Sunday, June 22, 2008
AN: The Case of the Crash Diet - Part Two, Alexandra: A Painter's Story - Part One
Sheila was awake when Basil came in with his cart of food. "I thought you'd never get here, I'm starving!" As she began eating, she realised that the lie was actually true. She was starving.
Basil waited for a few moments. "Go, I'm eating. You'll hear the rest later!"
When Basil came back, Sheila was full, as usual, and ready to continue.
The Case of the Crash Diet - Continued.
The woman was successful at work. She was successful with her diet. She was having success in her personal life. She dressed for success. She felt successful, she was successful.
At work she was rewarded for her success with greater responsibilities. She travelled more to meet with bigger clients. When she met clients, it was usually in catered boardrooms, or going out to fancy restaurants. She knew she had earned her success, she had earned the right to eat well.
With a busy work and social life, the woman no longer stuck with the diet that had brought her success. She eased into her old eating habits, quickly, as her body had really missed them.
Before long she found her weight creeping back up. She promised herself she'd try to exercise more, but she never found time. She promised she'd go back on her old diet, but it would be impossible with the food she was expected to eat at the meetings that were making her so much more successful.
She had to switch out her wardrobe for bigger clothes, which she had luckily kept. She noticed that her social calendar had more and more holes in it. Without even thinking about it, these holes were filled with more food.
Her weight continued to climb, not so gradually any more. Contacts wondered if she was okay. Sales were starting to dry up. She found herself home more and more, filling the time with more and more food.
She reached the size she was before the merger. Her sales were falling drastically, she was home alone with her cats and her fridge more than ever, and even her fat clothes were becoming perilously tight. Life was as mundane as ever, but she had tasted something more, and mundane wasn't going to cut it anymore.
Without any warning or probation she was let go from the company. Her sales had fallen, her weight had grown, and they wondered how dedicated she really was.
The woman started a tailspin, she would stay at home for days, only venturing out in overly tight clothes to buy more food, or maybe some new clothes. She quickly ate up her severance package, and found herself heading out to collect unemployment.
At the unemployment office she ran into one of her friends. Her friend commented on how big the woman had become, and why it had happened. The woman broke down into tears, explaining the crash diet, the new pressures and everything she had to do for work, and how it all came undone, and things were worse than ever.
Her friend consoled her, and told her that it wasn't right, that a job shouldn't have such control over her life. She consulted with some lawyers to see if the woman had a case against her company. It turned out that a lawyer, named Arnold, was actually looking for such a case, and would represent the woman in court pro bono.
The woman met with the lawyer. He was incredibly large, far larger than she was, in fact. He liked to eat while they met, and while he was very well mannered at the meetings, he did eat a lot. The woman found herself eating a lot too as they met.
As the case made its way through the various stages of the legal process, the stress was incredible on the woman. She continued to eat and gain weight, and Arnold even suggested that her increased weight would help the case.
Arnold took care of her, paying her rent, her food and clothing out of his own pocket. With his support, she became somewhat famous. Her weight skyrocketed, and by the time the court case was decided in her favour, she was Arnold's equal in girth, despite his own weight gain over the time.
The woman received a generous settlement that allowed her to live an idle life on a pacific island. She enjoyed both her fame in a groundbreaking case, and the ever growing frame that won her riches.
One of her favourite things was to read her fan mail, about the men and women who had learned to stand up for themselves, and gaining acceptance in a world that still hated fat.
The first letter she received was from Alexandra, a painter who overcame prejudice to gain acceptance amongst her peers.
Alexandra: A Painter's Story - Part One
Alexandra grew up in an ordinary family, in an ordinary agricultural town. Her parents worked on a farm. Her aunts and uncles worked on farms. Her grandparents had worked on farms, her cousins worked on farms. Everyone worked on a farm, except Alexandra. She wanted to paint.
From an early age she would create with her crayons and finger paints. She created images of fields of wheat, fields of corn, barns, silos and scenes from the country fair. No one had seen a child with so much interest in farming before her.
