So I know some folks got around to the Fat Mob of Abercrombie this past weekend.  I’d LOVE to see some of the pictures!  Feel free to share them, or you can email them to me and I’ll post them here!  Email BaharaBellyDance@gmail.com and I’d be happy to post them right here at Artistic Conundrums.

I’m also planning a hilariously dirty Anti-Crombie photoshoot. 

Remember, be proud of your bodies, no matter WHAT size! 

My Facebook feed is full of interesting stuff on a daily basis.  I have some very amusing friends, and most of the time when I wake up, I find a ton of things to keep me busy reading while I wake up.  Usually there are at least four LOL cat pictures, a smattering of geek posts, a few belly dance videos, and an article or two on various things from recipes to fitness.  This morning, I was rolling through my usual groggy pre-caffeine routine when I saw not one, but two folks (a friend and then the wonderful Volup2.com) post an article about Abercrombie & Fitch.  The article can be found here, though I warn you, if you are driven to homicidal rage reading fat discrimination, this may make you want to throw things.  http://www.businessinsider.com/abercrombie-wants-thin-customers-2013-5

I read the article as I lounged back on my couch in my size 18 panties that cost more than they are probably worth and my over-sized Scott Pilgrim t-shirt, scrolling through line after line of stupidity, and i actually laughed out loud at this line from Abercrombie CEO Mike Jeffries:

“That’s why we hire good-looking people in our stores. Because good-looking people attract other good-looking people, and we want to market to cool, good-looking people. We don’t market to anyone other than that.”

Once I stopped laughing at the complete absurdity of this entire thing, I sat back and started thinking on all of the completely gorgeous people I’ve known and seen in my life that were varying sizes.  People like pin up photographer Autumn Luciano, who runs Decadence Dolls.  People like Christina Hendricks of Mad Men and Firefly fame.  People like me, and you, and any number of damn fine looking folks in the world.  That quote above?  That is just an idiotic way to justify his elitist nature and the discriminatory stance that his store wants to take. 

His idea is that if you are Fat, you are ugly. If you are Fat, you are uncool.  If you are Fat, you deserve to be discriminated against and feel like a lesser human being.  And people can try to trump this up any way they want.  That is what it is; discrimination for the sake of making people feel bad about themselves.

Now here’s where people get defensive.  “But there are plus sized stores that discriminate against skinny shoppers.”  And yes. That is true, if unfortunate.  I like to shop at places that carry a variety of things that range in sizes, but understand that the plus size stores came about in answer to different necessities, and many of them carry sizes 12-26 or higher.  Some even carry ALL sizes, like Bettie Page Clothing.  The sad truth here that people refuse to see is that shops like Torrid were invented to give girls like myself something other to wear than a smock dress or a huge pillowcase smattered in paisley.  They were designed to allow girls like me, with a size 18-20 ass, a place to purchase high-fashion items and staple wardrobe pieces for every part of my life.  It is a sad fact that some employees in plus size stores treat thin clientele poorly, but that is the same risk you run at any organization.  I’ve had crappy treatment at New York & Co. too in the past, but I still shopped there because they carried things in sizes and shapes that I found flattering, and it was just that the employees were having a shitty day, not snarking on my size.  I have a friend who is a size 6 and she regularly goes into Torrid to look at shoes because she has thick ankles and calves, and she loves going in there.  But I can guarantee you the CEO of these companies would never be caught dead making crappy comments about how thin customers aren’t worth serving because they are ‘uncool’ or ‘ugly’.  Because it’s rude and discriminatory, and the stuff of lawsuits. 

I always say to shop with your dollar and support the stores that you like to buy from.  But I also think we could do something hilarious.

Every one of you that is plus sized or outside of their demographic, I want you to get dolled up. Wear your best.  Put on big ass hooker heels, knee high boots, leggings, tight skirts, whatever you want. Flaunt what you’ve got, and get ready to FAT MOB them.  I say we unite, and fat chicks across America should go into their local Abercrombie & Fitch store.  Don’t loiter or break any rules, but go in, sully their ‘good image’ a bit by being the fattest hottest chick in the store, and then take a picture.  Post those pictures all over Facebook and Twitter with the following tag:

#TooHotForAbercrombie

Let’s Fat Mob them. Don’t give them your dollar, don’t break any rules, and don’t insult anyone working there please (these kids need to make a buck too).  Just be exactly the kind of person they don’t want in their stores; fat, gorgeous, and showing them that their standards are moronic at best.

