College Essays This section is edited by Benie N'sumbu. Contact her to publish yours.

By MarQuel Horton

      I have always had a preference for fiction over reality. My mother cultivated my love of literature early in my development. She bought me children’s books like the Little Bear collection and Where the Wild Things Are. She read to me most nights until I learned to devour books on my own. Fiction was an escape. Sometimes, my mother couldn’t afford to buy me more books or to keep our cable subscription, so I would walk down to the library every week and carry a stack of books that I would binge-read. The books would consume my entire day after school, and I didn’t miss watching television when I was reading. The last books my mother gave me were the Harry Potter books. She wanted me to excel, go to college, and reach my full potential because she couldn’t. I will always be grateful to my mom for nourishing my love of fiction.
     Harry Potter drew me to other fantasy and dystopian books. The more I immersed myself in these fantastical worlds, the more I wanted to build one for myself. The first story I ever shared was about a teenager who let her vanity control her life. Her pride would later lead to her downfall after being cursed by an old homeless woman, who cast a spell of decay, showing her rotten inside. Stephen King’s Thinner inspired this cautionary tale. My seventh-grade English teacher encouraged me to read my story to the class. I had always felt like I was going to vomit, pee, cry, and faint all at the same time when I had to speak in public. Even with this crippling fear, I stood up and stammered through the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. When I was done and heard applause, all my doubts were replaced with a sense of accomplishment and a need to write more.
    J.K. Rowling’s world-building expertise helped me to craft my own world, which I named Elysi. Another inspiration came from Cassandra Clare’s shadowhunters, a race of half-angelic people that protect the mortal world from creatures of the night, in her series Mortal Instruments. Clare’s themes of compassion and friendship and her inversion of our concepts of good and evil and Rowling’s themes of equality as well as perseverance inspired me to populate Elysi with a people called the Energin. Over the past six years, the two narrators, twin teenagers named David and Quinn, have twisted and evolved with me. At the beginning of their story, the twins suffer from depression and neglect. Quinn becomes very gregarious relying on other people to survive, while David turns inward on himself and, as a result, does not have the relationships he wants to have. This causes a rift in their relationship and within themselves.
     David and Quinn’s characterization draws from my own personality and experiences. Whenever I was overwhelmed by emotions, I would withdraw into myself and rely on my friends and family for validation. Later in their journey their mother abruptly dies, as my mother did when I was sixteen. They react to her death in two different ways on the same spectrum. One falls apart, destroying the bridges they built with friends, while the other ignores their emotions. In my own life, I immediately went back to school and focused on my writing to make myself believe that I wasn’t suffering.
     I gathered strength by reading about strong fictional characters overcoming their conflicts. The Golden Compass’s protagonist, Lyra, has this openness to the strange world around her and perseveres in the face of powers vastly greater than hers. I don’t want any of the characters I create to be defined by tragedy or limited by adversity and have that be the end of their story. If I could help one person find strength in my words as I did in the words of others’, then my love of fictional worlds will have meaning.

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Jaidyn Johnson

     My name is Jaidyn Johnson. I’m seventeen years old and I was born and raised in Bridgeport, CT. I’m the oldest of four brothers and a sister. Having a family of six is hard, because more is required. Everyone has their own needs, and we do different things because we’re all of different age groups. So that is more money my mom has to dish out.
     Being a single mother of six has been very stressful and tiring for my mom. My mom plays the role of the mother and father. I appreciate her for that. I am so proud of my mom’s accomplishments. She has done a tremendous job, and sacrificed everything to get us where we are now. She is my role model for persevering through difficult times.
      At the end of 2016, things changed dramatically for my household over the span of eight months. My mother became unemployed, so she had no car, and her income wasn’t big enough to support our needs. She is a single parent and does everything she can for her kids, but some bills weren’t paid on time.
