Red Ink
by Danielle Fink
Once your family is too busy for you, focus only on yourself. Watch youtube videos on how to apply eyeliner. Try it on the right eye perfectly. Smudge it on your left eye as you demand your hand to stop shaking, try it again and again. Formal titles come with a lot of unspoken authority. Whether that authority comes from God, higher forms of jurisdiction, or internal consciousness, titles bring a responsibility that is unchanging and bounding. Camp counselors are expected to be cheerful, full of laughter and light, and ready for any challenges to appear. By definition, the word “protector” means “the one who protects,”, though the common idea of a protector is usually held in reference to colonial administration or heads of a state. We’re supposed to wake up with lightning in our steps, smiles permanent on our faces, prepared to take care of the eleven-or-twelve children in the cabin we sleep in for 9 weeks for the entire day. Buy your first padded bra and hope your breasts eventually fill it out- don’t forget to make sure the pink straps are showing when you get to school. Lean over your bathroom sink and gaze into the mirror so you can see your face clearly, then pop your pimples and tear into skin, clear out any and all of the gook that hides behind your pores. Leave no blemish behind untouched, turn your chin into a minefield.
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