It wasn't until Alexandra was a teenager that people began to realise she painted farms because farms were all she saw. She hated farms, and when all her friends went to work on farms after school and in the summer, Alexandra desperately wanted to stay to herself and paint. She found herself often alone, and practically disowned by her family.
Aside from farming, Alexandra began to loathe ordinary agricultural town life itself. All her life she had eaten the same hearty home cooking. While she was an average size for the girls in the town, she was far bigger than any of the girls seen on TV. Alexandra longed to look like them, to be a real person!
The day Alexandra graduated from high school she took her meagre savings and travelled to the coast to attend school and become a real painter.
Alexandra's techniques were very well honed for an amateur, and her works blossomed with new inspirations and experiences. She earned a scholarship that covered her educational expenses, but she needed money to cover her living expenses. She naively went the 'starving artist' route, trying to sell paintings wherever she could. Alas, her well fed heartland body was far too fat to garner her any success as a starving artist.
Alexandra had to settle for menial jobs at fast food and small retail outlets. Soon she really was a starving artist though, and she revelled as years of well fed farm flab melted off her, and she gained the jaded, angular look that artists were to have.
She quit her jobs and began to sell her paintings. She began to develop a standing in the local art community, her paintings were better than ever, and she was among the thinnest artists on the scene too.
When she graduated with her bachelor of art history, she had numerous invitations to create paintings for prestigious collectors. Alexandra spent a year travelling the world, painting for the rich and famous in exotic and cosmopolitan locales.
When she came home, she was thinner, more angular than ever. One of her friends commented that with all that great food, it was a wonder that Alexandra could stay so thing. Alexandra replied that she was travelling to paint, not to eat. She was admonished, so few people get a chance to visit as many cultures as Alexandra had, if she didn't eat the local cuisine, everyone would think she was some sort of hick farm girl.
Alexandra had worked so hard to escape the farm, the very thought that anyone could still see her as hick enraged her. She exploded at her friends, and vowed to show them just how cultured she could be.
She worked on a masters degree, studying with renowned artists and historians across the globe. This time though, she took the time to focus on the culture, history, art and food of the various lands she came to.
Alexandra was extremely glad to have had her eyes opened. Painting was such a small part of life, of culture, of history. She learned about other forms of art, sculpture, poetry, dance, and cooking. Alexandra learned how cooking could encapsulate so much about a culture, the history of their land, contact with other cultures, what they value among the different classes. Tastes, textures, smells, techniques, the sounds of a busy kitchen, the quiet of an exquisite meal. Alexandra had grown up in the very heartland of food production, and yet now she understood what food meant, and how much culture she had simply dismissed.
Upon completing her masters degree, Alexandra's lank angles had been replaced by round curves. Her harsh expression was softer and happier as well. The world had so much to offer, and she was going to partake as much as she could!
She took a year off from study and began to experiment in cooking. She visited with different chefs, made her own attempts at fusion cuisine, trying to tie together histories and cultures in many ways from logical to utterly bizarre. Her many creations ran an enormous gamut from completely unpalatable to rivalling anything a king had ever dined upon.
Alexandra's year of food had a great impact on her weight, she was now bigger than she ever had been before, but she saw it as a badge of the experiences she had allowed herself. It also had a great impact on her finances, all of her savings had been used up, it was time to paint again.
Once it was known that Alexandra was painting again friends and associates quickly put together a show for her, and she created several works to show off her new found appreciation of the world. The night of her show was very tense, everyone wanted to see what she had learned on her sabbaticals (for few knew what she had been up to, they assumed it was a sabbatical). When the art was revealed, it was as magical as everyone had expected.
However, when Alexandra waddled forth to accept her peers' acclaim, everyone fell silent. This wasn't the tortured Alexandra who saw the world through a scrappy, tortured light. Instead she was a fat, bourgeois consumer. She could barely stand the muttering as everyone quickly left, and few pieces of her work were actually purchased.
"But what's Alexandra going to do?" Basil asked as Sheila stopped speaking. "She's as good an artist as she ever was, what are these people thinking?"
Sheila just smiled, her eyes drooping partially shut.
Basil looked at her. "I know, I know, you need to sleep, I'll be back tomorrow."
