Sunday links, 5/3/15

Baltimore/#BlackLivesMatter
-Thank God: Six police officers to be criminally charged in Freddie Gray’s death.
–Meet Marilyn Mosby, the badass prosecutor fighting for justice in Baltimore.
-This is a really comprehensive and useful post: Everything we know about Freddie Gray and the Baltimore Uprising and how you can help.
–Baltimore Uprising is a central space for information that can be updated in real time.
–Baltimore’s failure is rooted in decisions that were made 100 years ago.
–Baltimore been burning.
-Jessica Williams as Effie Trinket in Baltimore on The Daily Show = brilliant.
–The economic devastation fueling the anger in Baltimore.
-“When protests and riots broke out against oppressive regimes in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen as part of the Arab Spring, Americans cheered.”
–Nonviolence as compliance.
-Cartoon: great moments in peaceful protest history.
-“Economic disruption has always impacted political decisions. That was the Boston Tea Party, right?”
-The parallels between Baltimore and Mexico: “On both sides of the border, the absence of any sane, humane, industrial or rural policy has created concentrations of dispensable peoples.”
–The hideous white hypocrisy behind the Baltimore “Hero Mom” hype: how clueless media applause excuses police brutality.
–Black America’s Baltimore schism: why the Freddie Gray tragedy demands serious soul-searching.
-Poem of the week: A Small Needful Fact by Ross Gay. (Note: the font is very light, so it’s easier to read if you highlight it.)
–Where my girls at: meet two of Ferguson’s black queer activists.
–Black Lives Matter protesters in NYC stock Forever 21 with “Never 21” t-shirts.

Fat Acceptance
–The fallacy of “if you really liked yourself, other people’s opinions wouldn’t matter.”
–Fat by choice: happy and healthy at the intersections of size and mental health.
–I’ll take up all the damn space I want.
-A reminder of why I do fat activism: When they say “war on obesity,” I hear “casualties.” FA isn’t just about body image or self-esteem, although those are important. It’s about fighting a culture of fatphobia that literally kills and maims people.
–I thought I was over my body image issues until I got diabetes.
–Colorado preschool literally takes candy from a baby.

Sunday links, 3/29/15

Saw this great poem on the T on my way to work. It reads:
This Is Just To Say, after William Carlos Williams, by Rachel Wiley
This is Just to Say/I have eaten/the beauty standards/that were in/the icebox/and which you were probably/clinging to/for profit/Forgive me/They were ridiculous/so binding/and so cold.

Fa(t)shion
–Meet the internet’s goth body-positive princess!
–Top 10 weirdo-babe plus size shops.
-These 50 Lindy Bop dresses are gorgeous. I especially love #s 1, 5, and 7.
–#DropThePlus campaign by Stefania Ferrario and Ajay Rochester ignites social media–but is it invalidating to actual plus size women?
–11 Lakme Fashion Week looks that will inspire your spring wardrobe.
–6 bloggers wearing gorgeous floral dresses from Igigi.
-My new favorite shop: Asunder, which makes gothy, witchy, Victorian-inspired jewelry.
–Which ’90s jewelry trends are primed for a comeback?

Fat Acceptance
–How “obesity” became a disease.
–The trouble with before-and-after pictures.
–Are there fat Asians? Yes, I’m one of them.
-I’m looking forward to Susan Greenhalgh’s upcoming book Fat Talk Nation: The Human Costs of America’s War on Fat.
-Marilyn Wann has started Hank’s Gab Café, a “fat-positive place for people of all sizes and descriptions.”
-If you can, help out Rob, a man who is suffering a health crisis because his doctors spend years blaming his symptoms on his size rather than treating them.

Saw this pinkish-purple SUV on my trip to the Cape last week. If I ever get a car, it will be this color.

Fatshion February, day 16: our final day in New York

On Monday, I didn’t even bother putting together a real outfit because I was sick of the cold, and of having to constantly bundle and unbundle. So I wore a Torrid top, Yours pants (with leggings underneath again), and my C&G heart headband, but no other jewelry or makeup.

Steve and I went to the Museum of Natural History–which, as Steve pointed out, is like a zoo but with dead animals.

We did get to see a few live animals at the butterfly conservatory:

Fatshion February, day 14: Valentine’s edition–and exciting news!

I can’t hold it in any longer, so here it is: Steve and I are engaged! He proposed on Valentine’s Day in Central Park, at the top of a CASTLE.

Yes, there is a castle in Central Park. We had been to it two years ago–you can see the picture here–and decided to go up it again while wandering around. And then, after we had someone take the following picture of us, and after Steve took a few outfit pictures of me, he asked me to marry him! Eeeeeeeeee!

After descending from the castle, we continued to walk around Central Park, where we saw an incredibly talented singing group and opera singer performing, and then came across an ice festival. It was all so serendipitous and romantic.

Sunday links, 2/15/15: snowpocalypse edition

It’s getting a little ridiculous.

Fa(t)shion
–Rihanna’s pink cupcake dress = love. It reminds me a bit of Kaylee’s shindig dress in Firefly, too.
-Kelsey shows off her visible belly outline.
–Moms launch stereotype-bashing clothing line that challenges what it means to be “girly.”
-Advice on how to style a tutu for everyday wear.

Fat Acceptance
-Naomi writes about loving her fat body, learning to enjoy movement, and creating a fitness app as a fat woman.
–Things obesity isn’t.
-ARGH: Legislators in Puerto Rico are debating a bill that would fine parents of obese children up to $800 if they don’t lose weight.
-A roundtable of HAES experts talk about social determinants of health and the role of social justice in HAES: part 1 and part 2.
–The incredibly bravery of fat-shaming children.
–Size and prejudice: on the issues faced by larger fat people.
–Medical discrimination against fat people–again.
–What if I lose weight doing my Ironman?

