#pink academic

[prettieinpink]

CREATING + USING FLASHCARDS

CREATING

You can either use index cards, online cards or cut out paper, whatever is more convenient.

Organise resources and notes before beginning to write anything on your flash cards. Only use key concise information.

Keep the content on your flash cards short. Don’t use flash cards for more detailed information. You want to make sure it is easily memorable.

When writing your flash cards, use different coloured pencils to write or highlight some words to make it more memorable.

Put one term/question on each card to better retain more information.

Add pictures/diagrams. I know not all of us are artists, but they are quite useful to memorise the information, as our brains associate visuals with information.

Keep your flash cards limited. If need be, you can create two sets of decks to use in different periods, but try keeping one deck under 20-25 cards.

USING

Repetition is important when using flash cards. Try to find little intervals in your day to use them. Early morning or just before you go to bed are some of the best times to revise them!

Recite your flashcards out loud instead of in your head, you process the information with more clarity.

Keep distractions minimally. You don’t need to have complete silence, but avoid music, doing it in your bed or eating while revising.

Engage yourself with the flashcards, you can reward yourself after getting a short chunk memorised, or walk around while using them.

[pinkacademic]

How Barbie: Princess Charm School engages with Class Inequality

Barbie: Princess Charm School engages with class inequality by presenting a story of someone being given the opportunities to escape their class experience. The twentieth film in the Barbie movies franchise of pink powerful (mostly) princesses is the tale of an unwitting princess raised in poverty and “unlocking her princess potential.”

In the fictional land of Gardania, Blair Willows is a hardworking young woman who is granted the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to attend the titular Princess Charm School and train as a lady royal, giving her the skills necessary for a job in a royal household. It would put her up, likely for life, and allow her to fund her sick mother’s medical care and give her sister opportunities that Blair most likely hadn’t had at the same age.

While Blair does discover that she is in fact the long-presumed dead Princess Sofia, true heir to the Gardanian throne, she actually spends the majority of the movie’s runtime fighting the uphill battle against class inequality as the only commoner among the future princesses and well-off lady royals.

To preface, herein is an analysis of the plot and how aspects of Blair’s class background affects her character, but also brief interludes for speculation, though, as often as possible, it is inspired by or compared to real-life equivelents, due to Gardania being a fictional place.

A Brief Summary of Barbie: Princess Charm School

For those who do not follow Barbie movies as closely as gospel, like I have no shame in doing, Barbie: Princess Charm School is the story of Blair Willows, a young woman who wins the opportunity to attend a prestigious school, and who during her time there, discovers she is the presumed-dead Princess Sofia. During her time in Princess Charm School, Blair uncovers cruel plots by the devious Dame Devin, who is determined to put her daughter Delancey on the throne. She also meets Headmistress Alexandra Privet who tutors her in the skills she’ll need to pass her year in school, and Princesses Hadley and Isla who become her confidantes- and provide the necessary exposition.

Blair also meets Delancey Devin, who goes against her mother’s wishes and helps Blair, Hadley, and Isla to discover the truth, and places Gardania’s Magical Crown on Blair’s head, which reveals her to truly be the heir to the throne.

You can tell she’s Not Yet a Princess

Blair’s background is established from the opening scene of the film, which is a montage to the song “You can tell she’s a Princess.” While obviously the song is direct and blatant foreshadowing Blair’s identity being revealed later, it also sets up the movie’s key ideal that “there’s a princess in every girl.” How Blair shows this is through her hard work.

We see in the montage that Blair opens the Café Gardania in the morning, performing all of the necessary duties such as setting up the tables and chairs outside as well as the sign, and setting out the baked goods. We see her serving customers throughout the day, picking up tips to take home, and closing up the café in the evening.

Speculation: It is unclear who owns the café, and if it is a chain etc. Blair is the only worker seen, and what I consider to be likely is that the café was originally owned by her mother, with Blair working in it and possibly dropping out of school to help as her mother’s illness progressed, finally taking over.

Speculation: Blair gets access to all of the tips due to the café having belonged to her mother before her illness became too much for her. Blair has taken over in recent years, with it being likely that she never finished school and dropped out to make money to keep her family afloat. This may also be why the family are able to survive for a short period of time when Blair goes to Princess Charm School.

