Day 32

Rain, rain, come and stay, to break the heat another day! 

Day 31

When your roommates leave leftover wedding flowers in the backyard, obviously you have to play with them.

Day 30

Current mood: I CAN'T WITH LIFE IT'S TOO HOT. Bah. 

Day 29

Up on the blog a day late... But freshman year reunion at a friend's wedding! Love these women.

Day 28

Feelin' colorful and happy today!

Day 27

I'm-tired-and-need-introverted-time" face.

Day 26

A quarter of the way through the project. Whew.

26 days in, 74 more to go. It hardly seems like scratching the surface, but at the same time I keep asking myself why I committed to such a long time frame. In all honesty, I chose 100 days simply because of the prevalence of the 100 Days projects have popped up everywhere lately. I didn't realize until a week in quite what a commitment I had taken on.

Some days posting is easy; some days I hardly have time to squeeze a picture in (yesterday obviously didn't happen at all). A lot of days I just don't want to post. I might not like what I wore that day, I might be tired from a long week, I might just be feeling lazy and not want to get off the couch.

I wish I could say that I already like pictures of myself more; that taking pictures is easy and I'm comfortable with what I see. Some days it's true... A lot of days it's not.

I still hope that the outcome of this project will be that I am more comfortable with pictures of myself. I think it can happen, and I think I can get there. But I have to admit that a lot of the time it feels like I'm fighting an uphill battle, and that I will never be free of the media-soaked culture that tells me I'm not skinny enough, not perfect enough, over and over and over.

What does give me hope is seeing other people doing the same thing, fighting the same battle, and giving themselves the space to love themselves in juxtaposition with a culture that profits on our doubts and insecurities. In case you didn't see it, my wonderful friend Raechel shared her own #TheImageProject picture and post on her blog here. Check it out; and if you want, post your own #TheImageProject picture. If you do, send it to me on Twitter or Instagram @katherinepeters or post it in the comments here. I'd truly love to see it.

Oops!

Oops! Yesterday's #TheImageProject post got lost in between hours of work and friends, so day 26 has been moved to today! Will post an official Day 26 picture (and possible blog post if I can manage it!) later today. 

(Can you tell I haven't had coffee yet in this pic? #morningface)

Day 25

I call this the "I'm so tired of this heat and it's only June," face.

Day 24

Father's Day selfie! Can you tell we're related?

Day 23

Fury nephews are the best!

Day 22. Let's talk about image.

So let's talk about image. This image, right here, in the context of our society. What would the collective American unconscious have to say about it? What would the commentary sound like? I'm going to give it a try, so go with me here:

Minimal makeup. Maybe she tried today. There's a little effort there. Maybe she's too busy for makeup--those under-eye circles certainly make her look tired. 7 out of 10 at the most on the attractiveness scale.

That expression. Geez girl, can't you give us a smile? Your face will set that way if you're not careful. Can't you just smile at me? What, I don't deserve it?

Not exactly fat, but certainly not skinny. She can't exactly be called overweight but would certainly have to be anorexic to ever fit into a model's sample size.

Nice, colorful, overtly feminine clothing. Thank you for making your gender obvious for us, we don't like uncertainty. And good job being both feminine and covered up--don't want to tempt men with that non-existent cleavage, do ya?

And 5'10"? Yikes, way too tall for most guys. She's gonna scare them off like that. Better leave the heels at home, hun. But we like seeing those long legs out when you're running, so here's a wolf whistle so you really know just know much we're sexualizing you.

Red hair, green eyes, freckles for days. No one is ever gonna mistake her for anything other than European. Maybe not Hitler's blonde and blue-eyed Aryan ideal, but no one's going to ask her "But where are you really from?" when she answers "California."

Ghostly white skin for days. This little white girl is never going to be "randomly" stopped at any police checkpoints as "suspicious," that's for sure. Just don't wear a bikini, cause I might blind myself with the white glare.

I started this project with the idea that seeing more images of myself might help me to like that image a little better. That the repeated exposure and seeming vulnerability of sharing those pictures would help me to combat the pervasive nature of media perfectionism. I'm not that far into the project, so I haven't reached a verdict on whether or not it's actually going to work for me or not.

But nevertheless, images have a powerful impact in society, and one we deal with every day whether we think about it or not.

Like (hopefully) most people, I've been thinking a lot about the Charleston shootings for the last two days. How many pictures of the perpetrator have you seen? How many of his victims? I'm willing to bet that you've seen quite a few more of the racist murderer than you have his innocent victims. (And how many people know his name instantly, but know even two of the victim's names?)

One thing I do happen to know for sure: we're never going to eradicate racism in this country if we give more air time to Dylann Roof than we do to his victims. Because if all we see is his evil, we won't remember the beauty and goodness that he extinguished.

So because images have power, and human beings are inherently beautiful, here are the victims. Look at them and remember their goodness and what was lost; because without that, we'll never remember why it's so vital to fight for racial justice and reconciliation in this country.

