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Didn't want anyone to miss this. The quote is PERFECTION! Here's Laini:
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Awesome! Thank you, Laini.
I'd rather be unique than forgettable or interchangeable any day!
We always, always wanted to draw people whose faces held character, rather than traditional beauty, in art class.
I love the image of sunbeams, don't you?
Sunbeams!
Makes me think of The Picture of Dorian Gray. I think modern teens would love it!
Yes, I think that when we're younger we're more prey to the very most basic ideas of beauty, the kind of "catalog model bland pretty", the cheerleader look. But I know that my own notion of beauty has evolved into an appreciation of uniqueness -- strange eyes, interesting coloring, severe features, etc. And then there's the whole other issue of how perceived beauty is affected by character, like the great Roald Dahl quote from The Twits:
"If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.
A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."
I really think that's true! And I think we learn to appreciate that, and to look at people in a different way, as we get older.
Thoughts?