Regardless, it is clear that Blair is working hard in a working class position, establishing the position from which this essay will operate. As a note on the nature of speculations made within the essay, the majority of real-world comparisons will be made with Los Angeles, California due to it being a major city near El Segundo, the home of Mattel, and Malibu, the home of the character of Barbie Roberts and her family within her fictional universe separate to Gardania.

Living in a Blight

This establishment of Blair’s working class status indicates the first aspect of Blair’s class that is addressed in the movie, and that she works against over the course of the story: housing. Of course, not everyone can live in a castle, and while Blair is of course not expected to before Princess Charm School, the castle does serve as a vehicle to convey how Blair is faced with housing inequality.

When Blair gets home from her long day at work, we see that the Willows family lives in what is notably a “poorer area,” as Dame Devin later describes it as. We see the train track, which would cause noise polution, immediately making the area seem less-desirable. Blair also states that she wished they could live in a “better area,” and hoping for a “better place for [Emily] to grow up,” making it clear that it is not the place that Blair would ideally choose for her younger sister.

Speculation: It is implied also that the Willows family had to move from a nicer area, likely due to needing to save money for Blair’s adoptive mother’s medical bills. It is stated that Blair was found on a doorstep, heavily implying that the family used to have a doorstep, and a nicer home attached, likely in the suburbs.

Naturally, moving into a private school attached to a palace could certainly create feelings of inadequacy in Blair, and shows the stark contrast between what she had just come from. According to privateschoolreview.com, typical private school tuition in Los Angeles is over $16,000 USD in 2023, and according to salary.com, average waitress salary in Los Angeles is in the range of $23,000 usd, which means that without the lottery, living in Princess Charm School would be inaffordable for Blair. But it isn’t just the cost that makes the housing inequality obvious- it is the ammenities that Princess Charm School offers; this is not in reference to ammenities that might aid in education such as the ballroom and pool, but rather the vault and the security system.

The palace has an extensive vault full of trinkets beyond just the famous Magical Crown. It features references to Barbie movies such as a nutcracker toy, but what it represents is security beyond literal security for one’s possesions: it represents the financial security for possesions worth keeping secure.

When Blair enters her home, we see no visible lock, and while it presumably exists, it doesn’t quite compare to the impressive bank-type vault storage room in the palace. Vaults of this nature are comparable to the likes of Fort Knox, which, while it is significantly less-penetrable than Dame Devin’s date-based passcode, holds a significant amount of the USA’s resources.

On the same note, Hadley is familiar with the laser security system that is seen outside the main body of the vault. While laser systems as shown in the movie only exist to add drama in cinema, the kind of system can be implemented, and one to the scope of the vault would be expensive to set-up. While according to homeimprovementcents.com the upfront costs can be inexpensive, “if you want a more advanced system, you will need to pay more (…) you can spend more than you anticipated or within the budget range you had initially hoped for.”

It doesn’t appear that the Willows family have the kind of budget for even a lower-level security system. And of course, they don’t seem to have much worth stealing, with value of the sentimental variety being the key worth anything seems to hold.

One of the most major plot points of Barbie: Princess Charm School, and the one that largely prompts Delancey towards her own redemption, is Dame Devin’s plot to displace the less-fortunate people of Gardania, including Blair’s building specifically, in order to build a park. This is an aspect of housing inequality related to class as it is a distinct parallel to the history of Central Park- or rather, Seneca Village.

Note: While Los Angeles and wider California have similar issues, Central Park’s history as Seneca Village is an on-the-money comparison, as well as being arguably the best known.

The official Central Park website explains the history of the park:

“Before Central Park was created, the landscape along what is now the Park’s perimeter from West 82nd to West 89th Street was the site of Seneca Village, a community of predominantly African-Americans, many of whom owned property.”

The website also relays the destruction of the Village, noting that, “[t]here were roughly 1,600 inhabitants displaced throughout the area,” and that “[a]lthough landowners were compensated, many argued that their land was undervalued.”

This history strongly parralels not only similar events in the areas surrounding Barbie’s home of California, such as Bruce’s Beach, but also of Blair’s home in Gardania. Dame Devin refers to Gardania’s “poorer areas” as a “blight to the otherwise beautiful community,” announcing her plan, in Delancey’s name, to “bulldoze the buildings” in order to make room for “beautiful, rolling parks.” Upon Blair’s protests, Dame Devin states that the poor families will simply move elsewhere, to which Blair points out that those people can’t afford to “just pick up and move,” as Dame Devin implies.

