Words can hurt and they can also have a boomerang effect. Kirstie Alley was a guess on The Letterman show and took him to task about some jokes he made at her expense when she was on Dancing with the Stars. She came prepared pulling a list of them out of her decolletage. Ok Don’t mess with Kirstie
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Chimamanda Adichie: The danger of a single story
Hosted by TED
Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Award winning Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
You might wonder why I am posting this lecture, well first of all after read her Half of a Yellow Sun and Purple Hibiscus I became a fan of her work, that is why I watched the video. But as she spoke about being a little girl in Nigeria and reading British novels (the only available to her) and how this lead her to believe that the only people, characters that could be in books looked nothing like her, did not speak, dress or eat like her, so much so that when she stared writing her own stories, she wrote her version of those British people, not of her own it struck a cord. She had never read a story about an African so she at the age of 7 assumed that those people, her people did not have a place in literature. It put me to mind about the Danger of the the Single Body. The Size 0, 5’9 woman often pre-pubescent and airbrushed has become in a way the single the Single Body or Image that we as women, as a people have come to believe in. Adichie states so eloquently “Show a people as only one thing, as only one thing over and over again and that is what they become” This is how the standard of beauty was created. It is in a way a stereotype of sorts. Adichie says that the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. The image of “Woman” in the fashion industry and the media is dangerously incomplete If we as women do not look like the media’s prescribed concept of beauty we do not exist.She also says “The consequence of the single story is that is rob people if their dignity” and hasn’t that been the case for most women, we constantly feel inadequate and broken, not enough or way too much.
A Plus Model Admits to using Padding…hummm
I thought this was interesting…..
MArquita Prig was one of the zaftig women in the now infamous vogue Italia plus sized editorial she now shares one of her trade secrets.
Hosted by Huffington Post
Marquita Pring, Plus-Size Model: Sometimes I Use Padding To Please Clients
We love Marquita Pring, one of the four curvy models who starred in Vogue Italia‘s now-famous plus-size editorial.
Women’s Wear Daily caught up with the native New Yorker, who revealed an odd secret of the trade: padding.
That’s right — the supposedly already oversized models sometimes feel the need to be even bigger. Says Pring, “I’m right in the middle at a sort of small [size] 14, high 12. So I pad sometimes since I’ve got clients who would prefer a solid 14 or 16.”
The process involves laying pieces of foam about an inch and half thick on the hips, securing the padding beneath the undergarments.
It may sound funny (WWD asks Pring incredulously, “Like football pads for your hips?”). But the practice reveals the strange demand for particularly big bodies that fit the plus-size mold, rather than the real bodies — big or small — that models already have.
How Much is TOO Much: Pregnant And Pulling A Deuce, Because I Can
THIS is one of the reasons why I love the Jezebel.com.
A while back I posted an entry about the new trend of Mommyrexia, mothers to be working to stay as thin as possible during their pregnancies. We have been seeing a great deal of this from celebrities during while carrying and then the great “post baby bikini body reveal”. Well Writer Tracy Moore wrote a hilarious essay about “Pulling a Deuce” Or hitting 200 pounds while pregnant. It is a great read- funny and honest, the best part is when she talks about why she ate the way she did, the way it felt- “good like a warm blanket” and her relationship to food during this period. It made me think of our discussions about disordered eating with Nutritionist Natalie Gauneshelli. I guess Moore has revealed that pregnancy can in fact create disordered eating patterns in expectant mothers due either to emotional stress and worry or the idea that you are “eating for 2”. It’s a great read!! enjoy!
Tracy Moore — As I waddled into the 7th month of pregnancy, one day at work a friend/co-worker/mother of three came up to chat. As she eyed my growing heft, she pulled me aside and lowered her voice. “So…” she began with a smirk, glancing around quickly to ensure we were speaking privately. “You gonna pull a deuce?” Um, say what?
“A deuce?” I asked, confused. “Is that like…dropping a deuce? Because remarkably I have not been constipated at all this whole— ”
“No, are you gonna go over 200 pounds?” she asked.
“Ohhhhh,” I said, enlightened. “Wait — that’s, like, a thing?”
