How to Become a Rebel
Kelly Z.
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I wrote this piece in celebration of my struggle with personal hygiene and the mundane, but trying, battle of teaching myself “uncomfortable” skills. As much as sex ed classes can verbally instruct kids on how to have safe sex or science teachers can describe the process of menstruation, there’s no amount of talking that can take the place of physical experience, demonstration, imitation. I didn’t actually know what deodorant was until freshman year. Vaguely, I saw girls pull out bottles and tubes in the locker room, but nobody was excited to be seen with a stick of deodorant to their armpits. Combined with my mom’s complete lack of deodorant, I had to go on that journey to understanding alone. It was embarrassing at times as I’m sure every teenager has experienced, whether it be with deodorant, periods, shaving (I’ve still not learned how to use a razor). And it’s never our fault, but it can’t be our parents' faults either. It simply has to be up to us to learn from ourselves and each other, to reach that independence no matter how new it might be. My purpose with this piece was to take some of the shame away from that process, to instead make it something of pride, to tell everyone with their heads low over their first deodorant purchase that there’s nothing to be afraid of. Only an immense amount of strength and accomplishment awaits you on the other side.
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My creativity is an ever-changing state. It is a way of living that demands constant consideration, challenging, alteration, and re-expression of values, emotions, perception. My artwork becomes creative when I can look at it and realize that I've explored an uncharted territory of my mind.
