Mona Lisa Smile

character, rather than trying to move it for each frame. For example, a clay person might have 20 or more mouths, each one with different expressions that the animator can swap out in between shots. If the character is smiling, their smile has to grow. When we smile, the muscles in our face have to move and…

I now sit alone. I begin to worry if I my registration was processed. What if my paperwork got lost? What if they didn’t reserve a spot for me? What if I got sent home? I look around as the last counselor stands up. She seems kind with a warm smile to match. The relief finally washes over me as I hear my name as well as the final eight kids left in the room. After a small trek through the camp, we arrive at our sleeping barracks. We sit in a circle and begin to learn about each other.…

The Porcelain Ballerina Deep breath. The rushed flurry and excited chatter of set designers, costumers, and ballerinas surrounds her. She, a delicate young girl, sits in front of the dressing table in a soft robe. Gingerly, she lines her eyes in black and pats fine silver glitter onto her tired lids, which no amount of repose could restore. A coat of mascara, a dusting of powder, and a swipe of lipstick form a mask under which she hides herself from the harsh stage lights. Her beauty was…

It was a rainy fall evening, and Sam had just returned to central perk after a stressful day of work. His eyes fluttered closed as he strutted into the warm building, and a sigh escaped from his pink tinted lips. The aroma of roasted coffee beans, and sweet baked goods greeted him with open arms. When his eyes slicked the interior of the coffee shop, a joyous voice shouted out to him. “Hey, Sam!” Monica. A beautiful girl, with dark hair that barely touched her shoulders. He had met her…

! The Deliberate Duchenne Smile: Individual Differences in Expressive Control reports on one’s capacity to willfully generate Duchenne smiles and distinct differences in this ability, based on gender. The methodology carried out by Gunnery et al. evaluated participants involved in a role- play task, “designed to measure quasi-naturalistic usage of the deliberate Duchenne smile, and an imitation task, designed to measure muscular capability” (Gunnery et al, 2012). In the role-play tasks,…

expressions influence emotions. It is believed that there is 50 different types of smiles, but most studies dealing with facial expressions focuses on two types, a “standard” smile which triggers your zygomaticus muscles and a “genuine” smile which triggers both your zygomaticus and orbicularis oculi muscles. Research showed…

experience was nonverbal as well. “A person who smiles at us is sending a nonverbal signal that the person finds us to be like him or her and is a friend, not a foe” (p. 299). They beautiful people we encountered we often-exchanged warm smiles with or waves and they then smiled at us at well. I could tell they felt welcomed and not judged or ashamed. “That simple facial expression communicates a number of important things to the person receiving the smile. It says, “Welcome,” “I’m glad you’re…

There is nothing better than seeing a smile transform a frown. Our shift is coming to an end, and we sit on the counters of a cramped room in the basement of a hospital. We laugh and joke around, creating in one night, enough inside jokes to last a lifetime. Our best florists open the flower-filled storage and begin the task of forming two modest vases. These vases are not for us, nor are they for sale. Once finished, they will be brought upstairs and presented to a patient. The expertly…

The late bell rang, signalling the start of class and the end of me and Dylan’s conversation. When class ended we went our separate ways. We rarely saw each other in the hallways, but when we did, we would smile at each other or make goofy faces. Dylan made me feel like I wasn’t a total reject and that I was normal and nothing bad could ever happen to me. But bad things always happen to me. At the end of the day, I walked into journalism a little later than…

An autumn afternoon, a watercolor sunset streaked muted pastel shades across the sky. It was a bitingly cold chill that belonged to winter. My eyes were focused on the Manhattan skyline, a beautifully grotesque thing. Nature, half obscured by looming manmade structures. I wasn 't sure what was uglier. What an outlandish thought, to find nature so unnerving. I had been so preoccupied by my own devices that I hadn 't noticed a small girl on a crumbling concrete stoop, her eyes intently focused on…