Image

Image... Society has developed standards; constructed an "image" of what we should or shouldn't do, what we need/ not need to look like, etc. Image has a sort of abstract meaning because it isn't formed through one thing its more so developed when you have many aspects together. I was definitely one of those people who bought into that, and, to an extent, still do. When I was in high school it was cool to be "ghetto"; basically tough and gritty. Hip hop had a large influence in the community that I grew up in and I totally bought into it. I would buy G-Unit, Sean John, etc clothing and Nike Air Force Ones; I had multiple pairs of different colors. I would talk slang, and try to manipulate what I saw portrayed in the music videos; that lifestyle looked so appealing. My aspirations weren't getting good grades, but getting big rims for my car. I wanted to portray myself as this person who I really wasn't. I was more preoccupied with how other people perceived me; my image, then I was of how I saw myself. After I graduated high school and started college I felt that, becuase college was the next step to the real world and I was going to be a lawyer after all, I could no longer present myself that way becuase, to me, it was unprofessional. I didn't think that people would take me seriously so I began to buy clothes that fit: Guess, Diesel and began focusing on my education to present myself as a professional; a hardworking, educated, clean-cut, and respectable person. In the end what have I really done though? I moved away from my old image, sure, but no matter how one cuts it; the new clothes, haircut, style, etc my new image is still...STILL an image.