a more extensive portfolio of writing can be found below: 

www.hercampus.com/author/montana-bassett

 

The Dangerous Road of Obesity and Addiction

by Montana Bassett

 

Waking up each morning, body aching as if the flu had consumed it overnight, embarrassed even to shower knowing that properly washing herself takes almost all of the energy she has, this 21-year-old girl was helpless. Her addiction to food and the comfort it provided for her at some point in her life lead to a downward spiral that would eventually force her to make a change before the anticipation that something truly terrible would happen came true. At nearly 260 pounds, Hannah knew exactly where her faults showed, and so did everyone else.

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The intense pull inside her blindly leads her to the fridge in search of anything she can get her hands on that would satisfy the urge. Maybe it was not so much the urge driving that freight train, but instead a search for relief from some sort of continued sadness for herself and her situation. Deep down she knew this, that it added to her overall sense of sadness, and her own self pity made her hate herself even more. This made her want to eat more, and so she did.

 

Sitting down to a meal for ten at a table for one, she would eat until essentially feeing drunk. Full and doused in a haze of salt, sugar, grease and an unbelievably large amount of liquids, Hannah would stumble as best she could to her bed to hide from what she had just done, hoping to fall asleep before the guilt and anxiety completely took over.

 

This problem is all too familiar for adults in America, and it can lead to many issues beyond the physical health restrictions. From the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey it is shown that “more than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese,” but all Hannah saw was her own obesity through a distorted view of the world around her causing something inside of her to switch.

The enthralling woes of obesity stretched beyond physical health as her obesity dipped into her mind and slowly changed the way her eyes perceived herself and the world around her.

 

Constant negative thinking and a hatred towards herself and her body led her to a road lined with depression and anxiety and plotted with instances of self destruction, another journey all too familiar for those struggling with their weight. A study done shows that people over the age of 20 who are suffering from obesity are at a higher risk of “having depression later [in life.]”

The ugly cycle that is depression sets in, causing Hannah to not want to, and in fact be terrified to exercise because of not only her excess weight, but also the mental strains that depression and anxiety put on the psyche. Hannah’s very low level of activity adds to her depression, furthering her fear, which is fueled by anxiety. This leads to continued weight gain, which once again adds to this hellish cycle burdening many people in our society.

In spite of her depression, she continued to eat, fueled her addiction, the related symptoms and consequences, and continuously added more distortions to the way she perceived the world. These distortions overwhelmed her like water rising around her in a tank, and it was rising quickly, it was nearing the top and she needed to escape.

 

A little bit here, she thought, a little bit there, she wondered, “Some Adderall to give me energy and confidence, some Xanax to calm me down and make sure I sleep through the night and a lot of weed just to get through the day.” She knew it went beyond that, though, just as her obesity did. Even in her constant haze, she knew this, too, was now dipping into her mind, violating her thoughts and insecurities and constantly using them against her.

Just as she used food for comfort, she was now using drugs as an escape from the nightmare she had turned into a reality for herself, an occurrence happening more often than we may realize.

 

The Anxiety and Depression Association of America states, “having both [obesity and substance problems] can be a vicious cycle. The symptoms of one disorder can make the symptoms another worse; an anxiety disorder may lead to using alcohol or other substances to self-medicate or alleviate anxiety symptoms.”

 

Additionally, an article by an organization entitled Dual Diagnosis states that “many depressed individuals reach for drugs or alcohol as a way to lift their spirits or to numb painful thoughts. As a result, depression and substance abuse feed into each other, and one condition will often make the other worse.”

 

These depressive and addiction based habits can themselves lead to obesity. American Psychological Association states, “Binge eating, a behavior associated with both obesity and other conditions such as anorexia nervosa, is also a symptom of depression. A study of obese people with binge eating problems found that 51 percent also had a history of major depression.”

These factors working separately are very dangerous, but when combined are deadly. It is important to understand how they interact, the cause and effect nature of their dynamics and the cycle that dynamic creates. By understanding these factors, awareness on a grander scale can be achieved possibly making way for new and innovative treatments, resources and education.

 

With treatment plans, a lot of help from her family and friends, and a ton of body positive thinking and practices, Hannah can look back, about 100 pounds lighter, on this experience as one that changed her life for the better. More importantly she wants people to use this story to stay positive about their own situation and know that they, too, can come out on the other side a more happy and confident human being.

