An Open Letter to Iris Alonzo, Creative Director at American Apparel

American Apparel ran a contest to find a plus sized model for their new line of clothing for people over a size 8. Nancy Upton, a size 12, one the contest where the winner was picked by public vote. Ms. Upton sent in pictures of herself bathing in ranch dressing, eating chicken wings in mass portions, pouring chocolate syrup straight into her mouth and all over herself and holding an apple in her mouth and posing as a pig on a spit. The contest was written up to where these were the images invoked by American Apparel. The contest was appalling. It just wasn't done well. Now that Ms. Upton won, American Apparel is now passing the modeling contract to someone else because they did not agree with Ms. Upton's pictures and the negative, but justified, attention that it deserved. Ms. Iris Alonzo, the creative director who came up with this horrible idea has now sent out an open letter about Ms. Upton. You can find the open letter here:

http://www.thefrisky.com/post/246-american-apparels-lame-open-letter-to-nancy-upton-plus-size-model-conte/

I noticed at the bottom that Ms. Alonzo's email address is given. After all, it is an open letter, so I felt the need to respond to American Apparel and Ms. Alonzo. I did send this email but felt I needed to share it with everyone as well so here goes:

You should give the girl that won the prize the modeling contract. She is the one the public voted as the winner as the contest stated. She is obviously smart and witty. The way your contest was described invoked the images that she portrayed. A size 12 being fat? If Marilyn Monroe came into model for you, by today’s standards, you would’ve found her obese. So would Serena Williams and she is the epitome of being physically fit. I personally find your contest a slap in the face of anyone of someone over a size 8. I personally am a size 14 to 18 depending on the clothing. I am also type 2 diabetic which makes it extremely difficult to lose weight. It is very hard on my body and organs to yo-yo when dieting so I just maintain according to my doctor’s advice. I eat healthy and I also go through a minimum of 8 hours of roller derby practice a week. I burn 600 to 900 calories during each one of those practices, so it is not like I don’t exercise and am lazy but your campaign to find plus size models made it sound like that. I am personally going to get everyone I know to boycott your clothing line for us “fatties”. Besides, most of it is hideous and made out of unforgiving fabrics for anyone over a size 2. I personally hope your company is sued by Nancy Upton for not following through with your contest and denying her the prize when she is the clear winner and I hope you lose.

Sincerely,

Nikki Lee

John Bender “The Breakfast Club”: Well not at present, but I can see you really pushing maximum density. See I'm not sure if you know this, but there are two kinds of fat people: there's fat people that were born to be fat, and there's fat people that were once thin but became fat... so when you look at 'em you can sorta see that thin person inside. You see, you're gonna get married, you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then, uh...

Yes, we will see you very soon in our club Ms. Alonzo

Am I wrong? Am I justified? I feel so but that is because it is my opinion. I am an American citizen and allowed that under the constitution.

Welcome Back My Friends To The Show That Never Ends!

It has been a long time since I've done anything with this. I have been sick though. First it was pneumonia that resulted in a 3 day hospital stay. Then it was a bunch of contributing factors that lead to a lot of stress and a severe bout of depression that took longer to heal from than the pneumonia. I am finally starting to pull out of it. I've got a pretty good outlook on life. Sometimes, the dark still invades, but at least I feel like I can combat it now. I PROMISE that I am going to come back to my blog and start writing again. I have too many creative juices flowing to not do so.

"I was so lost. So, so lost. Then I rolled in the dust, embraced the wind, danced in the sunshine and guess what I found? Myself again!" :-)

Venting and Chaos go hand in hand

The hubby and I started school just fine. Whoever says you have free time while in college and can still pass has a photographic memory. Maybe its just because we are getting older. Who knows but I haven't done anything harder. I have really been striving to make those grades that were elusive to me in high school. Hubby is working just as hard. He is doing extremely well also. I am so proud of him. I truly am one of the luckiest women in the world.

I'm having issues dealing with concentration. It's like this blog. This specific blurb right here took me several days to write as I can't hold a thought even through a complete sentence. I went to my doc today. They are testing blood for out of balance electrolytes and things like that but she doesn't believe that is my problem. Nope, not at all. She thinks I am an adult undiagnosed A.D.D. patient. Yes, that means I will get all the good drugs but all they will do for me if make me normal. Whats the point of that? Oh yeah, so I can actually finish a sentence without taking five minutes to remember what I was saying. It'll make it so I'm not driving and suddenly remember what I was doing. Hence why I haven't been driving. I say they need to administer pot to the world and everything would be just fine.

There is turmoil and chaos as well. The kid went through a phase of being a bonehead but it wasn't typical bonehead teenager things. I could have handled him drinking and spray painting buildings and that kind of stuff. No what did he do? He got his hands on a program that bypasses all the schools firewall programs. The only reason he didn't get expelled is because he rolled over on the kid that gave him the program instantly (NEVER plan a crime with my kid. He'll roll over on you in a heartbeat.) and he was only watching a music video. If he had been doing anything else he would've been expelled no matter what. This is future Bill Gates sort of stuff. I know the rules were broken but at the same time I wanted to pat him on the back because I don't know how to use that stuff. It blows my mind that he does. Of course, when I started with computers my parents were the same way with me. We went through a phase of one computer infraction with him at school after another. He is now banned from using computers at school. It makes it tough but he's doing it. Now he's getting in trouble for talking in class or reading. Especially the latter. What are you suppose to do? Discourage him from reading? I mean seriously, come on! What am I suppose to do with this kid?

We moved to another part of the building we live in. We are now in a temperant year round, spacious part of the downstairs and of course I am so disorganized right now that everything is one crazy ass mess with part of our stuff down stairs and the rest still 2 floors up. The kid even has his room done all ready. Talk about procrastination.

