Protestor's use Art

In Russia there has been a bunch of arrests for protesting. These Protesters are using art to express themselves, and I must admit that I understand why they are being arrested. But at the same time it is Freedom of Speech and I think all are should be legal. The idea that protesters are using phallic symbols to protest amuses me, not in an artistic way, but a childish way. I feel that they are just insulting their government, not protesting it. It seems like more of a joke to me, than a real artistic protest.
In Spain there is a radical art protest group that used Sex Dolls to protest the new anti-abortion law. By using taping the mouths of the blow up dolls and laying them on the ground they're insinuating that the people of Spain have no voice, the government has "taped their mouths shut" and with trample over the massive hordes of bodies to get to where they want to be.
Until I write again
Au revior,
~Rayne

How does the media effect girls?

So we've all heard of eating disorders and anxiety. And we all probably have at least one friend who is suffering through either an eating disorder or a negative body image. This person could even be you. Personally I have been through both, and am still struggling through, but after I found an article on How Women Internalize Unrealistic Beauty Standards, I didn't realize just how skewed my views were. It is true that men/boys are also struggling with the unrealistic standards, but it just doesn't seem to bother them quite as much as it does girls. There are definitely guys out there who feel this way as well, but it seems to effect women/girls much more. According to this article, 20% of 9-year-olds and 40% of 14-year-olds want to lose weight, and most of them are within the normal weight for their age range. If this is effecting 9-year-olds, imagine how grown women who have grown up feeling insufficient feel inside. One of the things the media teaches us is to hide how we feel about ourselves, to keep our problems inside and try to nab the hotshot with the nice car and lots of money. And so what if he beats us, as long as he says he loves us, we'll be okay. Our insecurities are what drives us to stay in this mindset, and men (not all by any means) know this and some abuse it, while others try and make us see what we really are. BEAUTIFUL. Every single person on this earth is beautiful. No matter what society's standards are, someone will always find you to be the most magnificent creature they've ever laid their eyes upon. Don't forget that, because if you do, that's when the media gets to sink their claws in and rip away every part of you until you're skin and bones.
I always say how much I love art, media, everything creative, but something's are not art. They can be cruel and deceiving monsters, and that would be our mainstream media for you. They will do everything they can to make you watch and obsess over whatever they have in store for you next. It's not hard to do, we are all susceptible to it, and their deceptiveness is so discrete that we don't even question them.
Basically all I'm trying to say is, keep your head up beautiful, and yeah the world we live in today is a harsh place, but if you look hard enough, you'll find what I have. The beauty of Real heART.
Until I write again
Au revior,
~Rayne

Is There a Difference between Art and Craft?

Some may say that an art and a craft are the same thing, this is completely false! Anyone can create art, a craft is making this art as a trade. (For a living) Yeah I make art, but it is not my craft, it'll never be what I do for a living. I'm not saying that I don't want it to be, but I just don't have the talent, nor the patients to make it into my craft. Personally I'd rather become an artist of some sort, but I just know it isn't in my future.
The reason that people mistake a craft and an art is because we use the word "artist" so people think that "oh that just be their art" but NO, it is actually their "craft". There is a difference. The definition of a craft is "the members of a skilled profession" while the definition of art is "the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance." See, there's even a difference in the definition. It's not just me who thinks that there's a difference. Even the dictionary does. If you disagree with my explanation of the difference, please comment and let me know.
Until I write again
Au revior,
~Rayne

Books

Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein, these are authors I and many children have grown up with, as the times have changed, so has the literature a lot of children read. When my parents were in elementary school they were reading things like "Where The Red Fern Grows" or "Huckleberry Finn". Are the books we as the "new age" not giving our children the opportunity to learn the same as we did? Now I understand that children are learning much faster these days, but something is still hindering them. Some children think that slavery didn't exist... that it's one huge conspiracy... books like "uncle Tom's Cabin" prove differently. And now they're trying to change the books so that the language is more "suitable". What is THAT??! Words that are in that book are THE REAL DEAL! They are true to the era of those books and make it authentic. The fact that they are now trying to say that these words aren't appropriate is just idiotic. It's like trying to erase part of our American history. That the unfairity of how slaves and African Americans were treated. Like it was okay for them to be treated first as property, then as "the help". (people to be seen and not heard) It's sort of saying that the African American's struggle to get to where they are today, is not important.
Basically what I am trying to say is that I hope that we realize the change we're bringing to our future generations due to the "inappropriate" language that was normal in that time period. Things are going to change, but just how drastically should they change?