Apparently known only in some circles of pregnant women and the men and women who serve them (food), pulling a deuce means packing ‘em on while pregnant such that you reach a nice cement-like number that theretofore had not figured into your numerological inner narrative, much less your bathroom scale. Hit it or quit it — you just crossed over.
A normal and safe weight gain during pregnancy is 25 to 35 pounds (though if you are over 200 pounds when you get pregnant, you may in fact not gain a thing). This is a bit of sobering medical advice contrasted with the cultural pregnancy programming of buckets of ice cream, “eating for two” and “going apeshit on that buffet.” I had gone apeshit, apparently, and blew past that “normal and safe” number. Funny — it turns out “eating for two” doesn’t really mean two PEOPLE, but rather, eating for the appetite of a normal person plus one small, unhappy rodent.
Weight is, obviously, a relative thing; one woman’s healthy number can be another woman’s cross to bear. For me, with my resting pre-pregnancy weight was significantly below 200, this “deuce” seemed such a leap that I didn’t even consider it. Until, of course, my 8th month of pregnancy rolled up on a bitch and the checkup revealed I was already at 195 pounds. With an entire month still to go. Guess what? You gain even more weight at the very end.
Pregnant And Pulling A Deuce, Because I Can
Tracy Moore — As I waddled into the 7th month of pregnancy, one day at work a friend/co-worker/mother of three came up to chat. As she eyed my growing heft, she pulled me aside and lowered her voice. “So…” she began with a smirk, glancing around quickly to ensure we were speaking privately. “You gonna pull a deuce?” Um, say what?
“A deuce?” I asked, confused. “Is that like…dropping a deuce? Because remarkably I have not been constipated at all this whole— ”
“No, are you gonna go over 200 pounds?” she asked.
“Ohhhhh,” I said, enlightened. “Wait — that’s, like, a thing?”
Apparently known only in some circles of pregnant women and the men and women who serve them (food), pulling a deuce means packing ‘em on while pregnant such that you reach a nice cement-like number that theretofore had not figured into your numerological inner narrative, much less your bathroom scale. Hit it or quit it — you just crossed over.
A normal and safe weight gain during pregnancy is 25 to 35 pounds (though if you are over 200 pounds when you get pregnant, you may in fact not gain a thing). This is a bit of sobering medical advice contrasted with the cultural pregnancy programming of buckets of ice cream, “eating for two” and “going apeshit on that buffet.” I had gone apeshit, apparently, and blew past that “normal and safe” number. Funny — it turns out “eating for two” doesn’t really mean two PEOPLE, but rather, eating for the appetite of a normal person plus one small, unhappy rodent.
Weight is, obviously, a relative thing; one woman’s healthy number can be another woman’s cross to bear. For me, with my resting pre-pregnancy weight was significantly below 200, this “deuce” seemed such a leap that I didn’t even consider it. Until, of course, my 8th month of pregnancy rolled up on a bitch and the checkup revealed I was already at 195 pounds. With an entire month still to go. Guess what? You gain even more weight at the very end.
Like any rational being, I turned my wrath toward the Internet, where, per usual, my search for clear-eyed facts about what was happening to this no-longer-mine body yielded article after chirpy article admonishing that I shouldn’t be eating more than 100 to 300 calories extra a day. As if that were actually within the realm of possibility. Those 100 calories was two insultingly measly cups of carrots, and that I could bet my expanded ass they wouldn’t even be salted.
Nowhere did it report, for instance, the truth — that I’d been taken hostage by a food beast. That my hunger would, at times, make me cartoonishly ravenous.
It’s not like I was eating everything in sight since the second I’d felt the queasy uncertainty of pregnancy take hold. And I actually ate overwhelmingly better — more well-rounded, nourishing meals — than I ever had. But I did go easy on myself on the portions, and added dessert whenever the urge struck me, which turned out to be pretty much all the time. I had two snacks throughout the day as well. It helped me keep my energy up at work, but the snacks were such a frequent high point in my day that I’d begun to imagine giving birth and my baby being composed entirely of pepperoni slices, pickled okra, cheddar cheese cubes and Triscuits.
