Five Star Friday's 205th Edition Is Brought to You By Philip Larkin

This week's Five Star Friday is brought to you by the future of our daughters, fat shaming, fighting negative societal messages about what's beautiful, gaining perspective, the reality of big-breasted living, the limited scope of athleticism in the Paralympics, the demands of blogging for a living, gay rights, and Philip Larkin:

I can't understand these chaps who go round American universities explaining how they write poems: It's like going round explaining how you sleep with your wife.

     — Philip Larkin

Happy Friday!

"Casting My Vote" from Thoughtful Pop:

One side has made it very clear that a vote for them is a vote against women. That side is standing proudly and proclaiming women's bodies are not entirely their own and something to be legislated against. They find logic in a debate over degrees of violence against women and just how much is tolerable. They find acceptable slanderous and hateful speech against half of humanity.

Theirs is not a world to which I would choose to subject my daughters. Their platform is not one that includes equality, liberty and security for the women of this country. Period.

"My Big Fat Shoe Tying, Stair Climbing, Sex Having Life" from Dances With Fat:

So if people are missing out on life experiences maybe it's because when they try to experience life some jackass shames them and tries to take away their mobility aid. But I realize that Paul's income depends on fat people hating their bodies and paying him for a solution that every study says will fail the majority of time in the long term, so I can see how he's in a tough spot. Still that doesn't mean that Paul gets to make shit up and replace my actual experiences with his made up ones.

"So Damned Unpretty" from Skeskali:

Even as I still search for a magic potion in a jar, even as I broaden my search for the perfect lipstick/earrings/dress to make me feel confident, approachable, feminine, and non-threatening, even as I sign up for yet another turn on the Weight Watchers merry-go-round, something in me is shifting. I look the way I'm supposed to look, and that's OK. What isn't OK are the societal messages I've internalized every day of my life that tell me that I'm the fucked-up one, I'm the misfit.

"Not My Paralympics" from Regangrant:

I hated having CP. I hated not looking like those guys. I hated my body that wouldn’t work so fluidly and... I hated my power chair. Alot of that came back to me watching those opening ceremonies. I think the Paralympics are a great thing. However they are not as inclusive as the ideology would suggest. I know from first hand experience that their are a great number of gifted, strong, competitive athletes with physical disabilites who do not figure into the Paralympic model or movement.

"Why I Am Dropping the Business Side of Blogging (My Truth About Making Money Online)" from Frugal Mama:

It was all exciting and, and (for fleeting moments) glamorous, and it made me feel like I had finally arrived. This late-bloomer at-home mom was creating a “brand,” becoming a personal finance coach, and learning to be a business owner. And along with those roles and responsibilities came more work, more time, more effort, more pressure.

To keep up with all this earning, I had to begin spending. From the legal help, tax prep, and childcare to the technical assistance, graphic design, wardrobe, haircuts, and website fees, my life was migrating from frugal and simple to enterprising and complicated.

"The Personal Is Political" from The Reedster Speaks:

I know there are lots of other issues at stake in this election. I can evaluate different sides to solving economic, educational, and health care problems. I can make rational decisions and have logical discussions about taxes, immigration, or foreign policy.

I can't do that with gay rights. There are no sides. There is a right and there is a wrong and I'm unapologetic about that.

"On Having Big Baps" by Stevie Martin at The Vagenda:

So it began when a recent boyfriend told me I didn't dress sexily enough. Then, amid the hauntingly poignant wails of the Wanker Alarm, I caught myself flattening my 34DD's with a minimiser and two sports vests, a practice which had been a daily ritual for a worrying amount of time. This was when admitted he'd made a valid point; I've developed an oddly complex relationship with my own boobs.

"Roadside Check: A Dose of Perspective and a Lot of Gratitude On a Family Road Trip" by Catherine Jackson at YummyMummyClub.ca:

Sometimes what we call a reality check is really a gratitude check. I offered up mine like beads on a rosary with each yellow line that slipped silently past my tires.

Please come back and share good writing with us over the coming week to be featured on the next Five Star Friday. If you have read a really good piece on someone else's weblog, submit it by Thursday at midnight CST to have it featured on Five Star Friday.

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PS. My 40th birthday is on December 29th. I'm celebrating my birthday by raising $2,650 with Charity: Water to bring 40 people clean water for life, and we're already 26.5% there!

So, as a gift to me and to the world, let's make this happen.

Comments

[Cecily]

Thanks for the nod - it's a tremendous honor!

[Amy @ Frugal Mama]

Very honored to be here. Thank you.