In memory of Cynthia Hurd, Susie Jackson, Ethel Lance, Rev. DePayne Middleton Doctor, Rev. Clementa Pinckney, Tywanza Sanders, Rev. Daniel Simmons, Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson.

For profiles on the lives of the victims, see http://mashable.com/2015/06/18/charleston-shooting-victims/ and http://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/charleston-church-shooting-victims/

Day 21

Today's delay was due to an overdose of backyard summer fun (and subsequent cooking), as evidenced by this cookie-sheet sized lavender peach pie. (It was even more delicious than is sounds). 

Day 20

Day 20. Was super close to forgetting to post today! And that was even with taking this picture 2 hours ago... Whoops. 

Day 19

Variations on a theme, AKA you can often find Katie doing things involving books. Will try to write more on the blog than picture captions soon... 

Day 18

Book-selfie. Is that the bookie? Self-ook? 

Day 17

Happy-excited-last-day-of-retail face!

Day 16

This is the face you make when you discover a squirrel stealing the last of your adorable baby apricots.

Day 15 redux

Day 15 redux. Tried to post a picture from yesterday, got called out by a couple friends... So here's my post-shower-on-the-couch selfie that I didn't want to post. (Pizza has already been eaten). Grateful for friends who push me to honesty and vulnerability. 

Day 15

Picture from yesterday because I forgot to take a picture earlier and couldn't bring myself to take one post-shower-eating-pizza-on-the-couch. 

Day 14

Might not quite have the posing thing down, but swirly summer dresses masquerading as skirts are a win in my book. 

Day 13

Generic smiley face because better days are comin' soon!

Day 12

First no-makeup picture of the project... Cheated a little by putting a filter on it. Feels more vulnerable than it should, because unless you're a relative/roommate/have seen me on walkabout, you probably haven't seen me without makeup on. 

Day 11

Day 11. Once again really didn't want to post today... It's becoming a bit of a constant, mostly on days I don't feel like I look ok. Channeling my best model face because if I'm honest, this is the only angle from which I actually like the way my nose looks.  

Day 10

Twilight and the lemon tree. 

Day 9

Day 9. Not feeling it so much tonight, but determined to post anyway since it hasn't even been two weeks. (Also, channelling my mom and aunts circa 1970).

Day 8

Power pose because I'm refusing to let a closing shift get me down. (For a fascinating look at the psychological impact of power posing, look up Amy Cuddy's wonderful TED Talk.) 

Day 7... Almost forgot you.

This is my "I nearly forgot about Day 7!" face. Will probably (maybe, likely not) be more with it tomorrow. 

Day 6

Day 6. Feelin' cooler than normal all dolled up to listen to some Sufjan! Gotta blend in with those hipsters.

Day 5, Some Thoughts on Selfies

"Selfie" seems to be a pretty divisive word these days. Since the OED named it the 2013 word of the year, we've gotten everything from a great New Yorker article "Selfie" (which turns out to be a history of narcissism with almost no mention of the selfie phenomenon beyond the implicit suggestion that they are equivalent), a Slate article that claimed "Selfies are Good for Girls"  (byline: "think of all those photos they post of themselves as tiny bursts of pride") and a strong (just shy of scathing) Jezebel rebuttal "Selfies aren't empowering. They're a cry for help."

Divisive, no?  

I'll admit that I've tended towards the latter a lot of times, but mostly in the context of what I perceive as narcissism. I cringe a little inside every time I sell a copy of Kim K's Selfish, but maybe that's the wrong response. (I do have to say, my favorite incident was when a young woman bought Selfish and Father Greg Boyle's Tattoos on the Heart at the same time. I was rather confused.) My judgment/horror about the book is directly related to my perception of Kim K and her selfies as exactly what her book title says--selfish and narcissistic. But having never met her, am I really in a place to judge her emotional state while posting selfies? While I would find it hard to believe if she had crippling self-image issues, my not believing something does not make it any less true. (Lena Dunham posted a great Instagram with the book captioned,"selfie with selfish #yeahiboughtit (I support experiments in female identity exploration/am a student of pop culture/will not be shamed).")

At the same time, I do believe that selfies have a great potential to be empowering. In a culture where we are bombarded daily by images of air-brushed perfect people (many of whom also spend a lot of time and money on their pre-photoshop bodies), posting a picture of yourself not looking like you've been photoshopped within an inch of your life can be a pronunciation that "I exist; I have a body that is good and does not need to be hidden from view."

And while I'm still developing my thoughts on the phenomenon (and could mention and explore a billion more articles, books, and other media around it), for the moment I'm going to do what Kim K would do, and leave you with a selfie.

-KP

Day 4

"Stand back! I'm going to try SCIENCE!" (Or, you know, cooking. Bonus points for getting the reference!) Confession: somewhere in this process I got a giant bleach spot on my lovely anthropologie apron. The struggle is real, folks.