Things I Love Friday & Canadian Film Day 2020

 

Happy Friday, friends!

Did you know Wednesday was National Canadian Film Day? NCFD Is an annual day to celebrate Canadian movies by watching a great Canadian film.

If you weren't able to celebrate on the day of, here are a few good options to watch today:

♥ Maudie: The true story of iconic Nova Scotia artist Maude Lewis, who had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

♥ The F Word: A Canadian movie starring British Daniel Radcliffe and American Adam Driver, and a story about love, friendship and self-discovery.

♥ The Trotsky: A high school student believes he is the reincarnation of Leon Trotsky and starts a union at his father's factory. Things get more interesting from there.

A few I haven't seen yet but am planning to: Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (about the Oka Crisis, which was part of many millennials' lifetimes), There's Something in the Water (a documentary about environmental racism, helmed by Ellen Page) and The Year Dolly Parton Was My Mom (a coming of age story in which Dolly Parton actually has a cameo!).

What's your favourite Canadian film?

Here are some other things that made me happy this week:

♥ "I Love Me" by Demi Lovato ♥ Seafood pizza and crab-stuffed pretzels ♥ Mine and Samuel's love spell ♥ Pink flowers ♥ Doing something creative every day ♥ Gender feels ♥ Feeling good  about my body because I see someone else who's gorgeous and fat feeling amazing about their body ♥ Lizzo ♥ Kicking BDD's ass! ;) ♥ Incredible notes from people I admire ♥ Buying a new book ♥

And a few fun things for you to read:

♥ 50 ways to be ridiculously generous-- and feel ridiculously good.

♥ What to make with all your pantry staples. Totally making those chickpea fritters!

♥ Also: this salad looks amazing.

♥ Have you been having weird dreams during lockdown? Because you're not alone. Man Repeller rounds up 12 really strange quarantine dreams and their meanings.

Sending you lots of love!

Image by Matthew Henry on Unsplash

Things I Love Friday & Link Love 10 April 2020

Hi friends!

I know it’s been a while. With all of us cooped up and social distancing, this feels like the perfect time to get back to blogging, and being anything but emotionally distant from one another.

Since my last posts I’ve been struggling with illness and the stress and stigma that come with it, so I haven’t had much chance to write at all, let alone for my own blog. So I’m excited to be back, even though our collective circumstances aren’t so lovely. I hope I can do my small part in brightening your day and offering you resources to help you improve your life in some way.

Let’s start with a gratitude list :)

Things I Love Friday

♥ Getting back to making a weekly gratitude list and sharing it!

♥ The flowers (pictured above) that my boyfriend, Samuel bought me when we went grocery shopping today. They’re gorgeous, but more importantly, the gesture makes me feel loved.

♥ Cute messages from my mom, especially when they involve photos of our cats.

♥ Extra cheese

♥ Painting with watercolours 

♥ The makeshift Passover seder Samuel and I had this morning after he finished work.

Lovely Links:

♥ Roses have been cultivated by humans for 5000 years, isn’t that magical? I learned that-- and have been incredibly soothed by-- Tabitha of Winston and Main’s Daily Flower newsletter. If you love flowers are much as I do she’s definitely worth a follow.

♥ These are really cool handmade facemasks.

♥ 6 Jewish coronavirus initiatives you can support from home.

♥ The Quiet Prejudice of ‘You Are Not Fat, You Have Fat’. 

♥ Visit The Calm Place.

♥ This pizza looks amazing.

♥ How self-work and personal memories nourish creativity. I really enjoyed this interview with illustrator Loveis Wise.

♥ This podcast sounds fantastic.

Have a safe, wonderful weekend!

Period Poverty: Even Here. Period.

Have you ever had to choose between buying tampons and putting food on the table?

I have.

I'm fortunate not to have been (that) poor in over year, but countless people across the country aren't so lucky.

In Toronto alone, there are over 22,000 vulnerable people in need of menstrual products and one-third of menstruators under the age of 25 have struggled to afford menstrual products in Canada [source].

We often think of this as something that happens to other people, far from our own backyard, but Period Poverty happens to women, trans, and nonbinary people in Toronto, Canada, and across North America. 

It's probably affected someone you know. 

Case in point: Last Saturday, people rallied across USA (and in 3 other countries) for the first annual National Period Day. Their demands: freely accessible period products in schools, shelters and prisons for anyone (of any gender) who menstruates, and no more taxes on period products in any of the 35 states that continue to tax these products.

So how can you help end period poverty?

♥️ Use inclusive language. They're not feminine products; they're menstrual products. They're not women who menstruate; they're people who menstruate (unless you're specifically talking about a group of people who you 100% know are women!) Leaving people out of the conversation just makes the situation worse.

♥️ Host a period party of your own, or donate any of these items to The Period Purse at these locations in Ontario (or find an LGBTQ shelter, women's shelter, community shelter, or other organization local to you).