     I was unable to go on field trips with my classmates because my mom didn’t have to funds to pay for me to go. I missed out on trying out for track, cheerleading, and dance because my mom had no way to bring me to the auditions or try outs and didn’t have the money to buy the uniforms or pay the registration fees. Living in a home with no heat or hot water made it even harder on us. As the oldest, I get the most responsibility because when my mom goes to work I have to watch my brother, and I cook for my siblings as well.
     Some nights we would eat dry cereal or hot dogs with no bread. Throughout this situation, my mom became depressed because she wasn’t at her best. She became more upset when she wasn’t able to buy Christmas gifts for us. For her, those eight months were the toughest she's had in almost 19 years--since my brother died.
     The fact that my mom didn’t have a car caused me to be late for school every day--I had to take the train which started running at seven-twenty. I’d often wind up being late or missing my first period class. I ended up failing that class for the whole year. This year, I spoke to my guidance counselor and my current arts teacher to see what I could do to help myself get that grade up. They gave me a ton of work, which will raise my overall grade just enough to allow me to graduate.
     In September of 2017, things started to get better for my family. My mom found herself a high paying job through the city of Bridgeport, and she bought a car. She also found herself another job working at a farmer’s market--but it was only for the season. She then found an overnight job working Wednesday-Saturday from midnight through eight in the morning. She’s been doing such great work she was actually awarded Community Partner of the Year.
     My life has changed due to my mom’s success. My grades have been improving. I received an award for Honors for MP1, Honorable Mention for MP2, High Honors for MP3. Next year I’ll be taking my first AP class and college class at Gateway Community College.
     I want to go to college and major in Nursing. Nursing is far more than a job or even a career. It's an adventure, a continuous learning process that I plan on engaging in for the rest of my life. The idea of touching the lives of others by simply fixing them medically fills me with joy, whether the help I’d provide is acknowledged or remains unnoticed. The pride I hold in saying, "I'm going to be a nurse," is immeasurable. Nursing is more than a profession of integrity and compassion, it is a privilege that allows me to live up to my values as a human being and the responsibilities granted to me with the precious gift of life.
     Though I’m not pursuing the profession for my mother, I know how proud she’ll be of me when I receive my nursing diploma. So until that day comes, I will put my best foot forward and continue to work extremely hard to see that smile on her beautiful face.

Tierra Williams-Ranciato

​     He told me I could open the door.
     I looked up to him so maybe that's why I kept trying. My father loomed over my four-year-old self as tall as the sun. When I asked him why he couldn’t open the door for me he looked at me and explained how he couldn't do everything for me and couldn't always be there. A couple hours later I maneuvered my Halloween candy out of the closet.
     Once, I asked him what a leaf was made of. Instead of him telling me the answer, he asked me “well, what do you think its made of?” “I won’t tell you the answer,” was always his response to my excuses on giving up.
And he was right, he didn’t have to open doors for me, I could open my own. He didn’t have to tell me answers, I could answer my own.
Because of experiences like this, I believe that I shouldn’t have to check with others in order to feel assured that my dreams are reachable, or that I’m on the “right path.” I always try to find new, refreshing experiences in life. My peers always ask me why I do so much, but to me, that's like asking why I’m breathing. So I can only answer that it’s what naturally comes to me.
 
I have a hunger. The hunger to always be out doing something even if it is not geared towards my future. To always ask why. A hunger to take experiences and use them as leverage to get to higher places. A hunger for adventure. And I recently had such an adventure over two weeks this past summer.
The Amistad rocked on the waves as we began to sail into Manhattan after several days of visiting colleges, anchoring overnight, getting seasick, visiting seaports, and sailing for over 13 hours straight. Buildings with different shapes and sizes towered over us on both sides, catching the sun just right so that the pictures we took looked like postcards. Everyone on deck was watching out for boats and seaplanes that came out of nowhere. But when we docked overnight under Lady Liberty that was something out of books. A former slave ship replica docking under a symbol of freedom—the irony! Her night lights glowed as she stood on one side of us and Manhattan just hung over us like a mountain on the other side. We didn’t sleep that night because of the party boats that came around us. It was a crazy trip altogether. We even hit a buoy once at 12 AM in the morning while trying to make our way in the dark. It was a trip to remember. We weren’t just opening a door to new horizons, we were breaking it down.
