Thanks a lot!

by A
(USA)

I just came across this site, and am very glad I did. A few months ago, I came across another site about elegance written by a woman who believed strongly in gender roles and that women should be portrayed as helpless and weak, and I'm very glad this site preaches far from that. I am very young compared to pretty much everyone else, but even growing up in my generation, I can appreciate this greatly. I'm still a teen-I am rebellious, loud when I'm around my friends, and totally into pop culture- but I think it's possible to be both a teen and elegant at once. I consider myself extremely fortunate to attend a challenging private school, and soon I'll be applying to secondary school. I want to be seen as a beautiful, well mannered, intelligent young lady, and this site has certainly paved the way. Starting tomorrow, I plan to face others calmly, graciously, and politely. There are several people at my school that I absolutely cannot stand- so I'm simply going to try very hard to speak to them calmly, politely, and as kindly as I can. I have some vulgar language...but I now realize how that makes me seem rude and uneducated. I love how you stress that to be elegant you do not have to knit and sip tea all day- that is merely a misconception! I can think of two women I know who define elegance very well. My science teacher, a well dressed, kind woman who is always pleasant and taught me quite a few things about being a good conversationalist, and the mother of my best friend, a smart, extremely successful business woman who is also a great mother. These two women are totally different because, as you said, elegance is a personal thing, not "a one size fits all."

I am still not sure who I am or what I want to do with my life, but if I know a little bit about what type of person I want to be, intelligent and elegant, I'm sure I'll figure it out :)

Thank you very much and best of luck with this site,

A