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Teen views " Love machine, the artifice of identity

Michaela Gibboni
MPHS senior
Grand County, Colorado
Photo illustration by Kenneth Carter and Wendy Ready/MPHS seniors
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On television and in magazines, on the computer and on the radio, we constantly face the pressure to improve. There is always a problem, but don’t worry. If you swallow this pill, mix this drink, eat this snack, wear this makeup, use this body spray, or wear this shirt, you will be perfect, the world will love you and the world will think that you love it ” exactly as you intended.

It’s just a little kick, a little catalyst to set off the process toward personal satisfaction. But then, something else is wrong. It’s just a little flaw, easily fixed, and you have to go through the whole process again, adding something else to your body that isn’t usually there, with a goal at ultimate perfection. You are pumped so full of preservatives that there is hardly any fruit left.

Do more. Say more. Feel more. Love more. Be more. Or, in translation, zero-zero-one-one-zero.



Natural and “green” is supposedly the fad now, but is it really? You drink fluorescent-colored water for vitamins and remove trans fats but add salt and preservatives. Hey, at least you eat your fruit, “freshly grown” strawberries in February. Love your body.

And thanks to all that healthy food you’ve been eating, your complexion looks great. Right? Step closer, and you will see the thick beige paste lathered on the face of yourself and nearly every other Beautiful Girl. Hidden beneath the neutral curtain lies a million little bumps, tons of imperfections you just cannot bear. Pray to the gods that it doesn’t rain today. You don’t want to reveal your true identity. Love disguise.



Coat yourself in chemicals that stink like sex. You hear the ladies like it. Love seduction.

Peace is so popular in these days of global turmoil. On the chest of every girl and boy rests a positive message, “Peace and Love”, “Live Your Life”, shirts sewn in Mexico by young girls that leave work at the American-owned factory to be raped or murdered, and not one person is there to console the family or put out a Missing Person report. Love your world.

Technology breeds insecurities. It makes something as pure and true as love a corrupt, commercial obsession. Love is an addiction, love for people, love for things, self-love. We hide behind our technology, our creams and our clothes and our food, always looking to improve, to look better, do better. We are slaves to love. We are love machines.


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