For the people that turned away the Amistad pamphlet with disdain, people that said they would go but decided not to just because their friends weren’t, I want to thank them. Thank them because had they not turned down this trip I don’t think I would have appreciated this trip as much as I did. I expanded my views with students from around Connecticut. I even made a friend who is originally from Jamaica and interviewed Supreme Court Judge Rick Richard. This experience really taught me the power of taking opportunities that others are afraid to.
So as I crack open that door a little more, I salute my past and graduate to my future.

Name Withheld

     The main reason I chose to apply to Parsons New School of Design is because I have known since my junior year of high school that I absolutely love photography, especially black and white portrait photography. Black and white photography is so much better because the color in conventional photographs is too overwhelming for me. It’s easy for my eyes to get distracted and wander all over the photo without focusing on specific qualities. Black and white photos, on the other hand, aren’t as likely to leave you discombobulated; they also draw your attention to where it’s supposed to be, so you’re not looking all over the place.
      Another reason why I chose to apply to the School of Design is because I believe it would be an amazing experience for me to live in a different state and to gain independence as I become an adult. As a kid, I always imagined living in the Big Apple. Growing up, I used to watch "Friends" every single night before I went to bed and thought about how New York seemed so magical at night and especially during holiday seasons. I want to be able to do something I really love and have a passion for and make my dreams come true, while also meeting different kinds of people.
     I think Parsons would be beneficial to me because it would provide me with the many opportunities I not only want but need, such as opening doors after I graduate. I look forward to opportunities like getting internships at high-end magazines, such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, GQ, Vanity Fair, and Marie Claire. I also know that with a degree from Parsons my hopes of opening up my own photography studio could become a reality.

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AP Language Papers This section is edited by Sam Sims. Contact her to publish yours.

Samantha Sims
Mr. Nelken
English 1004
23 April 2019

 Stuck in the Middle Class 
     The alarm clock rings, the time 7:00 A.M. flashing obnoxiously on its miniature screen. With hate and irritation, you roll over and slam the snooze button on top. You go to your daughter and son’s bedroom to disturb their peaceful rest just as was yours ruined by the alarm clock and finally, you get ready in the bathroom for a day’s work. Once everyone is ready, you rush the two children out of the front door and wave at your spouse who starts work an hour later than you. The kids are dropped off at school and you sit at your office desk, listening to coworkers complain and customers whine until the clock strikes 5:00 P.M. You wave at your weirdly overjoyed boss and drive home, listening to the radio jingles and furniture store advertisements on repeat. You and the family indulge in leftovers fresh from two nights before, staring at an episode of Jeopardy. By 10:00 P.M., you are exhausted and have come to the conclusion the day cannot get anymore exciting. After tucking the kids in with a goodnight kiss, you lay beside your spouse, anticipating the same routine to follow the next day and the day after that and the day after that.
    Stacy Firth is a mother of two young children and self -employed, working from home. Firth is also one of the contributors to Scarymommy.com. On her blog post, “Sometimes Being A SAHM Is Boring AF,” Firth describes the repetitive lifestyle she has been locked into. She admits that even though she should be elated to enjoy quality bonding with her kids, she feels “ennui,” or utter boredom from the normalcy. She opens by saying, “I’m just going to say it. Sometimes, being home with the kids? It’s really boring,” and continues by recalling the highlights of the day before, “[acting] out Frozen for the 47th time since breakfast,” building blocks “wrong,” unloading and loading the dishwasher, and laughing hysterically at how “absurd” it all was. (“Sometimes Being A SAHM Is Boring AF”)
     Would Stacy Firth not much rather be somewhere else? Camped out in the Carribeans, a beach house overlooking the clear, blue ocean, the breeze making her clothes rise in rhythm? Wouldn’t she rather be doing something else? Eating escargots and foie gras in Paris or paella in Spain? If only, she were someone else altogether—a celebrity with a mansion, bombarded with fans, always sporting the newest fashion, and envied by people around the world. Her only obligations would be to smile in front of the cameras and inhale the smell of cash.