“Comfortable? She should be all better!”

Taking a trip back to the earlier scenes, as Blair settles down in front of the old tv that has to be hit to function, we meet the representation of the next aspect of Blair’s class inequality. The reason for Blair being the sole-earner is her adoptive mother’s ill-health. While it is unclear what her mother ails from, it seems to be an on-going medical condition.

According to the Guardian, “[m]illions of Americans – as many as 25% of the population – are delaying getting medical help because of skyrocketing costs.” We can gather from dialogue that Blair’s adoptive mother has seen a doctor recently, but the jar of loose coins emphasises the scarcity of money to pay for these visits.

Meanwhile, to compare to one of the only living monarchs in real life, an article by StyleCaster states that “King Charles’s net worth is $600 million.”

It can be assumed that the princesses and non-commoner lady royals would be able to pay for Blair’s mother’s medical bills, but Blair does not have that kind of money. Even if we were to assume that princesses are more like senators than real-world royals, given the sheer number of princess graduates in Blair’s class, we can compare to Senator Alex Padilla of California who, according to incomepedia.com ”earns anywhere from $174,000-$200,000 annually.”

While that’s not exactly comparable to King Charles, it is not exactly comparable to Blair’s hypothesised $23,000 either.

Ultimately, any of the princesses could likely pay for Blair’s mother’s medical bills, and Blair just would not have that money without the Princess Charm School scholarship.

Royal Skills put to the Test

The mention of the scholarship thus brings us to the point that dominates the majority of the plot of the movie: education inequality as a result of class. Blair is awarded the amazing opportunity to attend Princess Charm School on a scholarship as rewarded by the annual lottery, which Headmistress Privet refers to as a chance to “change her life forever.”

However, while sprites such as Grace exist in Princess Charm School with the role of personal princess assistants, the lottery win is not the magic-wand solution Blair’s sister Emily seems to have hoped.

Headmistress Privet informs Blair that “only twenty-seven percent” of the lottery girls even make it to graduation, meaning Blair has just over a one-in-four chance of getting the “better life” for Emily and her mother.

This chart by slate.com highlights the very same point that Headmistress Privet warns Blair about: how likely it is that she will not be able to complete her year in Princess Charm School. She asks Blair if she “has what it takes,” but as this chart displays, it might not even matter how hard she works: If we compare becoming a princess or lady royal to a bachelor’s degree, Blair as a low-income student has to give it her all just to have a comparable chance to a middle-of-the-road princess.

Speculation: It is unclear as to whether Princess Charm School is more comparable to a university or high school setting, as it seems to be a one year course. That said, most of the students seem to have an established knowledge of how the school operates, indicating that it is more like a high school and they have all been there for three years prior to the film’s beginning, especially as we see classes going on as Blair enters.

The last point of the speculation is the most crucial, however- classes ongoing implies that Blair is either joining mid-year or before the start of the final year of multiple. It puts her at a distinct disadvantage compared to her peers.

The system of Princess Charm School, regardless of unclear details of the nature of the institution, works against Blair as she tries to advance, with her family as her constant motivation. Just like how the same article on slate.com references that:

“sociologists Elizabeth Armstrong and Laura Hamilton documented the ways that one large state flagship university sacrificed the needs of poorer undergrads in order to cater to the desires of mediocre but wealthy students looking to spend four years tailgating and doing keg stands,”

Dame Devin shows favouritism to Portia, a princess who is visibly failing a class exercise, over Blair, who Dame Devin actively wants to saboutage. In her poise lesson, Dame Devin instructs the princesses and lady royals in how to maintain correct posture and walk elegantly while balancing books on their heads. Dame Devin gives harsh criticism to the majority of the class such as comparing one girl to a “migrating duck,” and suggesting another seems “crazy,” but Portia, who is shown to seemingly be one of few friends her daughter Delancey has is “doing fine” even though she is carrying the book over her head.

In fact, Dame Devin sighs and put her head in her hand upon witnessing Portia’s inability to perform the task, in a way that implies this might be a common occurance. Teachers in Princess Charm School are well-used to Portia’s incompetance, and yet, it is Blair who is “utterly unfit for the royal life.”