Blast from the past Janice Dickinson at 24 talks about the reality of Modeling
Janice Dickinson was plastered all over my bedroom walls. I clearly remember this version of her face. I thought she was so beautiful and so not blonde for that time. I personally got a kick out of this and I thought I would share It seems that no much has changed in the world of modeling….
I love this mainly because it shows that she has always been a ballsy outspoken woman, who despite her antics (and over the top, sometimes inappropriate behavior) actually tells the truth about situations. In this clip you see the face that made her famous (she was just stunning) you see that her lips were always naturally full, and hear her talk about how she has to work hard to stay in shape!! She has maintained that physical discipline even now. She may have had a ton of work done- which she freely admits to but she still works to maintain her form.
6 Lies About the Human Body You Learned in Kindergarten
I thought this was pretty interesting, I suppose that we constantly underestimate ourselves! The Body is an AMAZING organism, so much more then we often reduce it to (size, weight, shape, form) It is to be appreciated and respected for its wonder. Check this out it’s a cool read that I sense (you’ll get that in a minute if you continue reading) you will enjoy and learn from.
Hosted by Cracked.com
By: Karl Smallwood, Eddie Rodriguez July 11, 2011
When we reach the age of two, we start to have a few questions about our bodies. At first they’re simple. ‘Will that toy fit into the wet hole in the middle of my face?’ But as we mature, the questions become more complex and too numerous for any reasonable human being to answer. It’s no coincidence that around this time, your parents ship you off to school where someone is payed to give you answers.
Unfortunately, many of the answers you get there are lies that seem specifically designed to make the world around you seem boring. Because how else are they going to get you to stop asking so many damn questions? For instance, you probably still believe …
#6.
You Only Have Five Senses
Sight, smell, touch, taste, hearing. Them there’s your five senses. Since kindergarten, you’ve probably been told that anyone who thinks she has a sixth sense is either a television psychic or M. Night Shyamalan. This original classification is widely attributed to Aristotle, so if you try to argue that there are more than five, you’re basically arguing with the guy who invented being smart.
And wannabe intellectuals have rocked the comb forward/beard combo ever since.
The Truth:
Scientists still aren’t quite sure of exactly how many senses you have, or what even constitutes a sense, but you’d be hard-pressed to find one who believes you have five. Depending on how they count them, they usually wind up with something like 14 to 20. The five you learned about in school were just the five most evident senses, aka the boring ones you could have figured out for your own damn self. The rest are far more interesting.
The Harvard School of Medicine lists six extra ones that are pretty hard to argue against. Close your eyes, then touch your nose with your index finger. How did you know which one was your index finger without looking at it? How did you know where your nose was? Did you smell your finger to your nose? Did your sense of touch somehow tell you what the air molecules you encounter along the way to your nose feel like? Nah, that’s proprioception, your body’s awareness of where it is in relation to itself.
Oh, yeah. We just dropped the H-bomb on you.
Maybe the most interesting one they left out is your sense of timing, which might seem like it’s only a sense in the way that fashion is a sense. But leading neurologists like David Eagleman think it’s the most important of all the senses, since it’s the thread that ties the rest of them together. An apple is just a series of different sensations without your sense of time telling you they’re all happening at the same moment. Still not convinced? Try staring at a white wall in a totally silent room. Your sense of time tells you how much of your life has been wasted because you didn’t take us at our word.
It’s also worth noting that this sense your kindergarten teacher failed to mention can operate like a freaking superpower. For instance, if you’re walking in the woods and a bear growls in the bushes behind you and to your left, the bear’s growl hits your left ear a millionth of a second before it hits your right. Your sense of time is able to pick up on that infinitesimal difference and allows you to perfectly triangulate the bear’s location behind you.
If you were only relying on your sense of hearing, you would only know that the bear is somewhere on the left side of your body. Your ears don’t swivel around like a dog’s, so you would have to turn and use your eyes to pinpoint the bear. A blur of brown and black fur would be the last sight you ever saw.
We had Body Heroes here are 13 MIND Heroes!!! Meet 13 Powerful Tech Women!
