On Being Unapologetically Fat June 21, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 2commentsI originally wrote this as an assignment for my Think Piece class. What I discovered was that it kind of became my personal mantra.
I am unapologetically fat. In this new age of weight-loss everywhere, of low-fat, low-carb, no-carb food, I refuse to stoop to the level everyone else seems to want me to. Fat is one of the last acceptable forms of discrimination in American society. “Thin” has a connotation of beautiful, gorgeous, and successful, “fat” signals lazy, undisciplined, and ugly. Maybe some of the criticism of fat people comes from a “good place,” and maybe I’m unhealthy in my fatness. But why is that anyone else’s business? It isn’t. What’s more, I feel some of the greatest critics of fatness are insecure fat people themselves.
I was watching the Biggest Loser, the weight-loss reality show on NBC, as a contestant in her early 20s melodramatically sobbed. She’d been fat her whole life, never got asked on a date, never went to a prom, never had a boyfriend, and she “wanted her life back.”
I rolled my eyes. I was fat in high school, and I had no trouble. I got asked to the prom (though, as a high school anarchist, I chose not to go), I had boyfriends. I couldn’t help but think this crying girl on television was faking. What if she was just a boring person? What if, instead of accepting or trying to change her personality, she blamed her problems on being fat? I wanted to tell her that losing weight doesn’t rid you of all your problems—in fact, she would probably just find new ones.
I hate shows like the Biggest Loser because fat becomes the enemy—the thing about yourself you should hate. If a contestant loses 5 pounds one week instead of the 20 their partner loses, they’re shamed—which only reinforces the problem of the self-hating mindset. They never sit the contestants down for a pep talk about having confidence in themselves at any size. They just keep repeating that weight loss is the only road to self-acceptance, the only way to validate yourself.
I see the looks I get from people sometimes, evaluating my hips and belly, and I wonder if they know that I ran a 5k race at Thanksgiving. But would even that knowledge change their mind? I think people are afraid that if they become fat, they will lose their friends, and all respect from other people. That wouldn’t happen with the people they already know. As for the rest? It’s their loss. Run with me.
Designing a Wardrobe (Around a Bag) June 19, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 2commentsSo, being as that I will essentially have to use this bag for the rest of my days to feel all right about the money I spent on it, I knew it had to be one that will go with everything. With the help of Polyvore, a website designed to help budding fashionistas assemble wonderful outfits, I checked my theory.
I think this would make a good basic school outfit. I don’t own these items, obviously, but I own similar ones. The bag, coupled with the dark jeans, gives off a slightly dressy look, while the shoes and cardigan underscore the comfort and ease aspect.
I often wear a similar outfit to work, with leggings underneath when it’s chilly outside.
What about for a nice night out at a play? I love the ivory color of the waistband on this dress.
Or just a casual dinner out in the summertime.
Okay, maybe it doesn’t go with everything. But I totally wouldn’t leave the house in something like this.
Maybe.
Re-Launch June 17, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , 2commentsThis is all because of a bag.
Well, maybe not all because of a bag. But it was the start.
I needed to find myself a good birthday gift. I’m turning 21 in September, and I figured I would get myself something really nice. I didn’t even consider a bag until another member of an online community I’m in posted a link to a set of handbags Coach had some bloggers design.
And there she was.
It sounds so stupid, but it made me realize that I really need to work on identifying who I am as a person. I’m about to spend the next year of my life writing a book and completing my undergraduate degree. You have to know who you are to be able to accomplish something so stressful.
I am, in a nutshell, this handbag. I’m fun, but not too loud and crazy. I make a statement in my own way, but it’s soft. I’m professional, but I can blend into different settings.
I realized that I missed blogging. I miss sharing my thoughts in a public space. I’ve been feeling so much in a rut the past few months, and I think this has something to do with it.
I’ve been thinking about what I want to do with this blog. And it’s a good question. I love food, but I don’t cook or bake enough to run a cooking blog. I’m trying to find my personal style, but there are a million and a half fashion blogs. I’m a writer (or I’m trying to be) but I don’t want to put all my writing out there. So maybe I’ll put all that in a blender and see what I come up with.
Maybe it will be me.
Interview With Nick Flynn June 16, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , add a commentI attend Pratt Institute, where we have a glorious little literary and art magazine called Ubiquitous. Every fall semester, they conduct an interview and write a profile of the Writing Program’s Writer-in-Residence. I, being an eager junior, offered to write said profile.
I met Nick in Pratt’s Pie Shop one rainy afternoon, expecting a fairly quick question-and-answer with simple answers. Instead, what I got was 35 minutes (that ended up being 7 pages single-spaced!) of thoughts on bewilderment, carpentry, and aging. Because of space restrictions, the whole of this interview couldn’t be published in Ubiquitous. So, here’s my original cut of the interview (with most of our “sort ofs” and “likes” omitted!)
Katie Oh: You lectured [at Pratt] about bewilderment, and I was looking at your website, and that’s sort of, like, the working title of your new project. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Nick Flynn: It was the working title—”A Memoir of Bewilderment,” hopefully that’s just in the book now, so we don’t have to call it that. I’ve just sort of been studying this concept of bewilderment, looking at it for a few years now, to see how various arts relate to it, how bewilderment fits into their practice. It seems to be this sort of key moment in almost any work of art, where the artist sort of pushes beyond what they know to this sort of unknown, to this sort of place that would probably, by definition, be bewildering. And it interests me. It interests me that that’s where art can occur, sort of beyond what we know.
Hello Again! June 16, 2010
Posted by Katie Oh in : Such As , add a commentSo I’m hoping to expand and update this blog more this summer/this upcoming year! I’ve got some ~ideas up my sleeve. You’ll see. I hope.