High Standards Headed for Harvard

In today's day and age, most kids are forced- no trained to start thinking about college since potty training. And taught that if you don't look like people in the magazines, you're hideous. That's the way it is.

And if you want to get into an ivy league, which you probably do since it's what we're brainwashed into wanting, you have to work and work and work so hard you have no life. Which is fine, if you're forty. But us, us gen Y kids we're still going through the process of becoming adults and figuring out exactly who we are.

In the midst of puberty, and trying to have a good time, we're forced to think about colleges and behaving appropriately and "How many A.P. courses do I need to take to get into..." and it's all too much, leaving many of us feeling under-appreciated and overwhelmed. A "B" average, once considered good - for many of us who want to go to any ivy-league just doesn't cut it.

And it's this mentality, being enforced upon us by the previous Gen-Xers, & Baby boomers that is screwing us over.

More than ever, we are seeing higher trends in teens with anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and worst of all - higher teen suicide rates.

I'm afraid, that if we continue to be a nation of such high standards these trends will continue to rise.

Suddenly, if you don't go to an Ivy League you're just not good enough. And I'm sure, that these Ivy Leagues are definitely not going to see any sign of a recession any time soon if we continue with this mindset. Going to an Ivy League, is fine, if you're naturally just that smart and have total ease in higher level thinking. But when it comes down to it, most of us DON'T. And that's the reality of it. And that's fine.

Not all of us are going to be CEO's or world leaders. Some of us are going to be workers, factory workers, garbage men, post men, DMV workers, teachers. But that's what we need. I can promise you, that though we may not always have the need for CEO's, more politicians, lawyers, doctors, we will always have the need for the common worker. The people who make sure things happen when they need to.

These are the people that make the way we live in the U.S. possible, and by far some of the most important in the working class. But if we continue to baby-feed that you're only O.K., that you're only worth something if you go to an IVY, then this working class will surely retreat, and dissipate soon.

Now, I'm not speaking strictly of the high standards of schooling. Look around next time you go out, look at the magazines, the movies, the billboard ads. Most of the people occupying the space of these things are beautiful. They're in the high end of the gene pool. If you don't look like them, you're hideous and should do us all a favor and try to make yourself look like them.

Sure, you laugh and scoff at these ideals, this mindset now, but come tomorrow you'll still continue to crawl up the ladder, to buy whatever you need to look like your favorite celebrity, to spoon feed your peers, you're children that you're only alright if you get into a good school, and get a good job with a great starting salary.

It's when and once this becomes the norm that will people truly acknowledge a problem. For now, I'm afraid this trend of teen suicide, anxiety & eating disorders will have to continue to rise for people to acknowledge the problem

So for now I leave you with this,
Is it realistic to enforce such high standards upon our youth?

Dukk Rogers; An Explanation Behind the Fictitious Phenomena

At the beginning of summer 2009, 30 Seconds to Mars began a viral campaign to promote their new album "This Is War." http://thisisthehive.net/thisiswar/ Part of this campaign included creating a kyte channel that let fans chat and discuss the album amongst themselves and the band, as well as keeping the fans up to date.

Later, in response to the fans constant budging, 30 Seconds to Mars did the first Myspace Live Chat. It is here, that a powerful symbolic persona is born. The yellow rubber chicken later known as DUKK ROGERS.

It was on kyte, that a group of fans and I (Marlene Rios) decided to name this yellow rubber chicken DUKK ROGERS. I came up with the name, and was therefor majorly responsible for this persona. It was between me and Cheri that we decided to create numerous social networks for DUKK to reach out on.

Twitter, was the obvious first one. It was soon after the first few tweets from DUKK had come out that we realized in order for people to give him any credibility, and allow him to play such a crucial role in the organization of the echelon. . . we could NOT be DUKK. In other words, it had to stay secret.

Had the majority known, that a 15 year old girl was writing and organizing such attempts, from day 1. As a mass, most would've turned their backs and continued on with their days.

Throughout the summer, this decision remained, and influenced a large part of the phenomena that was DUKK ROGERS,as well as TOMOS BEARD and SHANNONS GOAT .

LET ME SAY THIS right now, I DID NOT EVER KNOW THE IDENTITY OF WHOMEVER WAS RUNNING TOMOSBEARD AND SHANNONS GOAT. And I ask, that we respect their privacy and allow them to continue anonymously.

My decision to terminate the DUKK ROGERS persona, was my own, and I deliberated it heavily. I knew that while it would've been ideal to continue on with DUKK ROGERS, it was simply becoming impossible, and unrealistic. DUKK was wanted constantly, and because he was a "fictional person" a schedule, or routine seemed irrelevant. DUKK needed to be everywhere at everytime. Something, that as the school year was approaching I could no longer do.

It was no longer something I could do out of recreation, it became about meeting demands.

And although, I am sad about being unable to continue as DUKK ROGERS. I'm sure most of you will agree, it's been nice finally meeting you.

So, all of that being said.

MY NAME is Marlene Rios,

and it's nice to finally meet you.
Face to Face, so to speak.