Sunday Reading #17
Good evening.
You know what feels rad? Days off. Today I took most of my day to do a whole lot of nothing and it felt fucking fabulous. In the interest of continuing with my day of revelry, I shall keep this short and sweet.
In summation:
The Internet is POPPING OFF with things that make me freaking PSYCHED to be alive. There is critical discourse, there are comics, there are lectures, and their are interviews, all written by incredible women and queerfolk, and as much as the internet can annoy the ever-living crap out of me, it can energize and inspire me, too. Here are this week’s examples of inspiration in action:
Corinne Mucha wrote a book called Get Over It! It is about a messy breakup, and I love it. Click on through this link for an even longer excerpt.
Vegans Drink Almond Milk Because It’s Cruelty Free- Not Because it’s Hip by Ginny Messina, RD
There is an extremely asinine article floating around about how Vegans are just so stupid, because -OMG- almond milk doesn’t even contain that many almonds! And we just drink it to be hip! and wow, are we being fooled!
To this I respond: eye roll, facepalm, headshake, possible curse word. Ginny Messina responds much more eloquently. Some day I hope to have the patience and grace that she does!
Fitspo and Healthy Living Memes: A problem of appropriation, decontextualization, and depoliticization by Raechel for Rebel Grrl Living
“Fitspo” makes me feel super weird. All the bodies are shimmery and oiled, they’re often white as hell, able bodied, seriously young, and hella blond (kind of exclusive, don’t ya think?). It glamorizes pain, ignoring physical cues, and pushing your body beyond the limit of healthy. It tries to pretend it isn’t all the same body hating shit we all see all the time in magazines and on billboards, but let’s be real- it’s quite similar. I see fitspo, and I click away from it. It is either not useful or damaging for me, depending on my mood, and let’s be real- it’s also just tacky and cheesey.
Raechel did us all a solid, and gave fitspo a longer (and more critical) look. Did you know that it has become popular for fitspo to co-opt the words of Audre Lorde, Frederick Douglass, and others, stripping them of their context and meaning, without giving any credit? YEAH. That’s happening, and I didn’t even know about it. Thanks for the tip off, Raechel!
Hardcore Honeys: bell hooks Goes on the Down Low with Lil’ Kim by bell hooks 
Oh, hello. bell hooks (a hero) interviewed Lil’ Kim (another hero) in 1997, and I didn’t see it ’til just now. *MIND BLOWN*. There are no words to give this interview justice, just go read it immediately.
Ruth Chang: How to Make Hard Choices
Sometimes you just need a person to offer you a little insight into your thought processes. I appreciated this immensely, and I hope you do too.
Have a wonderful week!
Thank you for the feature! And the rest of these links, omg, YES. I saw that comic this past week and bookmarked it because it was just so fucking real. And I also noticed repostings of that bell hooks interview but hadn’t read it yet, so thanks for the reminder. And I’m also going to need to watch that TED Talk. Between being an air sign and my general neurosis, decision-making is the hardest for me.
GREAT LIST. !
While I am not vegan, I do love almond milk, since I am not a fan of cows milk. Never have been of the taste. I thought the article was great: “There is more to food than nutrition, though. Sometimes you just need something to pour over your bran flakes. Or you need milk for a macaroni and not-cheese recipe. Or to wash down a chocolate chip cookie.”
Amen. Keeping it real!