Climate and Sustainability
–Dispatches from the Seneca Lake uprising–including a delicious-sounding farm-to-table civil disobedience banquet (!).
-May Boeve of 350.org interviews Naomi Klein about low oil prices, the power of fossil fuel divestment, and how build a more kick-ass climate movement.
–Women lead the march for climate leadership in California.
–Why Harvard students are sitting-in outside Drew Faust’s office.
–Love and fire: a prayer for Keystone.

Sunday links, 2/8/15

Blog note: I haven’t been doing Fatshion February posts for the past few days because I’ve been sick, booo. I’m hoping to be better, and back to daily outfit pictures, within the next day or two. 

Cute Valentines I saw in a store window

Fa(t)shion
-Rachelle is putting together a fatshion zine. Check it out and submit if you’re interested!
–16 black fashion bloggers.
-Mary Lambert writes about how she learned to love shopping as a plus size woman, and shares her favorite stores.
-I hope Julianne is right that ginormous pants are coming back in style–I still love them.
–Massculine Fatshion is a new site for masculine-of-center fat folks interested in style.
-Chastity shares her favorite plus size budget-friendly online shops.
–Plus size wedding dresses for the bride on a budget.
–Observe and reserve judgment on other people’s clothing choices.

Fat Acceptance
–Missy Elliott taught me that it was ok for a fat woman to feel desire.
-(NSFW) The Adipositivity Project has a gorgeous Valentine Series which features fat people and their lovers.
–Football, fat people, and media representation.
-Ali shares her strategies for combating fat-shaming on a day-to-day basis.
-Ragen also shares strategies for fat activism in her Say Something Sunday series of posts.
-The Fat Nutritionist talks about her relationship with food and exercise.

Mac n’ cheese: the ultimate winter comfort food.

Fatshion February, day 4: Black, red, and white

Dress + leggings + cardigan/shrug/blazer = pretty much my winter uniform. Dress: Perceptions via either a clothing swap or the Big Thrifty, leggings: Re/Dress, shoes: L.L. Bean, shrug: SimplyBe, necklace: gift shop at Disney World, earrings: really old I don’t love this dress, but it’s a good basic work dress, so I end up wearing it a lot. It’s comfortable and versatile, just not exciting, and sometimes that’s ok.

Sunday links, 2/1/15

Fa(t)shion
–Fatshion February starts today, woohoo! I will be participating, although I might not do it every single day.
-Check out Finnish indie plus size designer Minnaleena Jaakkola.
-Affatshionista has updated her list of plus size bloggers who wear a size 24 or larger.
-Marianne has a lot of feelings about Target’s new plus size line.
–Danielle Brooks’ dress at the SAG Awards is everything.
-Pink poofy dress porn: the Giambattista Valli Spring 2015 Couture Show.

Fat Acceptance
–Fat and Weight Science is a new Facebook group for discussion about weight-related science without a diet focus.
-The Abundant Bodies track at the Allied Media Conference has put out a call for proposals.
–Weight loss and size acceptance.
–This is an essay about a fat woman being loved and getting laid.
-Tess Munster/Holliday has been signed by a major modeling agency, woot! Jes analyses why so many people hate Tess Munster (and other happy fat people), and Amanda looks at the messages Tess is sending and asks how she, and the rest of us, can do better.
–No, really, treat the PROBLEM.
-Leah writes about fat-shamers.

OOTD: The Oblivion dress part 2, and the BUST Craftacular

A few weeks ago, BUST magazine held a craft fair here in Boston. I went with a few friends, and wore my Oblivion dress from Domino Dollhouse, because I’m in love with it and can’t stop wearing it–in fact, I am wearing it right now as I write this post.

Dress, socks, and necklace: Domino Dollhouse (see my earlier post featuring the same dress here), cardigan: Torrid via eBay, shoes: LL Bean

On our way to the craft fair, we came across a bar called The Gallows, which was the perfect background for a picture.

Sunday links, 12/7/14

Thursday night’s protest on the Boston Common.

Eric Garner/Mike Brown/#BlackLivesMatter
(I know this is an overwhelming amount of links, but 1.) this shit is important and 2.) there’s been so much necessary and powerful writing, I couldn’t pick just a few pieces.)
–Can you breathe? Reflections on non-indictment, activism, and black life.
–White America’s scary delusion: why its sense of black humanity is so skewed.
-This is painfully true, and be forewarned that the painting at the end of the post might make you cry: The 10 stages of what happens when there’s injustice against black people.
-Katherine Cross writes about why she was not surprised by the Eric Garner decision, as a trans woman of color who has seen her sisters regularly face brutality from the NYPD.
–Meet the BART-stopping woman behind “Black Lives Matter.”
–This country needs a truth and reconciliation process on violence against African Americans–right now.
-Another incredibly fucked-up decision: charges were dropped against the police officer who shot 7-year old Aiyana Stanley-Jones while she slept in her own home.
-In a rare example of someone (although not a cop) being held accountable for killing a black person, Renisha McBride’s killer was found guilty of murder.
-“Twelve years after getting my Vassar College faculty ID, I sit here and know that the nation can’t structurally and emotionally assault black kids and think they’re going to turn out OK.”
–This stops today: seeking strategies to end discriminatory policing. A key point: “support [solutions] that take power and money away from the cops, and those that give power to the people.”
–Police “reforms” you should always oppose. Likewise: Body cameras won’t stop police brutality, and Eric Garner is only one of several reasons why.
-An important analysis of public space and power: After Ferguson, we have to ask: who owns the streets?