    This fantasy brings many of us ease at the small ounce of hope that someday it will become our reality. There is an underlying cognizance that we would be much happier if we were richer, more attractive, or famous. The inclination in status would supplement our boring 9-5 lifestyles with excitement and revitalization. It is to no surprise, we find ourselves giving into the commercials that promise us our escape with name brands, vacations, beauty products, and viral dances. We want to feel closer to our idols so that we can be somewhere else, doing something else, or become someone else. Ultimately, the middle class does not feel a pressing responsibility such as one that would require them to help people who are less fortunate than them. Instead, they would rather make use of their slither of privilege by playing pretend, transferring themselves out of their middle-class identity. They continue to portray themselves as being better of and actually, less miserable than they are by boosting their social image and physical appearance. Here, lies the complex issue confronting the middle class: They are so busy working and trying to stay afloat in the economy that they lose their individuality in the process. In order to reclaim some sense of humanity, should they spend the extra money they have to breathe new life into themselves, with these extravagant vacations, expensive skin care, and idiotic trends, or blend in with rest of the lost bodies of the middle class?
     It is arguable that we, the middle class, are actually very comfortable where we are and small splurges and relaxation time are well deserved after an extraneous workload. Feeling trapped in their day-to-day routine, however, the middle class has a tendency to try to adopt or imitate other identities or personas to be momentarily liberated from life’s structure.
Many of the middle class are guilty of giving into viral trends. Whether they are dangerous or not, they do not fail to be shared and attempted by thousands across the internet on social media. Many of these trends are targeted to the youth such as teenagers and young adults, who are quick to follow after them without a second thought. It has been proven that the younger proportion of the middle class is willing to do just about anything to be noticed and bring excitement to their mediocre education and minimum wage side jobs. The popularity of these said trends spreads like wildfire and can easily swallow an entire generation whole in a matter of days or even hours. All it takes is one person with influence to share the act of someone with no supremacy. Once the youth concludes that such idiotic acts are what bring attention, fame, and wealth, there is little to no hesitation to endeavor the same success. These viral trends are often referred to as challenges and are meant to be tried by those who come across it. Some apps can act as jump starters for acting, singing, and dancing careers or liaisons to other successful individuals. Apps such as DubSmash and Tik Tok, formerly known as Musical.ly, provide young adults as well as children with the opportunity to debut as a self-made, internet personality. Through lip syncing to songs and performing choreography on a screen, teenagers like Loren Gray, Baby Ariel, and Jacob Sartorius found their stardom.
