When I was younger
My dream was to become
A SUPERSTAR!
All the movies made it look so glamorous, right?

To be rich and famous
To have the PERFECT life
Perfect clothes
Perfect house
Perfect family
Perfection was the only thing I saw

Maybe a movie star…
A Singer?
Dancer?
Lights, camera, action!
That could be me…

First grade = TRAVEL
“I want to go to China”
I would tell my mom.
My teacher was from China.
Paris, Italy, Africa!

I wanted to experience life in a new way
A culture other than my own
Food from all over the world!

Second grade was all about SCIENCE
Find a cure to a disease
A new animal species
Hmm…
Could I be a vet?
Discovery!

My third grade inspiration
Martin Luther King Jr.
Free speech
Equality
I wanted to be the face of
CHANGE!

Then for a few years
I had no idea.
Scientist? Artist? Astronaut?
I got it!

I started obsessing over SPORTS
Soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball
Dribble, pass, score!
Oh yeahh!
I always had to beat the boys.
I’ll show them!

Through the years
all of my teachers
have been my inspiration.
What they believed in,
I believed in. They were my media.
I was oblivious of the
“other” media around me.

And what happened when the media influences this bright, free spirited, young girl?
All I saw was
“THE AGE OF ELECTRONICS”
“YOU HAVE TO BE SEXY TO BE LIKED”
“TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL”

Then what’s the dream?
To use electronics excessively?
Facebook whore?
To be sexy?
Makeup, short shorts, perfect?
High school dropout?
Okay, that’s not exactly who I am but that is what I am becoming. Not on purpose. Just by exposure. Make-up… Short shorts… Facebook whore… But I do care about school. I do care about what people think of me. And I do care about my connections through Facebook.

Now my inspiration is Food Network
Hey, I could be the next Paula Dean or Bobby Flay
Hmmm…
Maybe I could open a restaurant named
Jeez Louise or Chez Chay
I’ll decide that later
There will be a bakery next door
And people will come from around the world
Just to taste a bite made by THE CHAY FISHER!

I may love Facebook
I may care about my looks
I may not want to be at school some days.

But watch me be the best Facebook whore,
Slightly sexy, college graduate, famous chef, ever.
Watch my generation change the world through dreams, media, Facebook, short shorts, school and more, because I do care.

I live in the age of technology.
Of being sexy.
Of Facebook whores.
Of high school dropouts.
But I am proud.
Because I am my version of the American teenager