November 2014 – Page 3 – The Medium Blog

Please Don’t Read Me

November 14, 2014September 16, 2015Kimberly Johnson

I have one of “those faces”. I feel like recently in particular, I’ve had to say to people, “No, don’t worry. It’s just my face.” See, I have chronic “bitch-face”. It suuuuucks.

What’s bitch-face?

Well, beloved reader, bitch-face is basically when someone constantly looks like they want to drop kick a baby off the Grand Canyon while eating ice cream. Or, to put it to you this way, you know your face during traffic in the second hour when you’ve given up? Yeah, that face—that’s bitch-face. It’s having that face constantly—when you’re happy, sad, angry, very tired, and usually when you forget to have an external emotional reaction to something.

It never used to bother me until one night when my brother was talking to me about his relationship. I must have looked disinterested, because he looked at me finally and said, “You don’t actually care do you?” To be honest, it was an emotionally charged conversation and I did care, but I was thinking mostly about how to respond and forgot to actually do that.

I realize this makes me sound like a robot, and I’ve actually been called that before by people that still love me, but that’s—I guess, in a way—what bothers me about it. See, I joke about bitch-face a lot, but I really do mean it when I say it’s just my face. I’m terrible to read, because I’m an introvert and because I’m not good at expressing my feelings externally. Now, that doesn’t mean I don’t feel things. It just means I don’t like to put my emotions on display. I don’t cry in public, I don’t yell right away when I’m angry, and I don’t always say, “I love you”. I feel like I don’t show enough excitement because I don’t flail about screaming, and I don’t know why I am the way that I am, but I know that if I’m going to be that person that’s okay with who they are, then this is a part of me that I need to be okay with. And for me that’s really hard—in fact, it’s probably the thing I struggle with the most, that I’m willing to admit.

So, reader, I don’t know if this is a rant, or a plea or something else, but I do know that I don’t like being read, solely because I feel like most people get it wrong. I do feel things—a lot of things—but on a very private level. I do believe that I’m not the only person that’s like this. I think we all have private and public selves, but some people are just better at expressing themselves than I am. I do think that we have to be okay with who we are, even if it’s not something that’s easy to be okay with and, in a way, maybe for all of us, that’s our struggle.

Your Passion Has Limits: A Fanboy’s Reflection on Overstepping Communal Boundaries

November 13, 2014September 16, 2015Darren Clift

Being an unashamed comic book and superhero enthusiast, I have had a multitude of experiences with other devoted fans of pop cultural phenomena (as you would know if you read my previous blog post). Attending Toronto’s Fan Expo has become an end of summer tradition for me, an occasion that necessitates me to cosplay as some obscure character from the pages of a comic book. So yeah, I fit the “fanboy” profile quite snugly.

Classroom Etiquette, or My Traumatizing Classroom Experience

November 13, 2014September 16, 2015Christine Sharma

As university students, we pay for our education: the lecture halls, the study space, the go-to food places, and especially the professors. Without the profs, we would have no education—there would be no experienced people in our fields of choice to teach us the ropes.

A Ticket to Wonderland

November 12, 2014September 16, 2015Suraya Mahamod

Ever feel like getting away from life? But can’t afford a plane ticket?

We all have a place we go to when life gets overwhelming and if you haven’t discovered that place, I hope you find it. For me personally, when I’m overwhelmed, tired, and discouraged, I try to read something to distract myself. However, not just any book—I read a book about another world, another life, where chivalry still exists but women are strong and independent; a book where the characters are so human you believe they exist and are living amongst us. I try to think about the character’s life, the character’s difficulties, and understand how they overcome their troubles. As odd as this must sound, my sanctuary in books is not for escapist reasons but for relation, perspective, and wisdom. I’ve learned through books that even the villain has a story, that every character has some sort of difficulty—it makes me think of my life and the problems I must overcome. Sometimes, we are so consumed in our problems and our lives that we forget that a world of people exist around us, a world where other people may be experiencing the exact same troubles we are. Whoa, I know that was some deep stuff. What can I say? I like books.

*shoulder shrug*

A book that I hold close to my heart—or rather, a book series—is the Shatter Me series by Tahereh Mafi. This book changed my life—I know that’s epic, but it was written so beautifully, so genuinely; I believed that I was the main character and in some aspects we were quite similar.

