And that is not all: Currently, the line is only available in five US-States. Two of these five states, California and Texas, have had the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the last years. Now of course one will ask, to what extent this was a criteria to promote the new line in exactly those states.

(via)

Surely, it is profitable to promote the line in those states, where they will be bought the most – that is a general marketing stragedy right out of the books. But do they not promote teenage pregnancies at the same time? Is Forever 21 actually now glamourizing teenage pregnancy?

In a recent press release, Forever 21 denies the claims made: “Forever 21 did not create, design or distribute Love 21 Maternity to target, or appeal specifically to pregnant teens. Any relationship between teen pregnancy rates and the locations of our stores is unintentional.” (source)

I too have often bought at Forever 21. And there are many adults, who are over 25 years old that buy clothes there, because the clothing selection is modern, but inexpensive. Various clothes are also not too teenage-like; there are several things one can still wear in the end 20′s. Probably, there are also many pregnant women now, who are excited about the new line, because they do not have to wear the “ugly bags” which other stores sell in the maternity line.

But I still think the “Love 21 Maternity” line is giving a bad example. No matter if the places where the line is avaiable was intentional or not (although seriously, this can so not be unintentional). Fact is that the majority of Forever 21 customers are younger than 20 years old. And that is by no chance the perfect age to get pregnant. During their weekly shopping spree, some naive teenagers, who are not taught the facts of life concerning sexuality and pregnancy in school or by their parents (and there are still way too many of these kind of teenagers out there!), will now think: “Being pregnant young is not as uncool anymore!” Or even worse: If a 16-year-old girl gets pregnant and has one of those famous parent-daughter talks, she will say: “But even Forever 21 sells maternity clothes!”

Surely, some would now argument that the Plus Size line therefore glamourizes obesity. But an overweight teenager only carries responsibility for herself; a teenage mom carries the responsibility for two then. And that is a big difference!

2.) Apple Pie.

3.) Bagels.

4.) Football.

5.) Free refills.

(via)

6.) Stores open 24h.

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7.) Will Smith.

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8.) Turn on red.

(via)

9.) Oceans & Beaches.

10.) Starbucks.

Happy 4th of July! Happy Independence Day! :)

(to see more reasons and things *click*)

In only a few hours, the time has finally come: World Cup, World Cup, World Cup! Personally, I have been excited ever since I passed my mid-studies oral exam. Me as a soccer freak, there is nothing better and more exciting than the World Cup. (Aside from the fact of my favorite German Bundesliga team Eintracht Frankfurt becoming German Champions, but I think that will take a while.) The first World Cup party for the game Germany vs Australia on Sunday is planned and organized, the vuvuzelas and flags are ready to be used.

Yes, plural: flags. Because I am not only rooting for Germany, but also for USA, Portugal and South Africa. For USA, because I am an American. For Portugal, because I have been there several times and one of my good friends lives there. For South Africa, because I actually always (except if it is Brazil or Italy) sympathize with the hosting country. But this time, it is a little more than usual.

Because the World Cup in South Africa is something special. It is the first World Cup ever to be held on the African continent. And this fact alone is trend-setting in my opinion. South Africa has developed throughout the last year. Since the end of apartheid things are looking up. Especially Nelson Mandela had a big part in this development and also played a key role in the discussion of getting the World Cup to South Africa. (Supposedly, Mandela will be attending the opening ceremony today!) The country is ecstatic, excited and thrilled; the vuvuzelas are all over and people are dancing until they cannot anymore.

A World Cup supports South Africa in its development. Indeed, a lot of money was spent, which (in some opinions) may could have been used for townships or poorer areas rather than building soccer stadiums. But I disagree. Through the games, promotion and enthusiasm, which a World Cup implicates, South Africa will receive financial, social and economical support. Especially in the times of Social Media, where information and impressions are shared all over the world in a high frequency and in with just a few clicks. And in the long run, South Africa will have a huge benefit from all this. No country that hosted a World Cup was the same afterwards.

I am hoping for a wonderful, colorful and hopefully for Germany, USA, Portugal and especially South Africa, successful World Cup – Ke Nako: Celebrate Africa’s Humanity!

Next to the many positive sides of the Internet development, one should not forget the negative sides, too. In today’s social network and computer age, children and young adults experience many sites, pictures and topics, which are not appropriate for their age. Furthermore, they are not aware of who can read their private information they put online, or how it possibly is used from third parties.

