some better holiday starbucks designs

Recently there has been a lot of controversy over the new Starbucks Holiday cup designs. This year, Starbucks went for a minimal approach, with just a red gradient cup rather than adding designs or decals.

I actually love the new design. Minimalism is my jam.

However, according to Buzzfeed, some Christians are super pissed about the new cups. Apparently, just plain red isn't "Christian" enough for them. Some even went so far to say:

I won't be gifting🎁any #Starbucks Gift Cards 4 Christmas🎄Hate Christians but love❤️our money🤑https://t.co/BqfIJ5mgfA pic.twitter.com/SzmO3ulwxY

— Feisty☀️Floridian (@peddoc63) November 5, 2015

( I recommend reading the Buzzfeed article. It is really nice. I stole the tweet above from there).

I, rightfully, became little peeved. Do Christians really think that their holiday is the one of the most importance? So much so that Starbucks is required to feature Christmas and ONLY Christmas in their cup designs?

This, obviously, is absurd. While I do think Starbucks does a fairly good job of being secular, they aren't perfect. The color red is an obvious allusion to the red attire of Saint Nick (aka Santa Claus). By using the color red and many of their previous designs, featuring Christmas trees and other religiously linked objects, they are subtly excluding people of other religions.

I decided to take this matter into my own hands. I made four new Starbucks cup logos for the Holidays that pay homage to different religions and cultures. I did my best to keep with the minimalist theme of this season. Enjoy.

Disclosure: I am not a graphic designer. These cups are not the most beautiful or well done. Bare with me.

Hanukkah Cup - Judaism

Kwanzaa Cup - African American

St. Lucia - Sweden

Winter Solstice - Atheism/Many Other Religions

Holiday season makes me very uncomfortable as it is with the obvious dominance of Christian culture. Let's try and limit that this Holiday season and let Starbucks do its thing.

Plus, it's only November. Don't forget about Thanksgiving.

Thanks for reading. If there is anything you want to tell me, comment or tweet me @theonechameleon.

Camille

"be yourself" is overrated

For a little context, I want to talk about individuality. Individuality is very important to me. There are many reasons for this.

1. My race has always made me a bit of an outsider. I don't quite fit in with the white kids, the black kids, the hispanic kids, the jewish kids, nobody. In my neighborhood, my ethnicity alone makes me stick out like a sore thumb. Rather than reject my background and assimilate to white midwestern culture, I embraced my uniqueness and used it to my advantage.
2. I have a fraternal twin. Since we aren't identical, we always have looked for reasons to make ourselves different from each other. We were so used to being lumped together as one person, we each pushed to become individuals.We quickly tired of questions like: "So, we know you look different, but are you basically the same person?" Answer: We aren't. We made sure of it.
3. I went to arts school for 5 years. Enough said.
4. I think it's just in my nature to be rebellious. This is something I don't have a logical explanation for. Ever since I was little, I fought against the status quo (without even realizing what that was). When every kid liked dogs, I said I liked cats. When all of the girls liked pink, I claimed my favorite color was blue.

I'll admit, the title of this post is meant as click-bait. I don't actually hate the phrase "Be Yourself". In fact, I love it. However, I think it is way overused. People tend to just throw it out when they want to sound inspirational. But what does the phrase "Be Yourself" really mean?

Let's break it down. Literally, being yourself means to just be in your body and living. As long as you are living and breathing in your own body, you are being yourself. Easy. Figuratively, it means that you aren't changing your personality to model after or copy somebody else. That you stay true to your values and personal motivations.

As someone who has been in school for the majority of my life, I can attest that schools from PreK-12 are covered in posters telling you to "Be Yourself". You can barely walk down a hallway without being confronted with the tacky patterns and neon text. But at this time in their lives, especially when in elementary school, do kids really know who they are? They know what they parents have told them, what their teacher's have taught, and maybe a couple of things they like to do. But overall, young people haven't even explored various aspects of their personality, let along had enough life experience to figure out the core of their being. Even I, a 17 year old high school student, have no clear idea what I want to do with my life or who I want to become.

Is it really helpful to order children to be themselves when they don't even know who they are yet? In order to truly inspire individuality, I think we need to change this phrase to something that is more appropriate for what it is trying to accomplish. Here are some of my ideas:

Find Yourself.

Who do you want to be?

What makes you weird is what makes you great.

Embrace individuality.

Be the person your dog thinks you are.

Do what feels right.

Don't give in.

Originality is key.

Make goals and stick to them.
Change is good.

Stand out.

Fitting in is boring.

You control your future.

"Be Yourself" is a great phrase in many situations, but I definitely think people need to think a little more about how they might be overusing it.

Thanks for reading my word vomit. Let me know if you have any comments, concerns, or suggestions in the comments or on my twitter @theonechameleon.

Camille

back to the future II day

Happy BTTFII Day! I don't know if that is the actual abbreviation used, but I think it works.

I haven't written in a while, so I don't exactly know why I've chosen this day to write. But it's currently 8:30 on Oct. 21st 2015, so if I don't get this written in three and a half hours, it loses all meaning. Whoa, melodrama!