I've been massively irritable recently too but there seems to be one thing irritating me more than anything recently. All these people throwing out they are Christian and bible versus and then talking racist or sexual orientation hate speech. I mean Genesis1:27 says: "So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." It doesn't say that God only created the white people or the straight people or those not questioning their gender. It says "human beings in his own image" meaning that if God exists all people look and act like him which means that God has many faces. Come on people. I know what you do Friday and Saturday night then think tossing a twenty in the tithing plate makes all ok. It doesn't. Quit being hypocrites and calling yourself "Christian" because your actions are not Christ-like. Besides, Christ had long hair, wore a dress and Birkenstocks and he was a party dude. I mean check it out, the party needed some help so he turned the water into wine. Yeah, Christ was a hippie that was anti-establishment (get rid of the bankers!) deal with it and get on the right side people. As far as I personally know there are only four people that truly walk the talk. Three I have been blessed with in my personal life and I think you know who you are. The other is Mother Teresa.
That's the only venting I've got for now. Time to get off of my soapbox.

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A New Love in My Life

I have fallen in love with a place and believe it or not, it's here in Klamath Falls. There is this wonderful, non-profit outlet that is amazing. It's called the Contemporary Arts Kitchen. It is a beautiful establishment dedicated to making the world an amazing place through art.

Now most people when they think of art they think of painting or drawing or something like that. The Contemporary Arts Kitchen sees the art in many different things. They see it in music and writing and fire and so many other things.

For me, several things have come out from my small amount of time with the C.A.K. as I am just getting started there. First is my obsession with some sort of fire art. I was first introduced to Poi during my first trip to Burning Man. I actually have LED poi and after a year of practice with it, I still can not go over 2 minutes without smacking myself somewhere on my body. Needless to say, that limits me on any fire spinning potential because honestly, I do not want to set my hair on fire. So I set out to explore what I might be able to do in the fire arts with my lack of coordination. I try to spin staff. I'm not horrible at it, but I am far from great. At least I don't hit myself in the head with it. Still, it just didn't feel like a good fit. I then came across fire fingers. Think Wolverine with flames. Here is an example: Fire Fingers.

I have known the very basics to belly dance since I was three years old. To this day I can still balance a seven foot Shepard's cane on my head and do the basic hip figure eight. It's not that hard to add moves to it. I have instructions and space to practice so it would be something very easy for me to improve upon and be using fire by December. At least that is my goal.

My second obsession that I have been talking about for a year is also coming into play. I am now officially a member of the Rollerbetties. Yes, it's roller derby in Klamath Falls. It's a small group trying to get on it's feet but you get to skate and get ready for that first bout. I went to my first practice last night in my old school white and hot pink Roller Derby skates, that were a hit by the way, and tried to remind myself of the fundamentals of skating. It was exhilarating! I compounded it by watching Blood on the Flat Track: The Rise of the Rat City Roller Girls

I AM IN LOVE!

It will quickly become my new therapy.

I am also going to start working on inventory for my Etsy business. I still have some sorting through our personal stuff in the basement to get done to be able to do so and get my sewing machine up but it will happen and I will post links. Trust me, in my opinion $160 is NOT a viable option for a Steam Punk skirt. That price really shouldn't even be considered unless it is floor length and made out of silk. Anyone that would be buying a Steam Punk skirt really wouldn't want it made out of that material anyway. You want it durable. I am going to making unusual things that people would hopefully like at more affordable prices. It's going to be for those that don't know how to sew a straight stitch, use a glue gun or just flat out don't have time but like something they saw. You get the idea.

The world feels completely wide open for me to make of it what I want and that is exactly what I am going to do.

HELLO KLAMATH FALLS!

We followed the winds of change and apparently it was temporary. We are back in Klamath Falls of all places. I never really expected to come back here. Even more so, I never expected to be so happy to come back here. It's amazing to me how much a few months away can change your perspective of something or some place. We owe a big fat thank you to Dave and Terra for letting us come back here and giving us shelter and such a warm energy to live in. We are also back here for a minimum of four years. Thunder Monkey starts his freshman year in September and he will graduate from the school he starts at. It isn't exactly a bad thing either.

It helps that we are in a completely different situation. I'm not working at a job that is killing me and I have proof to back that statement that it was killing me. I am being encouraged and nourished to try and flow with my creativity to turn it into earning a living. We are surrounded by so much positive energy it is amazing what it can do to your thinking and soul. I am definitely looking at pursuing one of my ideas for earning a living. Now the hard part is which one I want to start with! I have so many ideas running through my head and trying to pick the best one to start with can be difficult! I am determined though which ever one I chose will be a success.

Gordon is going to be starting school in September as well after plenty of encouragement and the offer of at least four tutors. He feels confident enough to go for it. I am so proud of him. I might go back to school but I really want to try to get my own little side business off the grou

Winds of Change

What do you do when signs start popping up massively and kicking you in the face with a steel cleat golf shoe? Do you ignore them? Especially if they involve a major life change? What if they don't let you ignore them? What if they lead you where you don't expect it. One of the least likely places you expected. Do you follow their commands? Especially if you asked whatever spiritual guidance you prefer for them. This is the quandary my family and I are in right now. I use to not be afraid. I'd get signs and I just went for it. Oh, it's that little thing is called responsibility! That's it! Well, I am seriously beginning to believe that responsibility is WAY overrated! When I was growing up, everyone talked about becoming responsible. If I knew what it entailed, I would've never gone for it. Now I'm stuck trying to make a difficult decision and the signs are pulling me opposite of where I thought they would go. It's scary. I'm not use to being unnerved at all. So do I ignore the signs because I am kind of scared or do I follow my instincts and the signs and do what I think is right? What would you do?