Designing a Life

America Ferrera has personal experience with this type of situation and this is perhaps why she adds such beauty and understanding to her role. She knows how even school counselors will not always encourage the dreams of their students. While in real life her mother encouraged her educational goals, in this movie, Ana’s mother is completely against her daughter’s dream of going to college.

As she is evolving very quickly into a woman, Ana learns to accept her body, her needs and her dreams about her future. While her attitude about various subjects are definitely more modern than her families traditional values, she eventually learns to respect and value her family members. Ana is trying to deal with her own inner desires and the expectations of her parents.

I found this movie amusing from the perspective of someone who used to sew all her own clothes as a teenager. Living in Africa did encourage such activities. This is a story about a teenager who thinks sewing and ironing are definitely not as fun as dating and reading a good book. I found out about dating after the sewing.

Like most teenagers in America, Ana finds a part-time job. What is amazing is that while attending Beverly Hills High School, she becomes almost unaware of what the rest of her family struggles with on a daily basis. I think this might have something to do with having to take three buses to get to school and three to get home. Her day is consumed with travel and walking.

On the last day of school, her mother competes for her attention and Ana chooses to ignore her mother’s pain and go to school anyway. There is obviously a struggle between her family responsibilities and wanting to create her own life. Her mother (Lupe Ontiveros) is going through menopause and Ana is just finding out about her own sexuality.

The two women are separated by a wide gulf of misunderstandings and life experiences. We laugh as Ana’s mother says she is pregnant, all while fearing her daughter might date and become pregnant. This movie tries to also teach a bit about birth control, but fails to emphasis the need for commitment and love before consummation. To Ana, sex just seems to be something fun to do and doesn’t seem to care if she sees her boyfriend again. Perhaps this emphasizes her masculine side.

One of her supportive teacher, Mr. Guzman (George Lopez), keeps encouraging Ana to pursue her dreams of college, while her family wants to selfishly keep her to work in the sewing sweatshop. When Ana (the beautiful America Ferrera) does have to help her family to keep the factory working, she learns to appreciate how difficult life has been for her sister, Estela (Ingrid Oliu), and gains a new respect for her mother.

I thought this movie was cute enough to watch three times and enjoyed the commentary! I liked the fact that Ana is willing to accept herself and show the world what a “real” woman looks like.

Ana’s mother is a real character and her facial expressions are at times just hilarious. She tries to teach Ana life lessons through stories, but it seems Ana is going to have to learn how to deal with life on her own. Mothers and daughters will relate well to this movie. For some reason they don’t focus on any of Ana’s female friendships, yet she does seem to have a rich family life and a boyfriend. She has a beautiful relationship with her grandfather who fully supports her in her dreams.

A word of advice: If you burn yourself with an iron – apply an ice cube immediately. It works!

A film about family and seeking fulfillment in your own life. I didn’t really find this to be as much a “comedy” as a comforting story about finding your dreams.

~The Rebecca Review 

Soul Awakenings

The Inner Strength of Today's Women, March 23, 2005

"Spirituality is a total awareness of one's life and trying to act from the point of love." ~Nancy

Michelle A. Quigley has created a beautiful book about how ordinary women make their lives extraordinary. She interviewed one hundred women to discover the common threads in female spirituality. As you read the quotes from the participants, you start to identify with a variety of ideas.

Defining the intangible qualities of spirituality can be challenging and after reading this book you may start to realize that the doorway to spirituality is often through the tangible. What helps you make it through the day? Do you look forward to giving something back to your community through volunteering? Do you feel closer to God while reading a healing book, exercising, creating art, giving emotional support to friends or while singing in church?

Michelle A. Quigley interviewed Marketing Coordinators, Saleswomen, Psychologists, Nurses, Teachers, Executives, Waitresses, Secretaries, Mothers, Social Workers, Librarians and Designers for Computer Companies.

Each chapter focuses on a specific subject discussed during the interviews. The author includes quotes, observations and notes about her own journey. Many of the women had unique ways of defining spirituality. I also enjoyed reading the section on Spiritual Expressions. Through reading this book you can discover when women feel the most spiritual, when spirituality is difficult at various times in life and how spirituality can make your life more beautiful. There is also a section on the barriers and how you can overcome problems in your life to achieve the euphoric feeling of being close to God.

While this book will be interesting to women, there is also a section specifically for men. In this section women explain how they view men who are spiritual and discuss their understanding of male spirituality. The final chapter is filled with encouragement specifically for women.

Soul Awakenings is a journey into everyday spirituality and Michelle A. Quigley makes spirituality accessible to all women, whether they believe in organized religion or they find God in nature. The quotes in this book may even encourage you to awaken in your own way and find your own unique spiritual expression.

"Find ways to connect. Find ways to get a sense of peace." ~Karen

~The Rebecca Review

A Different Spin

Chestnut Hair Color

Strength and Volume, March 8, 2007

Trying one box of Naturtint Intense Permanent Hair Colorant may encourage dreams of trying additional colors throughout the year. The experience of coloring with this product was very pleasant (No Ammonia - makes a big difference in the comfort level) and much less messy than coloring with henna.

The results seem similar to natural products I've tried, but this one has the additional benefit of increasing the volume of your hair. Each strand will increase in strength as you use the Nutrideep Multiplier. This is a cream conditioner included with the coloring.

The products in this packet include ingredients like oats, wheat, corn, soy and coconut to give hair nourishment. They really did consider everything to make your hair coloring task a breeze. The Hair Colorant and Color Developer mix up nicely in the applicator bottle that has an applicator tip with a twist off top. No need to even look for a scissors, they thought of everything.

After you color and shampoo your hair, you can apply the conditioner and leave it on for two minutes. I found this is necessary and it effectively brings out the depth of the hair color and produces shiny bouncy hair that is full and much easier to manage than before you started the process.

The iridescent chestnut color seems perfect for anytime you want to add in beautiful highlights with a subtle bronze color. Leave on for up to 40 minutes to completely cover gray. I left this on for 40 minutes and instead of getting darker, it seemed to highlight even more.

~The Rebecca Review