TALENT TEST

A friend who knows me well, knows I'm interested in "art" -- I paint pictures as a hobby -- sent me this link.
You may be surprised, amused, and inspired by what you learn about YOURSELF.

Give this a try. Just click the word



Chinapaint
http://www.chinapaint.com/eng/flash/colorandme_en.swf

WHITE FACE

In India there's a new Facebook Application that's helping people in India change the shade of their skin.

This app says download your profile photo, drag a line across the screen to see yourself with lighter skin.

Sh Shahrukh Khan, a Bollywood superstar, in a commercial, says the lotion, Vaseline Men, can be used for lightening your entire body.

Whiter skin is IN in India.

This Facebook App and the new product is encouraging men and women in India to believe they can have a better life, more success, better jobs, earn more money, have a better love life and better marriage, if their skin is whiter. In India, whiter/lighter skin implies you're upper class. Class, i.e. caste is still a big deal over there -- scholars, priests teachers, educated people with fine manners, accustomed to the finer things in life are Higher Caste. (Lower caste are darker-skinned people who work in the sun -- laborers, servants, etc.)

Skin lightening products are already an established trend in Asia, a booming business in China, Japan, and the Philippines.

I find myself thinking of Michael Jackson -- his white face. Did he have the disease (Vitiligo)? That's what he told Oprah in an interview. But weren't you aghast as you saw his features change -- nose, eyes, chin, cheek bones? Everything about him changed-- even if he had Vitiligo, why did he choose a white person's features -- did he want to be white?

What about Blacks? Don't they favor lighter skin for reasons that sound just like the guys in India ? Lighter means you get jobs more easily, better jobs, higher pay, better social life -- aren't they more successful in every department?

Is lighter better if you're Latino, Puerto Rican, Mexican, or from Argentina, Venezuela or another South American country? I suspect the answer is yes.

I have to bring up the words. I'm white -- hair, features, build, everything about me says "white Caucasian." White is associated with benign, bright, fortunate, propitious, pure, milk, fresh snow, rays of light, and spirituality.

Black is associated with dirty, foul, impure, nasty, squalid; also unclean; gloomy, depressing, dismal, dispiriting, funereal -- black magic, black-anger, blackout, blackmail -- all those bad things, while white is heavenly things such as clouds and angels.

I can't help thinking that the words help to send many people into pursuing whiter/lighter skin.

I think trying to look whiter is seriously dumb, just like people (practically everyone I know), trying to look young. Can "older" ever be more beautiful than "younger" -- lines, wrinkles, thinning hair, puffy eyes. jowls, wattling neck? No -- not in our society, when we're bombarded with sexy young heroines and heros in movies, TV, and ads selling us magical ways to fix up any and all our flaws.

Translate that into skin color -- can blacker, darker, be more beautiful, and sought after by men and women in India with "castes," Bollywood movies, TV, and all the words that say white is pure and black is evil?

I am thinking how gorgeous Michael Jackson was as a child in the Jackson Five, then the slender, tall, black young man, fascinating, excitingly handsome -- if he'd left his nose, his mouth, his facial structure alone -- even after the trial, the smears, dirty talk about his love for kids, his sexuality -- Michael Jackson would be living on throughout the world as a symbol of a uniquely talented man, who was what he was.

A few days ago I said "we like Secretary of State Hillary now more than ever, because she is what she is." I'm saying it all over the place these days -- saying it to the people in India, Latinos, Puerto Ricans. Mexicans, Jews. Muslims. Japanese, Blacks and to myself -- BE WHAT YOU ARE.

INFIDELITY

We've had a big crop of famous unfaithful guys -- Tiger Woods, John Edwards, Sandra Bullock's Jesse, Mel Gibson, maybe Al Gore, and others ...

I don't think Erin Woods should have divorced Tiger; I wish Elizabeth hadn't needed to write her book. I think John Edwards still has good things to contribute to society. Though they're divorced I wouldn't be surprised if Sandra B. got back together with Jesse. Al Gore's troubles seem media invented. Mel Gibson's a talented man who is deliberately destroying himself. (And I have much more to say about each of them, but right now I am talking to you about YOU.)

Our hunger to know more and more ... Well, gossip is fun, an absorbing distraction, and also it's a way of sorting out your own fears, unpleasant thoughts, and insecurities.

While being fascinated with the story behind the gossip headlines, remember that you're being entertained, diverted from important things that may have more to do with you -- it's got nothing to do with you.

Beware of what's said about infidelity -- the words are potholes in the road. There's lots of advice on the subject -- psychiatrists, family therapists, ministers, friends, books, and a rash of articles right now -- commentators, doctors, people with statistics, and probabilities about marriage, divorce, and playing around that are based on your age, gender, career, education, where you live, what you earn, your family history... and your actual sex life.

If infidelity becomes a suspicion, a shock in YOUR life, my advice is: DON'T DO ANYTHING. If you have to do something because you're crying, because you can't get through the day, sure -- talk about it, spill it to whomever is there. But avoid opinions and conclusions about what to do.

Mull it over -- over and over and over -- asking any of the questions, all of the questions that are flooding your mind. It's a shock, intolerable, impossible to live with. But live with it.

If you're suicidal, write a note. Put the note away and look at it in a week, a month, six months or so. Or never.

Marriage, love, even passionate love can be reignited. The pain takes time to diminish and can become something you can deal with. If you've been together for a year, it can take a year to diminish -- five years, it can take five years to fade. The pain equation is, I think, however long you've been together, that much time it will take until the infidelity is part of you, but not painful.

Do talk, or don't talk with your unfaithful mate. Talk about sex very specifically if you can. And ask the nagging killer questions about the lover, the love affair -- get answers or perhaps you won't get answers, and you'll ask again.

I am saying don't break up because of infidelity. You owe it to yourself, the self who fell in love. Instead of destroying what the two of you made, live with it, weave it into your understanding of who you are and who your mate is. It's possible to make it part of the love that you share, the love you and your mate created.

Hey, if you don't agree with me, just take what I say with a grain of salt. But salt is a seasoning that improves the flavor. I'm putting the thought out for you to taste -- infidelity is not a life and death disaster. It doesn't end love.

CUSTOMER SERVICE (video)

The Cullums laugh, recalling new things they've bought recently -- all the things that don't work the way they're supposed to.

Emily admits she gets seriously annoyed. What bothers John is being put on hold, and then, after he's finally connected with customer service, the problem, the issue -- whatever is wrong can't be resolved.

Emily counts on John to fix appliances; John counts on Emily to deal with buying things on line.