Fat Reflections Part 3: Fat Femme
So now that I’ve talked about some of the difficulties and indignities of being fat in a fat-hating society, I’m going to tell you a secret. A rebellious, scandalous, practically illegal secret. Sometimes, just sometimes, I believe I’m beautiful. Stay with me here; I swear all this is relevant. Now I am not “glorifying obesity,” […]
Fat Reflections Part 2
I begin this post as I shall continue it—with images of myself. Images of a fat woman with arms, a belly, breasts, and more chins than is considered strictly allowable in polite society. I shall include images of a fat woman in clothes that fit her. I shall include images of a fat woman looking […]
Fat Reflections 1
In my writing for another blog (I’ll post the link when it goes up), I found something distressing. It was difficult for me to find images of fat people who had heads. It was even more difficult to find fat people in, say bikinis, who had heads or who were showing their faces. And finding […]
The Biggest Heresy: There Is No Failure
I come from an academic family. For better or worse, I learned to judge. Everything. Everybody. And especially myself. For many years — like into my thirties, even — I gave myself grades for various non-academic things. “Hmmmmm,” I’d think, “I give myself a C- on washing dishes this month.” The grades were almost never […]
What Is Spiritual Practice?
It occurs to me that I spend a lot of time around this place talking about spiritual practice, as though everyone knows what that is, what counts, or what it’s for. I’m sorry. I have exhibited bad manners in this regard. Allow me to correct my error. When I began what I think of as […]
Name Calling and the Great Blue Whale
I have heard in many places and in different contexts, that some of our great power rests in our woundedness, brokenness, un-wholeness, or illness. That the places and things we might most like to reject about ourselves can be transformed in our understanding into places of strength. And so I find myself wanting to tell […]
Stumbling Compassion
I pray, “May all be well.” I pray that I be well. I pray that those I love and those I cannot stand be well. These prayers, however, are disingenuous if I do not also pray that I be changed, that I be an agent of wellness in myself, others, and the culture around me. […]
When I Could Run I Was Crazy
My father called me “speedburner” when I was small and would zoom down the block and jump into his arms Now I could just as soon run as fly I have loved riding bikes, playing volleyball (an annoying stickler for rules!), falling down and popping up again to go dancing I have danced in circles […]
Fat Ministry
Today, I gave my workshop on nurturing positive body image in teens and adults. That’s great! What’s even more fun is that I got to do it as the intern minister working with teens, youth advisors, religious education teachers, and religious education professionals. What a great group! And what an important task. In the Unitarian […]