Because I'm feeling lazy, I've decided to get a little off-topic with my blog. Considering we've had little-to-no guidance and zero feedback on our other posts, I believe I deserve to pick a non-English-related topic this time. Here are my thoughts on body image:

Ninety-one percent of women surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting at some point in their life. Along with the culture shock of leaving home, many college freshmen are afraid of the "freshman fifteen", a weight gain caused by unhealthy eating and lifestyle choices in their first year. What's so terrifying about a little extra weight? More than half of that ninety-one percent would not be pushed over the line of healthy American vs. obese American if she gained fifteen pounds. A little extra weight is threatening because our world is never too slow to remind us that we could always weigh a little bit less.

The pressure to be thin is placed on children from a very young age. Obesity is an issue in America, and it needs to be prevented and rectified; however, at some point, the pressure becomes too much for impressionable children to handle. Preteens fast for days or weeks, making dieting a social trend. Most people who have been through the seventh grade have experienced the influence friends can have on their body image and how they feel about themselves. You can only remind your friends that they're "not fat" about twenty times before you begin to think that you are just as "fat" as they are.

But here's my message: look past it.

Stop caring what everyone else thinks. The social trend should be to love your body, no matter what size, shape, color, or gender you are. No one is ever going to be exactly the same, and that's okay. Accepting that you are the way you are will allow you to gain a confidence and a mindset that you have never had before (take this from personal experience). Stop telling yourself that you love celery and running if you don't love celery and running. Be proud of the fact that you love ice cream, and that's why your don't fit into your friends' clothes. You are not your friends.

It's undeniable: when you step into a Disney theme park, your entire attitude changes. After months of planning and a day of traveling, your hard work has paid off, and you've finally arrived.  Maybe you're so excited to be there because it brings back memories of your early Disney visits, and you can't wait to reminisce. If it's your first visit, you've probably heard adventure stories, and you can't wait to experience it all yourself! Either way, you've escaped the stress of real life, and you're in the "Happiest Place on Earth"; how could you be anything other than happy?

Disney World is at the front of my mind lately with two upcoming trips in 2014: one with my family and family friends in April, and another in May with my senior class. I've been to the Disney theme parks in Orlando, Florida four times so far, and it seems at times that Disney is all I can think about. Why do I (and other frequent Disney visitors) love it so much? What makes the Walt Disney Parks so special? Much credit is due to the cast members and characters who make every person's visit worth while. They play an important part when it comes to making their guests feel the "Magic of Disney", mainly because of the way they speak and act.

"Cast members", in Disney terms, are employees of The Walt Disney Company who work as customer associates in the parks. They're the ones who give tours, work registers, answer questions, help guests onto rides, and park strollers. Cast members speak kindly and are helpful; they're constant reminders that you're not in an ordinary theme park. Cast members who work in the ride department have specific uniforms to match the ride they help operate, and they're always in character. For example, cast members who work in the "Twilight Zone Tower of Terror" ride in Disney's Hollywood Studios wear bellboy outfits and act like they really work in a hotel, saying things like, "Your rooms are ready!" when you're preparing to board the elevator ride. Cast members who work in the "Haunted Mansion" ride in Magic Kingdom have stoic expressions and talk monotonously, as if they are zombies or ghosts. Cast members placed in Epcot's World Showcase are usually from and talk with accents corresponding to the "country" they work in. Being rung up by a cast member who speaks with a French accent in a gift shop in "France" adds to the illusion that you are actually in the city of Paris.

The Disney characters you see in the parks also add to the illusion. The characters' dialect and what they say (or how they act) make them seem like they've jumped right out of your VHS tapes. When you tell Ariel from The Little Mermaid where you're from, she'll ask, "Is that a far swim?" Peter Pan can't comprehend why you've grown so old, Cinderella thinks you've traveled by pumpkin, and most of the princesses would like to know if you've found your prince yet. What the characters say makes them seem more genuine and real (A+ to the Disney employees who know their stuff!).

To sums things up, it's clear that Disney knows how to attract visitors. With a whopping 126 million guests in the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts last year, they are the largest amusement park corporation in the world in order of annual attendance. Visitors love Disney parks because cast members make them feel at home, and because their favorite characters are exactly how they'd imagine them to be and more. Without the cast members' polite language or the characters' spot-on phrases and word choices, Disney parks wouldn't be as charming and "magical" as they are today.