susanstinson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
susanstinson) wrote2006-11-08 02:06 pm
susanstinson) wrote2006-11-08 02:06 pm
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Stacy Bias
I got to be interviewed by the fabulous Stacy Bias (aka ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
technodyke) last night, and filmed by the charming videographer Val Garrison. They are travelling the country talking to fat women about their experiences as research for a book by Stacy. Here's information about her beautifully ambitious project, Fat Girl Speaks. Earlier in the week, there was a dinner in Stacy's honor at a local restaurant, organized by beatgoddess,
It was moving to talk with them for a bunch of reasons. Stacy and Val are in the midst of a really grueling East Coast tour -- I think they're on the road for seven weeks, lugging cameras and dealing with emotional and physical abundance and exhaustion (not to mention the harrowing challenges of figuring out directions in big city traffic) as Stacy sits in -- what? thirty? forty? fifty? -- living rooms (and I can only imagine where all else) to ask women questions about their experiences as fat women. I love imagining the effects of these conversations, love seeing the seriousness and emotional urgency that Stacy is bringing to the work, and loved hearing Val's insights over dinner (turkey casserole with red peppers and penne; creamed pumpkin; carmelized brussel sprouts; apple crisp -- fun to make!) about what people really see when we look at each other.
It was moving to be able to give them my books, to have those stories get a chance for life in these minds.
Watching them set up their cameras, mikes, lights and computer with such accustomed, adaptable confidence, I thought about how freaked out we all were as nineteen and twenty year-olds in 1980, when, as members of a student group called the Feminist Alliance, we burned a hole in a film we were trying to show, and were very publically unsuccessful at dealing with the projector. Things have changed.
And, you know, I got to sit in my great-grandmother's rocking chair (which is still around because someone in the family thought to reinforce it with metal rods to be sure that it was be strong enough for a woman of her size -- my size -- to use), in front of my shelves of books of Calvinist theology and New England history and take in Stacy's truly gorgeous presence and attention as she asked me questions about my experiences of being fat. When I was talking about my childhood, I forget to tell the story about the time the little boy threw a dart at my belly at the bus stop. But, yeah, it was very moving to me to watch how directly she's taking on this work to try to address fat hatred. Safe travels, Stacy. May your efforts bring you (and us) more than you even imagined possible.
PS Oh, the election is a relief, but it's also a moment of cognitive dissonance. Here's hoping that the Democrats have some guts.
technodyke) last night, and filmed by the charming videographer Val Garrison. They are travelling the country talking to fat women about their experiences as research for a book by Stacy. Here's information about her beautifully ambitious project, Fat Girl Speaks. Earlier in the week, there was a dinner in Stacy's honor at a local restaurant, organized by beatgoddess, 
It was moving to talk with them for a bunch of reasons. Stacy and Val are in the midst of a really grueling East Coast tour -- I think they're on the road for seven weeks, lugging cameras and dealing with emotional and physical abundance and exhaustion (not to mention the harrowing challenges of figuring out directions in big city traffic) as Stacy sits in -- what? thirty? forty? fifty? -- living rooms (and I can only imagine where all else) to ask women questions about their experiences as fat women. I love imagining the effects of these conversations, love seeing the seriousness and emotional urgency that Stacy is bringing to the work, and loved hearing Val's insights over dinner (turkey casserole with red peppers and penne; creamed pumpkin; carmelized brussel sprouts; apple crisp -- fun to make!) about what people really see when we look at each other.
It was moving to be able to give them my books, to have those stories get a chance for life in these minds.
Watching them set up their cameras, mikes, lights and computer with such accustomed, adaptable confidence, I thought about how freaked out we all were as nineteen and twenty year-olds in 1980, when, as members of a student group called the Feminist Alliance, we burned a hole in a film we were trying to show, and were very publically unsuccessful at dealing with the projector. Things have changed.
And, you know, I got to sit in my great-grandmother's rocking chair (which is still around because someone in the family thought to reinforce it with metal rods to be sure that it was be strong enough for a woman of her size -- my size -- to use), in front of my shelves of books of Calvinist theology and New England history and take in Stacy's truly gorgeous presence and attention as she asked me questions about my experiences of being fat. When I was talking about my childhood, I forget to tell the story about the time the little boy threw a dart at my belly at the bus stop. But, yeah, it was very moving to me to watch how directly she's taking on this work to try to address fat hatred. Safe travels, Stacy. May your efforts bring you (and us) more than you even imagined possible.
PS Oh, the election is a relief, but it's also a moment of cognitive dissonance. Here's hoping that the Democrats have some guts.
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And, you know, I did, I got on my bike at 7 am on Tuesday and rode over there to vote and felt urgent about doing that. And, then, holding the sort of very bodily, intimate tensions of being fat in this unbalanced, affluent country that is my home and where I -- what? -- have learned and met and known so much of what and who I love -- and, in the context of this day, this post, continuing to believe (and to question) that that matters, that the book of poetry I have to read matters, and the writing I have to do, and what Stacy and Val and I might say to each other. There's something about balance for me here, and about respecting the work of people who are stepping up in all sorts of ways, including, for me, through the traditional political process, and for explorations, like yours, of alternatives there, and for that kind of work that starts somewhere like the human immediacy of what it means for people to be shunned (incompletely, and not without power or recourse) based on something as arbitrary as bodily size and shape, for remembering and truly believing that art matters and acting as if it does, as if it's a force in the world, and one that I can shape and serve. That's my best answer for this moment about cognitive dissonance, becca
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and i guess we'll just see what happens next, and keep on doing out work, right?
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Did you go to the community board meeting tonight? I'm interested to know if you feel like talking about it, but also am about to go to bed, and am working on a very minimal lj during the day schedule to help me keep getting my work done.
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but yeah, i just posted about the community board meeting. it was pretty neat actually. i want to go next month too.
but right now i want to go to bed. :)
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Saw your new coat in
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