Girls smell too.

As girls age from child to teen and so on through adulthood so does their body odor, for the worse and for the better.

During childhood girls tend to have an almost nonexistent  scent.  Mainly because during those earlier stages of childhood hygiene and grooming is controlled by parents and unlike little boys most girls don't usually play hard enough to muster up any type of odor offensive or otherwise.  Although there are those rare occasions where dress-up not only includes wearing a My Size Barbie princess dress but also getting to use some of moms perfume too.

However, once puberty hits and girls get into their teens the mild smell of childhood vanishes leaving behind something terrible.  Unfortunately for teenage girls moderation is not religiously practiced when it comes to things like perfume, which while masking the smell of BO it also creates the whole new problem of what smells like a cotton candy body spray and hairspray cloud where ever they go.  Or even worse they go au naturale  and pay no attention to products like deodorant and soap.

Thankfully the smell of adulthood for women is much more pleasant. By then most girls have figured out that less is more when it comes to body sprays and perfumes.  Likewise with growing up and maturing they understand the importance of hygiene and deodorant, leaving behind a pleasant smell that resembles that of childhood.

From nonexistent to overpowering to finally getting it right, girls change and thankfully so do their body odors.

"Fish Cheeks" Summary/Response

SUMMARY

Amy Tan's "Fish Cheeks" an essay originally out of an issue of Seventeen Magazine focuses on overcoming embarrassment and having pride in yourself and your culture.  In the essay Amy describes her Christmas eve dinner when she as fourteen, and the humiliation that she felt when her crush (the ministers son) and his family had been invited to have a traditional chinese meal.  When she she found out he was invited to dinner, she cried for fear of what he might think of her and her family "What would Robert think of our shabby chinese Christmas?  What would he think of  our noisy chinese relatives who lacked proper american manners?" (Bedford Reader 99 ).  Naturally her worst fears came true when her mother brought out the steamed fish, eyeballs and everything still intact, her father added to her discomfort by poking it's cheeks and announcing that it was her favorite.

Once everyone had left, Amy's mother handed her a gift, a tweed skirt, and told her that she could look like an american girl on the outside but must remain chinese on the inside, saying "Your only shame is to have shame." (Bedford Reader 100).  A lesson she didn't fully appreciate or understand for many years, because that year they cooked al her favorite foods for Christmas.

RESPONSE

Tan's description of her embarrassment throughout the whole essay is something that I can completely relate to.  Especially when she describes her family's manners at dinner, I felt the mortification with her, I also have had people over to my house who I've wanted to impress and wanted to dig my own grave.  The perfect example is in the third paragraph on page 10o when she illustrates her father's final "word" at dinner.

5 Senses

Taste of Chaos 2008, I see most of the stage and the backs of heads, the lighting is dark with several spot lights lighting the stage. I can hear the speakers blaring and hundreds of screams from worked up fans. It smells of Axe body spray and BO. All I feel is the pressure of bodies against mine, I am covered in my own sweat as well as anybody else's who is within arms reach, the air is dense with persperation and you can almost taste the salt in the air over the bland spearmint gum that's been in my mouth for 3 hours now.