Then go to DQ, have a cone, grab a denim mini at Torrid and go about your day, proud of yourself.  ;)

SHARE THIS.  Share it to your friends, your mom, your aunt, your sister, your neighbor.  Show them that fat girls are damn proud of our own bodies and we are NOT going to be ashamed!

I’m not going to say that everyone will necessarily agree with this post (as always), but sometimes hearing the uncomfortable side of something is a necessary evil.  I won’t say that I am happy to be making this post, either.  I’ve just spent a weekend on the receiving end of several scathing comments.

For those uninitiated in my life outside of belly dance and size empowerment advocacy, I’m a comic artist.  I’ve worked for 8+ years on a web comic called Otaku -no-Yen with my husband Richard, and I am also the artist for a new roller derby comic called Whip Angels.  I’ve done gobs of freelance stuff over the years, including illustrating a children’s educational novel called Fire and Ice, doing primary art work for a board game called Collateral Damage, working on the TFOS table top RPG supplement “The Landing”, and more.  But Studio ONY (the studio I started and built with the hubs) is my passion project.  Over the past decade, Richard and I have worked hard to get our name out in a niche market, and I like to think we’ve done okay for ourselves.  We’ve been invited to lots of conventions, sold books, and we actively try to involve our fans in everything that we do.  It’s not a lucrative profession, but it’s one that we love, and we wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

We typically stick to conventions in the anime medium, shows like Anime Detour, Anime Fusion, Sugoicon, etc.  I’m an anime influenced artist, and I own it.  I like the medium, and it lends itself well to what I want to do.  However, it is something that has always led to issues.  We rarely do main stream comic conventions, as they aren’t really our target market, but we have debated for several years on whether we wanted to try one again. So we got an Artist Alley table at this year’s C2E2.  We had hoped to have a good weekend, despite not catering to the target demographic of the show. Surely a con with 50,000+ people would take SOME interest, right?

Not even close.  And that is okay in it’s own right, because like every other facet of my life, I am learning.

People would see big eyes on the art and keep on walking.  This is the hardest part of being an artist sometimes.  Imagine spending hours of hard work on prints and pictures, only to have people look at it, scoff, make a scathing comment, and keep walking. This is what happened over and over and over again, all weekend long.  People marked us as ‘perverts’ because we work in the anime style, assuming it is all like hentai or porn.  People scorned our ‘suggested’ reading ages for Whip Angels because there is one panel with blood in the entire 22 page first volume.  I had people roll their eyes and mutter about ‘idiot otaku’ and other such things.

And it got me thinking.  I started out as a western comics fan with a fleeting interest in anime.  Where in the fuck did this elitism start?  Because I don’t remember it being quite so poisonously insistent when I was a teenager.

There has been a lot of focus of late about the elitist movement in geek culture, particularly around the criticism of female geeks who cosplay (dress up) as their favorite characters.  People snark on curvy, thick, or fat girls for cosplaying ‘out of their body type’, presuming that anyone above a specific size that doesn’t look exactly like a character has ‘no right’ to dress up as said character.  But the girls that DO have amazingly proportioned bodies (or corset their way to the perfect waist for photo opportunities) also get shit for being ‘posers’ and ‘attention whores’.  I’ve seen gorgeous size four girls cry alongside size twenty girls, both ridiculed for dressing up, but for completely different reasons.  I’ve seen Homestuck fans and Bronies get into near fist fights at conventions, arguing over who’s fandom was better, stating that certain people had lost the right to be a part of their fan movement or celebrate their love of a series, show, or comic.  I’ve seen people pay good money for prints of spandex clad huge-tittied Power Girl fan art, and pass right over amazingly well done original art with far better skill, dynamic, and coloring, while ridiculing the artist who isn’t pandering to people for the sake of making a buck.  I’ve seen finger pointing, scathing remarks, shouted words and ill planned arguments break out.

…When the hell did fandom turn into bullying??

As geeks, we tend to get a bad rap.  We are the group that is outed as smelly basement dwellers, or mocked on sitcoms and television shows for being pocket-protector wearing lispers.  We are made fun of.  We are mocked, belittled, and shunned by society.   And because of that, we usually band together, to share like interests and show support for one another.  We get together at large events and talk together, share our love of Doctor Who and spend some time with the people that work so hard to bring us the shows and series that we enjoy.

There is no room for bullying in fandom.  NO ROOM.

So I am going to say this.  If you are one of those people who ridicules people in a specific fan base for their body type, for their attitudes, for their love of what they do or their expression, you can go fuck yourself. We don’t need you in the fan community, because the rest of us are too busy trying to be a part of something bigger and better than you. We are trying to band together, to hold hands and create a safe space for those who feel outcast.  We are breaking stereotypes. We are running companies, calling the shots.  We are empowered women and amazing men. We are artists and creators, craftsmen and designers.  We have families, husbands, wives, civil partners, children, pets.  We are every day people with extraordinary talents, each of which deserves to be recognized as something fantastic.  And we do it without belittling people along the way.

