Selfie Project

I think that this picture shows a little bit about me, but the story behind it tells a little more. Looking at it, you’d think nothing of my socio-economic class. But in preparation for this game, my mom and I had bought our shirts from thrift stores, and we had gotten our tickets for free from a friend. The seats were pretty good, which was very exciting for me. My mom and I were at this sporting event, and this is special because often times baseball games are thought of more as a father/son event, but my mom and I don’t like to comply to a lot of gender stereotypes, despite the fact we both claim to be mostly straight. We are both Filipino and I think putting me next to her makes me look more like my White half.

I think that this picture does a great job of showing my acceptance of other races as well as my admiration for “West Coast Hip Hop.” By being next to Black people, again, I look more like my White half. I think that my sexuality is displayed through my bashful smile directed toward my buddy, Snoop.

This is a picture of me wearing a luchador mask. This shows my appreciation for Mexican culture, while also highlighting the silly side of my personality. While masks can often hide a person, I think that this mask does a good job of telling people about who I am as a person. I think the fact that I am kind of silly is more important that knowing that I am a Filipino girl.

This picture was taken at my home, my favorite place in the world. I was in Seattle and hopped on a random bus and I found this park with the most beautiful view of Seattle I’d ever seen. Initially I just took a picture of the skyline, but anyone can to that. Having me in it makes it special. I live just outside of the city as the city is too expensive, but I spend lots of time there.

This is a picture of me in the mall dressed like Princess Leia. This was the day of the Star Wars premiere. I am the biggest Star Wars fan. I couldn’t afford to go to the movie, but these friends of friends of mine invited me to go with them to it. These people had no interest in the movie, but if they were willing to pay for my ticket and snacks, I was willing to get along with the. We were in Nordstrom at the time, and I can’t even imagine buying something there, so instead I took this picture while waiting for them to do their shopping before the movie. I kept telling them we should get in line, but it worked out. Note that my Leia costume is all just random things that I found at home, as I could certainly not imagine a real costume. I just wore white clothes with a white bathrobe and black belt, and did my hair in Leia buns.

What: In the pictures I take, I always make sure that there is some aspect of my personality involved, unless the main focus of the picture is something around me, usually something that also tells something about me. Every selfie I take, even ironically, tells some sort of story about who I am, and if you know me, you learn that there is so much more behind the pictures that tell more about me that you would expect. Little things of my personality, like my humor or my interests are shown in the pictures, and I think that is more important than looking good.

So What: My mom is a big fan of pictures. She always has been. I have so many pictures of my mom from when she was young and we take similar pictures, I would say. Recently, I posted a collage of selfies with my friend for her birthday, and in every picture she looked better than I did. I didn’t think much of this, but someone had commented on the picture and said “The beauty of this collage is the faces you make in the photos are just as embarrassing, if not more so. I like the way you do things,” I think this really tells a lot about me. I never realized that I looked bad, I just thought the pictures represented our friendship accurately.

Now What: There is so much in my personality that is not seen. I try and be myself but you can’t display all aspects of yourself at all times. I try my best but of course it can’t be done. Relating this to my service learning, it makes me think that there is so much more to learn about the people at my service learning besides what’s on the surface.