I have often ranted about the choice of role models young girls and women have today. Earlier this week I posted an entry about 6 year old Eden Wood the Kiddie Pageant Queen who is retiring from the circuit to become a pint sized superstar.Then there was Mila Kunis in her underwear on the cover of GQ bemoaning how some women in Hollywood use their sexuality to get roles and not their talent. Well I was so please to find this gem that restored my faith in the possibility that women are more then their breast, bums, and hair weaves, and that there are beautiful and intelligent women on the planet that are powerful and successful and keep their clothes on. (Lord don’t let me see one of these women on the cover of Maxim in a part of too small boy short leaning over a laptop!) check them out and be inspired! They create and manage things that you might use everyday!
13 Influential Women In Technology (PHOTOS)
Hosted by Huffington Post
Considering the pace at which technology is progressing, it’s important to highlight and recognize the key players in the field that keep innovation going. And while women have always been vital components of the tech world, their influence and authority are now being widely respected by peers all around the globe.
From entrepreneurs like Jennifer Hyman and Jennifer Fleiss to media heads like Heather Harde and Chloe Sladden, women in tech are dominating the industry and deserve the proper recognition for their hard work and creativity.
In conjunction with Dell and Intel’s Women in Tech sponsorship, we take a look at 13 of the most influential women in technology today.
Jennifer Hyman is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Rent the Runway, a website aimed to help you find a wardrobe for all life’s occasions at 90% off retail prices. Hyman is responsible for all areas of the business including technology, fashion, sales, marketing, operations, customer experience, and people management.
The CTO for the Commander-in-Cheif, Beth Simone Noveck 
served as United States deputy chief technology officer for open government and led President Obama’s Open Government Initiative. She is a proven expert on technology and institutional innovation.
Sound familiar? Caterina Fake is currently the Chief Product Officer at the internet site, Hunch. You might remember her as the co-founder of Flickr along with Stewart Butterfield in 2004. After Flickr was acquired by Yahoo, Caterina ran their Technology Development Group and founded Yahoo’s Brickhouse
Heather Harde is the CEO of TechCrunch. Prior to her position as chief executive officer, Heather spent a decade at News Corp dealing heavily in corporate development, strategy, and operating roles both in Los Angeles and New York. She is also part of the founding team at Fox Interactive Media.
A Google veteran, Marissa Mayer joined the tech giant in 1999 as Google’s first female engineer leading the user interface and web server teams. She now serves as Head of Key Area of Serving Ads and Information at Google. Prior, she served as Vice President of Search Products and User Experience as well as Vice President of Google Product Search.
Misty Copeland on being a Black Ballerina and “Curvy”
More Misty because I am a HUGE Misty fan. Check out Misty talking about her life as a Ballerina and having curves in this Written interview.
Hosted By: Black Voices
If you’ve seen the Oscar-winning film ‘Black Swan,’ you know that the ballet world can be brutal. The movie may include exaggerations, but the message is clear: It’s highly competitive, overwhelmingly white and the dancers are incredibly thin.
Yet with all of this, classical ballet dancer Misty Copeland of the American Ballet Theatre has managed to navigate this elite world and, in 2007, even etched out a spot as a soloist — the first African-American female to do so. She was even the featured dancer on legendary singer Prince’s Welcome 2 America tour this past year.
However, it’s not Copeland’s ethnicity that makes her unique; it’s another “cultural” attribution that sets her apart: her voluptuous body. At 5’2 and 103 pounds, the petite, curvy ballerina doesn’t feel pressure to represent for all African Americans but says it’d be nice to see more ballet dancers who looked like her.
We chatted with 28-year-old Copeland about her experiences with this grueling art form.
“BV: You are a curvy young lady; what has been your experience?
MC: It’s been a struggle, especially corps de ballet sets (the large group of dancers). When I was in the corps de ballet, my body was harder to deal with because they made the clothes for the size they expected dancers to be and look like. And just coming to terms with looking around when we’re training and not seeing women who look like me. It was harder when I was a teenager.”
BV: Have you felt pressure to lose weight or had to deal with any mental or physical challenges with accepting your body?