“I spent my life folded between the pages of books.
In the absence of human relationships, I formed bonds with paper characters. I lived love and loss through stories threaded in history; I experienced adolescence by association. My world is one interwoven web of words, stringing limb to limb, bone to sinew, thoughts and images all together. I am a being comprised of letters, a character created by sentences, a figment of imagination formed through fiction.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Shatter Me

In high school, I found it difficult to form strong ties with people—I felt odd and out of place and often felt like no one understood me. I pushed people away, like my family members, and pushed pieces of myself to the far corners of my mind. It wasn’t a great place to be. So one day I found this book and the main character was this broken, isolated girl that was scared of who she might be and who she would become. I was terrified of who I may become and if I would make it to university, so I read to look for relation, for some sort of understanding, for myself through Juliette’s eyes. I found that I should stop worrying and stop pushing people away to accept my life and myself. To be a little odd because I was a book nerd, and oddness surrounds us like oxygen. I learned that I should wake up, to “ignite”, to start living life with vigor and hope and strength. I accepted who I was after this book series, and until this day, my favourite word is ignite.

When I’m feeling sluggish and discouraged, I tell myself to ignite, to spark a wild flame, to open my closed eyes, to breathe in, to wake up, to live my life because life is so short, and I must make the most out of my time on earth. I love, love, love this book and have worn out the pages with my continuous reading of it.

Anyway, that is my sanctuary, and what I love most about it is that once I crawl out of my hobbit hole and face my life, I can admit where I have gone wrong and apologize for my sour behaviour. I have a moment of clarity of understanding and responsibility. I try to change myself after taking that needed break from life—I try to be better somehow, some way.

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies, said Jojen. The man who never reads lives only one.”

― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

How to Not Be a Weirdo in Front of Your Crush

November 11, 2014September 16, 2015Hamna Awan

Being a weirdo in front of your crush… Let’s just be honest, we’ve all been there. It happens, all right? Ahhh! Let’s just accept it and go from there.

So, you have a crush… Now what? Well, first you gotta convince the poor sucker you’re not an absolute weirdo, which is easier said than done.

If the Pants Fit…

November 7, 2014September 16, 2015Christine Sharma

Name: Christine Sharma

Age: 20

Body Type: I’m going to say standard.

This is not another article on how you should love your body no matter what size or shape you are.

This is about how all of our bodies are standard body types. You don’t have to define yourself as a “size” or a “shape”. You are not fat and you are not skinny, because using words like “fat”, “skinny”, “tall”, and “short” attempts to define what a “normal” body type is in terms of how much you deviate from the norm. But if everybody has different body types, aren’t we all normal? Can we not all have standard bodies?

It’s a ‘Marvel’ous Time to Love Heroes!

November 5, 2014September 16, 2015Darren Clift

Gadzooks! If you’re not already a fan of the Marvel Cinematic universe, there’s no better time than now to become one! Last week, Avengers: Age of Ultron leaked in all of its glory, showcasing the despair and hardship that faces our favourite team of cinematic heroes. Personally, the shot of Iron Man and the Hulk facing off was all it took for me to say, “Marvel, just take my ______ money!” (Feel free to use your imagination there). Seriously, if you haven’t checked it out, go do it now! As if the hype weren’t huge enough already for fans, Marvel announced on Tuesday the full lineup of their next phase of movies… and it’s a doozy! If you don’t know who Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, and the Inhumans are now, you will in the next five years! Geeks everywhere are surely having “nerdgasms” right now, and I’m no exception. Witnessing Benedict Cumberbatch monologue and cast spells as Doctor Strange in 2016…awesome!

Humans of UTM

November 5, 2014September 26, 2015Caroline Hoult

Fourth Year, Major in Political Science and a Double Minor in History and Professional Writing

“What is an interesting thing about you? “

“I don’t even know if I can still do it, but I used to make watches go backwards when I wore them. It made me feel like Magneto, which was kind of cool.”

You Can’t Sleep When You’re Dead

November 4, 2014September 16, 2015Samina Sultana

There’s a phrase for university students: “I’ll sleep when I graduate”, and it is an ironic joke—mostly because, sadly, it’s true. We tell ourselves it’s a few more minutes, you’ll make up the time later, but when you finish your work you realize an hour or more has passed. By morning, if it’s an all-nighter, you’re tired and you have to get over it and attend class. You may find yourself falling asleep halfway through, which disrupts your learning process. You don’t take notes, you’re too tired to focus, and you miss the lecture.