Eli Clare FORGE Forward keynote

The conversation in comments to the last post was moving to me. Thanks for that, and I'll try to post a couple of poems about being a bearded lady and all in the next few days.

So, one of things I tried to talk about at the panel in Boston this weekend was how much the fat movement needs what my friend Lynne calls more supple tools than we've been trying to use to shift fat oppression, specifically, for me, how much we need active, experienced, discerning imagination. It's a big part of what I mean when I say we need fiction -- yeah, and poetry -- although I also just flat out mean that I think we need fiction and poetry, and we're in danger of losing so much of it through sheer neglect. (Although, as far as I'm concerned, not just any fiction and poetry will do it, but that's another conversation.)

pitbull_poet has posted a really useful, moving, lyrical keynote from the FORGE Forward conference that is so good in showing (um, among other really important things) how much literature can matter in conversations about liberation movements. I am SO looking forward to Eli's upcoming book of poems.

BODY SHAME, BODY PRIDE: LESSONS FROM THE DISABILITY RIGHTS MOVEMENT by Eli Clare