Speculation: Portia’s kingdom is considered one of the most important to maintain a relationship with for Gardania, hence her getting away with this when no one else does, and hence her being Delancey’s friend.

Dame Devin’s petition to Headmistress Privet for Blair’s expulsion is also an indication of another aspect of education inequality as a result of class, as, instead of expelling Blair, Headmistress Privet offers to tutor her personally. This in and of itself has aspects, the first being another addressing of income, as Tutors.com states that “[o]n average, a private tutor costs between $25 and $80 an hour.” And, again, Blair’s potential income is not likely to account for such things.

But also, noting Headmistress Privet’s earlier note of only 27% of lottery girls making it to graduation, would more of them have succeeded if they’d also been given the same chance as Blair? Is the vast majority of these girls failing a result of lottery girls being as “unfit” for the world of princesses and lady royals, or is it a result of a failure in the system that Blair was luckily handed the opportunity to avoid?

An article in the Guardian outlines a tutoring scheme that involved university students volunteering as tutors, and highlights that one student says “the one-to-one support has “really made a difference” to her understanding of the key concepts in biology.” So, if that same logic could have been supplied to many of the lottery girls that had come before Blair, who knows how many could have become lady royals with their “pick of any lady royal position,” just as Headmistress Privet said Blair could.

Blair’s friendship with Hadley and Isla, while both of them lift her up as best as they can, serves to emphasise the gaps in knowledge Blair has as a result of class-based education inequality, be it due to losing time in school from having been working, or by the lower standard of education she’d have been used to at that point. Going back to the article on slate.com, “the Department of Education found that slightly less than ten percent of high schoolers from poorer families had top math scores, compared to 48 percent of those from wealthier backgrounds.” While the example here is maths, Blair’s history knowledge of her own country compared to her royal counterparts is lacking to a similar degree. It is Hadley and Isla who tell Blair about Gardania’s Magical Crown and the rumours about the car crash that killed Queen Isabella and King Reginald. Without their knowledge, the trio would never have placed the true heir of Gardania on the throne.

Mother and Daughter: Pulling up the Ladder, and Lowering it Back Down

Making a return to the devious Dame Devin, her actions are an example of “pulling the ladder up behind oneself,” which addresses an issue in class-climbing that can be prominant in leadership positions. We learn from Hadley and Isla that Dame Devin was once a lottery girl too, but is now hellbent on Blair’s distruction, appealing to Headmistress Privet for her expulsion from the school. Of course, we learn later that it is due to a far more sinister plot for power, but nevertheless, Dame Devin’s actions represent a huge class-related issue. The Australian newspaper The Sunday Morning Herald wrote an article about women in positions of power who, according to Lucy Brogden, “were refusing to help other women repeat their success.” If Dame Devin had had half the heart that Delancey has of her own volition later on, she could have recognised herself in Blair, recognised her own struggles, and been the one to tutor her. She could have helped every lottery girl between herself and Blair.

Instead, her jealousy and her desire for the throne- and her desire to keep her murderous past hidden, no doubt- kept her from showing kindness, and ultimately led to her downfall.

But Delancey chooses another path:

The other key aspect of why the plan succeeds is Delancey’s reformation. Her leaving a window open for the girls within the palace walls is what allows them to get anywhere near the vault. Going against her mother, Delancey is able to lower the ladder back down. Where in the Sunday Herald article Mrs Brogden states:

“Women argue that far from nurturing the growth of other female talent, they see colleagues pushing aside possible competitors by undermining their self confidence and professional standing,”

Delancey chooses to stand against that, stating she “want[s] what’s right.”

And actually, that’s a rarely-seen example of class interaction: the wealthier choosing to join a lower class status and handing the higher status to another, which is the undoing of Dame Devin. Because Delancey handing Blair the crown, lowering the ladder to her is how Blair is not only able to climb up too, but to offer something back: Delancey’s lady royal tiara.

Crowns on our Heads, Lights in the Air

And thus leads us to the concluding point that the film wants us to reach. While not every working class young woman can be the secret princess, Blair and Delancey’s swapping of roles is proof of Blair’s final words that end the film: “there’s a princess in every girl.” This is a representation of how Barbie: Princess Charm School engages with class inequality- by addressing many aspects of class, the damage that can be done, and how much work it will take to undo that damage- but by working together, Blair, Hadley, Isla, and Delancey and able to create something more powerful than the differences between them.

