Mississippi Steet Fair, Rockin’ Body Image
Yesterday I attended the Mississippi Street Fair and I mostly sat back and flat-out admired the crowd. Whoa! “Keep Portland Weird”, indeed! Ahhh, that all the world could be like Portland, and then when I clarify to myself, I mean, if all the world could have one tenth of the spark NoPo exudes.
Because yesterday, as I sat back, sipping on my icy cold home-made concoction (thank you Sean and Nikki), I marveled at the women in the crowd. And I mean, crowd, literally thousands of people were out in full glory on that marvelously hot summer day. Women on the street yesterday were of all ages and skin tones, all sizes and shapes. And the beauty was that so many of them had adorned their bodies in magnificent splendor, fabrics and accouterments that stated to witnesses at large, “Here I Am!” The majority of the women were not hiding their bodies because they didn’t conform to our culture’s rigid definition of beauty, quite the contrary, they had looked forward to an event in which they could flaunt their individual beauty. Their body fashion, whether it was bright and bold, or sweet and soft, simply telegraphed a sense of who they are as lovely, vibrant human beings.
It was festive and heartwarming and lucky us, we have it right here in PDX. This is the very thing we need to be seeing on magazine covers and in the media.
So for those of you who are in pain about your body image, start studying women, the ones who are managing to love themselves, their bodies, and life.
As I mentioned in my first post, my clients inspire me. A client sent this link to me, such sassy intelligence:http://anybody.squarespace.com/anybody_vent/2009/9/28/anybody-thought-this-was-cute.html
And though I still love mermaids, let us love all true sea creatures, because the author has a point, mermaids aren’t real, just as those airbrushed models aren’t actually real.
Namaste,
Kristen
Just read your post about the street fair. I feel blessed to live in Portland too. Today, while driving I saw a van painted like an animal. The jaws were the front of the car. I love what I see when I’m walking, cycling, or driving around Portland. I wrote a poem called “Drive by Art” after I saw bikes piled up against a pole. Reminded me of a ladder to the sky. Another day I saw two people see each other acrossed a street while they were waiting for the light to change and the woman started shimming her hips like she was doing the Limbo. Now that’s a woman that feels good in her body.! Let’s all invite the spirit of art, fun and play into our lives. Really, it just takes noticing a little drop of beauty every day.
Yes! Those significant moments of spontaneous beauty, I love it, the Limbo! As I was dancing “my joints” in NIA the other day, my lovely and talented instructor said something about imagining being in the grocery store aisle, and I thought , “Wouldn’t it be great if people danced, like truly danced down the grocery aisles instead of looking and feeling like grocery shopping is just another chore to do? And I thought about trying it out but couldn’t, just couldn’t because I knew people would stare at me (and possible call the cops)! But it made me wonder, are there cultures out there where it would be perfectly acceptable to be dancing in the market?
Thanks for posting Sally!