Casually Obsessed

The Cab, Darren Criss, Dogs, One Direction. 5SOS

natatea:

an original piece I wrote last night and performed today in my english class. i’ve never written in this style or performed a piece before but gave it a shot. i hope my words inspire you to make a change. this is When I Grow Up.

When I Grow Up

I feel like my life is surrounded by a single question.
A question I’m asked by
My family,
My friends,
And my teachers.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
What do I want to be?

At age 5,
I wanted to be a farmer.
I wanted to reside in the country and grow crops of my own.
I wanted to wear overalls and ride tractors.
But I was told,
Women don’t work out in the fields.
Women don’t ride tractors.
Girls are supposed to wear dresses and skirts.
Being a farmer is a man’s job.

At age 7,
I wanted to work in Hollywood.
I wanted to star in the big movies.
I wanted to produce and direct box-office hits.
I wanted my co-stars to be Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.
But I know,
70% of speaking roles in movies are given to men.
93% of popular films are directed by men.
The Oscar for Best Original screenplay has been given to women 8 out of 76 times.
And I know,
94% of all the writing awards at the Oscars have gone to men.

At age 9,
I wanted to run a company.
I wanted to be the head of a business and bring up new ideas.
I wanted to make the business the best it could be.
But I know,
Women only hold 4.6% of CEO positions at S&P 500 companies.

At age 11,
I wanted to be the first female President of the United States.
I wanted to go down in the history books.
I wanted to run a country and do what was best for it’s people.
But I know,
Women only hold 20 out of the 100 seats in the Senate.
In the House of Representatives, women only hold 84 out of the 435 seats. That’s only 19.3%.
There are only 104 female members in congress, out of 535. 
That’s only 18.5%. 
And today, this country still has yet to see a female president.

At age 13,
I wanted to be a writer.
I wanted to be the next J.K. Rowling and write with such power.
I wanted my words to be read by the world.
Be interviewed by the biggest magazines.
But I know,
Only 9 out of 52 winners of the National Book Award for Fiction are women.
Only 11 out of 48 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction have been women.
And I know,
The Nobel Prize and Prize in Economic Sciences have been awarded to women only 47 times out of 889 people and organizations.
There is only one woman who has received it twice.
I want to be equal to men. 
Women still make only 77 cents to every dollar men do.

Now,
I want to be equal.
Because I know,
Women only make 77 cents to every dollar men earn.

Fan Entitlement - in general and also specifically re: Alex

Right now, I really want to slam things and shout ‘WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE’?! Because that’s how angry I am, but I know that will completely obscure my point, so I’m going to refrain. For now.

What an artist “owes” you:

  1. to work hard on and be proud of the music they put out
  2. to give their all when you pay to come see them

That is literally it. They do not owe you access to their personal lives, a tweet, a photo, a hug, a meet & greet, to stop and say hi, or an explanation. Sure, those things are awesome but if an artist is doing any of those things it’s because they want to. Not because they have to or they owe it to you. I think a lot of fans these days forget that.

I’ve seen a lot of “fans” shitting on Alex lately because he isn’t behaving the way they want him to. People who don’t truly know him at all and used to claim to love him are sending him or indirecting snarky comments because they’re upset he’s out there living his life and being happy instead of spending all of his time alternating between working his ass off and paying attention to them. What makes you think it’s okay to lash out at another human being that you don’t even know for not meeting your (unreasonably high in many cases, imo) expectations of them?

The thing is, a few years ago, Alex spent all of his free time tweeting fans and responding to letters. Like. All of it. And I know some people got used to that (and that’s okay). But you have to know, that was as much for him as it was for you. He was having a rough time, but getting to help others really helped him. (Plus, he loves The Cab fans with all his heart.)

It meant a lot to him to be able to spend that kind of time with/on fans. But things change – from the demands on his time, to the state of his heart – and right now Alex needs to be out and about, living his life. He doesn’t have as much time as he used to. He’s had to pull back. There are a million reasons, but I promise you, this growing sense of entitlement – to his time, his energy, his attention – and the resulting anger, and negative energy directed his way by people who call themselves fans doesn’t make it easy for him to come back. The pressure is insane. Can you imagine what you would feel if literally hundreds (thousands?) of people demanded shit (personalized, focused, special shit) from you every single day? You’d crumble. How could you not? Especially when it’s the people who were always there to lift you up in the past.

It’s just so upsetting for me to see. I don’t care about the hate from randoms who are jealous and neither does he. It’s the fans he cares about and it hurts him so badly that they would treat him the way they have been. The ones publicly bashing him the hardest are the ones who have told him that he saved them. The ones he waited outside after shows to talk to, no matter the weather or circumstance. The sad part is that if they had any idea what was happening with the music and why (the label, other external forces) they would never act this way. You have to remember that just because you put someone on a pedestal it does not make them any less of a real person with real feelings than me or you.

meilute02:

everybody thinks their dog is the best dog in the world and everybody is right

(via valderie)

zouiem:

What song right now, puts you both in a good mood? 

(via kingmadx)