Things that pissed me off today

Posted in Fat acceptance by

Ok, just one thing–this piece from the Feminist Wire. To be honest, I only skimmed it, because it pissed me off too much to read closely.

Fat hatred from fellow feminists, people who are supposedly committed to justice, is so much worse than fat hatred from random people who can be written off as ignorant jerks.

It’s extreme bullshit to question the legitimacy of fat acceptance–with scare quotes, even.

It’s extreme bullshit to claim that fat people are the bullies, that body-policing douchenozzles like Maria Kang are the ones being oppressed.

It’s extreme bullshit to conflate fitness and health with thinness, to conflate speaking out against fat-hatred with jealousy and misogyny.

It’s such extreme, extreme bullshit that I have very little ability to craft an eloquent response. If any of you want to write one, I’d love to read it. I’m just angry.

And every time I read a fellow feminist being so painfully, aggressively, pathetically clueless about fat politics, it makes me more committed to exposing the lie of weight loss culture. More committed to celebrating fat bodies in the face of a society that considers us inherently unhealthy, unattractive, unworthy.

Fuck that shit.

That’s all I have to say.

A few poems for National Poetry Month

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April is the month of crocuses, light jackets after an endless season of heavy coats, and poetry.

Poetry and I have a complicated relationship. It used to be my Thing, a long time ago.

Poetry is a reminder of paths I didn’t take, paths I only half-took, paths I could still take someday.

Poetry is a reminder that the internet, for all the good it brings (and it brings so much), changes my brain in ways that make it harder to connect with something deep in my core. With the silence that I need to move beyond prose.

Sometimes, in an ironic twist, the internet even brings poetry.

And so, I present a few of my favorite poems that I’ve come across recently, in no particular order:

Hala Alyan: Dear Gaza

Scherezade Siobhan: colored girls won’t be televised

Audre Lord: A Litany for Survival

Naomi Shihab Nye: Gate A-4

Emily (who I know through Boston’s fat community): Dead Women Litter the Sidewalks of Manhattan, 1911

Suheir Hammad: First Writing Since (Poem on Crisis of Terror)

Kamilah Aisha Moon: Imagine

Autostraddle interviews Lauren Zuniga (contains videos of multiple poems)

Joy Harjo: Deer Dancer

Aimee Nezhukumatathil: After the Auction, I Bid You Good-bye

Leah Lakshmi Piepza-Samarasinha: the city of my desire

Sunday links, 4/6/14

Posted in Sunday Links by
brownstone house with purple and black doors and fancy scrollwork railings

I am endlessly fascinated by the details on the brownstones in Boston’s South End.

Fa(t)shion
-The Curvy Couture Roadshow in Australia looks like it was so much fun! Natalie and Olivia posted runway pictures, Dani put up pictures of attendees’ outfits (how amazing is Hayley‘s purple outfit? And how chic is Ashley‘s all-pink ensemble?! And I’m not sure who the pink-haired lady is, but I love her hair!), and Natalie also has some fun random snaps from the event.
-A plus size shopping guide for Germany.
-I love these pictures of Iris Apfel, whom I aspire to look like when I grow up.
-eShakti has some gorgeous tutus. But they all have side zippers, ugh–why do side zippers even exist when elastic waistbands are both more comfortable and more accommodating of weight fluctuations?
–SELF magazine’s tutu-shaming blunder has me wondering: will snarking on strangers ever become unacceptable in mainstream media?

Fat Acceptance
-The #notyourgoodfatty hashag = awesome.
-Lesley responds to the guy who wrote a faux-inspirational message about a fat person running.
–When good teachers ask bad questions.
–The HAES files: and yet it moves…
–Think we’re doing enough about “obesity”?

Fat-pos spoken word = awesome.
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A short rant

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I hate when people, especially other feminists, devalue the work that is raising children. Just because it’s not financially compensated in our current system doesn’t mean it’s not just as important as any other kind of work.

I also hate when people say things like “the world doesn’t owe me a living, or my children support.” I believe we have a collective responsibility to each other. I believe that the world owes everyone a living, whether or not they want to or can work in ways that are considered economically productive (under what are some very narrow definitions of productivity, I might add). I believe that by virtue of being alive, we are all owed food, shelter, clothes, health care, and education.

I don’t believe in the hyper-individualistic bullshit of “personal responsibility.” We’re all in this together–and we’d better start acting like it if we want to survive.

OOTD: spring adventures in the city

Posted in Adventures, Outfit of the Day by

I’m falling in love with Boston all over again. Mostly because it’s spring, and also partly because a temp job finally brought me back into the city (if only for two days) after I spent over half a year working in my own neighborhood. Boston, I’ve known you for more than ten years, but you’re still full of small, wonderful surprises.

Like this playground I found in the heart of the Back Bay:

climbing on a blue and yellow rope structure on a playground

climbing on a blue and yellow rope structure on a playground Continue reading →

Et tu, Girls Write Now?

Posted in Jobs and the Economy by

If you don’t follow Sarah Kendzior on Twitter, you should. Her tweets are always insightful and incisive, and I appreciate that she regularly calls out organizations that claim to empower people–or in some cases, even fight for higher wages and workers’ rights– while not paying their own interns.

Her latest example is, sadly, Girls Write Now, a non-profit that provides writing mentoring to at-risk and underserved girls in New York City. As Kendzior dryly points out: “Organization claiming to champion impoverished teens seeks unpaid employee to work 25 to 35 hrs/week.”

Girls Write Now is only one of many, many organizations that expect interns to do entry-level-type work, full-time or near-full-time, without pay. But it’s especially disappointing because I’ve always liked them (and probably even given them money, although I don’t keep track of my donations well enough to know for sure).  As someone who was once a girl and has always loved to write, I know firsthand how amazing it is to grow into your own voice with the support of mentors, peers, and a community. I want all girls who are interested in writing to have that experience.

It’s incredibly frustrating that an organization doing such important work would expect their interns to work 25 to 35 hours a week unpaid, especially in a city as expensive as New York. It virtually guarantees that most of their interns will be well-off–from backgrounds nothing like those of the girls they’re serving.

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