Sunday Links, 3/1/15

A Valrhona chocolate donut at Donut Plant in NYC

Fa(t)shion
–Size 4x (and larger) shoppers are skeptical and require special outreach.
-Skorch magazine rounds up fun items that come in sizes 30-36. I have that Ashley Nell Tipton dress!
-Nancy rounds up wonderfully witchy items. I’ve also noticed that City Chic has a bunch of black, flowy, goth-y clothes lately–I’ll try to do a roundup of some of them.
-Elena writes about how she’s had to change the style clothing she wears due to her fibromyalgia.
–Plus Size Blogger Babes is a new Facebook group for blog marketing, promotion, and sales.
-Chastity Garner and Cece Olisa are organizing a plus size fashion event in NYC called CurvyCon.
-Navabi now has a plus size wedding boutique.
-Where to buy plus size prom and formalwear.

Fat Acceptance
–Burlesque icon Dirty Martini responds to Lucky Pierre’s size discrimination incident.
–Being thin didn’t make me happy, but being fat does.
–Your experience is invalid: “This is not about you walking a mile in my shoes. It’s about you never having walked in my particular pair of shoes, but still believing me when I say they gave me blisters.”
-Fat girl comics, part one and two.
–You’ll remember Leonard Nimoy as Spock. I’ll remember him as a “Love Your Body” activist for women.

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.

A few more reflections on the end of 2014, and the beginning of 2015

With my fellow fab fatties at the Curvy Yoga retreat

Here are a few things that didn’t make it into my 2014 Year in Review post. In 2014, I:

-Started participating in the Alternative Curves blog hop, and joined its Facebook group. It’s been great to find my niche with other plus size bloggers who enjoy punky, goth-y, costume-y, and otherwise quirky fashion. Looking for that niche was the very reason I started this blog! I’m especially excited for this upcoming month’s theme, Riot Grrl Heroines, as well as June’s (’90s Mall Witch) and August’s (Japanese Streets).

-Joined another fashion-niche FB group, the Glitterati, for people who subscribe to Crown and Glory’s monthly subscription box (which is always awesome and full of shinies). It’s fun to connect with other people who love sparkly things as much as I do. And I got Leah into C&G too, woohoo!

-Even as I joined more groups and connected more with the fatshion world, I also felt left out, as people have increasingly moved to Instagram. I don’t have a smart phone and don’t plan to get one anytime soon, so there’s a whole social network I can’t be part of, and it feel like that’s where everything’s happening these days. It’s also frustrating seeing so many lists of “top ten bloggers!” “best 20 outfits!” and knowing that I never even had a chance to make the list, because they’re all pulled from Instagram. (I know, I know, I’m not in this for the recognition–but sometimes recognition is nice.)

-Read 30 books by women of color.

-Participated in a Curvy Yoga workshop at a yoga retreat in Western Massachusetts. Anna Guest-Jelley is just as wonderfully body-positive in person as she is on her blog, and it was so powerful to do yoga with a room full of fat women, moving our bellies out of the way without shame. I hope to have more opportunities for movement with other fat people in the upcoming year.

I wish I could wake up to this view every day.

OOTD: Comfy and casual with a dinosaur on my back

I’m trying to drag myself away from the whole Lena Dunham debacle that’s been taking over the feminist internet, so, here’s an outfit I wore recently on a weekend trip to visit family. On the way there, my brother, Steve, and I stopped to take a walk at a New York state park, which also provided a good background for outfit pictures.

Top: the Big Thrifty, capris: Pajama Jeans via Zulily, sneakers: Brooks, headband: Crown & Glory, backpack: MadPax via Amazon, necklace: So Good, earrings: a small store in Western Mass., sunglasses: Sweet & Lovely

This backpack is the best purchase I’ve made in a long time. I bought it intending to use it for travel, and almost returned it when I saw that it was too small for that purpose–but I’m so glad I didn’t. I’ve started using it for everyday stuff instead of a tote bag, and it’s been wonderful. It’s far more comfortable than carrying a heavy tote bag on one shoulder, and it gets a ridiculous number of compliments. I think I’ve gotten a compliment on it from a stranger nearly every day since I started carrying it, and that makes me so happy.

We need to talk about how social and economic structures impact health.

Within the fat acceptance and HAES movements, there has been a growing realization that health is much more complicated than personal diet and exercise choices–that we can’t talk seriously about health without talking about the social and economic barriers that affect it on both the personal and public levels. I’m really glad that we’re talking about these structural forces, and I’d love to see more in-depth discussions, both within and outside of our communities.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, especially after a wonderful hike I went on last weekend. I just feel so in my element when I’m in the woods, and I get a great workout without consciously trying. There’s something so peaceful, so natural about being surrounded by trees, coming across everything from tiny frogs to wildflowers and heart-shaped leaves. There’s magic in the woods, the kind that doesn’t go away when you grow up.

Coming home from a simultaneously exhilarating and relaxing hike, I couldn’t help but think, contrary to conventional wisdom, how little of my health is actually within my control. Yes, healthy habits are still our best shot at improving and maintaining health. Yes, there are certainly things I can do differently, and I’m working on them. But there are so many structural limits that impact my health, and I imagine how they could be different:

– If working about 20 hours/week were standard, I could work mornings and then hike most afternoons. Or, during the winter, snowshoe or cross-country ski. I live in the city and don’t have a car (and don’t want one)–but if there were high-speed, frequent, reliable trains from the city to the woods, I could easily get out into nature on a regular basis, or even live out there and commute into the city. This would make it a lot easier to engage in the types of exercise that feel easy and natural for me, and I have a feeling I’d feel better all-around if I were getting a higher dose of Vitamin Nature.