“By the time I had lost about 75 pounds, my skin began to hang on my arms. I remember wearing a sleeveless shirt and feeling wonderful about the fact that I felt comfortable showing my arms, only to have someone come up to me unannounced to tell me that I needed to tone up before wearing a shirt like that,” the experience took her off guard at first, but she was not going to let anything take away from how she felt about her body.

“We should not be ashamed of our bodies, but instead we should love and take care of them. The same goes for matters of the mind, if we nourish ourselves with love instead of hate, we can accomplish so much more.”

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The Lawsuit That Exposed Structural Violence

by Montana Bassett

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News broke on February 19 about the decision in regards to Kesha’s ability to record outside of her label with which Dr. Luke, her alleged rapist and former producer. That decision, which ruled against Kesha’s wishes to break away from Kemosabe and Dr. Luke, reveals a scary dynamic between the sexes in the music industry.

 

After originally filing a suit against Dr. Luke in October of 2014 accusing him of “drugging, raping and emotionally abusing her in a manner that ultimately led her to an eating disorder,” according to an article by The Washington Post, Kesha has not been able to record music.

In order to start working again, Kesha filed an injunction that would allow her to work outside of her contract until the case was complete, but was denied by New York State Supreme Court Justice Shirley Kornreich.“You’re asking the court to decimate a contract that was heavily negotiated and typical for the industry,” Kornreich states, according to an article by Rolling Stone.

 

However, that same article discusses that Kesha’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, points out that her career could be “’irreparably harmed’ if she [does] not return to recording music.” Without the ability to record outside of her label, she is reversibly forced to work with her attacker.

Some, like Judge Kornreich, do not see it that way stating that Kesha has been “given [the] opportunity to record” because of Sony and Dr. Luke’s agreement that Kesha can record music without Dr. Luke’s input or presence in the studio, according to the article by Rolling Stone.

Kesha, understandably, denied that proposal, as it would not take away from the fact that she is trapped in a contract with her alleged abuser.

Dr. Luke’s legal team released a statement denying the allegations that Kesha would not be free to record music without the supervision of Dr. Luke, and said, “The New York County Supreme Court on Friday found that Kesha is already ‘free’ to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to,” according to Billboard.com.

 

With this case, the small amount of trust we as a society instill in women when they come forward as victims of violent, sexual acts is exposed, and it is ugly. Dr. Luke and his lawyers claim that this is an attempt “to extort him in order to extricate her from contracts with Luke’s Kemosabe Records label” an article on Billboard states, “His attorneys, led by Christine Lepera, have argued that Kesha’s claims came too late and are too vague, the harm is overstated and that she’s not likely to prevail.”

 

Furthermore, Judge Kornreich made statements in reference to the severity of the situation, “I don’t understand why I have to take the extraordinary measure of granting an injuction,” she states according to that same article on Billboard.

The language being used shows that when women come forward with information about sexual violence, people automatically pin them as a liars or “dramatic,” adjectives that belittle the traumatic event and its consequences.

Judge Kornreich does not understand why extraordinary measures need to be taken? Breaking it down more simply may make it more understandable for her.

 

Kesha, a successful businesswoman, musician and millionaire many times over, has every right to work in an environment in which she feels physically and mentally safe. Unfortunately, because her producer allegedly sexually assaulted her, her work environment is no longer able to provide her with an place in which she feels safe. This lawsuit, brought on by Dr. Luke’s alleged decision to sexually assault Kesha, is preventing her from doing her job and making money unless she chooses to work within a contract and company that condones sexual violence. The extraordinary measures would essentially be allowing for someone to break away from their violent attacker in order to continue having the ability to support themselves and do the job they are trained to do.

 

There is a dangerous intersection of money and violence here also in that the contract became the front-runner in the case and not the potential violence that took place. These condoning behaviors further present an image that these violent self-conducts are acceptable. Lena Dunham spoke on the issue and all it represents for women and the ugly culture of sexual violence in an article she wrote for her own publication, Lenny Letter,“The lack of perspective on the part of Sony — the inability to look at the worth of a woman’s platinum records versus the worth of her soul being intact — is horrifying.”

 

She’s right. In part, this case comes down to the fact that the court system is regarding a contract, in other words: money, as more important than not only the mental and physical harm of a human being, but also the obvious societal trends impacting women. We cannot stand idly by watching events like this unfold because it only cultivates the behavior.