For some reason, as excited as I am that I'm actually living through this time captured in the iconic Back to the Future II film, it has got me insanely stressed. I'm not sure if I'm the only one who feels like this is it. This is the only day that I'll have to do something really, really neat. It's an iconic day. I have to do something worth it.

I guess it has to do with my strange fear of commitment that manifests in the most random situations. I don't think it's unusual for me to be afraid of forever. I hate the idea of a door closing and never being able to open it again. I'd rather hold on to a thousand keys and never use them than have only one key that I know I'll use but I can't exchange it for the rest of my life. Weird analogy. I'm strangely existential tonight.

But what does that have to do with Back to the Future? Today is the only October 21st 2015. This day will never happen again. After midnight tonight, I will have lost the chance to do something really cool today. Like, Marty McFly cool. I'll never be able to go back to this exact date and make it worth while (I mean, neglecting the possibility of time travel of course). For some reason, that scares me.

You probably shouldn't have expected too much out of this post. Does it even make any sense? I just needed to get it off my chest.

 I want to put a dumb joke in here at the end, but they're just not flowing tonight.

Or maybe they never are?

Make the most of today.
Goodnight,
Camille

#BLACKLIVESMATTER or #ALLLIVESMATTER?

I had the idea for this post a couple of days ago in my government class. It was something I was yearning to discuss, so of course I had to write a post about it. I jotted the idea down in my notebook. I had written "#blacklivesmatter or #alllivesmatter?" in big black letters on the top of the page so I wouldn't forget it. Shortly after, the teacher called for lunch and we were dismissed. I left the page open on my desk and exited the room, thinking nothing of it.

When I returned, I noticed that something had changed. One of my classmates had circled "#alllivesmatter" in my notebook. I was astonished. For some reason, I hadn't imagined that my habit of writing down all of my thoughts would turn into a very strange and short lived conversation. I admire my classmate for their bravery to deface my notebook to express their obviously firm belief. (That sounded sarcastic. I wasn't supposed to be). For that reason, I would like to address the rest of this entry to my anonymous peer.

Dear friend(?) in my government class,

Hey, good for you! I think it's really cool that you have formed an opinion on a topic that a lot of people seem to dismiss. I'm actually really glad that you chose to show it to me, a person who is stubborn and, depending on the subject, hostile when it comes to my beliefs.

However, I disagree wholeheartedly with your preference for the label that "All Lives Matter", and here's why. (Hold your breath, here it comes. Sorry....you asked for it!)

Let me start with an analogy.

Let's say you and your friend start a club. Book Club? Why not. As you and your Book Club friends sit down to discuss financing the club, you notice that your club gets significantly less money from the school compared to other clubs. Naturally, you decide to start a petition to the school to give your precious Book Club the funding it deserves. You decide to call it "Give Money to the Book Club".

A friend who is not affiliated with your Book Club, however, suggests the name "Give Money to All Clubs". What? Why? Your friend explains that all clubs deserve to have appropriate funding, why should you only show preference towards the Book Club? You, as the Captain of the Book Club, ignore this silly opinion. Of course all clubs need money, but right now, we are just focusing on the Book Club.

Of course all lives matter, but right now, we are just focusing on the black ones. 

Unlike my nifty analogy, denouncing the hashtag "Black Lives Matter" does a lot more harm than denouncing "Give Money to the Book Club". We're not talking about money. We're talking about lives. Human beings.

First of all, it completely erases the issue. Claiming that "All Lives Matter" seems like you think the problem doesn't even exist. And it does. There are so many statistics and studies concretely proving that police officers are much more likely to be violent towards a young black man than any other demographic. (If you disagree, Google it. I don't have time to argue with inaccuracy.)

Secondly, it is the epitome of white privilege. When (primarily) white people take a movement targeted towards black people and shift it to also include themselves, they are exemplifying what history has already proven, white people are power hungry. In this situation, it almost seems like white people are the favorite child in a family. When the parent (America) finally pays attention to the other child (Black people), the spoiled favorite child (White people) freaks out and demands attention. "Whoa, Camille! That is so racist! I can't believe you just said that about WHITE people!" Listen, I get it. It might be hard to swallow, but its the truth. But you're not in this, white america. This issue requires your support, not for you to make yourself a victim too.

When it comes to "All Lives Matter", it isn't the words that are the problem, it is the way they are said. If they are said to fill in the clear gap that yes, some lives seem to matter less, then it works. It it is said to blatantly state that All Lives Matter without paying attention to whose or any inequality in the subject, that is an issue. Judith Butler, a Professor at UC Berkeley explained the issue perfectly when she said,

"When some people rejoin with “All Lives Matter” they misunderstand the problem, but not because their message is untrue. It is true that all lives matter, but it is equally true that not all lives are understood to matter which is precisely why it is most important to name the lives that have not mattered, and are struggling to matter in the way they deserve."

To read more of Butler's opinions on the matter, I encourage that you read this amazing article from the New York Times.

I apologize if I seem angry or unfair. It is hard to talk about something as emotional as this while maintaining complete composure.

Thanks for tuning in. Please tell me what you think on the issue in the comments, or feel free to tweet me @theonechameleon.

xxCamille