🎀 Sweet Soft Sapphic 🎀

in fact, the restaurant used the vegan identity and environmentalism as fuel for their marketing in quite cynical ways. at the same time they had a deal with Whole Foods (implicated in prison labor allegations btw) to source ingredients, meaning that there were transcontinentally shipped produce lol. for example we used frozen blueberries that were product of Chile. for a restaurant in the pacific northwest region in the united states of america. there are blueberry farms in oregon, washington, etc. But it’s cheaper to exploit south american farms than get local blueberries i guess. (which still by and large exploit the labor of migrant farmworkers from mexico and south and central america, but i digress)

public service announcement to every plus-sized person in the chat:

you don't owe anyone an explanation for your body or your health

being fat isn't a moral failing deserving of judgment

you don't owe anyone self-shame or weight loss just to be loved and accepted

your health isn't solely defined by your weight

you deserve proper healthcare that doesn't reduce you to a number on a scale

you deserve to take care of your health in whatever way you need without being judged for trying

life is too short to not enjoy good food

life is WAY too short to care what other people think

just because other people want you to feel bad for being fat doesn't mean you should

you deserve to feel sexy and beautiful in your body without being reduced to a fetish or told that you're fetishizing fatness

you deserve to take pride in your body without being accused of 'promoting unhealthy lifestyles'

you deserve to date whoever the hell you want without judgment

you deserve to love yourself and your body without being called vain

you deserve to take selfies and share pictures of yourself without people commenting on your body

you deserve to have standards for yourself and how you're treated

you deserve to do what makes you happy and healthy without others turning you into a political statement or a social martyr

you're allowed to have flaws and quirks and personality traits that aren't attributed to your weight

there is no such thing as a "perfect fat person" and you certainly aren't responsible for setting that example

you are loved and you deserve to exist without apology or explanation

with you in it and that is

not up for debate

If you marry a good-time girl

A joyful woman known to her town,

If she is wayward,

and revels in the moment,

do not reject her, but instead let her enjoy;

Later that day we went to the movies to watch that new Captain America film. I cringed the whole way through, while she waffled on in my ear about “comic-accuracy” (I love her, but she’s a nerd.)

‘Maddie, I’d love to hear this after it’s over but please let me listen to the dialogue.’

She looked like she was about to cry, and I thought I’d made her sad by essentially telling her to shut up, but then she smiled and I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much joy come out of a single person from such a simple thing to say. 

Later I dragged her to the makeup store and essentially role-played as a straight couple with an apathetic boyfriend so she could pretend not to want to be there while I explained what everything did, dropping the man voice I’d been trying to hold in public for years just to yap about different lipstick shades like a valley girl.

And I went up to the register with her, and she was practically shaking when she handed one stick of eyeliner to the woman behind the register and she commented on how nice it was for “him” to be buying me something.

And we played it off, until we walked out the store and made a dash for the family-bathroom where I did her eyeliner while she cried and giggled and took a million pictures of herself and wiped it off and tried to do it herself over and over until it looked decent and then she hugged me so hard I nearly cracked a rib.

I can’t really explain what that afternoon meant to either of us. She and I drifted apart after a few months because meeting up became really hard, but still I remember that day like it was yesterday. I think I’ll remember it forever.