If there's one truth I've learned in college, it's that the mailman is up there on the college student's list of best friends. I find myself waiting anxiously each day, wondering if there'll be something in our apartment's little metal mailbox for me — something other than Copp's Savings Club ads and credit card offers. Knowing this truth, I realize how lucky I am to have parents who understand the joy of receiving mail and who capitalize on this fact by sending me an abundance of Hallmark cards and neatly typed notes. My dad is an especially good pen pal and has taken to sending me magazine articles he meticulously clips out as "ideas" for this column. He always comes through at the right time, too, providing a springboard from which I can elaborate on right when I'm about to hit my head against an unmoving writer's block.

Such was the case this week when, after opening one of the business size envelopes that characteristically contain all of my dad's letters, I pulled out a clipping from Sojourners magazine titled "Mixed Messages: Does Ricky Martin's sexed-up music undercut his anti-trafficking activism?" Intrigued, I read the piece by Eastern University student Josh Andersen. His argument went something like this: Ricky Martin is incredibly involved with and does a great deal of good for organizations working to stop the travesty of human trafficking around the world. Andersen asserts, however, that although Martin is doing so much work to stop what he calls one of the "cruelest social problems in the world today," he is simultaneously sending mixed messages as he stands (or at least, stood at one point in time) as a rather substantial sex symbol in the music industry. "When he shakes the hand of a young girl freed from sex slavery and smiles for the publicity shot," Andersen writes, "he should remember the lyrics from his new song …" The new song referred to is Martin's "This Is Good," which features, among others, the following lyrics: "… We're here tonight and it's so criminal wicked, dirty, sticky let's touch."

Now I don't know how much I actually agree with Josh Andersen — just because Ricky Martin sings about sex doesn't mean the work he's done to help stop the heinous sex trade should be overshadowed and cast aside. But this article, like most of the things my dad sends me, got me thinking. If the aforementioned argument could be described as a mixed message in music, did other mixed messages exist? Sure that they did, I started searching — and I didn't have to search very long to find them.

With my iPod's "Dance Party" playlist on random, I found what I was looking for when "Independent Women" by Destiny's Child came on (should I just have admitted to having that song?). With the lyrics "I buy my diamonds and I buy my own rings / Pay my own fun / oh and I pay my own bills / Always 50/50 in relationships," one would think that all of the artistic work done by Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle would embody the same values they sang with such conviction in the song that glorifies independence and Charlie's Angels. But a little searching brings to light 50 Cent's "Thug Life," which features the women of Destiny's Child. "I make a grove of hash / Hustle hard so that I can spoil that ass," raps 50. DC responds, "A thug's what I want / A thug's what I need / Even though my friends don't seem to see / That he lace me with money." And that's where the mixed message comes in. Independent women singing about wanting a thug so that he can buy them things? If you're going for consistency of messages, these two just don't add up.

Or take Pink's new video for her song "Stupid Girls." The music video, recently shown on MTV, features the singer performing a spoof of Mary-Kate Olsen, Paris Hilton, Jessica Simpson and other "stupid" girls. Dressed as each of these women, Pink does everything from donning a long blonde wig to making fun of bulimia to performing her own version of Paris' now famous night-vision "movie." She sings, "Where, oh where, have the smart people gone … I'm so glad that I'll never fit in / That will never be me." Really, Pink? Never? Now, for the most part, I like Pink — although, really, "Get The Party Started" is all sorts of bad news. I do think the whole "tough chick, dance to the beat of her own drummer" thing works really well for her and I respect that she decided to take a stand with her new video. She calls for "outcasts and girls with ambition" and condemns the superficiality of what she thinks is the typical Hollywood girl. With the idea of mixed messages in mind, though, we could argue that Pink, though not wearing oversized sunglasses a la Mary-Kate or constantly carrying around an undersized dog like Paris does, conforms to the "Hollywood" mold — at least to some extent. She wouldn't be as popular as she is if she didn't. The superficial trends of the music and entertainment industries glorify Pink in the pages of US Weekly and In Touch just as they do for the very people the singer makes fun of. And for a singer who advocates a healthy body image, making fun of bulimia — a very real disorder — doesn't fit the positive message Pink so strongly tries to send.

With these assertions, I'm not trying to belittle or bash Ricky Martin, Destiny's Child, Pink or any of the other figures present in today's music scene. I understand that most things have more than one side and that many issues can serve as a double-edged sword. Like Andersen says in his article, "Martin is tackling symptoms while simultaneously spreading the disease." Is there a remedy for this problem? Can it really be classified as a problem at all? I'm sure people have varying thoughts and feelings about this — I'm just wondering if maybe we shouldn't be paying a little more attention to the messages we're receiving.

Laura Stanelle is a sophomore intending to major in journalism. She encourages her dad to keep sending her articles in the mail and wonders if they couldn't be supplemented with $20. She can be reached for question or comment at [email protected].