Jemima J By Jane Green

Ugly ducklings and swans. Four simple words that are immediately recognized as having nothing to do with any species of bird. What exactly does it mean to be one or the other? Is there a patch that should be worn? A demeanour that should be adopted or conformed to? As for the answers to these questions, I am the wrong person to ask. But no matter how hard we may fight to rid our society of these stigmas or the unspoken formalities that each label connotates, they are here and they are, unfortunately, here to stay. Whether we consider ourselves to be apart of one or the other (I won't ask, no worries) we know exactly the social references, physcial represenations, and life styles that are believed to be common place for both.

Now, if we were, what some would consider to be an "ugly duckling", how far would we go to jump ship and land happily amongst the "swans"? Are we so depressed, nay, repressed, in our current life that the tiniest glimpse of an alternative will thrust us into a newer, more improved (so we think) self? We may not have this answer, but Jemima J soon becomes engulfed with changing her present circumstances.

Even though her purposes for changing may appear to be superficial, she begins to acknowledge pieces of herself that had been left hidden or so deeply barried away that they became nonexistent. Though aspects of her "skin" may have changed, Jemima J becomes more comfortable, loving, and accepting of her own than she has ever done before. And no, I wouldn't say it is due to the decrease in pounds, tightness of clothes, or changing in hair color. No, those are all transformations of ones facade not our actual selves.

However, that lesson is one that takes Miss J a while to learn. When faced with a new life offering new adventures, new places, new opportunities, and new (or old) love to endure, who could resist?

For someone like Jemima J, a once proclaimed member of the ugly ducklings, becoming a verified member of the swans is beyond what she could hope for. But is that enough? Will the metamorphosis of her outter shell change who Jemima J is on the inside? Should it? Can it?

Sometimes it takes the moments when we have grasped our dream, taken hold of the one thing we once believed to by an abstract idea of fancy, to acknowledge the beauty of our present; the beauty of who we are.