Kalin+M’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech



= = =Title of Speech:=

Stereotypical Girls
=Text of Speech:= ===I was three years old, in preschool, where my definition of “cool” fashion was wearing an Elmo Style jacket with big baseball buttons with my baseball style multi colored Crayola hat backwards, which had three crayon holders on the left side. Growing up, I didn’t play with Barbie’s or Poly Pockets, I played with army soldiers like the ones in Toy Story. I was not the princess who lived in a Snowhite fairytale, I was the soldier who nicknamed myself Joe or Joey because apparently my seven year old mind thought it was the most unique name in the world. Growing up, I have always had the decision to dress the way I want to. Now, whether it’s a stranger or friend, people everywhere approach me and ask “Kalin, why do you dress like a guy?” It wasn’t until sixth grade that I could come up with a logical answer that would satisfy people’s curiosity. I would simply reply, “Because guys clothes are comfy, and girls clothes, well, not so much.” And that’s the honest truth, I have always thought guys clothes are far cooler than girls clothes, except for the skinny skateboard jeans that guys should not wear. I’m a tomboy who wears shorts twenty four seven, in fifty or eighty degree weather, and of course an occasional snapback hat. In the America I live in, I would like to see people less stereotypical of girls.=== ===Most people say that drama sparks wildfires within most women, where in guys one sucker punch to the gut seems to solve it all. However, I have never been one of the many girls and women who feed into the drama, when in fact I have always been able to avoid it without even realizing it. Even at my elementary school, when all the other girls would sit and pick grass or daises while gossiping about who likes who, I would hang out with the boys. We would play Star Wars where I always chose to be Luke Skywalker or Yoda. We would play “Hide and Go Seek Tag” or create a mixed up version of “Gears of War” and “Halo II”, creating missions to shut down the invisible bombs before they demolished the entire planet. And while I was running around and playing with the guys, not once did I ever understand why most of the girls would just sit and talk throughout recess on a beautiful day where the sun filled the air with promise of a fresh new day to play in. Even to this day, I have been one of the few teenage girls who has swerved away from the fray. My friends rush up to me with eyes bursting with excitement, “Oh, my, gosh!! Guess who’s going out together!?” But before they tell me, I reply with my kind anti-solicitor voice, “I’m sorry, I’m not interested, but thank you anyway.” I don’t like getting involved with drama from the latest Taylor Swift relationship that lasts for only 24 hours… or twenty four minutes. It’s simple, drama is not my style- comfy is.=== ===Looks can be deceiving. In my case, apparently looks are very deceiving. You’d be surprised how many of my friends didn’t know I wasn’t a guy until the second or third year of being friends. I remember being in middle school (which were the three most shady year of my life) and being constantly asked if I was a guy or a girl. After the hundredth person, I was at the point of just waiting for my middle school life to die like everyone else. I even remember my old crazy friend proposing the idea of “tying me to the cash register in Victoria Secrets to see how fast I’d melt.” You see, at Foothill, I can express myself without the strange eyebrow look of “Are you a dude?” The casual attire of Rip Curl shorts, a simple T-shirt, and a pair of Vans skateboard shoes is my day and night outfit. If there’s a thunderstorm or twenty mile per hour gusts of wind, then I’ll be reasonable (for my mother’s sake) and wear my cozy cotton flannel. I don’t wear Uggs, high heels, and especially no to dresses. If I could line up every friend and family member who would die to see me in a dress, then that line would last for about a full mile. I don’t paint my nails, except for the one time I let Emily paint my toe and finger nails sparkly mermaid green. I have never put on makeup because I believe in true beauty- as cheesy as that sounds. I’ve always had the same hair style since preschool, naturally straight hair that takes less that five minutes to brush in the morning without the use of any fancy hair boosting/ anti-freeze products. I have always been the plain ol’ shorts and shirts kid who has not physically changed since kindergarten (it’s true, my kindergarten teacher told me on her walk in the neighborhood that I haven’t changed one bit from the time she taught me the alphabet.).=== ===I am content with my life and the way I dress. I am content with my lifestyle and my state of mind; if I decide to wear my snapback hat, then by Gumby I will! I am a one hundred percent iron core Chinese American girl who wants to live in an America where people are less concerned about what I wear than who I am. Clothes don’t define me- my actions and beliefs do.===

=Cite Your Sources:= My brain.