Links, life, and music

Sorry about the lack of a Friday Links post this week! I’ve got lots of great links saved up, but I haven’t had the chance to compile them into a post.

The last few days have been a veritable whirlwind of (mostly impromptu) adventures, which I’ll tell you more about soon. I’ve got all sorts of exciting stuff in the works, and I’m exhausted.

In the meantime, enjoy this medley of 18 songs from around the world:

Travel and climate change: conflicting truths

The Hamilton Pool Preserve in Texas. Photo by Dave Wilson.

I’ve been doing more reading about both travel and its impact on climate change. I don’t know how to reconcile what’s ultimately necessary for our survival with what’s good, and beautiful, and connects us.

I don’t have any scintillating synthesis. I just have quotes and pictures. And a wish that there were an easy answer.

“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.”
— Saint Augustine

“Just one return flight from London to New York produces a greater carbon footprint than a whole year’s personal allowance needed to keep the climate safe.”
— ETA, Air Travel’s Impact on Climate Change

“While we may not want to admit it, Americans lead fairly sheltered lives, and as a result, generally have a poor understanding of what is really happening in the rest of the world. ‘I think it’s really hard to fully comprehend what your own country has, both the good and the bad, without getting outside of your comfort zone on a deeper, more meaningful level,’ says Meet, Plan, Go! Austin co-host Keith Hajovsky. “Taking a gap year or a career break is a great way to accomplish this.”

Likewise, San Diego host Elaine Masters believes that there would be far less intolerance, violence, prejudice, and hatred in the world if more people got to experience the ways in which other people live in it. ‘There is really no better education available, in my opinion, than seeing the world,’ says Masters.”
— Katie Aune, Why a Gap Year Should Come to America

Lison, Portugal. Photo by Filipa Chatillon.

“And, no doubt, many of us have adopted new habits—trying to use public transportation, buying local foods, rejecting bottled water. But the “savings” from such practices are wiped out by a habit that many of us not only refuse to kick, but also increasingly embrace: flying, the single most ecologically costly act of individual consumption.”
— Joseph Nevins, Kicking the Habit: Air Travel in the Time of Climate Change

Friday Links, 2/1/2013

More pictures from Watkins Glen

Happy February! I’m thinking about doing Fatshion February, even though it’s mainly a Tumblr thing and I don’t have Tumblr. We’ll see.

In other news, check out my guest post at Anytime Yoga! I’m also going to be writing at Glorify once the site launches.

Fat Activism
– Another excellent Fatsronauts 101 from Melissa at Shakesville.
-I feel cold just reading this, but it’s a great story: How joining the Coney Island Polar Bear Club taught me to love my body.
–IDEA’s massive yoga no-no.
-Today in fat hatred: a shame-tastic article about “mixed-weight” relationships.
-A great thin privilege checklist.
-I love this fat art.
–At the intersection of survivor and fat.
–Letting go of the thin fantasy.
–“What’s your excuse?” Another meme that I hate.
–Stop congratulating me.
–Myths of weight loss.

Fatshion
–On crossing the line between straight and plus sizes.
-Marianne is looking forward to 40 thanks to these fashion bloggers. Make sure to read the comments for more recommendations!
-This fabric featuring fabulous fatties is adorable.
-This wedding fair photoshoot is pure eye candy.
–More eye candy, with flowers and petticoats galore.

Travel and the environment: can we see the world without killing the planet?

Watkins Glen State Park, New York. Taken on a family vacation in 2006.

Two things I’ve been thinking and reading* a lot about lately are climate change–and how we can mitigate this already-occurring disaster by developing more sustainable ways to live–and travel. I’m having trouble reconciling my feelings about them.

On the personal level, my brightest-burning desire right now is to see the world. I’ve been outside the Northeastern US only a few times in my life, and I really want to see more of both my own country and other countries. I love New England–in fact, I’m pretty sure my veins run with maple syrup–and I know I want to settle down here eventually. This is my home, my community. The land I feel in my bones. I know that’s a gift: to be so connected to a place in this age of disconnection and displacement.

But I know I can’t settle down without experiencing at least a few of the natural beauties, and the cultures, of other places. I’m still working out the practicalities, but it’s definitely something I want to do.

And yet. I know that traveling, especially by airplane, has a huge carbon footprint.**

There’s just no way that regular international or even intra-national travel is sustainable–even at current levels, let alone if everyone in the US started doing it.

Thursday fa(t)shion inspirations, 1/17/13

Sorry for the lateness (again)–I just got home from New York City last night! It was a fun trip, and I’ll post about it soon.

In the meantime, enjoy these lovely looks from around the internet.

I love love love these Domino Dollhouse striped leggings. Unfortunately, they’re no longer available, but I’m going to get vertical stripes on my legs someday, one way or another. They’re so wonderfully circus-y. I saw two women wearing similar leggings in NYC, and was quite jealous.

The Glitter Thread

Another great black and white outfit. I love finding fashionable men on the internet!

The Stylist Playground