MC: Absolutely! I felt pressure to lose weight. It’s kind of hard to avoid that when you’re in this field. I never dealt with an eating disorder in any way, and yes, I was told many times to lose when I joined the company. I learned to accept my body but I also learned to take care of it, which is hard. Most people who join a company like American Ballet Theatre or New York City Ballet have some problems because they’re young, alone and don’t have much guidance, and it’s easy to fall into having an eating disorder.
To check out the rest of the interview, Click Here
And here is a Video Interview with Misty talking about her life as a Black Ballerina:
Hosted By: DanceChannelTV
Enjoy and tell me what you think!
MR
(wait for it) Toddler Beauty Queen age 6 Retires and Writes a Memoir
Where is the rapture when you need it? Or perhaps this is proof that it is on its way. Eden Wood, one of the subjects on the reality series Toddlers and Tiaras is retiring from the pageant circuit. In the Clip below her mother says that she is following in the footsteps of other former pageant women like–wait for it –Oprah Winfrey. She is leaving the reality show to set out on her way to earn big money and stardom like Miley Cyrus, Selena Gomez Or other Disney child stars (her mother should look at that track record before she says that out loud). Not only that but Eden is is also “writing” a book entitled “From Cradle to Crown”. I don’t know whether to blame them or the publishing house that signed this deal (no doubt they represent Snookie and Eden will be booked as guest speaker at Harvard’s commencement ceremony before her 7th birthday at a fee that trumps a noble peace prize winning author)
This story only supports my current facebook status “If you are part of the solution, then be part of the problem!” And the problem with things like this is that we as consumers participate in this nonsense. I mean she has a Showgirl action figure- a SHOW GIRL ACTION FIGURE? WTF!What parent BUYS that for her child?
Meanwhile it is the mother doing all of the talking and the poor little girl sits there looking more drugged then O.J. at his murder trial. Apparently she was tired, it makes sense after all she’s the hardest working 6 year old in the business what with her Mall tour “Eden and the Glamour girls and all. Nowhere in the interview was school mentioned or her education. We see footage of Eden in a make-up chair but never with a book. What really bothers me (and most people who take issue with this sort of thing) is the hyper sexualization of these little girls, they look like miniature burlesque queens in costume and behavior, we are telling them they are their sexuality or their bodies, and not empowering them to develop their intellect and minds? What happens when she not a cute 6 year old but an adult woman (ok I got a flash of Better Davis in Whatever happened to Baby Eden I mean Jane) The whole world of kiddie pageant is creepy, there is always an overzealous stage mother in the audience or back stage mouthing the words to the song and song and doing the choreography with stars (and now dollar signs in their eyes) stardom and fame by proxy. It makes you wonder who is the chicken and who is the egg and came first.
When you dress a child up to look like a show girl or stripper, pile so much make-up on it ages them 45 years, and have them sing songs that are supposed to be cute but are more creepy because of the suggestive choreography, sparkles and midriff top, and your main priority is that she become “Famous” that’s of great concern. Will she be able to read her own book? In the interview there is no mention of school, but they reiterate that “Eden has been working really hard” SHE”S 6 should 6 year olds be “working hard”? Yes at learning to tie shoes, read books and jump rope. The other thing I found interesting about the interview was the mother’s language, a few times she had to correct her “I’s” to “She’s” when talking about her daughter’s goals, and earning potential. Take a look and tell me what you think.
Oh the rapture was postponed until October so you still have time to catch Eden’s Mall tour and get a signed picture, but she can’t write in script yet sorry print will have to do!
What to wear to Sunday Brunch?
Okay, so about couple of weeks ago I wrote a post called Fitting in with the latest trends.
Anyways, This post is my evidence to show how most of the “latest fashion trends” fit one type of body. Teen Vogue has a “what to wear to a Sunday brunch”. They have a slide show showing trends that would look cute and they are cute, but I know some of those dresses/outfits they show like the pearl white floral dress would NOT fit my body nicely, and is not my style. It’s beautiful but in my opinion I’m too curvy for it, I think it would look better on a person with a straighter figure.
However the modcloth dress would be a better cut for me but I’m not too sure about the print
Or maybe I feel this way because of the way I feel about my figure, or it’s a matter of feeling comfortable, or maybe “ultimate” style is your personal style, mixing what’s on trend with what you like and feel comfortable in
MR