My Friend's Body ≠ Your Business

My friend, the poet/editor Kristy Bowen, runs an online calendar that lists poetry readings/events that take place in the Chicago area. This has upset a poet named C.J. Laity, who also runs an online calendar that lists poetry readings/events that take place in the Chicago area. To the best of my understanding, C.J.'s complaint is that he was running his poetry calendar first and that Kristy's calendar constitutes something of an intellectual property theft situation. Here is Kristy's calendar. Here is C.J.'s calendar.

Now, until a couple of days ago, my level of interest in this fight could best be described as less than minimal. But then C.J. started bringing weight/appearance into the argument. The implication was that Kristy is in the wrong because she weighs more than C.J. thinks she ought and/or that Kristy weighs more than C.J. thinks she ought because she's in the wrong.

At first, I was reluctant to post about this. My reading of the situation is that this man just writes inflammatory things about other poets in order to get more site hits. And I hate giving speech like this the pleasure of my attention. But I feel that I have to speak (write) out. I'm not angry because he's being mean to my friend; I'm angry about the way he's being mean to my friend.

Fat-bashing (like gay-bashing, like racism) doesn't just hurt the individual who's being bashed. It hurts all members of that community. Fat-bashing is an especially insidious form of hate speech because it doesn't even "just" affect people who are perceived to be overweight. It affects all people in possession of a body because it serves as a threat to what awaits those who dare to commit the sin of not being perceived as thin. While a person can't become gay or become black; they can, if they're not "careful," become fat. The dynamics of this situation - an older male poet publicly denigrating the body of a younger female poet - serve as yet another reminder to all the young female poets out there that even in the (purportedly liberal and women-friendly) poetry community, even on the (purportedly flesh-less) Internet, their bodies are somebody else's (everybody else's?) business.


A few people that I've talked to about this have expressed that they would like to do something to express their displeasure. I'm not entirely sure what the best course of action is. It seems unlikely that sending this guy an e-mail explaining why his speech is offensive is going to lead to anything along the lines of a healthy dialogue about feminism and body image in the world of poetry blogs. But, if you want to send C.J. an e-mail, he can be reached at ChicagoPoetry@ChicagoPoetry.com. A few other suggestions for those of you who want to fight back:


1. Give Kristy your money. Buy Kristy's books. Buy some of the chapbooks Kristy publishes. She runs dancing girl press, a press dedicated to publishing female poets, out of her own pocket. Also, she manages an online shop that specializes in pretty paper products and vintage clothes.

2. Give Kristy your poetry. Kristy edits a journal called wicked alice. Send a few of your A-game poems her way.

3. Use Kristy's calendar. If you're a Chicago poet, use Kristy's online calendar instead of C.J.'s. Get your friends to do the same.

4. Make a donation to About-Face or The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance. Or, at the very least, browse through their websites.

5. Evaluate your own body snarking practices. After a few post-reading beers, do you find yourself commenting about how so-and-so is looking a bit chubby lately? Cut that shit out. By making comments like those, you're causing the world I live in to become a crappier place.






See also:


Chicago Poetry (Jenny Boully)

Boycott CJ Laity and Chicagopoetry.com (Kate Durbin)

Just in case you thought sexism and discrimination in poetry were things of the past (Becca Klaver)

Four Fantastic Facts

1. Hanna Andrews is in Chicago (today).

2. And she is reading (7:30pm).

3. At Women and Children First (5233 N. Clarke St.).

4. With Carol Guess.

Happy Tuesday!

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The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Paul Muldoon
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Stephen Colbert in Iraq

Third favorite thing in the world (poetry) + Twelfth favorite thing in the world (The Colbert Report) should = amazing, but alas.

Last week I saw/heard Dorothea Lasky read at Danny's. She's one of the few poets whose work I like better when I hear it out loud. That's a compliment, I think. Anyway, I want to start a write-in campaign to get her on The Colbert Report. Lasky would make us all look good.

Bodies Human

# On Monday I went to see the Bodies Human: Anatomy in Motion show in Louisville, Kentucky. The exhibit, which is currently housed at the Mellwood Arts & Entertainment Center, consists of human bodies and body parts that have been plastinated (a more fancy version of embalming).

# When I entered the exhibit, a museum worker in a navy blue museum worker blazer crossed the floor, came way too far into my personal space, and said in a confident and monotone museum worker voice, "These bodies and body parts are authentic." Then she exited the exhibit room. I was/am glad to know this information, but it kind of creeped me out that this and only this information was offered to me without my even having asked.

