I have realized in the last week or so that my choice of literature, coupled with school and the start of a new job has made me more serious than usual. So I thought I would have a little fun. Here are the top ten wonders of my world (which usually only exists in my head) for this week.
1. Why is it that the cover of my Sizing and Sewing for Plus Sizes book has a typical size model as opposed to a plus sized one? (More importantly, why is the photo of a plus sized woman measuring a thin model?)
2. Why are there so many body conscious, relationship obsessed women in my gender studies program? (it just seems a little ironic to me, just when I thought I would find allies. I’m sure they are there I just haven’t found them yet.)
3. Why do the aforementioend women get upset when I tell them I don’t want to go the gym and work out with them even though its a nice gym (sponsored by the university) and it’s free?
4.Why does the “welcome to the team” email from my new boss say be prepared to win, but doesn’t say what we are competing for or who with?
5. Why is it so damn hot outside???!!!
6. Why does the reading list for my fall class seem a lot longer than what I can read in one semester? (ahhh, grad school).
7. Doesn’t anybody just drink plain water anymore?
8. How can a person rant and rave about how tasty my chilli is and then when I tell them it’s vegan they look like it has suddenly become disgusting because there is no meat in it?
9. Who came up with the idea to have a wet t shirt race?
10. And why didn’t anyone think that a private women’s college may not be the right place to have one?
There you have it folks. These are the kinds of things that come to mind when you move to a new city where you know no one. I have to entertain myself somehow. Don’t I? Have a great week.
I can second virtually all of these. Seriously, what’s up with thin ‘plus-size’ models, non-FA-’feminists’, people who think vegan food is gross, and read-every-book-ever-written grad seminars?
The wet t-shirt thing just leaves me speechless, though.
Ah, the move to the city where you know no one — been there.
This might sound like a really silly suggestion, but you might want to check out the Women’s Center on campus (if there is one). Just today I was thinking that just as not all women consider themselves feminists (some for very good reason as the feminist movement has messed up in some very big ways), not all fat people are pro-Fat Acceptance. So it’s not like I could march up to someone and say, “hey, being fat is great, isn’t it?” (I could, of course, ask, “Are you Kate Harding?”) Seeking out the women’s center is one of those defining things that potential allies might do.
And maybe your classmates are in gender studies because they want to get “really good at being female.”
I didn’t mean to use the emoticon there — although it works.
I have the same question you do about how someone can rave about how good something is until they find out what’s in it. I think it may be that they have it in their heads that there is no way they can like anything vegan, but as long as they don’t know it’s vegan, it’s good. It’s a case of mind over tastebuds, probably.
I read the list to my mom. She zoned in on the “plain water” one. Her response:
Me: Um, you do realize that that bottle water you and lil bro drink IS glorified tap water, right?
*shakes head* I wonder about my mom sometimes.
I’m pretty sure I’m an alum of the grad program you’re in (without giving it away – the same school is now my employer), and it sounds like things have changed little since I was in it, so I feel you there. Trying to talk to my classmates about fat acceptance would get me looked at like I was speaking some alien language half the time. I got a lot of polite smiles and nods and people slooowly backing away. The faculty, at least, was pretty supportive though.
The water thing trips me out. Everyone around here seems to like vitamin water or some of that flavored dasani water. Call me weird but I want my water to taste like water.
I haven’t had the best of experience with women’s centers in general (mostly due to a serious lack of diversity) but I suppose it is always worth a try.
“Getting really good at being female”…scary, but probably true.
I drink plain water. Only I put it through a Brita filter first so it won’t taste like buttock.
I also drink plain water processed through a Brita filter & only buy any kind of bottled water if I am out walking & get thirsty. I have no idea what is going on these days to cause so many people to believe that, unless they have to pay at least a dollar for a pint of water, it is not fit to drink. And, yes, I have seen stories on tv about the fact that bottled water generally IS tap water, put through a filter such as Meowser & I do, then sold for a ridiculous price.
Meowser, I TOTALLY read that with Forrest Gump’s voice in my head!
intellectualfeminist, I have a little theory about why someone would make a face when you tell them they’re eating something vegan – especially if they already thought there was meat in it. If they already thought they were eating meat and you tell them there’s NO meat in it, a lot of people will be like “Well WHAT THE FUCK am I eating??!” I think for some people (not all, of course; there’s always an asshole in the bunch) it’s a knee-jerk reaction, especially if they’ve always been omnivores and never gave much thought to what goes into a vegan meal. My Hubby is like that – sometimes I’ll sneak some Quorn or something into a meal, and when I finally tell him what it is, I get that sort of reaction.
But that doesn’t cover everybody, of course. Some people are just asshats.
I prefer plain over fancy water every time. This sounds crazy, but every flavored water I’ve tried makes my tongue hurt. I’ll take plain ice water instead.
nuckingfutz, I suppose that makes sense. If I thought I was eating something vegetarian and someone told me there was meat in it, I suppose I would freak.
4.Why does the “welcome to the team” email from my new boss say be prepared to win, but doesn’t say what we are competing for or who with?
Wellllll, based on personal experience, a comment like that coming from your boss strongly suggests that a sort of competition is likely in your near future: your job-preservation instincts will be competing with your smug-corporate-robot-strangling instincts, after your boss blasts you with hit after hit from his corporate-robot-speak cannon.
Prepare yourself for a lot of ‘charming’ smirking and winking from this fella, too.
But maybe that was just my life…