I Love Everything

The numbers on the scale do not define me, and they have nothing to say about my worth as a human being. Neither do my dress or pants size, my measurements, my labs, or my BMI.

My body is not a moral failing.

I don't owe anyone thinness.

I don't owe anyone adherence to current beauty standards.

Health is complex, and it's not a moral obligation to myself or to anyone else.

Food is more than just fuel.

I am allowed to have treats.

I don't have to count calories or macros.

Exercise is not a punishment for the food I have eaten or am about to eat.

I am allowed to have snacks.

Food isn't good or bad, it just is.

I am allowed to have fats and carbs.

All bodies, including mine, are worthy, because they hold human beings.

I am allowed to have rolls, cellulite, stretch marks, etc.

My body does not define me.

I am allowed to love my body just as it is, right here and now.

I don't have to diet.

I am unfollowing "thinspo" and "fitspo" accounts on social media. Today. Right now.

I am allowed to eat any foods I want.

I am allowed to eat as much as I want.

I am allowed to eat any time I want, day or night.

I listen to my body and trust myself.

something needs to change here

this is urgent

I don’t know how to do it

death is the ultimate metaphor for drastic change. it’s a general specific. whatever your problems are, it is very likely that dead people don’t have to deal with them. a real solution to your problems may demand a very narrow range of action that’s likely to be out of reach at this moment, but death is sold on every street corner, so it feels like a more realistic fantasy than happiness.

you don’t really want to die per se but it’s also not completely random chemicals swamping your brain for no reason. you want the pain to stop, you want to be somewhere else, you want to be someone else. it’s urgent. you don’t know how to do it. the end is not the end but a means that feels within your reach right now.

Ria, our part time bookseller and full time student at Wellesley College made a book display. She calls it “Anything You Can Write We Can Write Better- Works by alumnae of historically women’s colleges.” It’s full of some fantastic books.

Ria's List

Wellesley College Madam Secretary - Madeleine Albright Mr. Churchill's Secretary - Susan Elia MacNeal Last Night at the Telegraph Club- Malinda Lo The Sweet Spot - Amy Poeppel Heartburn- Nora Ephron Dear Wendy- Ann Zhao Pieces of Blue- Holly Goldberg Sloan Barbara the Slut- Lauren Holmes Good Grief - E.B. Bartels We Have Always Been Who We Are- Sofia Romero Nancy Drew- Carolyn Keene (aka Harriet Stratemeyer)

Barnard College Eileen - Ottessa Moshfegh The Vulnerables - Sigrid Nunez The Death of a Jaybird- Jodi M. Savage Making It in America- Rachel Slade

Smith College The Feminine Mystique- Betty Friedan The Cliffs- J. Courtney Sullivan A Tale for the Time Being- Ruth Ozeki A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara Ariel- Sylvia Plath Mastering the Art of French Cooking- Julia Child The Starless Sea-Erin Morgenstern The Babysitters Club- Ann M. Martin

    Going for a swim in the ocean. – Guest Submission