Today's rambling: Be proud of your fat!
Written on Monday, Oct. 28, 2002 at 12:41 p.m.
while feeling a bit

Before I get into the icky aspects of the day...well wait, I won't even have time for that. I'll leave it for another entry. So at any rate, I read the 4 essays that are supposed to have been read for Writing today, and one of them was actually interesting! What a shock! I would like to give an exerpt here, because even though y'all probably know already, it's still kinda interesting to read:

Women of the Romantic period may have wanted tiny waists, but they also wanted their shoulders, arms, calves, and bosoms ample, indicating an "amorous plenitude." Indeed, thinness was considered ugly, a woman's misfortune. The French epicure J. A. Brillat-Savarin defined thinness as those of his epoch typically did--as "the condition of the individual whose muscular flesh, not being filled with fat, reveals the forms and angles of the bony structure." Thinness in women was, he observed, "a terrible misfortune. ... The most painstaking toilette, the sublimest costume, cannot hide certain absences, or disguise certain angles." Nor did the Romantic lady equate slenderness with health and energy as we do today; health was not part of her aesthetic ideal. Rather, slenderness signified delicacy and fragility, the qualities she sought.

Just a century ago, body ideals and ideas were the reverse of our own, underscoring the fact that there was no folk wisdom about the value of slenderness that science has recently confirmed. Indeed, the female ideal was Junoesque: tall, full-busted, full-figured, mature. Dimpled flesh--what we today shudderingly call "cellulite"--was considered desirable. Sinewy, "close to the bone" women "no bigger than a whipping post" suffered disdain, not those with amply fleshed curves properly distributed and disciplined only by the corset." The undergarment industry even came to the aid of the slighted thin woman with inflatable rubber garments (replete with dimples) for her back, calves, shoulders, and hips. They may have provided meager comfort, for they could deflate at unexpected moments. (Roberta Seid, "Too 'Close to the Bone': The Historical Context for Women's Obsession with Slenderness")

I've known for ages that full figures were once thought of as being attractive, but I just thought that was kind of funny. Imagine, skinny people actually feeling ridiculed because they look malnourished! Ah, if only we could revert back to those days! ;) I wouldn't mind poking fun at a few skinny people, hehe: "Yeesh, would you just LOOK at her? I'll bet she's poor as dirt! I mean, she obviously doesn't eat very much! I feel ill just looking at her!" :P

There's this girl who lives next door, and she's a music major. Yes, her voice is stronger than mine, but when she starts belting out tunes, she sounds like a dying mutant cow or something. I swear, it's wretched. I wish she'd go down to Marwick Boyd's practice hall and do her singing there. It would be much less disturbing. I mean, today it was so loud that I might as well have had the radio turned on or something! Kristen finally turned her radio on, after the girl started butchering "Les Mis�rables". Musical people just bother me, unless they have really sweet voices.

I guess I have a few minutes to discuss the less savory aspects of the day. Kevin didn't sit with Lauren and I at breakfast today, and we both thought he was angry with us. Turns out, he heard about how Lauren had complained about him, and naturally he decided to just stay away from her for awhile if that's what she wants. There are problems on both sides--both of them need to talk to each other--but yeah, this isn't exactly a favorable situation. He told me he doesn't want me to stop hanging out with them or anything just because of him, but it's like, I want to hang out with ALL of you! Am I going to have to pencil him in now or something? "Oh, I'll be free from 3 to 4:30, stop by!" I will make an effort to hang out with him, and to also include Ashley more in things, because I certainly don't want to become clique-y, much as I love both Amanda and Lauren. I told Kevin that with the way both he and Josh have been talked about behind their backs, I'm not stupid enough to think that they haven't said anything about me, too. Kevin said that Lauren and Amanda have never had anything negative to say about me, and that everything they've said has always been really nice, like, "She writes really well! She's so cool to be around!" but even so, maybe he's holding back, you know?

Bleh. It's just an ugly situation. I don't like being caught in stuff like this. I'm friends with all of them, and now I feel like I'm being caught in the middle. Maybe it's something that I should discuss with both of them, but I'll just see how things go. With luck, it's all just a matter of people needing to spend time apart from one another. I sincerely hope that everything will go back to normal. Even though it's been much more relaxed (for me) just hanging out with the girls, I don't want to NEVER see Kevin, you know? Urrrrgh.... X_X

I guess I'll try calling Geoff and Tim back tonight, since one of them finally called me. Yes, it WAS Tim who called and not Geoff, but proper etiquette requires that I call them back, right? ;) I could just not call them, but that would send the signal that I'm too busy to worry about them anymore, and I don't want to do that either. However, I'm only going to call once. If they pick up, then that's great, I'll enjoy talking to them. But if I get the answering machine, I'll leave a message and that'll be the end of it. I won't center my life on waiting for a phone call, as I'd been doing for the first month or two. Much as I like Geoff, I'm not going to pine away for him!

Anyway, I've got to get going. I guess I'll print out my Writing assignment when I get back!