When I was growing up my mom was a little strict about the exposure that my sister, my brother, and I had to vulgar media. As a result we owned every Disney movie known to humankind, and we were only allowed to watch movies with bad language, violence, or sexually explicit scenes once (it was usually during that first viewing that she realized it was something that we shouldn’t see). As a result, I developed a sneaky trait. I learned how to hide things from my mom, watch movies that I wanted when she was not at home, or just take them to my dad’s house since he was unaware of these rules that she was trying to implement. Well, I have to admit, many of the movies or TV shows I didn’t really like anyway, such as Jaws, The Simpsons, Dirty Dancing (oh wait, I did like that one) , so it was kind of a waste. But there was one cassette in particular that I loved that really brought out my rebellious side. I actually hold it in my mind as the key factor that developed my ability to like what I wanted and do what I wanted despite what anyone else thought. It was Madonna. I write this because last night I hit a milestone in my life that was more noteworthy for me to write about than my new car, our new kitchen, my job promotion (by the way, these are all things that have happened since my last entry about my trip to New York). I went to my very first Madonna concert - The Re-Invention Tour. As I watched the performance and danced and sang along at the top of my lungs to Vogue and Material Girl, I realized what an impact Madonna has had on my life and the person I have become. No longer do I have to sit in my room with the door locked with my little boom box turned down really low and pressed to my ear so I can whisper along to the lyrics without my mom hearing me and taking my beloved Madonna tape away from me again. No longer do I have to believe that something is distasteful, inappropriate, and thus not worth hearing, if it has bad words or vulgar messages. In fact, I have found that I like vulgar messages because they provoke thought and action. I loved the Madonna show because it had several political messages that are currently very controversial. I love her attitude and her ability to confront a situation regardless of whether she may offend others. This is what I have always loved about her, even though I could not verbalize it at the age of five. I feel liberated, like I have overcome an ever-weakening internal obstacle that tried to plague my development and turn me into a person who I’m not. I have finally seen Madonna in concert and I, Jodi Bell, loved it!

Unfortunately I could not find a free picture of Madonna online that was from this decade, but I thought this was a good alternative. Her name is Madiva, and evidently she bought tickets to 35 shows on this tour and is wearing a different outfit to every one of them. Very ambitious, don’t you think?!