There is no room for bullying in geekdom.  So if you are bullying, there is the door.  Don’t let it hit you on the way out.  Or do, if you like, because we are better than you, and we will still help you up, dust you off, and send you on your way before locking you out forever.

This is going to be a difficult post to make, and one that I am fairly sure will get me a fair amount of flack.  But over the years, I’ve learned that if I don’t stick to my guns, I’m not being true to myself.  So I’m going to start by painting you a little picture.

I became a part of geek culture when I was 16.  A boy I dated was into Dragonlance books, and handed me one on the pretense of talking to me by saying “you like books. I think you’d like this.”  Now, it may have been my infatuation with the guy at the time that persuaded me to give the book a shot, but I became engrossed in it quickly, and before long I was borrowing the entire collection of Weiss and Hickman books from him.  I began playing the Star Wars RPG with his friends, playing Magic the Gathering in the little Dunkin Donuts down the road until they would kick us out for loitering, and frequenting my local comic shop to the point where the owner, Mark, knew me by name and special ordered stuff from Japan for me.  

I remember feeling ashamed of this geek culture I was becoming rapidly involved in, trying to hide the fact that I went to a Vampire the Masquerade LARP from my dad, or trying to discuss the finer points of Canterbury Tales with my parents (fascinating as it was) while all I really wanted to do was ramble on about how cool R.A. Salvatore’s writing was.  I did book reports on fantasy novels, but also tried to keep up the non-geek front.  Until after high school.  

When my husband and I started dating, I dropped the pretense of hiding my geekery, mostly because he worked at a gaming store, and when a man comes home with a CASE of first run Pokemon cards and says ‘I have to run tournaments, so you are going to learn how to play this with me”, you kind of have to own it.  So I learned to love my geek side, attending conventions here and there, role playing, and freaking out at the Burger King drive through over the fact that I got the stupid Pikachu gold collectors card.

I started doing artwork in the anime style and this further engrossed me in geekdom.  But I started making friends, some of whom I still know, and still consider the closest friends of my life.  I met my best friend through a role playing game message board, and you have to understand, there are few things I would not do for this girl.  I did some artwork for a small gaming company and started meeting folks in the industry, going to GAMA and Gen Con as a demo runner and table lackey, and finally getting my first Artist Alley table at Acen.  It seems like ages ago to me.  I have to remind myself that I’ve been doing the art thing over a decade now.  Scary.  

I have learned over the years that geeks can be some of the most nurturing and caring people in the world. They would give you the shirt off their back, help fund major medical work (as they did for my husband), and they have a want to do good.  They are giving, caring, and lovely people, and I love my friends.  Hell even since moving to the Twin Cities, we’ve forged friendships with some people here that we met through the convention circuit, and I would do anything for these friends.  These are people that my quality of life would be poorer without, and I love having them around.  I love table top gaming nights with the boys.  I love hanging in Kale’s basement watching Walking Dead and Doctor Who.  I love love LOVE my Geek Slink classes at the GPS building.  I love geek trivia night with Gifford and Marion, New Years Eves at the ‘Raddishtree’, and all the lovely dork things that have become my life.  I am blessed. 

But there are parts of fandom that have started to piss me off.  Maybe I’m just old and jaded now at the tender age of 33.  Maybe I’m more susceptible to anger because I’m an artist.  I don’t know, but I think I need to point a few things out.

Very recently, sites like Buzzfeed have posted articles about how Fox is starting to come down on makers of Firefly “Jayne” hats, serving cease and decist orders.  This comes in a time of numerous companies doing the same, such as the recent crackdown on behalf of Hasbro on the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic crafters and creators.  The fan community is pissed.  The fan community is outraged. The fan community thinks this is stupid.

Well hold on to your hats. Because I don’t.  

When I started learning to draw in the anime style, I was self taught. And I learned by emulating the creators that I adored.  I spent ages drawing Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2, the X-men (which always looked goofy), and other characters.  However, I never SOLD these drawings.  I did them to learn.  I would take commission artwork, but most of the time, even to this day, my commission work is rarely fan based.  I get a lot of the ‘draw my WoW character’ or ‘please do a sketch card of me as an anime character’ etc.  I am more than fine with this.  