Barbie: Princess Charm School represents the class struggle of a young woman who did not have access to the same things as her princess peers by showing every aspect of class that Blair has to overcome in order to arrive at the position that she is in at the end. But it also shows that, it is the actions of those with the privileges that truly make it possible for Blair to attain the crown.

It is Hadley and Isla who bridge the gaps in her knowledge, Headmistress Privet who teaches her the skills she’ll need to govern, and Delancey who hands her the crown. Even tiny acts of kindness such as Miranda handing Blair a slice of strawberry swirl are the kinds of details that keep Blair going, and without which, Dame Devin would be using her daughter as a puppet to drive Gardania into the ground.

Blair’s hard work gets her far, but it is her Princess Charm School allies that allow her to overcome class inequality once and for all, which is truly the most important aspect of how Barbie: Princess Charm School addresses class inequality.

[pinkinkreads]

I currently have 263 books in my reading list. By the end of the year, I want to have read 100 books. I started a little late, but hopefully everything goes well !!🎀 I’m starting with “The Smart Money Woman” by Arese Ugwu

[lanabanana79]

[ancientsstudies]

It's the little things, I expect.

ig credit: gossipstyle.

[girlbloggerbby]

Personal productivity/self love tips

Fuck the clean girl influencers that just post their perfect life, choose to be inspired by influencers who show their difficulties and help you how to really improve

Don't put extreme goals for yourself to achieve, that girl aesthetic that does everything and never fails is impossible and unrealistic, you are human

Don't waste another morning watching other people's lives instead of getting up and doing something more useful

The first thing you will do when waking up its drink a glass of water, it takes oxygen to the brain and makes you wake up faster

Focus in one goal, wanting to achieve several goals at once will make you procrastinate more and not achieve anything

Set a timer for your apps, it makes your be more aware of how much time you're spending on each app

Make a list of gifts to give yourself when you achieve a goal, it gives you motivation to achieve it faster

If you can't improve for yourself, at least improve to be a healthier person and present in the lives of the people you care about

If u can sleep 8+ hours, do it, put your phone down and sleep

Apples! They'll boost your energy and immunity so much

Self care isn't selfishness

Uninstall any app that makes you compare yourself

Don't hear people that ashame you and call you a "pick me", they're just unhappy and jealous of you because you show who you really are, love the things you love and keep being like that, don't change because someone thinks ur being "embarrassing"

That's it for the day, don't be hard to yourselves, luv ya💐

[honeytonedhottie]

pretty and well educated⋆.ೃ࿔*:･📄

its important that even if ur not going to school currently to continue learning and educating urself about the world in which u live. think of ur brain like a muscle that needs to be exercised everyday. or a plant that needs to be watered daily.

FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING ;

read subreddits and newspaper articles in ur target language everyday. that way u can learn about news in different countries while also practicing ur target language.

READ BOOKS ;

specifically nonfiction but nonfiction doesn't always have to be boring. read entertaining nonfiction. some fun topics to research books for include

stock market and economics

industry of ur choice (i like fashion)

SATISFY UR CURIOSITY ;

whatever ur curious about, RESEARCH. thats the funnest way to learn in my opinion. make a list of things that u are curious about or find interesting and when u have the time research them and educate urself about them.

write down what piques ur interest

STIMULATE UR MIND ;

daily mind stimulation is good for ur well being in general. read books fictional or nonfictional, do some writing, do word searches and puzzles etc. for funsies and to keep ur mind sharp.

[aezkko]

„she’s all that.”

[days-may]

a place of power within you

˖ ִֶָ་࣪˖ ִֶָ་࣪ °˖ ִֶָ*·.｡.° ·｡.·*˖ ִֶָ་· ࣪˖ ִֶָ་༘･࿐

[pinkacademic]

Studying Language

Sorry I've been rather inactive, I'm slowly trying to get back into the swing of things!

This is something I’m actually qualified to talk about! I speak three languages fluently, albeit in need of a little practise, and I’m learning one more currently, with one on pause due to time constraints. Nevertheless, I feel pretty confident in my information lol. I’m also a qualified TEFL teacher and have worked abroad teaching English!

