Author: Meghan Wiemer

How to spot a hipster They deny being a hipster. Hipsters refuse to be labeled as a hipster because being a hipster is suddenly cool and hipsters never want to be cool. The ironic thing is hipsters want nothing but to be cool. They also want to be ironic, which brings me to my next tip … They have ironic tattoos (think cat in a sailor suit inked on their bicep) and ironic t-shirts (think cat in a sailor suit screen printed on their shirt) and ironic pop culture fetishes (I don’t know … Justin Bieber?) and anything else of a satirical nature. Despite being 100 percent Anglo-Saxon, they feel the need to honor their imaginary Native American culture by wearing feathers, beaded dreamcatcher necklaces, fringe leather jackets and overpriced moccasins. All items can be purchased at Urban Outfitters: the original Indian trading post. How to spot a crazy cat woman When she stands up, three cats fall out of her dress. Her dress is made from 10 pounds of cat hair. When she goes to the convenient store, she pays for her salami and cigs with cats, not cash. How to spot a bro You are in Utah County. It’s not hard. Finding a bro here is like shooting pickles in a pickle jar. Walk through the Business building, cruise State on a Friday night or swing by Gold’s Gym....

The “normal” size for women in Hollywood and in the fashion industry is nearly 60 pounds lighter and six sizes smaller than the average American woman. One would be hard pressed to find a woman who is not affected by this, whether emotionally, physically or both. Unrealistic ideals lead many females down an unhealthy and dangerous path of chronic exercising, extreme diets and overall dissatisfaction with their bodies. But how can a couple of scrawny, emaciated actresses and models cause so much physical and psychological damage to millions of intelligent and beautiful women? In the 1991 book “The Beauty Myth,” author Naomi Wolf argues that it is not just the idolized women in the media that are detrimental to women, but rather our culture’s image of beauty as a whole. According to Wolf, this image comes from television, advertisements, women’s magazines and pornography. These sources end up forming the concept of “beauty” into a weapon, which is then used to ultimately make women feel badly about themselves when they fail to live up to the “ideal.” In “The Beauty Myth,” Wolf does not discount the fact that beauty is important and that it aids in our attraction to one another; her issue is that beauty is very often defined as extreme thinness and youthfulness. She explores six areas of life where major problems come about because of the beauty...

Some Buddha guy once said, “What is the root of evil? Desire is the root of evil, illusion is the root of evil.” I guess that means I’m a pretty evil chick. Ideally, I’d like to say I’m free from all desires and illusions because then, well, I’d be enlightened. And enlightenment seems like a pretty sweet deal. Do you still have to go through the hell of finals if enlightened? Probably not. Yeah, I’d choose enlightenment any day. The problem is I don’t choose enlightenment. I choose beauty on a daily basis. Now don’t get me wrong—I am not high maintenance. I don’t color my hair or spend two hours a day perfecting my coiffure; I very rarely, if ever, desire expensive threads; and teeth whitening and skin tanning seem ridiculous and unimportant. But then there’s makeup. You remember the indie kids’ favorite flick “The Royal Tenenbaums,” right? Well, imagine the character Margot Tenenbaum for a second; or rather, imagine her eyes. She’s got those raccoon eyes that are so emo and enigmatic and are consequently the eyes that most closely resemble my own every day. In other words, I’m a sucker for the eyeliner. I’ve worn it religiously ever since seventh grade (which was well over a decade ago) except for about a week during my hippie phase in twelfth grade. It started out as fun; when...

How to survive the last month of school 1. Limit the time you “dick around” Many people suffer from procrastination and I, folks, am one of those people. For example, the deadline for this article was today at noon. Well, it’s 9:55 p.m. and I am just getting around to writing it. This is not good. Procrastination is not good. Even if you tell yourself you “work well under pressure,” you don’t. Cramming for a test or writing a 12-page paper in 4 hours is not going to produce your best work, so put down your Gameboy and/or Discman and/or whatever electronic device takes up most of your time and start doing some homework already. 2. Get fresh air and exercise It’s finally starting to feel nice outside. Go for a hike, soak up some vitamin D, and find some inner peace. You will feel refreshed and ready to take on the challenges of finals week that are headed your way. 3. Avoid becoming a slave to caffeine It may be tempting to reach for a Rockstar or a double shot espresso latte every time an assignment is due or a test needs to be taken, but relying heavily on caffeine will do nothing but make you a slave and a crazy person. I know; after consuming at least 600mg of the jittery substance, I threw my backpack across...