Until I write again
Au revior,
~Rayne

How is the Media effect Social Norms

Most of the music we listen to today has some kind of derogatory/sexual/suicidal/harsh wording in it, and WE as TEENS eat that up! We feel grown and mature listening to sexually explicit things, and they bring sex to the fronts of our minds. At school dances, how many of the songs we listen to have at least ONE sexual reference? Almost EVERY SINGLE SONG!!! That's insane! If you listen to that kind of music (which I will admit, I do as well) you become more likely to accept it as a norm. If my father went through my playlists, he would blush, and my ol' man hardcore. He doesn't allow my brothers to listen to most things because of how rappers refer to girls as "bitches" and "hoes" and he says to always ask yourself "If someone was saying that about your sister, girlfriend, or best friend, would you wanna listen to a song about it then?" And I realized that that's a good point. Women today act as though we need to be treated equal and not as pieces of meat to be used and played with, but here we are encouraging big breasted women to shake their booties and become our role models. When we see famous women do those types of things, we accept them as normal and think we should do them too, so we get our butts out on the dance floor and shake them vigorously to attract all sorts of attention. If we see an actor throwing up and singing about it while looking fabulous, we may try to purge our way to fame and beauty. Now if we see our role models having sex and doing things like that, don't you think that we're much more likely to want to have sex and do those things too? All we have to do is watch a music video about sex, and already we're thinking that we should probably do that sometime, because that is the social norm and being a virgin isn't good anymore.
The media acts as if the act of losing your virginity is a small thing and having sex with lots of people should be encouraged. This causes teens and young people to be more likely to have sex and we all know that young people aren't always the brightest, and don't think about the mistakes they could be making. Thus, unprotected sex happens, then babies and diseases. It's not a bright outlook, I know this, but it's the reality of the generation we're in today. If you accept the media's outlook on how women should look, or how people should act together is decreasing the amount of self-worth  and respect people have for not only themselves but everyone around them. This allows people to treat others with disrespect and use them for their bodies, and when something bad happens, it's so much easier to drop that person and forget. That's what the media has told us, and that is how we act because of it.

Until I write again
Au revior,
~Rayne

Should art be taken more seriously?

Once again today I was on my favorite Debate site and I noticed the question on if art should be taken more seriously. Well, I didn't know that art wasn't taken seriously in the first place. I  mean take into consideration all of the critics and museums and art plazas. There's also all the VMA's, Emmys, and Oscars, All those things are renowned all over the world and they are nothing but different kinds of art.

Visual arts: paintings, movies, photography, power points, logos, drawings, fashion, etc.
Audio arts: music, audio in movies, etc.
Written art: poetry, lyrics, stories, etc.

There are a lot of different kinds of art and maybe they don't seem like they're art but they are. That's the beauty of it is that EVERYTHING is art. The way I'm typing is even artful. It's wonderful. The whole world has the ability to be artful, but not that many see it as I do, because it seems "far fetched". But the only thing I find "far fetched" is the idea that art isn't everywhere or that it shouldn't be taken seriously. Honestly I believe that's a shame. What would people do without art? They'd have plain everything, if even that. There wouldn't be any individuality and I hate that people take this for granted.

Please comment your feelings on this topic.
Until I write again
Au revior,
~Rayne

Fashion=Art?

What is fashion? By definition (Google) it is a popular trend, esp. in styles of dress and ornament or manners of behavior. Does that count as an art though? In my opinion it does, if one is creating a  new style it is much like music. It's a fad. Currently in our generation most of the media is on pop culture and rap. In the fashion world, our generation is obsessed with outrageous colors and all sorts of baggy clothing. To be honest, I fall in the category of fad followers. Not to fit in, but because the outrageous and random stuff I see on clothing and such makes me want to just sport it and show my uniqueness.

Now this talk of fads and such doesn't prove my point the way I'd like it too, only because it's something so trivial.. Yet isn't that how people who aren't music heads feel about music, and same with how most non-artists feel for contemporary or really any art. It's really a call of how you feel for that specific piece of artistry I guess. The way you live is the way you will see things, and that is the beauty of all this. Everything is technically art, depending on how you view it. There are definitely things that I personally do not consider art due to my own opinions. But as I will say time and time again everyone has their own opinions and I will not try and force mine on any of you, I persuade but no pushing. SO! In short, I believe fashion IS an art because of the beauty and grace involved in making everyone around the world look nice. I hope you see it as an art too.

Until I write again
Au revior,
~Rayne