Full immersion is the best option. The best thing you can do is spend your time in a country that speaks your target language and force yourself to learn, once you have the “Hello,” “Goodbye,” “Where is the bathroom?” all mastered. In Ireland, there are places called Gaeltachtanna where you go for different lengths of time depending on the course and live in a town speaking exclusively Irish, usually staying with an Irish-speaking family, and going to classes for the language and for games and dances. Of course, that’s not an accesible option for everyone, so you could try going to places like your nearest Asian market, Eastern European market etc, and any areas in your city with a lot of immigrants that might speak your target language. If you have friends who speak that language, natively or just to a better level than you, ask to meet them for coffee and chat as much as you can in your language.

Immersion Part Two: Culture. The people who speak your target language natively do so not just becaus that’s the place in which they exist, but because that’s the place that they live- they get their groceries there, they go to school there, and their language developed because of the day-to-day, as well as unique aspects of their culture such as dances, music, and especially food. Learn about the culture of the country or countries that speak your target language. Eg, fold a paper crane or eat sushi if your language of choice is Japanese, watch an telenovela or go to a salsa class if your goal is to learn Spanish.

Watch TV shows in your Target Language. If you can’t access the locations, and even if you can, watching TV or movies is great because it’ll help you understand the cadences of natural speech that you can’t get from a textbook or formal class situation. Start with movies you might be familiar with like Disney movies (I will die on the hill of “Mother knows Best” from Tangled is better in Spanish). You can also combine your subtitles and audio, using subtitles in your own language at first, and challenge yourself to changing the subtitle.

Similar to the above points, use YouTube or Twitch to your advantage too. That’s probably a lot easier if your target language is English, but there are creators that speak in their non-English native language too. My friend watches a Mexican Minecraft YouTuber called Quackity who has a Minecraft server modded to feature a live translator between Spanish and English, which is very cool.

Read books in your Target Language. We don’t love The Chronicles of the Boy Wizard in this house, but the books are available in 85 languages. The Hobbit also has a tonne including Cornish, Thai, and Ukranian, and Twilight has about 37 translations, just to list a few well-known examples. Learn especially about books written originally in your target language.

Consume Media Originally from the Country or Countries that Speak that Language. Read the Witcher, watch Física o Química, join the dubbed vs subbed anime bloodbath. It can be so beneficial to your understanding of a language to see how those who speak it write it themselves, not just for localisation purposes. It can especially be useful for slang and dialects.

Duolingo and other apps. I’m swiftly approaching my 365 day duolingo streak,* and I fully intend to celebrate with pierogis and a green cake. But there are other options out there, and all of them are great for beginners. I can only speak about Duolingo as its the one I use, but I’m having a lot of fun with the layout of it. However, I do need real practice if I’m going to become actually fluent.

That’s it! I hope this has been helpful!

*I've surpassed it since writing this!! I'm at 400+!!

[literarydesire]

I contain multitudes darling.

[lanabanana79]

[pinkacademiaprincess]

the elle woods of business school 👩‍💼✏️📈🧠🎀

[lovinterstellar]

GOALS TO SET FOR YOURSELF

Setting goals for yourself is SUPER important. Goals help you have something to strive toward so here are some to set for yourself! p.s- here is how to set and accomplish goals!

ACADEMIC

Keeping A's and B's all year

Turning in everything when it's due

Always study for major and minor test

Trying your best always

Actively participate in every class

Improve GPA

PERSONAL

Workout 4 times a week

Stay consistent with skincare/ hair routine

Journal 2x a day

Wake up before 12pm

Get at least 5k steps in

Eat healthier

Decrease time on social media (if you use it)

FAITH (Catholicism / Christianity)

Bible study everyday

Attend Church more often

Practice forgiveness

Keep a spiritual journal

Finish the Bible

Daily prayer

[ginasdiary]

coquette girl essentials 🩰🖇️🧁 🎀

[elonomhblog]

who is she?

she invests in herself. she is healthy and wholesome.

she gets what she wants, easily. she is wealthy and abundant.

she knows herself inside and out. she is confident in her ability to achieve whatever she desires.

she is a polyglot. she loves learning and reading. she is productive and efficient.

she gets along with everyone. everyone loves her.

she always looks put together. her style is immaculate.

(images are from pinterest)