Now, this isn’t to say that i have a problem with fan art or fan created product.  I get a lot of crap for this, since I’m so outspoken about my stance on the mass producing of fan art, and people just assume that I am against fan art.  I am going on the record here: I am not against fan art.  But I am against someone making the majority of their money off of anyone else’s intellectual property.  

Need some clarification?

Let’s say you come to me and ask me to draw you a Pony.  Let’s say Applejack, since she never gets enough attention.  I say sure.  You pay me, i draw you a picture of Applejack, sign and date it, credit Hasbro with ownership of the character (or Lauren Faust, since she’s kind of one of my idols), I hand it over, and it never gets used for profit again.  I don’t keep it.  It’s yours.  THIS IS OKAY.  Commission work is legal, and a standard for artists, because they are paying you for a one time service and skill.  Money is passed, the customer goes away happy, and I never see the drawing again. I never re-post it, print it, or do anything.  Done.

Now let’s say that I like Pinkie Pie (shocker, right?) and I decide to do a drawing of her, make tons of prints, sell them, and put the image on pencil cases, t-shirts, etc.  Guess what, folks. I just broke the law, and technically, this is considered bootleg.  People do it all the time, but of late, this is exactly the kind of thing companies are coming down on folks for.

Now’s where the angry artists all close this browser and send me hate mail.

Mass producing something and selling it while using someone else’s intellectual property is illegal.  Folks can justify it however they want, but it isn’t something I would ever engage in again.  I’ve had folks IN the comic industry question me on this stance too, as many mainstream comic conventions allow artists to sell prints with Wonder Woman or Superman, etc., because these books don’t have just one artist.  EDIT:    While the western comics market may handle this a certain way, most of my experience is in the anime industry.  I’m doing C2E2 for the first time in a couple of weeks, so we will see how that goes.  I’m interested, since there is such a push on original art.

Now this isn’t to say you cannot find creative ways around it.  For instance, I dig ponies (as you may have noticed).  I do stylized pony prints where I spoof other series.  I did a series based on famous princesses and another on their villains, and I may be working on one containing an homage to my favorite Brian Lee O’Malley project.  But these are NOT the exact characters from Scott Pilgrim, nor are they the exact characters from My Little Pony.  They are original characters, done in a style that is reminiscent of the show.  They are limited, signed and individually numbered, and when the limited number sells out, it’s gone. I never reproduce them again or print them again.  You buy them when they are available, in a limited quantity with a max of 100, or you miss out.  And if Hasbro hit me up and said “yo, knock it off,” I would. Because i respect them.

And that is where I think the big problem is. RESPECT.

New fandom feels entitled.  They feel that they are owed things for free, or that they are allowed to break the laws because they can.  They mass produce hats that have an OFFICIAL licensed version for sale and then leave hate speech on Think Geek’s website.  They download anime for free when there is a shit ton of it available LEGALLY for free elsewhere, because they say it ‘takes too long’ despite not even beginning to comprehend the amount of legal red tape associated with the licensing and distribution of the medium.  They torrent episodes of a show that they could have a friend DVR and have a social gathering to watch, and bitch about the American release of the show.  They find scans of monthly comic books because they don’t want to drop $2 on an e book version through Drive Thru Comics, but they can justify spending that $2 on smokes.  They trash convention hotels, ignore rules, and make money off of someone else’s creation, taking bread off someone’s table.

And that table is sometimes mine. 

So let me spell it out for you folks.  YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL. You have to live by the law and the rules, just like the rest of us that do.  And every time you break those rules, I want you to remember that you are impacting several things.  You are impacting someone’s wallet, someone like me who doesn’t make a shit load of money in a year and yes, relies on the money she makes to keep her studio running, to keep her projects printing and to feed her cats.  You are taking money from the voice actors that I am friends with, people like Chris and Greg and Carrie, and Josh, and any number of people I know.  Directors, translators…you name it.  

You are single handedly ruining the BEST thing about being a geek; our warm and welcoming culture that invites everyone to be a part, and our generosity.

Stop bitching, start putting your money where your mouths are, and stop being entitled little shits. Because when I was your age, I paid for everything legally, and I got a THIRD of what you get.  I paid $45 for a fucking VHS of Blue Seed with two episodes. And I LIKED it.

Now get off my lawn and start being creative on your own.  If you are that talented, you should be standing on your own merits and putting your own creativity out there instead of ganking someone else’s.

I look forward to your letters. ;)

I recently submitted a picture of myself for something called the Plus Size Pride Project on Facebook.  The photo, also posted here as well a couple of weeks ago, was done by ILessthan3photography here in the Twin Cities, and is what I consider to be an unabashedly joyful photo of me dancing.  I love the picture, and felt that there was nothing more empowering than being comfortable in your own skin. So I saved it to the project and received some very nice comments.  