With this background, this year’s topic was chosen: ”Think B4 U post”. In this way children and young adults are supposed to be given a fair warning that before they post something online, they think about possible consequences and handle their information with care. Thereby it is also referred to the possible security settings especially on social networks like Facebook. There for example, one can adjust in small detail, who can see what on your profile and what not. This can be found via the ‘Account’ tab on the top right and then via ‘Privacy Settings’ and ‘Profile Information’.

For further information, please check the official website of this campaign:  Insafe

Since I myself am one of those people (German-American heritage), I wrote an exclusive report on my experiences. If you want to know what goes on in my head and heart, continue reading.

A life in-between
Delights and dilemmas in a German-American world

When asked for my heritage, I respond “German-American”. Being born to an American mother and a German father, gave me both citizenships from day one. Having two citizenships has many advantages: I have civil rights in two countries and always get into the shorter line at customs in the airport, because of being able to choose which passport I show at the counter. I was raised bilingually, which means I speak, read and write both languages fluently. A yearly visit to my family and friends in the US is mandatory and whenever I want to I can travel there, knowing that I have some place to stay. Growing up with two cultures has always made my life interesting. I get to know two sides of the world, taking bites and pieces of each that interests and attracts me. This combination of the two worlds formed my character and continues to guide me through my whole life.

“What’s the big deal?”, you might ask now. It all sounds pretty great, right? It is, but there is another side of my story, too. By being raised with American and German traits, traditions and experiencing both countries regularly, I am neither completely German, nor completely American. I am in a dilemma, or as some of you know it, a third space. I am something in between. While I am in Germany, I miss the US and vice versa. When I am in one country, part of me seems to be lost. I cannot even imagine how I would decide, if I had to choose between both citizenships – because I know that it would be impossible for me. Excluding one of them would mean that half of me would be missing. My identity would be incomplete.

People who have only one citizenship do not experience this dilemma. They belong into one ‘drawer’; I cannot be put into one specifically. Leaving out the one side or subordinating one to the other simply sounds wrong to me. That is not who I am. I am a German-American. Period. Even though it is sometimes difficult to define, I personally always liked being part of two worlds. Not many people have this privilege and I cherish every moment. So what if I cannot be put into one specific drawer. I am happy that I was given the opportunity to be part of two countries and them being a part of me. The feeling of not belonging to one country alone does not really bother me too much, since I never felt differently.

Sometimes I wonder if it would be easier to just have one citizenship, but I withdraw that thought as fast as it comes to me. Parts of both countries, their habits, cultures, education and traditions belong to me equally. The saying “Home is, where the heart is”, for me, is very true. My heart is in the United States and Germany, making both countries my home. And nothing will ever change that.

Absurdities and sadness:

There was one thing that really got me upset at university this year. In one seminar, the professor actually did oral grades, which would effect 40% of the whole grade. I really thought I was back at school again. Of course, the participation in class is essential for a good discussion, but I do not think that by having an oral grade you can improve the participation. It has to come from oneself. In retrospect, only five students constantly raised their hand in class throughout the semester. 5 out of 40…

During the writing of my second semester paper in the summer, my laptop died on me. Sparks came out of it, it did not start anymore, nor do anything else. Of course I did not have any copy of the paper, so I had to do everything from scratch. Ever since then, I have an external hard drive, copying files nearly every week.

At the end of this part of the flashback, a short note on the tragic losses we experienced this year. Unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to a few influential people. For me, it was three in particular that made me sad:

1.) Michael Jackson († 25 June 2009): THE musician and entertainer since the 80s. I kind of grew up with listening to his music; he was the originator of the music video. His life remains a mystery; his death was tragic, but I am sure that his music will stay with us and remember him for a long, long time!

2.) Patrick Swayze († 14 Sept. 2009): A good actor, who lost his year long fight against cancer. He was talented and I liked many of his movies. And without him, we would not know that “nobody puts baby in a corner” ;) !

3.) Robert Enke († 10 Nov 2009): I read about his suicide directly on the Internet, when it turned public. He was one of the goalkeepers of the German National Soccer Team; was almost surely the number one. It is shocking to me that depression in sports (especially in soccer!) is still a taboo. It is sad that Enke saw suicide as an only solution. Hopefully players, coaches, involved parties deal with this topic better in the future and speak about their feelings, fears and problems more openly, so something like this never happens again!