♥️ Always have extra menstrual products at home and in your bag, and be a safe person others can go to if they need a pad or tampon.

♥️ On a similar note: Demonstrate that you're a comfortable, nonjudgmental person to talk to about periods (as long as this doesn't trigger you-- some people with PCOS, gender dysphoria, etc may not be able to do this, and that's okay!). Share articles about menstrual health, casually mention something you've recently tried for your PMS and how much it helps, or that chocolate and tampons were both on sale at the drugstore this week. Let people know they can come to you if they need help; There's no shame in talking about periods. 

How are you doing your part to end Period Poverty?

Disability Representation on Game of Thrones

I just read a post on NPR about Game of Thrones' representation of disabled people... Which is a topic I've been thinking about a lot, especially since the latest season comes to a close tonight.

First of all, I'm impressed that a large news outlet is talking about disability as it relates to GOT, not just talking about GOT itself. I'm also impressed by some of the points they make, such as:

On GOT's use of inspiration porn: 

Take the young princess scarred by a fictional severe skin disease — "greyscale." Perry says the character's disability primarily serves to pump up the pathos.

"It isn't really about her," he points out. "Right? It's all — this poor, physically disfigured girl who's so good and pure and smart. Oh no, she's going to be killed; now we have to be really upset. That is the kind of writing I kind of hate."

The article also mentions the trope of "curing" disabled characters. What will become of Bran Stark, a wheelchair user? David Perry, a disabled activist interviewed in the article responds: "You don't want to learn to fly... You want a ramp built into your castle."

Exactly! (I know I'd gladly live in my very own accessible Medieval castle!).

Tyrion Lannister: "...complicated, powerful and very sexy". Also disabled.

Game of Thrones has some brilliant acting, thrilling cinematography, and fascinating characters... Characters who, for the most part, aren't always moral. You often love to hate them. (Cersei, anyone?)

The disabled characters are the same way:

"Peter Dinklage, the actor who comes first in the credits, is a little person... Tyrion Lannister, is complicated, powerful and very sexy". All true. Except he also murdered a sex worker, just because he was jealous that she was doing her job by sleeping with someone other than him.

Jaime Lannister (who has a prosthetic hand) is "complicated, powerful and very sexy" too. He's also a talented swordsman, and a loyal brother... other than the fact that he raped his sister.

I guess it's nice to see that disabled characters aren't being treated like saints just because they're disabled. But wouldn't it be nice to have at least one disabled character who isn't problematic?

Also note that all of the major characters who have disabilities (other than Tyrion) are played by abled actors. That in itself sends a message to viewers.

Game of Thrones is doing an infinitely better job of including characters with disabilities than many other shows on TV right now. But I still hope they'll do a better job in their final season. 

May the Lord of Light answer our prayers.

#FatAndFabulous Things Friday (11.08.2017)

Hi friend! What have you been up to in the past couple weeks? 

Me? I posted about fruity summer fashion, bought the blue liquid lipstick I've been dreaming of, and have been working on some writing projects. I also got a new appointment with a cardiologist, which is awesome because I'll get some answers about my chronic illnesses and get to piss off the haters when they see a 300-pound Goddess confidently rocking a holter monitor. 😜

#throwback to me being adorable a couple years ago. (Not that anything has changed 😉).

A post shared by Rebecca Esther 👗♿️ (@rebeccaesther) on Aug 8, 2017 at 8:13am PDT

Aaaanyway... Here's what you came for:

1. Check out some of the best looks at this year's TCF Style Expo. I especially love all the bright colours! (Plus Model Mag)

2. Fat Liberation is for Fat People With Disabilities Too. As a disabled fat person who's experienced much of what's described in this post, I really appreciate this discussion. (Kath is a brilliant writer and a powerful fat activist whose work has taught me a lot on my journey, so I highly recommend her blog.--> Fat Heffalump)

Fat PWD are accused of “causing” their disabilities because they are fat, are accused of “just being lazy” or treated like even more of an inconvenience than thin PWD. It’s hard enough for PWD to get the equipment and services they need, and for many of we fat people to get equipment, clothing and services that fit our bodies – the two issues compounded make it even more of a burden for fat PWD to bear.

3. Celebrity diet culture needs to stop. And society as a whole needs to stop obsessing about health. (Ravishly)

It’s also important to remember that “health” can be a moving target. It’s not an obligation or a barometer of worthiness, it’s not entirely within our control, and it’s not guaranteed, no matter what we do.

4. These photos are totally dreamy and now I'm inspired to do a mini photo shoot in my bedroom, too! (Ailurophile With Style).

5. How to have the confidence to wear whatever you want, whenever you want. (College Fashion)

What fabulousness have you seen (or created) in the fatosphere lately?

P.S. Did you know I have a #fatandfabulous Pinterest board? Go check it out!