But it started a train of conversation throughout the week that involved nothing more, and nothing less, than that lovely three letter word that society loves to villainize: fat.  It was lots of little things; shopping for yoga pants, going through clothing, discussing dance image with my students, and finally culminating with a Facebook admin message informing me that a report i made on a fat-bashing post was ‘not hate speech’ per Facebook’s guidelines.  After getting indignant for about ten minutes and finally resolving to just continue to let my voice be heard, it dawned on me that the word ‘fat’ plays a big part in my life.

Yeterday, I downloaded a copy of Hot & Heavy: Fat Girls on Life, Love, &  Fashion at the suggestion of Valerie “Zuza” Vigdahl, a local dancer whom I both dig as a person and performer, and respect like crazy.  She puts out a lovely belly dance magazine called Fuse, which you should seriously check out.  But I downloaded this book, and started reading, and I loved some of the intro.

“Oddly, the f-word is used to scare women, but it doesn’t scare me.  My fat is political because when I show it off it really seems to piss people off.  My fat is political because I’m keeping it.  My fat is political because it’s fucking hot.  My fat is my flag, my claim to fame, my battle scar, my secret fat girl society badge.”

That got me thinking. It’s true. The word fat IS used to scare women, and I want to know why.  Why is that acceptable, or even the reality?  Why is it meant to scare, to frighten, as though to be fat is some kind of armband we wear that outs us for social mockery and belittling?  Why is it so frightening to people?  I want to know why society not only thinks it is okay to mock plus sized folks, but what specifically about it frightens them?

Very recently, I’ve had some uncomfortable conversations with people in the dance community that have brought about a change in thought, a change in my momentum and how I think as a performer and professional.  I know many people in my life, friends even, that have what I call Body Image Displacement.  This is the art of having so many self issues that one projects, or often takes out, their self loathing on other people to make themselves subconsciously feel better.  I wish I could say I don’t know a few people that behave in this fashion, but I do, and I find their behavior toxic in the most disturbing manner.  You see, when you behave in this way, taking your own self image issues out on other people or projecting your inadequacies just to make yourself feel less loathsome in your own mind, you do it at the sacrifice of another human being’s emotions and fragile sense of self.  And in ANY situation, that is NOT okay.

This is a trend that has to stop.  It needs to, because it is emotionally damaging people consistently.  It’s a form of bullying.  Don’t believe me? Think of a situation in which someone taunted, tormented, or even acted out against another person because they didn’t like the way that they looked or spoke.  It’s bullying, plain and simple, and it’s a standard that I just do not understand in this world.  

So you know what, Facebook?  Yes, snarking on someone’s fat IS hate speech, whether it falls into your acceptable parameters or not.  And yes, I am going to continue to voice my opinion on this matter to anyone that will listen.  Because I have something to say, and if it gets the point across to just one person, that is all that I care about.  

But I urge everyone who crosses this post to consider something.  Change the standards.  It starts with YOU.

Meanwhile, I will continue to wake up every morning and piss excellence.  ;)

I’m kind of a mess of a human being when it comes to defining what I do.  Dancer, artist, singer, performer… that’s a lot to take in.

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in my friend’s craft room, pouring over bin after bin of precious stones and pretty shiny things that she keeps around for creating jewelry.  She’s insanely talented in ways that I will never understand, and I truly admire her work.  So often times, if I don’t feel like gaming or dealing with the boys, I will retreat to this little room of creation and sit on the futon, and play with stones, and  basically be girly and stupid while we rant about life and love and the pursuit of happiness.  This particular evening, I’d had a rough week.  Some stupid emotional things had set me off on a very intense level, mostly because drama and dance had met once again in a crappy tango of doom, and I needed to just calm down.  So there I was, eying some pretty things, and getting stuff off my chest while my body readied itself for the full onslaught of aunt flow level crying that was sure to follow. 

This led to a conversation about being what she calls ‘an artist with a capital A”.  I had to ask for some clarification on that, as to me, art is art is art. it’s a subjective thing.  What I consider art someone else may not (see my previous post on the Tomahawk Tassels fiasco).  But I asked her what she meant.

She mentioned someone we know (who I find extremely frustrating and emotionally unstable to the point of blocking her FB posts from my feed because one can only take so much negativity), and myself.  That we are artists, and that she didn’t see herself as an artist. I mentioned that I disliked being compared to this individual because while I know I’m an emotional person, i am constantly worried that people see me as an emotionally unstable person, or a complete drama monger like this person.  I got a somewhat noncommittal answer that I am “always on”.  She emphasized that this was okay, but it is what it is.