Basil waited for a few moments. "Go, I'm eating. You'll hear the rest later!"
When Basil came back, Sheila was full, as usual, and ready to continue.
The Case of the Crash Diet - Continued.
The woman was successful at work. She was successful with her diet. She was having success in her personal life. She dressed for success. She felt successful, she was successful.
At work she was rewarded for her success with greater responsibilities. She travelled more to meet with bigger clients. When she met clients, it was usually in catered boardrooms, or going out to fancy restaurants. She knew she had earned her success, she had earned the right to eat well.
With a busy work and social life, the woman no longer stuck with the diet that had brought her success. She eased into her old eating habits, quickly, as her body had really missed them.
Before long she found her weight creeping back up. She promised herself she'd try to exercise more, but she never found time. She promised she'd go back on her old diet, but it would be impossible with the food she was expected to eat at the meetings that were making her so much more successful.
She had to switch out her wardrobe for bigger clothes, which she had luckily kept. She noticed that her social calendar had more and more holes in it. Without even thinking about it, these holes were filled with more food.
Her weight continued to climb, not so gradually any more. Contacts wondered if she was okay. Sales were starting to dry up. She found herself home more and more, filling the time with more and more food.
She reached the size she was before the merger. Her sales were falling drastically, she was home alone with her cats and her fridge more than ever, and even her fat clothes were becoming perilously tight. Life was as mundane as ever, but she had tasted something more, and mundane wasn't going to cut it anymore.
Without any warning or probation she was let go from the company. Her sales had fallen, her weight had grown, and they wondered how dedicated she really was.
The woman started a tailspin, she would stay at home for days, only venturing out in overly tight clothes to buy more food, or maybe some new clothes. She quickly ate up her severance package, and found herself heading out to collect unemployment.
At the unemployment office she ran into one of her friends. Her friend commented on how big the woman had become, and why it had happened. The woman broke down into tears, explaining the crash diet, the new pressures and everything she had to do for work, and how it all came undone, and things were worse than ever.
Her friend consoled her, and told her that it wasn't right, that a job shouldn't have such control over her life. She consulted with some lawyers to see if the woman had a case against her company. It turned out that a lawyer, named Arnold, was actually looking for such a case, and would represent the woman in court pro bono.
The woman met with the lawyer. He was incredibly large, far larger than she was, in fact. He liked to eat while they met, and while he was very well mannered at the meetings, he did eat a lot. The woman found herself eating a lot too as they met.
As the case made its way through the various stages of the legal process, the stress was incredible on the woman. She continued to eat and gain weight, and Arnold even suggested that her increased weight would help the case.
Arnold took care of her, paying her rent, her food and clothing out of his own pocket. With his support, she became somewhat famous. Her weight skyrocketed, and by the time the court case was decided in her favour, she was Arnold's equal in girth, despite his own weight gain over the time.
The woman received a generous settlement that allowed her to live an idle life on a pacific island. She enjoyed both her fame in a groundbreaking case, and the ever growing frame that won her riches.
One of her favourite things was to read her fan mail, about the men and women who had learned to stand up for themselves, and gaining acceptance in a world that still hated fat.
The first letter she received was from Alexandra, a painter who overcame prejudice to gain acceptance amongst her peers.
Alexandra: A Painter's Story - Part One
Alexandra grew up in an ordinary family, in an ordinary agricultural town. Her parents worked on a farm. Her aunts and uncles worked on farms. Her grandparents had worked on farms, her cousins worked on farms. Everyone worked on a farm, except Alexandra. She wanted to paint.
From an early age she would create with her crayons and finger paints. She created images of fields of wheat, fields of corn, barns, silos and scenes from the country fair. No one had seen a child with so much interest in farming before her.
It wasn't until Alexandra was a teenager that people began to realise she painted farms because farms were all she saw. She hated farms, and when all her friends went to work on farms after school and in the summer, Alexandra desperately wanted to stay to herself and paint. She found herself often alone, and practically disowned by her family.