     Not all challenges and apps mean the middle-class youth well. Unfortunately, some challenges can result in serious injury and put those who dare to attempt them in unfavorable conditions. Most recently, the “In My Feelings/Kiki” challenge has become increasingly popular. The challenge consists of people in moving cars jumping out of the passenger seat to dance at the car’s side to In My Feelings, a song by the multi-talented artist, Drake. This challenge, in particular, poses several safety concerns. Study Breaks explains, “The challenge involves a heavy motor vehicle with a distracted or even an absent driver, depending on how daring (read: stupid) the participants decided to be. Not only does this decision put the safety of the dancers at risk, but also anyone else who happens to be on the road.” It is to no surprise numerous cases have surfaced of dancers being harmed. More than just scraped knees and elbows from misstepping when exiting the moving vehicle, the “In My Feelings/Kiki” challenge went awry in Anna Worden’s case. The 18-year-old tripped and fell, hitting her head on her way to the ground. Worden suffered from a skull fracture which caused her brain to bleed and blood clots in her ears. (“The 5 Most Dangerous Internet Challenges”)
     A second challenge prompted severe burns on 49% of 12-year-old Timiyah Landers’s body. Identified as the fire challenge, participants must cover themselves in flammable liquids, like nail polish remover, and then set themselves on fire. The object of the challenge is to “test pain endurance or just impress...friends.” Tested every few years by the impetuous, the first known video of the fire challenge was posted in 2012. Brandi Owens, the mother of Timiyah Landers, spoke out against the challenge and others alike, saying, “she hopes...websites like YouTube will crack down on videos related to these dangerous internet challenges so that no child or parent ever has to endure what her family is going through.” Because of the fire challenge, Owens exclaims, “Instead of starting seventh grade with her peers, [her daughter] will need ventilators, feeding tubes and surgeries for at least the next few months.” (“The 5 Most Dangerous Internet Challenges”)
     Other dangerous challenges include the notorious cinnamon challenge, which calls for swallowing a spoonful of the spice. The consequences for challenges can have lasting, detrimental effects despite their innocent ambiance. The cinnamon challenge hospitalized 16-year-old Dejah Reed after undergoing a collapsed lung and landed her with asthma. An unintentional encounter with cinnamon powder took the life of 4-year-old Matthew Radar via accidental asphyxiation. His mother, Brianna Radar, uses the death of her son to caution others from trying the cinnamon challenge. (“The 5 Most Dangerous Internet Challenges”) Similarly, some viral trends can challenge morality and boundaries. The middle-class youth are also being fed content that can be degrading and too mature for specific age groups. The shared content can encourage intoxication or hypersexuality at a young age. Once a young girl sees posting “sexy” pictures showing more skin receives more likes than a picture of herself with more clothing or a young male believes a video of him vaping or waving a firearm will result in fame because he saw the same happen for someone else his age, the middle-class youth’s conscious can become tainted with the wrong interpretation of reality.   
     The middle-class youth is becoming naive to the dangers of internet trends and their eagerness to try them alarmingly grows. The familiarity of “trend culture” is expanding and becoming more apparent in the economic hierarchy. Teenagers and young adults across social media platforms have picked up on the pattern among their generation and social class. On my account, 92 of my Instagram followers, ages 14-20, were surveyed and asked what social media apps have taught them about society, themselves, and the future. One respondent commented, “That it will kill you if you tried to follow everything in it.” Based off of the array of challenges gone wrong, the number and severity of the injuries can attest to the respondent’s remark. Another added, “We tend to do a lot for money and entertainment instead of what is necessary, just to see what happens, for views, and revenue.” A third respondent compared social media to “crack” in its addictive nature. The thought process to follow after these trends is almost understandable, however. Individuals who are shown to the middle-class youth attempting such challenges are propped up on pedestals instead of scolded for their behavior. They are double-tapped, sent through direct messages, and reposted, their fame rising exponentially. The middle-class youth recognizes the correlation between being bold to being popular. If they attempt these trends, they, too, have the potential to transform into an internet star and leave their boring school, employment, family, and friends behind. Not only are both security and health disregarded, but both morals and basic logic. What is important is narrowed down to the number of likes, reposts, and shares and what is the next fad to try to increase or maintain relevance.
