Miley Cyrus and Boundary-breaking

So Miley Cyrus is making a big splash by doing what every other star-chicky has done since the beginning of time: posed for a photo showing some skin.

Yeah, so there's a damn good argument that since she'd 15, this could technically be child porn. Also that parents are kind of tired of their kids being exposed to over-sexualized media (sorry guys; welcome to America!). And generally bemoaning the loss of role models you can count on (they're all ducking back down that alley with anyone they can get, apparently.).

What I find interesting about this is that for Miley, appearing topless wrapped in bedsheets is daring, controversial, and potentially career-denting.

The photo itself, though, is bland. And trite. I mean, really- show me a star who HASN'T appeared coyly clutching a sheet to her bare chest, and I'll show you someone who hasn't searched hard enough online.

What's ground-breaking for one person is trite for another. This happens a lot to women-- we go through an arduous personal journey of accepting our bodies, maybe even feeling comfortable enough to wear daring clothing-- a tank top! A bikini! A thong and pasties!

And this great result of our long soul- searching produces... yet another chick showing some skin. Of which, if you'll look at any magazine, billboard, or TV show, there is a serious glut. (But maybe that's the motivation-- I want to be one of the crowd!)

If you want to make your own personal journey unique, not only for yourself, but for everyone to whom you're declaring it, you have to take your inner world public in a way that doesn't pound the same old path yet again. You have to find a fresh perspective on your experience that makes it different from everyone else's. Sound hard? It shouldn't-- no one else is you.

Sure, some people are better than others at expressing how they feel and think, but there are lots of media for self- expression, and lots of places to get practice writing, drawing, singing, dancing, building things. And if not everyone gets it, then that's ok-- just as no one else is you, not everyone is on your wavelength.

But those who are will get it. And if you work on getting better at expressing yourself, your inner world will be able to reach and touch more people.

And you won't have to pose naked to get people's attention.

--Melissa Voodoo

Making the Darkness a Little Squishier

This is where we stick pins in as many things as we can think of. Sometimes, it's to deflate them. Sometimes, it's to nail them to the Web where they will be worshipped for ever and ever. And sometimes, it's because we like poking holes in things.

Welcome to the pincushion.

--Melissa Voodoo