Aside from farming, Alexandra began to loathe ordinary agricultural town life itself. All her life she had eaten the same hearty home cooking. While she was an average size for the girls in the town, she was far bigger than any of the girls seen on TV. Alexandra longed to look like them, to be a real person!
The day Alexandra graduated from high school she took her meagre savings and travelled to the coast to attend school and become a real painter.
Alexandra's techniques were very well honed for an amateur, and her works blossomed with new inspirations and experiences. She earned a scholarship that covered her educational expenses, but she needed money to cover her living expenses. She naively went the 'starving artist' route, trying to sell paintings wherever she could. Alas, her well fed heartland body was far too fat to garner her any success as a starving artist.
Alexandra had to settle for menial jobs at fast food and small retail outlets. Soon she really was a starving artist though, and she revelled as years of well fed farm flab melted off her, and she gained the jaded, angular look that artists were to have.
She quit her jobs and began to sell her paintings. She began to develop a standing in the local art community, her paintings were better than ever, and she was among the thinnest artists on the scene too.
When she graduated with her bachelor of art history, she had numerous invitations to create paintings for prestigious collectors. Alexandra spent a year travelling the world, painting for the rich and famous in exotic and cosmopolitan locales.
When she came home, she was thinner, more angular than ever. One of her friends commented that with all that great food, it was a wonder that Alexandra could stay so thing. Alexandra replied that she was travelling to paint, not to eat. She was admonished, so few people get a chance to visit as many cultures as Alexandra had, if she didn't eat the local cuisine, everyone would think she was some sort of hick farm girl.
Alexandra had worked so hard to escape the farm, the very thought that anyone could still see her as hick enraged her. She exploded at her friends, and vowed to show them just how cultured she could be.
She worked on a masters degree, studying with renowned artists and historians across the globe. This time though, she took the time to focus on the culture, history, art and food of the various lands she came to.
Alexandra was extremely glad to have had her eyes opened. Painting was such a small part of life, of culture, of history. She learned about other forms of art, sculpture, poetry, dance, and cooking. Alexandra learned how cooking could encapsulate so much about a culture, the history of their land, contact with other cultures, what they value among the different classes. Tastes, textures, smells, techniques, the sounds of a busy kitchen, the quiet of an exquisite meal. Alexandra had grown up in the very heartland of food production, and yet now she understood what food meant, and how much culture she had simply dismissed.
Upon completing her masters degree, Alexandra's lank angles had been replaced by round curves. Her harsh expression was softer and happier as well. The world had so much to offer, and she was going to partake as much as she could!
She took a year off from study and began to experiment in cooking. She visited with different chefs, made her own attempts at fusion cuisine, trying to tie together histories and cultures in many ways from logical to utterly bizarre. Her many creations ran an enormous gamut from completely unpalatable to rivalling anything a king had ever dined upon.
Alexandra's year of food had a great impact on her weight, she was now bigger than she ever had been before, but she saw it as a badge of the experiences she had allowed herself. It also had a great impact on her finances, all of her savings had been used up, it was time to paint again.
Once it was known that Alexandra was painting again friends and associates quickly put together a show for her, and she created several works to show off her new found appreciation of the world. The night of her show was very tense, everyone wanted to see what she had learned on her sabbaticals (for few knew what she had been up to, they assumed it was a sabbatical). When the art was revealed, it was as magical as everyone had expected.
However, when Alexandra waddled forth to accept her peers' acclaim, everyone fell silent. This wasn't the tortured Alexandra who saw the world through a scrappy, tortured light. Instead she was a fat, bourgeois consumer. She could barely stand the muttering as everyone quickly left, and few pieces of her work were actually purchased.
"But what's Alexandra going to do?" Basil asked as Sheila stopped speaking. "She's as good an artist as she ever was, what are these people thinking?"
Sheila just smiled, her eyes drooping partially shut.
Basil looked at her. "I know, I know, you need to sleep, I'll be back tomorrow."
Labels: A Journey to Fat Acceptance, Adiposity Nights, Alexandra: A Painter's Story, fiction, Part One, Part Two, The Case of the Crash Diet, weight gain
// posted by Charlotte @ 9:01:00 PM 