Now, this individualis someone I consider a fairly close friend. I value her opinions.  We’ve grown a lot closer over the past year, and I love her to bits.  But this comment, while harmless in intent, bugged me on a deep nagging level. Why it bugged me was the bigger question.

I’ve always seen myself as a bit of an outcast with my artwork.  I’m self taught.  I never went to college, never took anything outside of high school art and an occasional community cartooning class when I was 12.  No one taught me how to format a comic, no one showed me how to use photoshop.  I have, literally, learned 80 percent of everything I know the hard way.  And I’ve never really gotten along with the people I know that are art students or ‘professionals’.  I’ve always felt like a particular outcast from the norm, actually and the criticism I’ve received for over ten years from some of these folks used to bring me to tears.  I do well enough for myself as a solo artist, but for years, people wouldn’t take me seriously because I have no degree.  Eventually, I stopped crying about it, picked myself up, and decided to just do what I want to do, and fuck the general haters or nay-sayers, and believe me I’ve had a lot.  But because of the criticism, the hatred I’ve received, the people that have told me that I’m a shitty inker because I don’t use a magnum sharpie and that girls will never be taken seriously in the world of comics, I kept going.

So to be lumped in with the ‘arteests’ and the unstable creative types that sit wallowing in darkness in their bedrooms…well yeah, it bugged me.

But then I started thinking a few days later when the sting had worn off and my hormones weren’t ready to make my uterus go into the monthly frenzy mode…what makes someone an artist?  What qualifying parameters make someone an artist?  How does one define an artist?  Is it measured by the amount of creativity one puts into their work, or the simple art of creation itself?  Is it the amount of emotional hell that backs up ones message?  Or is it a simple expressive moment captured in time?

I had a similar conversation with my father last year.  I have insecurities, most of which revolve around what other people think and how they see me.  I know, stupid…especially for someone that is all ‘whatever, fuck you’ when it comes to how my body is perceived.  But I’ve bled for my work (literally), and every once in a while, the hate gets to me, and I second guess things.  I second guess myself.  I told him that I was worried that people saw me as overemotional, and crazy.

Now, let me explain.  The reason I don’t want to be seen as an overemotional nutjob is because it has taken me YEARS to get my emotions in check.  It is a very long sordid story but it involves years of emotional and physical abuse at the hands of someone that I relied on for the better part of over 20 years, and having that trust violated in the most painful of ways.  Years of therapy and work have brought about the better self control I have now.  I work hard to be a balanced individual.  VERY hard.  If you’d known me at 23, you wouldn’t believe I’m the person that i once was. So yes, I do work hard.  I’m not perfect, and emotions will always be a sort of personal flaw, but because i work so hard and because I use my artistic outlets as a way to feed some of that negativity, i take it personally when people think I’m nuts. Because man, I am way better than i used to be.

So my dad says to me, “Shannon, i think to be a great artist, you have to be a little crazy.”  I grew quiet, and I think he knew I was upset.  But he chimed in that it was true.  He’s a professional musician, creator, and lyricist.  So he gets it.  “You don’t wan to go full Van Gogh, but you do have to be a little nuts.”

And the more I thought about it, the more I thought, damn.  He’s right.

I know I’m a bit of a delicate balance of an individual.  I’m fortunate to have friends that are honest, and tell me what they feel, even when we don’t see eye to eye.  I’m fortunate to have a husband that puts up with all my fleeting excitements and tremendous lows.  I’m fortunate to have a father and stepmother, and in laws, that get me and support all of my stupid phases.

But I’m most fortunate for having the ability to channel my crazy, unpredictable nature into solid, creative form.

I create comics because I love sitting down and creating two page spreads, or figuring out how to do full compositions and expression work and growth.  I create dance choreography because the body is a paintbrush and the stage is a blank canvas. 

I create because my soul has something to say.  And really, that’s the only reason that matters.

I am not an easily offended woman.

It actually takes a lot to get under my skin, unless you’re causing harm to children and animals, in which case I turn into a gigantic raging bitchaholic with a pension for cricket bats and loud Alkaline Trio music.  (You have been warned, folks)  But honestly, the standard things that offend most people nowadays do not bother me.  I laugh at too-soon jokes, I take the utmost pleasure in well earned schadenfreude moments, and most things that people consider ‘politically correct’ I roll my eyes at.  Also, I roll my eyes a lot…ask my friends.  They will tell you.  So yes, I do laugh at inappropriate things, and occasionally it bites me in the ass.