     In addition to retaining trend culture, advertisements encourage the middle class to enjoy similar activities to celebrities. Such purchases that are made to intimate the lifestyle of an idol can help transport the middle class outside of their structured routines and bring them closer to a state of elevation. Big corporations are well aware of the middle class’s ravenous desire to be household names such as media personality and model Kim Kardashian or rapper Lil Yachty. They use certain advertisement techniques to exploit middle-class members suffering from fame and wealth myopia to convince them to buy their products. The use of celebrities to endorse products is identified as the execution of Greek philosopher Aristotle's category of rhetoric, ethos. The Studio Binder explains, “When an esteemed public figure endorses a product, it validates it to the end consumer. An ethos advertisement plays off the consumer’s respect for a given spokesperson. Through that respect, the spokesperson appears convincing, authoritative, and trustworthy enough to listen to...It’s all about credibility. Famous people enjoy a high status in our society. So they’re the ones selling products to us—whether or not they have product-specific expertise.” (“The Definitive Guide to Ethos, Logos and Pathos”) In an article titled, “Market to the New (Self-Identified) Middle Class” from 2015, author Adam Rossow advises new companies on how to sell to the middle class based on personal experience. He notes, “We discovered that, to appeal to the self-identified middle class, the ideal spokesperson should be attractive, likable, genuine, worldly, and honest...Another point to consider is that social media has vastly changed how consumers view and interact with celebrity spokespeople today. With unprecedented access to celebrities’ thoughts, opinions, and journals of their daily lives, merely seeing them act in a commercial doesn’t elicit connections in the same way it once did.” (“Marketing To The New (Self-Identified) Middle Class”) Even if a celebrity does not present themselves as completely honest or genuine, the consumer still trusts them, because they enjoy their music or fashion sense enough to the point of reverence.
     The University Star criticizes the middle class for mistaking celebrities as “heroes” of our society and allowing musicians like Kanye West to refer to themselves as “God.” (“Hollywood vs the Middle Class”) Despite how pathetic or misaligned this view of Kanye West is to some, it is true that many hold celebrities to such a high standard. In today’s culture, celebrities are worshiped. The epidemic is undergoing serious scientific research, beginning with the topic being discussed in the paper of Aditya Shana Mishra and Subhadip Roy, The Dual Entertainment Theory in Celebrity Endorsements: The Role Celebrity Worship and Profession. There, they argue, “Celebrity worship typically results from a search for a social identity and social role among certain consumers, and often involves a light form of fantasy to...escape and avoid boredom on the part of these individuals.” (“Understanding the Power of Celebrity 'Worship'”) This is evident in rapper Cardi B.’s and actor Steve Carell’s Super Bowl Pepsi commercial of 2019. The advertisement opens with a waiter asking the average middle-aged woman if the soda, Pepsi, is okay for her drink. Steve Carell along with a handful of other celebrities interrupt the pair’s conversation, shocked that the waiter would use the word “okay” when talking about Pepsi. Carell exclaims from the booth behind the woman, “Is Pepsi okay? Are puppies okay? Is a shooting star okay?” From the doors of the restaurant enters Cardi B. who energetically recites her catchphrase, “Okurt,” with a smile. As Cardi B. sits down in the booth with the woman, she taps hypnotically on a Pepsi can. The woman mumbles “I want a Pepsi,” as if she is under Cardi B.’s trance. The commercial ends with the customer enjoying a refreshing glass of the soda with the rapper and Carell. (America, 00:01:39 - 00:02:00)  
     Celebrities also use their persuasion profit in profitable industries to help the average customer look like their idols by their possessions. A Los Angeles-based online retailer called Fashion Nova often pays celebrities like Amber Rose, Blac Chyna, and Kylie Jenner to post pictures of themselves in their products such as mini dresses and jeans with hashtags and captions crediting the store. Aimed towards curvy women, the site works with 3,000 to 5,000 different influencers to supply shoppers with affordable yet stylish clothing. Their celebrity antics prove to be quite effective. 25-Year-old Alexandria Williams confessed, “I follow Cardi B. and K. Michelle and saw them wearing Fashion Nova, so I started following Fashion Nova.” (“How Celebrities Helped Fashion Nova Take Over Your Instagram Feed”) The middle class is under the control of praised superstars. Companies capitalize on the class’s submission to celebrities to get them to make certain purchases. The middle class wants so badly to bask in a lifestyle synonymous to those they admire. If they buy products their favorite celebrities seem to enjoy such as a pair of Fashion Nova Jeans or a bottle of Pepsi, they may feel more connected to them. It is to no surprise company sales go up once actors, models, and athletes are incorporated in a 30-second commercial or a post on social media. If they become more like their idols, they become less of themselves like the advertisements advocate them to do.
