When I asked her this morning if I could post her selfie, Morrigan wanted to know why.
“I just think it’s neat and that people will enjoy seeing it.”
She looked at me doubtfully but gave her permission, nonetheless.
Morrigan is so much like me: she feels proud of herself, but is then guilty for feeling proud, so she self-deprecates. I want her to know that it’s ok to feel proud. More than that, I want her to know that she has reason to feel proud. She’s smart and very funny, and she has this cool, quirky aesthetic that I just love.
As for the selfie, she was playing around with the webcam on my computer, trying out various effects. She took a ton of pictures, but this is the one she saved.
This afternoon I said, “Morrigan! Come and see how many people liked your picture.”
Morrigan: All those people liked my picture?
Mom: Yes.
Morrigan: Why did they like it?
It wasn’t a fishing sort of question. She just honestly wants to know: What is it about this picture that people liked?
So, what do you say? Will you help a girl out?
Why do YOU like Morrigan’s picture?
Thanks. 🙂
Fluff and Bunkum 
I liked it because it has a sense of an arty thing about it and I’m into art, plus I love the colors, looks like molten lava.
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Thanks, Jackie! As soon as she wakes up I’ll tell her what you said. I have a feeling she’ll especially like that it made you think of lava. 🙂
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Because she could have just taken a silly duckface selfie, but instead decided to make it different and unique and really make it something that SHE likes, and being an individual is not only okay but AWESOME!
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Thanks, Abi!
Morrigan is definitely her own person. I love her, of course, but this is one of the reasons I genuinely *like* my daughter.
I can’t wait to share these comments with her. 🙂
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I thought that’s a painting…. 🙂
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It does have that sort of look, doesn’t it? 🙂
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This will sound really odd, but I actually like it more now that it’s displayed smaller and I can “see” the person in it. At any rate, I like it because it’s not your standard selfie just trying to show off how (whatever) a person is/thinks they are. She obviously took some time choosing the filter, it only shows a portion of her face – just enough to recognize that it’s a human – and so in my mind it really is a form of self-expression.
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I actually feel the same way about it. It wasn’t just random chance, although, because of the nature of the filter there is that aspect to it. She experimented and played and then made a deliberate choice. This is what makes it “art” in my mind.
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First of all, I love it because it is art… and it is of a kid and by a kid, and I like kids… also, the colors are awesome… but mostly because when you first look at it, especially when it is big, it looks like a picture of a giant storm with swirling clouds taken from outer space.
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😀
This is awesome. A little later I’ll go through these with Morrigan and pass her reactions on to all of you.
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yay
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I liked it because it was sort of artistic looking. I love the colors and the textures and that it’s not a duck face!
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It’s the joy of being a child is what I like about it. My happiest times are from when I was young and carefree, and allowed to be a child. Everything was still possible back then, and I wanted to find out stuff, test it, then explore some more. Society does a hideously effective job of crushing that out of you as you “mature”. She’s awesome, Jennifer. I hope she never loses her spark.
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She is awesome, Tony. I feel like it’s my job as a parent to nurture that spark, help make it grow strong so that society *can’t* crush it out of her. Only time will tell whether I’ve done a good job. I hope so. For her sake, I hope so. And maybe for the rest of us, too.
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