Stories of Your Life and Others

From a broadcast of EduNews:
Following NCA president Walter Lambert's speech, polls show that
54% of Pembleton students support the calliagnosia initiative. Polls across
the country show that an average of 28% of students would support a
similar initiative at their school, an increase of 8% in the past month.
Tamera Lyons:

---

I thought he went overboard with that cocaine analogy. Do you know
anyone who steals stuff and sells it so he can get his fix of advertising?
But I guess he has a point about how good-looking people are in
commercials versus in real life. It's not that they look better than people in
real life, but they look good in a different way.
Like, I was at the campus store the other day, and I needed to check
my email, and when I put on my spex I saw this poster running a
commercial. It was for some shampoo, Jouissance I think. I'd seen it before,
but it was different without calli. The model was so— I couldn't take my
eyes off her. I don't mean I felt the same as that time I saw the good-looking
guy in the cafeteria; it wasn't like I wanted to get to know her. It was more
like… watching a sunset, or a fireworks display.
I just stood there and watched the commercial like five times, just so I
could look at her some more. I didn't think a human being could look so,
you know, spectacular.
But it's not like I'm going to quit talking to people so I can watch
commercials through my spex all the time. Watching them is very intense,
but it's a totally different experience than looking at a real person. And it's
not even like I immediately want to go out and buy everything they're
selling, either. I'm not even really paying attention to the products. I just
think they're amazing to watch.
Maria deSouza:
If I'd met Tamera earlier, I might have tried to persuade her not to get
her calli turned off. I doubt I would've succeeded; she seems pretty firm
about her decision. Even so, she's a great example of the benefits of calli.
You can't help but notice it when you talk to her. For example, at one point I
was saying how lucky she was, and she said, "Because I'm beautiful?" And
she was being totally sincere! Like she was talking about her height. Can
you imagine a woman without calli saying that?
Tamera is completely unself-conscious about her looks; she's not vain
or insecure, and she can describe herself as beautiful without
embarrassment. I gather that she's very pretty, and with a lot of women who
look like that, I can see something in their manner, a hint of showoffishness.
Tamera doesn't have that. Or else they display false modesty, which is also
easy to tell, but Tamera doesn't do that either, because she truly is modest.

---

There's no way she could be like that if she hadn't been raised with calli. I
just hope she stays that way.