Fellow artists and fans alike have come together in support of Kesha. Stars such as Lady Gaga wrote about the issue, according to an article by NME.com, “Why is the victim always the ‘liar,’” she stated Taylor Swift has donated 250,000 dollars in support of her legal funds. They are accompanied by a slew of other stars standing in support of the singer.

 

What we must ask ourselves now is: How many layers of this beast that is the sexist structure of our society must be exposed before a woman’s physical and mental health are thought of as more important than an industry contract?

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East Coast to West: The Chronicles of an Aspiring TV Writer

by Montana Bassett

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My temporary apartment in L.A. overlooked UCLA’s campus. I would periodically look up from the movie script I was reading out toward the other apartments on campus; each equip with a deck and the customary wet suit hanging over its railing to dry.

The sun was shining bright and I was perusing my dream. It felt so right. Just a year earlier, I transferred from another school, where I was an unhappy computer and math major to Temple. Now, I’m studying journalism and am interning at a production company as part of the School of Media and Communication’s study away program.

 

I’ve always loved film and television. When I was younger, it was there for me when I was bored, needed entertainment or a laugh. From Arrested Development to  Breaking Bad, I watched it all. I learned everything I could about the people who wrote and produced these worlds I so enjoyed escaping to. Mitch Hurwitz. Vince Gilligan. Tina Fey. I wanted to be like them.

And so in the Fall 2015, I became a journalism major at SMC. One day, while I was on set at an episode shoot of Temple Talk on TUTV, I heard some of the other students talking about SMC’s Study Away program and the opportunity to intern in Los Angeles.

I applied and got in, and last in June, I packed my bags and got ready to spend the summer in the mecca of the entertainment industry, where I would work at the Gotham Group, a management and production company.

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***

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I wore all black to my first day of work and it was a big mistake—the temperature was pushing one hundred degrees, and I was roasting. I got off the bus  at the corner of Cory Avenue and Sunset Boulevard. Gotham’s building is within walking distance to Beverly Hills and it is lined with palm trees.. I looked at the people standing with signs and pamphlets advertising star maps and celebrity tours.

 

I enter Gotham’s lobby, feeling thankful for the air conditioner. Nevertheless, I ducked into a bathroom to make sure the sweat had not messed up my hair and clothes. would later find out that she is a manager in the animation department at the Gotham Group named Julie Kane Ritsch, someone I would find to be just about one of the coolest and most interesting women I had ever met.

 

I walked through a set of double doors just down the hallway from the bathroom and was greeted by a high school aged boy in a long sleeved black polo. I told him I was here for the first day of my internship and he promptly told me to take a seat. Next to me sat another young woman, she was also starting that day. Her name is Juliet Spile and she immediately eased my nerves. We talked about our universities, where we were from, how we got involved with Gotham. She was friendly, welcoming and just as nervous as I was.

 

Joey, the business manager and my supervisor for the internship, came to meet us and brought us into his office. He had originally interviewed me over the phone for the position. We walked down the hall toward his office and my vision blurred as each step brought me closer and closer, but it was time to set that fear aside. He handed up a series of papers and packets including confidentiality agreements and packets of information about our daily and weekly tasks. Sitting in his office in front of me sat a stack of papers that felt much taller and professional than I.

 

The U shaped office was a mix of modern and industrial with white couches by the front desk and a conference room with walls of glass. The south end of the office facing Sunset Boulevard had a view of downtown Los Angeles. Palm trees, skyscrapers and a haze of smog sitting amongst it all. Joey showed Juliet and I around and in each area of the office were different tasks to be explained: filling the fridges, printers, taking the mail down, bringing the mail up, properly handling UPS versus FedEx versus USPS, memorizing the managers and their corresponding assistants. Once again I was the ant in a world much larger than the one I had grown accustomed to. I had a feeling Juliet felt similarly.

We were then taken to a room lined with bookshelves filled with hundreds, maybe thousands, of books, each quite different from the next. As my nerves calmed, we used two of the intern computers to fill out information sheets about ourselves, our favorite books, movies, TV shows, and where we saw ourselves in ten years.  Without hesitation, this question was easy to answer. I hope to be writing and/or being a producer for a television show, preferably in the comedy genre.

 

We had to send a welcome email to all of the managers and their assistants outlining who we were, where we were from, what we were studying. Of course I had to read mine just about 300 times before sending it; it couldn’t have been more than three sentences long.

