Girls as Objects

by Annemarie McDaniel and Anya Josephs Annemarie and Anya are both SPARK bloggers, in Paris studying abroad for the summer! We’ve both had magical experiences here, but we’ve also noticed significant street harassment. We wanted to write this blog together to talk about the ways we’ve experienced harassment here differently than back home in the…

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by Brenda Guesnet The FIFA World Cup is the largest sporting event in the world. The 32 best national male soccer teams compete, attracting an audience of more than 26 million people worldwide and costing billions of dollars every time it is staged. This time, the host country of the cup was Brazil, and advertisers…

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by Annemarie McDaniel What do astronaut Neil Armstrong, President Bill Clinton, basketball star Michael Jordan, and singer Bon Jovi all have in common? When they were juniors in high school, they all attended a prestigious but little-known program called Boys State. That’s just the beginning of the incredibly long list of famous Boys State alumni,…

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by Stephanie M. Anderson Valentine’s Day – that pink, red, and white chocolate-covered day where you have the chance to tell everyone how much you care for them. I have to confess: it was one of my favorite days growing up. The anticipation of carnations, chocolates, or Disney-themed cards from a “secret admirer” (even if…

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by Cheyenne Tobias Your alarm rips though your slumber and you enter limbo between your reality and your dreams. Will you ever wake up without that snooze button? Stumbling into the chill of morning, you drag yourself to the bathroom, the light splashing greens and blues into your vision. You’ve got a full day ahead.…

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by Sam Holmes I will never forget the noise that my mother made when she first saw it. We were navigating the streets of New York on a busy Saturday in 2011, running late for a hair appointment. She was walking so briskly that I struggled to keep up. But then she stopped dead in…

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by Celeste Montaño I’m not a big fan of elevators, especially the ones in my dorm. I greatly appreciate my personal space, and it’s hard to have any space in a small room packed with students; plus, it sucks when I have to push through all the tall people to get out. But mostly, I hate…

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by Alice Wilder To Gossip Mags: We made it! Kim and Kanye just had their daughter, and I think its fair to say that this is pop culture history. Like all great journeys to historical moments, there were some bumps along the way–like the way you treated Kim and her pregnant body. Remember all those…

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