    Moreover, the middle class is obsessed with how they appear to others. Their self-image and representation on social media to their counterparts in real life are important to them. They must often be kept with the times to stay contemporary and pertinent. The middle class portrays themselves in such a way that suggests they are better off than they actually are. Sometimes spending outside of their tax bracket, the middle class sacrifices more than they can afford to protect their reputation and further develop their appearance. This can include purchases on long hair extensions, particular shoe brands, or expensive cars. Market Watch cites an analysis by Deutsche Bank Research which concluded, “People who made the most money spend the biggest chunk of their consumption on luxury goods, but even the poorest households spend a significant amount on luxuries.” They found that middle-income homes spend about 50% on luxuries and the other half on necessities. This does not diverge too far from rich families, who spend 35% on necessities and the remaining 65% left on luxuries. Torsten Slok, the chief international economist for Deutsche Bank Securities, discovered even low-income families spend 40% on luxuries and only 60% on necessities. Deutsche Bank identifies luxuries as “goods or services consumed in great proportions as a person’s income increases” and necessities as “those goods or services that make up a smaller proportion of spending as a person’s income increases.” In a study in April of 2017, the Journal of Consumer Research mentioned, “Consumers who experience a loss of control are more likely to buy products that are more functional in nature, such as screwdrivers and dish detergent, because these are typically associated with problem solving, which may enhance people’s sense of control.” (“40% Of America's Lowest-Income Families' Consumption Goes on Luxuries”) With their structured lifestyles, the middle class has surrendered some control they once had in their lives to do what they wanted on their own time, excluding relying on family or jobs. They can regain some authority by having jurisdiction over how they display themselves to others.
     Money is wasted on many luxuries to help the middle class become a new version of themselves, one of them being cars valued outside of their appropriate tax brackets. On August 7th of 2013, Emily wrote about seeing “a lot of pretty nice cars parked in the lots—sports cars, muscle cars, and some luxury brands.” After making another observation of the price of the homes in her community, she asks, “Does something seem amiss to you? People owning cars that cost a third or half of what their house does?”  She expresses how another neighbor by the name of Kyle grew up in a bad neighborhood with lots of people with expensive cars. Kyle says, “Their status symbols were their cars instead of their homes.” (“Inexpensive House, Expensive Car”) The members of Emily and Kyle’s neighborhood enjoy flaunting their weighty expenses around town to give off the impression they are doing well, meanwhile their homes have been abandoned.
     The teenagers and young adults who participated in the survey aforementioned made some points to an imbalance of priorities. When asked what social media has taught them about society and themselves, one follower admitted that their self image and appearance has become important to them and other people. They need social media for self gratification and validation as they started to realize what people thought of them mattered. As time goes on, they understand that society is headed towards a future dependent on others’ opinions of us. One respondent, in particular, commented an uneasy truth: “Nobody is genuinely happy.” The members of Emily and Kyle’s community along with a vast majority of the middle class need the approval of their possessions from others to feel validated and give their lives a sense of purpose. When entering the middle class, they obtain some sort of responsibility that called them to give up certain freedoms the wealthy can still enjoy. Spontaneous and extravagant spending on vacations or vehicles allows the middle class to take back some of the authority they lost, even if it does cost an extra dollar or a few thousand. Additionally, they are in charge of what others see. If they want to come off as happier or richer than they actually are, they have the option to do so with their property. Their pricey shoes and long hair can distract from the fact that they are miserable and really trying to be different people altogether.
