"Endless Forms Most Beautiful"

My current favorite song is Endless Forms Most Beautiful by Nightiwish. I love it because there is an awe of nature on planet Earth that I relate to. I think about this song when ever I go hiking. The line "every endless form most beautiful" has become a theme song to me. It means for me to never take what I see for granted. How amazed I am with what I see in nature. Here are some of my favorite pictures that I have taken of nature along with some of my favorite lines from the song. 

Photo taken by me

We are a special speck of dust

A fleeting moment on an ark

A celebration, a resthaven

Of life

photo taken by me

Lay on a field of green
With Mother Eve
With Father Pine reaching high
Look at yourself in the eyes of aye-aye
Unfolding rendezvous

photo taken by me 

Deep into the past
Follow the aeon path
Greet a blade of grass
Every endless form most beautiful

photo taken by me

Alive, aware, in awe
Before the grandeur of it all
Our floating pale blue ark
Of endless forms most beautiful

Tea and Coffee

So I generally consider myself as more of a coffee drinker but college as helped me to appreciate other forms of caffeine as well. Such as tea. Mostly black tea. The fruity teas don't have the strong flavor that I like. My favorite brand of tea is The Republic of Tea which is sold at my school. My two favorite flavors are Cranberry Blood Orange and Ginger Peach.

I love that these are black teas so that they have more caffeine and the strong flavor I like, but also come with some really interesting flavors. I actually dink more tea during the school year than coffee as it is just more convenient and cheaper. I just have to pack the tea bags and my hot dink bottle and there is hot water provided at school. I get up so early that I don't have time to make coffee in the morning. It is just cheaper to get a bunch of tea bags for 10 or 12 bucks than to pay 4 to 5 buck everyday for the coffee at school. That is not to say I don't occasionally as a treat get a nice coffee.

I will say that I am still more of a coffee person but I do have a growing love for tea.
Elizabeth

Historic Day

I feel is would be remiss of me to not post about the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage. It made me so happy to open my facebook and see all the posts. I don't think I can put it into words. Now there are equal marriage rights for all.

I know a lot of religious people are upset about it. However, I know that it is prohibited by certain groups. I think that what needs to be understood is that everyone can get a civil union that gives all equal rights, but the holy sacrament is part of the church. I believe in the separation of church and state. We do not live in a christian nation therefore rules that apply to christians to not need to be forced onto those who are not.

Overall I am so happy that the gay couples I know that now have equal rights across the US. However, as some have pointed out, LGBT+ issues are not over with this and there are many other issues. Such as job discrimination, abuse, youth homelessness, and conversion therapy that still need to be dealt with.

Elsa Immodest!

I don't know if you have ever hung out in conservative christian circles, but when Frozen first came out(which I know was a while ago) then you have probably heard someone say "Elsa's dress was so immodest!" I know I have heard it a few times. Is her dress really immodest though? I think it is important to point out that Elsa's dress is actually quite tame compared to some previous Disney princesses.

Images copyright of Disney

I actually found Elsa to be really modest. compared to the other directions Disney has gone in the past. Her dress is in fact no different than what Cinderella, Belle, and Aurora wore.

images copyright of Disney 

Now lets break it down....
She has long sleeves instead of now sleeves.
She is wearing a long skirted dress instead of a short skirt.
She has a slit in the skirt that only goes to her knee.
You can's see any cleavage instead of a lot of cleavage.
As far as I can tell this fits most modest dress cloths criteria. Maybe they are bothered by the fact that you can tell she is a women in the dress instead of dress that hides her curves. Her dress does not really break any modesty rules, instead I would say it follows them quite well.

I think though that this dress has some significance to her character in the movies.

images copyright of Disney

Elsa's outfit from the beginning of the movie is her completely covered. She literally does not show any skin outside of her face. She has her neck covered, her hands. She is not in contact with the outside world. When she changes her outfit she shows her neck and has a slit in her dress. Her sleeves, while still long are transparent. She is allowing her self contact with the world around her. She is breaking out of the walls she built around herself to protect herself.

Overall this post is to say that Elsa's dress is not immodest and that her dress has significant meaning to her character. My other question is why we are so concerned about what a character wears there are much bigger issues with Disney's choice of how they present their characters. Such as the inaccurate proportions or their female characters. Elsa's waist is much smaller than what is natural proportionally. I think there are bigger issues than what a character is wearing.

What are your thoughts on the use of clothing in Frozen?
Elizabeth