# The exhibit contained "individual" body parts/systems (a heart, a uterus with some fallopian tubes) and nearly "complete" bodies (a body with it's chest opened and the muscles, fat, and bones removed to better observe the heart). The "individual" parts/systems were displayed in glass (or glass-looking plastic) boxes. The nearly "complete" bodies were posed in various "clever" positions &mdash one mimicked Rodin's "The Thinker," another posed mid-basketball dribble.

# It is impossible to take a dead body seriously when it is posed mid-athletic feat. Which is probably the reason why the bodies are posed that way; the main purpose of the exhibit seems to be to teach youngsters about anatomy and, since most adults believe that youngsters frighten easily, it makes sense that the adult in charge of the exhibit would pose the bodies in a "fun" manner.

# According to the FAQ Section of the official Bodies Human website, the bodies are posed the way they are because "By positioning the bodies in motion, it allows the visitor to relate the body to real life situations, therefore providing an educational appeal." Which sounds pretty poppycockish to me. As if a person who won't relate to a dead body that is laid out on a table will suddenly relate to that same body if it is posed so that it appears to be engaged in an activity that the person happens to enjoy.

# Where is the line between body and body part? How much skin, bone, and organ do you have to take away from a body before it becomes a body part?

# 1/14 of a human body, split length-wise and pressed in a thin sheet of glass, looks too much like a butcher's window display. But it's only a temporary association; by the time I was back on the I-65, I was really wanting a bacon cheeseburger.

# Back in the day, my step-dad taught neuroanatomy to med students. These med students were required to dissect authentic brains. Learning by cutting up. This meant that, every six months or so, my stepdad would go down to the lab where they kept body parts from bodies that had been donated to Science and pick through a tub of authentic brains to find the "plums." The brains were all piled on top of one another, so it was sometimes difficult to find ones that weren't all bruised and unfit for teaching. Lesson: If you donate your body (or just your brain) to Science, be sure to specify that you want your brain kept on the top of the brain pile; otherwise it will get to bruised to be of any use to Science.

# For me, the coolest part of the exhibit wasn't the bodies or body parts but the "artery sculptures." These sculptures were made by plastinating the arteries of, say, a dead arm and then dissolving away all the skin, bone, and fat. What was left was a bright red set of plastic arteries in the shape of, say, an arm. The artery sculptures were the only thing that really made me get all caught up in thinking wowthehumanbodyisbeautifulandcomplex-type thoughts.

# No photography allowed in the exhibit. This is a shame, as I'm getting back into that seventeen-year-old's phase of being really into photography. But only digital photography, I don't have the patience to actually go through the process of developing film.

Submit!

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O SAY CAN YOU SEE:
Nonverbal Reviews and Adaptations of Women's Poetry
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What book, chapbook, performance, or poem by a woman poet published/presented in the last year or two has left you speechless? How might that speechlessness manifest itself visually, sonically, or through another nonverbal medium?

Please create a response to this piece; your response can act like a review, adaptation, homage, investigation, companion piece, Frankenstein, child, or any mash-up of the aforementioned. In August, all responses submitted will be featured as a forum on Delirious Hem (http://www.delirioushem.blogspot.com).

Curated by K. Lorraine Graham and Becca Klaver.


FAQ

Are all words banned?
Although the projects should not be text-based, words are not banned.

I want to create a response to a poem published in 2007. Is this too early?
Nope. We mean "published in the last year or two" loosely.

Can I create a response to a book written by:
a) a man?
b) a biological male who identifies as a woman?
c) a drag queen?
a) No. b) Yes. c) Yes, if they self-identify as a woman.

Can non-Pussipo members participate?
Yes. If you'd like to forward this call, feel free.

Can men participate?
Yes.

What file formats can you accept?
For videos, Blogger can accept AVI, MPEG, QuickTime, Real, and Windows Media, 100 MB maximum size. For images, jpg, gif, bmp and png images, 8 MB maximum size.

Responses might include videos, songs, performances, photographs, or photographs of visual pieces, but are not limited to these, so please query if you're not sure if Blogger can support your format.

Questions, submissions, stating your interest: Please contact K. Lorraine Graham (klorraine[at]gmail[dot]com) and Becca Klaver (beccavista[at]yahoo[dot]com).

Due date for submissions: July 31, 2009.

Happy Monday!