Nov 20 2008
From Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body
Frank had the body of a bull, an image he intensified by wearing great gold hoops through his nipples. Unfortunately, he had joined the hoops with a chain of heavy gold links. The effect should have been deeply butch but in fact in looked rather like the handle of a Chanel shopping bag.
Nov 17 2008
From Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body
My job was to go into the urinals wearing one of Inge’s stockings over my head. That in itself might not have attracted much attention, men’s toilets are fairly liberal places, but then I had to warn the row of guys that they were in danger of having their balls blown off unless they left at once. A typical occassion would be to find five of them, cocks in hand, staring at the brown-streaked porcelain as though it were the Holy Grail. Why do men like doing everything together? I said (quoting Inge), ‘This urinal is a symbol of patriarchy and must be destroyed.’ Then (in my own voice), ‘My girlfriend has just wired up the Semtex, would you mind finishing off?’
Nov 13 2008
Femmes of Power: Exploding Queer Femininities
This book looks absolutely fantastic:
“To us, femininity is neither phallic fantasy nor default, it’s beyond surface and it certainly does not passively wait to come alive through a (male) gaze. Fiercely intentional, neither objects nor objective, we have stuff to get out our chests. But speaking bittersweets truths to power takes both busty bravery and some serious padding.”
Sep 29 2008
From Jennifer Clare Burke’s A Life Less Convenient: Letters to My Ex
You keep thinking that you get to keep your body. That your body stays with you just because you’re stuck inside it. … You don’t get to keep anything, not really. Nothing’s a given.
Sep 27 2008
From Jennifer Clare Burke’s A Life Less Convenient: Letters to My Ex
No one knew what would be saved. I watched the illness and drugs pass through my body, wondering what would be left whole afterwards.
Sep 25 2008
From Jennifer Clare Burke’s A Life Less Convenient: Letters to My Ex
Lying was easy. I didn’t want you to know what was wrong. I didn’t want you to understand the way my body was betraying me because I didn’t want to understand.
Sep 23 2008
The most painful part of being sick is remembering being well. From Jennifer Clare Burke’s A Life Less Convenient: Letters to My Ex
That was before my body fell apart, and then we did.
Sep 21 2008
I’ve struggled a lot with my migraines the past few months. I’ve been thinking a lot about how I have to change the pace of my life and my own expectations for myself. Several years ago, a wonderful friend of mine sent me a book written by a woman with lupus. I wasn’t about having lupus. It was about having relationships while her body betrayed and abused her. Jennifer Clare Burke’s A Life Less Convenient: Letters to My Ex
Your smile grew by another inch, and you came toward me from your chair. I wanted to be just as happy to find you. I wanted you. But I reached for the pain pills.
Sep 05 2008
Biology in Science Fiction’s post on A Field Guide to Surreal Botany was featured in this month’s Berry Go Round. I am now desperate to read it:
an anthology of fictional plant species that exist beyond the realm of the real. … Fully illustrated in gorgeous full-color by Janet Chui, the specimen entries are by turns witty, hilarious, and very strange.
Also, I’ll be hosting the next Berry Go Round on September 28th. I can’t wait to see what interesting things get submitted!
