Monday links, 2/17/14

Sometimes Boston’s trees grown pom-poms in the winter.

I’m sorry for the lateness of this links roundup. I lost my job last week (found out on Thursday that Friday was my last day), so I’ve spent the weekend recovering, trying to cheer myself up, and re-reading Sarah Kendzior’s writing on surviving the post-employment economy for sheer relevance.

I also have a bunch of Fatshion February outfit posts that I’ll be putting up soon. I’ve still been wearing and photographing fun outfits, but just haven’t gotten around to posting them yet.

Fa(t)shion
-It makes me so excited when people write their own reflections inspired by my posts! Celendra has some thoughts here about the availability of plus size clothing, inspired by my post about wanting pretty things, dammit.
–An open letter to yarn companies from a fat knitter.
-On the double standard where thin girls dressed casually are considered cute, while fat girls dressed the same way are often seen as lazy.
-This fat cosplay of Elsa from Frozen is amazing.
-Exciting tutu-related news: Zelie for She’s new collection includes a gorgeous pale pink tutu! *drools*
-Total style inspiration: figure skater Johnny Weir’s silver sequin outfit.
-Shakesville holds another fat fashion resources thread. I’m so glad this is a thing.
-Rachel of Re/Dress writes about why she’s had a hard time finding clothing about 3x to carry online, and how she’s been trying hard to find manufacturers that will make larger sizes.  I appreciate that people like her are working so hard to make larger sizes available, and it just sucks that so many manufacturers have refused to make larger sizes, even when she offers them extra money. It’s ridiculous that there’s so much consumer demand for larger plus sizes, but manufacturers won’t listen.
–Live Fat Die Yum sweatpants = yes.

Fat Acceptance
-This fat punk cartoon girl is the cutest.
–Fat burlesque pictures always make me so happy.
-I so wish I could make it to Curve Camp, a body-positive yoga retreat in Nashville run by Anna of Curvy Yoga.
-Liss writes about the many “fat taxes” that fat people have to pay.

Climate and Sustainability
-The title of this article sounds like it’s about the Olympics, but it’s actually about indigenous rights, corporate greed, and the struggle to preserve a sustainable way of life and protect a sacred–and extremely biodiverse–environment: To get the gold, they will have to kill every one of us.
-A pre-med’s perspective on climate change, public health, and the need for fossil fuel divestment.
-Wen Stephenson reports on the growing movement to merge economic justice and climate activism. This is exactly what I believe in, and am trying to be part of.
–Of pipelines, lunch counters, and warheads: effective protest requires concrete goals.
–Oglala Sioux vow to stop Keystone XL if Obama won’t say no.
-Also planning to fight KXL: the students behind XL Dissent.

Other times, they grow really weird and cool ice formations.

Jobs and the Economy
–Americans working fewer hours may not be a bad thing.
-On a related note, Sarah Jaffe argues that leisure is a feminist issue–that work-life balance is not just an issue of work vs. family, but should also include free time.
–Socialism is not a flight from the human condition; it’s a direct and unsentimental confrontation with that condition.
–Rally in Raleigh: thousands march in NC for social and environmental justice.
–Toward a new social settlement.

This parody of the Keystone XL pipeline’s supposed job opportunities is so on target.

Everything Else
-Janani writes about their experience having an eating disorder as a South Asian, non-binary teenager, and seeing only thin white cis women with eating disorders reflected in the media.
-From the department of duh (but useful ammunition against the many people who think trolling is good or harmless): new study finds that internet trolls are often Machiavellian sadists.
-The real message of that French video about sexism: that feminism can save France from Islam.
–75 places so colorful it’s hard to believe they’re real.
–Spectra’s reflections on love in all forms is so powerful.
–There is no “we”: V-Day, indigenous women of color, and the myth of shared gender oppression.
–9 reasons not having kids was the best decision I ever made.
–Baby steps for gender on Facebook, and a reminder that no one is obligated to out themselves.
–The PTSD crisis that’s being ignored: Americans wounded in their own neighborhood.
-As a Bostonian who doesn’t want marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to receive the death penalty, I have SO MUCH agreement for this piece: “Who Cares?” Killing Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
–The year I didn’t retweet men.
-D. Watkins writes about being too poor for pop culture.
–For Books’ Sake interviews Janet Mock, whose new book I just started reading!
–52 hilarious #ActivistPickupLines for Valentine’s Day.