MBF (Music, Books, Films):

This year there were again music, books and films, which I liked very much. Here my personal Top 5:

Music Top 5: Black Eyed Peas – I Gotta Feeling, Milow – Ayo Technology, James Morrison – Broken Strings, The Killers – Human and that Robbie Williams is back!

Books Top 5: Paul Auster – New York Trilogy, Jhumpa Lahiri – Unaccustomed Earth, Stephanie Meyer – The Twilight Quadrilogy, Nicholas Sparks – The Lucky One and Jane Austen – Northanger Abbey.

Films Top 5: Slumdog Millionaire, He’s Just Not That Into You, Seven Pounds, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Reader.

Travel:

This year I was on vacation four times. Actually pretty good, huh?

After the New Year’s celebrations I jumped into a cab and took a plane to West Palm Beach, Florida. A friend of the family got married there and I did not hesitate to leave the cold Germany behind me and lay at the pool in sunny Florida. Bevor returning to Germany, I visited relatives in New York City. There, for the first time in 20 years, I saw the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. It is a wonderful tree and when I was there, it actually started snowing. It was a very magical moment.

Over Easter I was in Hamburg. We sightseed a bit and just enjoyed the city. The city is really worth the trip, it was now my second visit there. I love the Hamburg – Style of life and how the flair is.

In the summer after the second semester, three friends and I  visited a portuguese-american friend in Portugal. Twelve days we traveled through Portugal; among other sites, we visited Lisbon, Coimbra, Algarve (Albufeira) and Sintra. It was a good mixture between sightseeing, culture and partying – Portugal is simply an amazing country! It was surely not the last time I visited!

Two weeks after my return to Germany, I flew to New York City with my parents and a friend.
There I showed her my home; the typical sightseeing spots like Empire State Building Fifth Ave, Central Park, MoMa, Times Square (…) 10 days later everyone flew back except me, since I wanted to find out about internships in the USA for Fall 2010. Over Labor Day weekend I took my first trip on Amtrak (great seats, so much room!) and went to visit a very good friend in Richmond, Virginia. Seems like a nice town; I had a wonderful time that weekend, simply enjoying the nice company. After my return to New York, it was not all that long until I headed back to Germany again.

Student nature:

The new year began with a great achievement: I got an B+ on my very first semester paper in my one minor Social Studies. The seminar was called “Society in Film” and my paper was on how homosexuality was portrayed in the movies “The Wedding Banquet” and “Brokeback Mountain”. My main focus was on how society deals with the topic and its prejudices can influence the relationship. On a side note: The two movies are really worth seeing!

Moreover, this year I again met many wonderful people during classes at university, with whom it is much fun to study with. Now I know a few pretty well and we go to classes together and chat also much outside of the university grounds. In connection with that, it is how I started writing for the monthly students magazine of our American Studies Institute, the A-Journal. It is also much fun and at the same time some practice to improve my writing.

Delights:

Right at the beginning of the year, Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first black president of the United States. It is a big step in American History, maybe even in World History. Change has begun (even though with a funny mistake at his inauguration) and I am anxious to find out, how his era will develop.

After my laptop crash in the summer, I decided to take a big step and get an Apple. One of the best descisions made, I am simply thrilled!

Also this year, I am grateful for still having contact with many from my friends from high school, what was and is very important. Our group still meets regulary (the next time tonight) and when we sit together, it is still a funny, talkative, relaxed atmosphere. I am very thankful for them all, since friends are a very important part in my life.

Furthermore my godchild, now 5-years old, is still a total cutie. She is adorable and can always make you laugh. I have lots of fun with her and I like watching her learn and grow. But I still have not understood that she will be starting 1st grade next summer! Wow! Time really flies.

***On this note, I wish you all a wonderful New Year 2010! ***

Through this blog entry I learned about the campaign “Machs Grün!” (engl: Do it green!) from kaufda. The idea behind this campaign is that by planting one tree, you can neutralize the CO2-emission which one blog creates. The servers, on which all the blogs are saved, the cooling systems and computers need a big amount of electricity: On average, one page view causes 0,02g (0,0008oz.) CO2. Meaning that with about 15000 views a month, one blog creates 3,2kg (8lbs.) CO2 a year! The CO2 emission reduction a tree creates is 5kg (11lbs.) annually.