While doing my first official task of the day, restocking the fridge my emotions were curving away from complete freak out to a healthy combination of nerves and excitement. A manager walked through the door into the south kitchen of the office. He was wearing a black blazer and is always smiling. It being my first day and me taking on this new lean into the fear thing, I thought I should probably introduce myself, and so I did despite my mind curving slightly back toward the freak out stage I had experienced earlier. I told him my name and mentioned it was my first day; he asked where I went to school. When I told him I went to Temple, he told me I should talk to another manager named Matt Shichtman because he also went to Temple. Doing this absolutely terrified me, but I thought I should probably do that too.

 

So I swallowed the tennis ball in the back of my throat and walked into his office, which was coincidentally only about ten feet from where I was standing. We talked about Temple, Philly, what I was studying, what I wanted to do with my career. He confirmed that I was in the right place for a career in television and there was no other place to get involved in a real and tangible way other than Los Angeles.

I spent the remainder of the day educating myself about the projects the company was working on, the managers and their assistants and making sure I understand and knew how to do all of the daily and weekly tasks. At the end of my first day, Tam, an assistant who had been answering many of our questions, gave me a book to read and do coverage on by the following week. My first manuscript.

 

It plopped down on the wooden table in the room with walls of books as a daunting 400, 8.5 by 11 pages double sided. And that is where it all began.

 

let's get real about mental health awareness

by Montana Bassett

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Depression isn't something everyone encounters, but for those of us who have experienced it, it can be as crippling as any physical impairment. It lives in the back of your brain, waiting to pounce at any vulnerability it senses, like a shark smelling for blood. It is out to pick at your worst fears and most hated parts of yourself; and it is designed to use them against you.

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As a young girl, I always knew something about my mind was different from the other young girls in my grade. This was for nothing other than the fact that I did not sense that lingering sadness living in any of other the other children. I felt that anyone who looked at me for more than five seconds would be overwhelmed by its presence in my body language. But when I looked around, I was not overwhelmed by it’s presence in anyone other than myself. However, at the time, all it was, was an observation. My immaturity and naivety prevented me from connecting what was going on in my head to the physical reality right in front of me. This blurred line continued throughout my life.

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In high school, this lingering sadness turned into a mind altering and crippling paranoia that everyone was constantly staring at me, judging me, being bombarded by my oozing discomfort in every day life. This is also known as anxiety. Many do not realize that when one mental illness is left unkempt others can, and likely will, spawn from it. They are very different and can act on their own, but when they come together, it can feel deadly. “It's not uncommon for someone with an anxiety disorder to also suffer from depression or vice versa. Nearly one-half of those diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with an anxiety disorder,” according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

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All too many people are suffering from symptoms relating to a mental illness. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, just over 18 percent of all adults in the United States suffer from mental illness. But people do not know about it. People do not understand it and people do not talk about it. Its becoming a serious problem. 

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The best way to prevent mental illness from spiraling out of control is to treat it. Face it head on. Understand the severity of the situation and grab it by the neck. However, how can we understand how to prevent mental illness without first being educated on what it is and how to help ourselves? According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, many who experience treatable mental illnesses are still not getting the treatment they need. “Anxiety disorders are highly treatable, yet only about one-third of those suffering receive treatment.” Not getting treatment not only decreases one’s mental and physical abilities, but also increases the country’s health care bill. “Anxiety disorders cost the U.S. more than $42 billion a year, almost one-third of the country’s $148 billion total mental health bill,” according to Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

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A society unaware of the impacts of mental illness and how to seek help costs America a lot of money and resources. More importantly, it comes at the cost of the society’s ability to function. “Over one-third (37%) of students with a mental health condition age 14-21 and older who are served by special education drop out—the highest dropout rate of any disability group,” according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. This organization also claims life longevity is impacted by mental health. “Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of having chronic medical conditions,” it says. “Adults in the U.S. living with serious mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than others, largely due to treatable medical conditions.”

Once someone begins to understand the problem and how to seek help, many still refuse to follow through while the mental illness convinces them they are fine. This is a problem in our country. According to the National Alliance for Mental Illness, “despite effective treatment, there are long delays—sometimes decades—between the first appearance of symptoms and when people get help.”

