young lady like you are Sky. You have soooo much more to look forward to in your life then some phony props or false reputations and I want to remind you and encourage you to not just always be yourself baby but also to know and understand why it is you do. (whoa, that kinda rocked! yessss) ;-)

Well honey, I guess that would pretty much do it for today, I'll wrap this one up and begin to make some preparations for my next post which should be here within the next few days or so.
SKYLAR, I LOVE YOU BEYOND WORDS AND WITH THE ENTIRETY OF MY HEART. I hope that you will find this web log soon and as these posts get more time critical to their ability to help you I really hope that I can notify you that this thing is even out here. I'll be working on that one and until some contact with you can be achieved I urge you to treat others at least as well as you would prefer to be treated and Skylar always, always, be conscious of the choices that you make and make sure that you make sure to do what you know is right. God bless you sweetie, you truly are my lightness and my hope. Soyez bon ma belle fille.

Avec La Sincérité Totale ,
Votre Pour Toujours E.G.F.