Spend the Day and Size Ate.
I’ve had a very interesting couple of days!
Thursday I had classes until 12:05, which is a normal occurrence for me, however for my last class of the day (at 10:50AM) I had a high school student sit in with me. Her name is Dani and she’s from Connecticut. At any rate she is auditioning for the theatre program here at SUNY NP tomorrow morning. Break a leg Dani! So she sat in my Major Authors: Sylvia Plath class, where she got a feel for “real college life.” Haha…then we went to Hasbrouck dining hall, where we met up with some of my friends Adam and Trevor. We had some laughs and ate some good food (they had a lovey lunch assortment Thursday.) Afterward, Dani and I walked into town and chatted about upcoming auditions (ooo nerve racking), about what to do on the weekends, what clubs and organizations they have and living arrangements. We were about to approach The Groovy Blueberry, one of my favorite shops in town, when we approached her mom. So all three of us meandered around inside the store, oohing and ahhing at everything and anything with tye dye and peace signs. I didn’t mind staying in there as long as we did, because I don’t normally get a chance to just roam around town. I was really glad I volunteered for Spend the Day. It was a great opportunity to show someone around and make them feel comfortable! I hope we can see each other more next year! -)
After I dropped Dani off at the Haggerty Administration Building (her mom wanted to pay her deposit right on the spot) I headed back to my hall. The sun was shining, the rain passed a while back, and now it was time to work out and get some work done before the show I was going to see. I had a ticket for “Size Ate,” this one woman show performing about her personal experience with body image. The program says: “Margaux Laskey’s one-woman show Size Ate chronicles this futile quest for measured perfection in a theatrical, sometimes musical and often hysterical retelling of her journey through obsession and addiction to something like self-acceptance. A non-linear tale of her adventures in body, food, and culture. This show is one woman’s honest commentary on the labels, images, and assumptions we all live with.”
So that’s how they summed it up, and I think it’s a good a summary. I did like her through out her journey on stage. She had a very open personality, that made it easy to be able to relate to some of her feelings and situations. However, I felt there were some things that could have been improved. For example, throughout the entire play she used these torso mannequins that were labeled 0, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16. And they did their best to be the actual size of Imagine if you were in that audience to be aware of body image and to relate to this woman, and your weight, your size, your number, surpassed what was being represented as “fat.” What happens if you are a size 18, or 20, or 22? Imagine how that person in the audience must feel, that their size isn’t even being represented on stage. I just thought of that after the performance. Also, while I was discussing the performance with some of my friends, some interesting points were spoken about. Ms. Margaux did fluctuate back and forth between being heavier and “full-filled” as she put it to rather skinny and anorexic. When asked the question an audience member, “Are you comfortable with your body now?” she answered, that she was indeed content with her body. But how did she become content with her body? I wish she showed the process of how she finally became healthy. I wish they promoted the idea of exercise and eating right into her performance. Also, is she finally content with her body because she is thin, because to be quite honest, she was on the thin side. Although you definitely looked past her body during the performance, would people respond better if she had more “meat” on her? Or do you respect her more because she completed the task…she became thin. Hmmm…curious.
**Just so you know***
If you need to talk you can contact the SUNY New Paltz Counseling Center, at 845-257-2920, where they are opened from 8:30-5 Monday-Friday or you can check out http://www.newpaltz.edu/counseling/
Also, If you need some BODY-POSITIVE INSPIRATION, here are some websites:
www.sizeate.com and www.sizeate.blogspot.com
www.adiosbarbie.com, www.bodypositive.com, everwomanhasaneatingdisorder.blogspot.com, www.evolvedeating.com, www.jessicaweiner.com, www.loveyourbody.nowfoundation.org, www.mamavision.typepad.com, wwwnationaleatingdisorders.org, www.overcomingovereating.com, www.something-fishy.org, www.webiteback.com
At any rate, it was a good performance all in all. That night I had Sexy Pitch rehearsal….go a cappella! We actually have a performance in Scudder Hall on March 5th, which is this upcoming Thursday! You don’t wanna miss it! Then I went to bedy-bye and woke up for my Friday classes…oh joy! This blog is already particularly long…(how does that always happen to me?) So…I’ll have to write another one about today! 
I really must go to bed. It’s 2:30 in the morning, I can’t turn off the movie Titanic, and I have to be on a bus at 8:30 to go ice climbing tomorrow. I know…WHAT? ICE CLIMBING! I’m really excited….I hope all goes well! Alright, well I guess I”ll have to let go Jack, and jump into my comfy sheets. Ah. Happy Zz’s!