This is a wonderful campaign and this is why I am being part of it. And I pledge to all of you other bloggers / website owners to do the same.

How you can participate?

It is actually really easy: Post an article about this campaign, embedd one of the bottons on your site and send an email with the link of your site to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de . And your tree will be planted and your site is now eco-friendly!

(You can find the campaign by clicking on the button on the right.)

Until then I propose to you to show your nature love and hug a tree! :)

I had university until 6 p.m. yesterday and wondered, along with a few of my fellow students, why 27 police cars rushed by us with sirens and lights. We were philosophing about a bank robbery or something to the extent, but when I came home, I found out what was actually going on. Over a Twitter account from a guy being right in the middle of it all, you were able to follow the happenings promptly. Later on a regional tv station broadcasted a report. It seems that things went haywire: The police are reporting that the operation went smooth, the students that were present claim the police acted brutal. Furthermore they are now demanding the resignation of the university president, because he did not announce the evacuation before hand.

Momentarily, both sides seem to be going aboard with their feelings and perceptions. Both partys, president and the participated students, think they are right and the others are not. Within the next days, students are planning on going on with the demonstraion and want to express their demands and wishes to the university president. The university president himself wrote a mass mail to all students of university, where he legitimates his descision from wednesday evening.

Personally, I can understand his actions. People have willfully damaged a university building and this can not be tolerated. Because of this, it is not a peaceful protest anymore. The opinions concerning the police operation differ from each other – and so does mine. Since I was not there when all this happened, I cannot judge whether the police acted brutal, how some described it. Anyhow: Handling people with kid gloves and kindly asking the people to leave is not possible during an evacuation in this form. Before the evactuation, the president had kindly asked the students to leave the building and about two thirds followed his suggestions. I definetely do not want to legitimate a possible brutal police operation here! More so I want everyone to see it in the right perspective: Willful damage is not tolerable!

For me it is still unbelievable, how students can destroy their own university and at the same time protest for more money investments in education. (Currently there are also assumptions that non-students were part of the group and were just there to perform vandalism, but this is not prooved yet.) The money that will be used for renovation means that the budget has to be cut down somewhere else. Meaning: Less money for certain things at university such as small tutorials and support in the individual fields of studies. Exactly the issues that the students wanted to draw attention to.

Another side-effect: Now all the students are put together into one big bowl. We are the ones who vandalized. We are the ones who cannot protest peacefully. Although these students are only a very small fraction of the whole. The general idea behind this demonstration – the demand for better education – is now gone.

For those who are interested in actually seeing what I have written about, I can recommend two links:
A slide show from one of the Frankfurt daily newspapers on the evacuation and the official pictures on flickr which Frankfurt University took and sent along with the statement from the president.

For those who have not really been able to grasp the idea behind this student protest here a *short* explanation:
The Bologna-system (BA and MA) was introduced to German universities a few years back. Ever since then it seems that classes are getting fuller (300+ people), the level of education is sinking and the costs of university rising. Politicians have so far not seemed to be too far interested in educational matters, because of other problems.

Because of these reasons, this week in whole Germany, students of the universities offer special workshops and discussion sessions concerning the current problems in the educational system. In Frankfurt, a few hundreds of students barricaded themselves in one of the university buildings on Monday. Since then, they have been hanging out signs with what they expect from the educational system, sleeping there and talking about the protest with each other. Pretty peaceful. Until last night.

When I arrived at university this morning, I heard everyone talking about that the students had destroyed various objects in the building and spray painted on the walls over night. According to rumors, the damage is guessed on 60,000€. To get to class, I had to walk by the building and was literally shocked by what I read on one of the signs: “Who thinks like Germany, thinks like Auschwitz”. And this is where the “Absurdities” come in. This does not have anything, really, not anything to do with the student protests anymore. Not even remotely. It is upsetting, and you can also say embarrassing that a sign with that content is hung up at the university you study at.

At this moment, I am sitting in one of the cafeterias together with probably around 80 other students. From here you have a direct view to the building I have talked about. When you watch other people, you can see that every once in a while people look at the building and just shake their head. I feel like doing the same thing. Granted, the idea behind this protest is legitimate. But what is definitely not legitimate is the way this is developing into a radical movement. Surely, the students who take part in these radical developments are only a small fragment of the ones who want to peacefully protest and want their voice to be heard. Still, I believe that by not saying anything against those radical opinions and staying remote, they support exactly the same.