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Educating people about this important aspect of their lives could prevent long delays in seeking treatment and increase the overall quality of life for many in the country. This could lead to mental healthcare reform and access to the proper resources for the people suffering with these illnesses.

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Sexual Violence and Sexism

by Montana Bassett

 

In today’s culture, women are constantly hypersexualized in the media and beyond. Unfortunately, this leads to an overabundance of sexual violence against them. This issue is only becoming more relevant, especially on college campuses. Because o this, it is important to recognize how this hypersexualized view of women may be fueling this violent culture.

 

Sexual assault, formally defined as “any type of sexual contact or behavior that occurs without the explicit consent of the recipient” is a forceful and violent act. In fact, an article published by Newsweek shows that roughly 25 percent of college women have been “forced or threatened with force into unwanted sexual contact, according to the Association of American Universities’ Campus Climate Survey.” Furthermore, according to an online resource entitled RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) “women 18-24 who are enrolled in college are 3 times more likely than women in general to suffer from sexual violence.”

 

In a study done by the University of Minnesota it is shown that “When presented with nine specific scenarios, 76% of the males and 56% of the females responded that force was acceptable in at least one of those scenarios. The scenarios included ‘when a girl gets a guy sexually excited,’ ‘when she says she’s going to have sex, then changes her mind,’ and ‘when she’s led him on.’”

Living in a world where three fourths of the male population and more than half of the female population believe it is acceptable for a male to use force in any sexual scenario regardless of the circumstances is unacceptable.

 

It is important to recognize the ways in which the hyper sexualization of women is fueling these acts and viewpoints as “sexual violence disproportionately affects college women and impedes their ability to participate fully in campus life.”  Of course women are not the only victims of these horrific crimes. However, the framework of our society allows for women to be targeted more often. This calls for a necessary look into the structure of our society and what about that structure is cultivating a culture that victimizes women.

 

Also, there is a serious lack of resources provided to women who fall victim to sexual violence. This could be contributing to the growing problem. According to an article discussing the impacts of sexual violence against women, victims can experience posttraumatic stress disorder and develop crippling depression and anxiety among a slew of other physically damaging consequences. Also, victims are “13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide.”

More immediately following an attack is the reporting process, which is just as lacking. According to RAINN, 98 out of 100 offenders will never spend a day in jail. Also, reporting a rape, for example, “can lead to a months-long process that might threaten a victim’s confidentiality.” Even more troubling is “how difficult it can be to pursue criminal action when [the police] don’t collect evidence from the victim early in the process,” which can be very challenging.

 

This list of downsides coupled with the fact that many victims never find justice causes many women are to become afraid or discouraged to file a report, contributing to the 68% of assaults that are never reported, according to RAINN.

With such a low percentage of victims who receive justice it brings about the question of how this could also be contributing to the problem. If men are not being prosecuted for these crimes, it creates an image that these crimes are acceptable. Once again, proving that women are not being properly taken care of when it comes to matters of sexual violence.

 

Marginalization once again rears its ugly head, leaving women with only a small list of outlets to reach out for help. Without the proper resources for women to receive the necessary physical and mental help after such a traumatic event, it leaves them with little to work with when trying to put their lives back together.

 

We must ask ourselves, why is our society so ambiguous to crimes of a violent and sexual nature towards women?

In a study done on Seventeen Magazine’s advertisements and articles it can be seen “that the average number of sexualizing characteristics almost tripled over three decades.” Also, the University of Buffalo did a study going through more than one thousand Rolling Stone covers revealing “In the 1960’s 11 percent of men and 44 percent of women on the covers were sexualized while in the 2000’s, 17 percent of men and 83 percent of women were sexualized.” Finally they came to the conclusion “that women were much more likely to be ‘hypersexualized.’”

With hypersexualized images being portrayed to the public constantly, society is bound to attach those images to reality, regardless of how realistic they may actually be. This, paired with the historical connection women have had to their bodies and sex, could be the reason that violence against women has become such a problem. Because our society is bombarded with these images essentially everywhere we go, it has developed a bit of sensory adaption. This fosters the already ambiguous and nonchalant attitude people have towards sexual violence against women.

When discussing the issue of sexual violence on college campuses, the larger picture needs to be taken into consideration. Would this violent culture be different without the constant sexualized images society connects with women’s bodies? How does the representation of women in today’s society fuel this degrading culture? Before we as a society can take care of these issues, we must understand the dangers of the overarching structure cultivating this violence.