So it has been very hard keeping my big mouth shut when my Facebook page was lighting up with posts about the Tomahawk Tassels fiasco.

Now, if you’ve been living under a rock and have no idea what I am talking about, I’ll give you the cliff notes version.  Tomahawk Tassels is a burlesque performer based out of Minneapolis.  She’s a model and dancer, and while I do not know her personally, we have many mutual friends in the area.  Now, her FB profile reads as follows:

“Known as “The Cherokee Seductress,” Tomahawk’s Native American-inspired performances blend classic vintage style with cheeky American history.”

Recently, her routine and stage persona have come under serious attack.  People have picketed outside of her shows, she has received gobs of hate mail, and has recently put her routine on hiatus to think long and hard about the situation.  Enraged people have also been threatening violence and violent acts against not only Tomahawk, but her performance venues, her cast mates (some of whom I know), etc.  Tommie has started a blog where if you like, and I do urge you to do so, you can read about her side of things in a very well poised and eloquent fashion…at least way more eloquent I would be if people were dickish enough to threaten me with violence.  What the hell, people…   http://tomahawktasselscultureandcontroversy.blogspot.com/

The biggest issue people seem to have is the sexualization of a race and class of people that are victims of rape, violent hate crimes, and racist depiction.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I am not going to sit here and say that any of these things are okay.  Racism, honest to god hateful racism where people try to commit crimes or violent actions against a specific race or class of people, is not okay.  So I get why people are playing the race card.

However, hear me out.  I’ll tell you that some of you are going to dislike this, and you are entitled to your opinion.  I don’t perform burlesque, but I love it as an art form, and please know that this opinion is only my own.  It’s nothing I would ever subject my students to in the classroom, nor is it anything I would shove down the throats of my friends.  And I know many of them will not agree with me.  I don’t want a fight.  I’m just weighing in.

I think people are making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, and here’s why.

Burlesque, at it’s heart, is dictated as follows in the Webster’s Dictionary:  : theatrical entertainment of a broadly humorous often earthy character consisting of short turns, comic skits, and sometimes striptease acts.  

Classic burlesque is satirical.  It is meant to be an exaggeration, something that is made to delight.  It is also NOT stripping. Good burlesque is not about taking off the clothes, but about NOT taking off the clothes in my opinion.  It’s a performance art that, while based around the pleasing portions of the human body, is more about entertainment and satire than fetish and getting your rocks off.  I personally don’t go to Burly-Q shows to be titillated.  I go to admire female form, have a good laugh, and see a fun show with a variety of randomness.  And I admire the women, because I don’t care what you say, but it’s not about objectification…it’s about personal STRENGTH and EMPOWERMENT.  I’ve done some risque modeling in my time…trust me.  I am more than qualified to speak on this subject. 

Satire doesn’t bother me.  The last burlesque show I took in had a piece about a mental patient.  Do I think the artist was mocking mental patients?  Obviously not.  I’ve also seen pieces that mock other cultures as well.

Here’s one that depicts a ‘mexican hat dance’ with a girl who breaks a pinata at the end.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUVOjvjk_AM

And another one that depicts chinese dancing.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrCeSVFhWrs

And I think they are fun pieces.  But here’s my point: there are eight bajillion burlesque performances every year that some folks would consider racist, stereotyping a race, or offensive.

Now, I’ll admit.  I am also the kind of person that can still watch Blazing Saddles or The Producers and I am not offended, because I see it for what it is.  A joke.  A satire. 

Not to say that I don’t understand why people are upset.  I do.  I get it.  And people are entitled to feel however they want.  As my friend James Hatton of the webcomic In His Likeness said today, “
Be offended. That’s awesome. That shows that it provoked emotional response as any good piece (written, performance, song, other) should. I can’t nor will I stop you from being offended. That doesn’t mean every offense deserves the right to alter the piece.”

I’m a comic book artist that has been given no amount of shit, death threats, hate mail etc, for doing a style of art that originated in Japan.  The Japanese article that was published on me ages ago received tons of hateful commentary about how I was racist against the Japanese and was depicting their precious art form in a stereotypical manner.

It didn’t stop me from drawing.

 I’m not asking everyone in the world to acknowledge much here.  I’m not asking for world peace, or understanding and cease fires, or a cure for some massive disease, or anything like that.  I want something simple.

 What I am asking is that the people of the world get with the damn program and STOP BODY AND IMAGE SHAMING PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!  This isn’t junior high anymore, folks.  STOP BULLYING PEOPLE.

