Written by Lisandra

 Now I lay me down to sleep And the overthinking starts to creep in, and my thoughts become rapid, rabid, and ravenous in tandem, on tangents, Soon I find myself becoming conversational Talking to myself in a soothing manner Like a mother to a child I imagine a second me laying on the pillow beside me Eye to eye Face to face Talking And if we talk long enough I find I am pleasantly surprised by her company And I think how nice it would be if she were still there in the morning.

Abstract Existential anxiety, though it has varying definitions, exists as an inner conflict within an individual due to a perceived lack of  sense of self and identity, the presence of a feeling of emptiness, and the absence of meaning or purpose to one’s life (Berman et al., 2006; Tan et al., 2017; Schnell et al., 2018; Brassai et al., 2012).  Existential anxiety has been widely studied in literature and in the context of adults for decades, as existential concerns are a normative experience of being human and remain relevant core issues throughout life.  However, anxieties induced by existentialism are becoming alarmingly more prevalent within adolescent groups such as teenagers.  This has prompted more modern research to concentrate on the possible detrimental impacts that existential anxiety imposes on adolescent mental health and wellbeing.  This paper focuses on the findings of four different research articles relating to existential anxiety and crisis,...

  "Mascara" "Nail Polish" "Lipstick"                     While the beauty industry is notoriously criticized for its preponderance of male CEOs and company leaders, one of the largest cosmetics companies in the industry is giving back to its main demographic of women by promoting female empowerment. In 2019 L’Oréal Paris collaborated with the McCann Dusseldorf Agency to create the campaign “This is an Ad for Men,” which features three print advertisements directed toward men that advocate for more women leadership. Though the three prints promote cosmetic products sold by L’Oréal Paris, the message goes deeper than commodities and consumerism to address the serious social issues that impact those who use L’Oréal Paris’ products most. Originally created with the fact that German companies are comprised predominantly of men in mind, the advertisements more globally address lack of gender diversity in the workforce as well as th...

            “I assert most unhesitatingly, that the religion of the south is a mere covering for the most horrid crimes, - a justifier of the most appalling barbarity, - a sanctifier of the most hateful frauds, - and a dark shelter under, which the darkest, foulest, grossest, and most infernal deeds of slaveholders find the strongest protection” (Douglass 370).              One of the most influential forms of advocacy for abolitionism in the 19 th century was slave narrative literature – and perhaps none so well-known and renowned as Frederick Douglass’ The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass , from which the above excerpt is taken.  Douglass, like other writers of this genre, recounted his experience of slavery to freedom to expose the exploitation and oppression of black and enslaved people in the South. The way Douglass articulated the immorality of sl...

                              -It’s very sad being a panther woman; no one can kiss you.  Or anything. -You, you’re the spider woman, that traps men in her web. -How lovely!  Oh, I like that. -…                                                                                     (Puig 260-261)             Manuel Puig’s novel The Kiss of the Spider Woman is brilliant in both its concrete criticism against the binary gen...

        In his essay titled "Self-Reliance," Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that "to believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men, - that is genius” (236).  The individualism referred to by Emerson, the philosophy that places emphasis on the self rather than the collective, was and remains a significant component of American Renaissance literature as well as American culture.  While Emerson touted the individualistic ideas illustrated in “Self-Reliance” as an ultimate guide to self-fulfillment, this concept was not one that was accepted unanimously.  Alexis de Tocqueville, a French aristocrat, rejected progressive ideas regarding individualism to instead warn about its dangers: “Individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment more than from depraved feelings; it originates as much in deficiencies of mind as in perversity of heart” (Tocqueville).  The widely divisive philosophy opened a g...