     Yet there are individuals in the middle class who try see their position in society through a positive lens. They do not feel the pressure forced on by their routine structured lives to attempt to be other people. In fact, they may be the most comfortable people in the social hierarchy, stationed right between the middle of poverty and wealth. Bloggers Blair and Brady are a middle class couple in the wake of their thirties. They update their lifestyle blog, Offensively Middle Class, with “...bits and pieces of [their] middle class, millennial lifestyle in a humorous and relatable way.” The couple describes themselves as two people who both “love to travel and experience new things, especially together, and [they’ve] always been passionate about soaking up everything life has to offer, from amazing food to once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.” On their website, some of their expenditures are mentioned and include “drinking champagne and exploring the Galapagos Islands on a yacht” and even small, makeshift victories like “Hulu without commercials” and “avocado toast.” Blair and Brady both work two jobs, one as a historian at two museums and yoga instructor and nutrition advisors and the other as an architect, that they thoroughly enjoy. Residing in Texas, the bloggers’ objective is to show their followers how to “live [their] best lives and not [gives] a rat’s ass about tradition or so-called societal expectations.” (“Lifestyle Blog | About Us”) Blair and Brady exemplify two middle class citizens who seem to have successfully escaped the blare of “societal expectations.” According to their blog, they have sought out happiness that continues to strengthen their relationship. Regardless, the two bloggers need to incorporate unnecessary expenses on travel and food aboard to energize their lifestyle and relationship. This can suggest unsatisfactory with their regular routines, just like other middle class citizens. The only difference is Blair and Brady channel their frustration into new experiences illustrated by their blog and the average middle class individual puts it into reinventing themselves as someone else. Not to mention, the couple shares certain characteristics with the attention seekers of the middle class. Since they are bloggers who share their daily activities frequently with others, the couple is filtering their lives. They only share the parts they want others to see, which includes the photos of them kissing in Ecuador and advice on a plant-based diet. They fail to show rough patches in their relationship or frustration at their jobs. Blair and Brady only show their “best life” and isolate all the imperfect details from the content others can read. They have shaped their public image to only reflect happiness, excitement, and romance. They feel the pressure of the middle class to uphold their image to give the false impression they are better than they actually are. As much as the couple tries to cover up their flaws, Blair and Brady are really living out the common middle class fallacy and not their best lives. They are posting the best life they want others to see.
    The majority of the middle class wishes to be someone other than themselves, doing something more exciting. The middle class routine has subjected multiple individuals to grueling and painful redundancy in their day-to-day. I experience this feeling every day as a result of my repetitive routine: wake up, go to school, learn, leave school, go to an extracurricular, complete homework, sleep. On weekends, it is not any better. I go to work, deal with customers, return home to clean, and do more homework. On Sundays, I attend church then go to my job. I wash, rinse, and repeat every day of the week—I am miserable. I self-medicate by shopping for clothes to match new fashion fads. I post pictures online to make it seem like I am well and not suffering, but I am lying on social media and to the people who follow me. It is to no surprise I, along with many others, want nothing more than to escape it all and start fresh. Becoming like someone else through a range of decisions like deciding which photo to post, what to wear on a certain day, or which expensive car to buy can suffice our desperation. Participating in trend culture can catapult a member of the middle class almost instantly on the road of fame, fortune, and relevance. Taking after celebrity behavior is one method to match some of the qualities of a higher standard of living. By controlling others’ perception, altering appearance can help regain sovereignty lost to a 9-5 job and other responsibilities. It is necessary to recognize the dissatisfaction found within us so genuine happiness can be worked towards. To achieve genuine happiness in the middle class means striking a balance between responsibilities and leisure. Grasping leisure in creative ways, both on small and large scales, can prevent the average individual from losing interest in his or her daily life. We must do it for ourselves and not to just to be able to say or post that we did it.  This can include relaxing for a weekend outside of the state or riding with the car windows down to a great song blasting from the radio. Living in the middle class is about cherishing victories, little and big. If pockets of diverging from the norm are not incorporated every once in a while, utter boredom is inevitable. We should let gratification be apart of our routines to avoid feeling stuck in the middle.

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