This afternoon, a fun Facebook page that I usually enjoy following made a comment about how cosplayers that look ‘nothing like the character’ have no right to put on a costume and enjoy themselves.  Some jackhole, opinionated moron said, to a GEEK community, that people shouldn’t be allowed to cosplay if they don’t look like the character.

…Explain to me how that is okay.  

Cosplay, for those of you uneducated in geek culture, is the art of making or purchasing costumes of your favorite characters and dressing up like them. This is usually done at fan conventions or photo shoots, but sometimes cosplay groups will have meetups in public places, picnics, events, or other get-togethers.  Some folks that do cosplay spend THOUSANDS of dollars on their craft, dedicating insane amounts of time and effort.  and personal detail into what they wear.  It can be something as simple as a japanese school uniform or something as insane as a full fledged Borg outfit complete with voice modification.  I’ve seen some really cool stuff over the years.  

There’s been a lot of debate lately around cosplay, and ultimately, the geek community.  Now, I’ve gone on record (perhaps not here, necessarily) about the fact that I have major issues with the way mainstream media portrays the geek community at large.  I’m a HUGE geek.  I watch and collect anime.  I read comic books and web comics.  I collect toys and at Christmas, I ask for fun things like a Furby or some silly footy pajamas.  I like Star Trek, Firefly, and anything at all that Joss Whedon has had his happy little fingers on.  I follow Neil Patrick Harris on Twitter and I worship Simon Pegg.  And I am probably the biggest phantom of the opera nerd you will EVER meet in your life.  But at my day job, unless you come to my cube and notice the TARDIS or My Little Pony toys hanging out, you wouldn’t necessarily know that I’m a geek until you get me talking.  I’ve had lots of folks tell me, after getting to know me, that they were surprised that I was such a geek because I ‘don’t seem like one’.  I then ask those folk, well, what makes anyone ‘seem like a geek’?

The general answer is social awkwardness, lack of cleanliness, or immaturity.  Now, I’m immature at times.  I’ll admit that. I squee loudly like a teenager at the dumbest times.  But I have to comment on this.  While I love the geek community at large because it IS an inclusive community that welcomes folks of all sizes ages and colors into it’s fold, the mainstream media seems to fixate on the ones that have the biggest issues, as if to say that is all those people are made of, that they are one part human and two parts social castout.

Yeah, did I mention I hate Big Bang Theory?

An individual is more than the sum of his parts.  I have a couple of folks I’ve worked with over the years that have severe social anxiety, but it doesn’t DEFINE who they are.  And the fact that ANYONE in the mainstream media wants to use that one aspect of their personality to portray a human being makes me sick.  It’s bullying, if you get right down to it.

Now.  Back to the cosplay thing, because yes it ties in. 

A person shouldn’t be told that they cannot celebrate a part of fandom, ANY fandom, because they don’t ‘look the part’ or fit the bill.  That is complete bullshit.  I don’t care who you are.  

If you are overweight and want to cosplay Sailor Moon? DO IT.

If you are African American and want to cosplay Goku? DO IT.

If you are a skinny Irish woman and you want to cosplay Chun Li? DO IT.

Seriously, don’t ever let anyone tell you that you cannot do what you love because of the way you look.  That is bullying. It’s the same bullshit we all put up with in school.  Stand up, be proud, and embrace the fandom you love.  LET YOUR GEEK FLAG FLY.

Because really, what good is growing up if you can’t embrace the best parts of your childhood once in a while?

Over the past week or so, I’ve been complimented, questioned, and poked fun at for making the switch over from eating meat.  So I’m going to set the record straight, just to clear a few things up.

“Why would you do that?”  Actually, it was my husband’s idea.  Richard is a firm believer in “don’t knock anything until you actually try it’.  So he decided to give up meat for the month of February, just to see how it made us feel.  It has nothing to do with Lent, or any religious urging.  He just wanted to see how he felt without eating meat all the time, and since we didn’t understand vegetarianism, we decided to give it a swing.  

“What are you, or not, eating?”  We have cut meat out entirely for the month.  No fish, red meat, poultry, etc.  No meat based soup broth, etc either, which believe me has made buying soup freaking insanely difficult without buying or making vegetable stock. Thank god it’s easy to make. 

“Are you cutting out cheese and eggs?”  Nope.  We are still eating dairy. We have no interest in becoming vegan, as we don’t really have a problem with eating animals.  Clearly.  I’ve been doing it forever and a day.  I love animals, and I hate animal cruelty, but I still very much am okay with eating meat. Sorry folks.  This isn’t changing.  I’d appreciate it if people kept their opinions to themselves on this one. Getting sick of the preachy bits.  

“Has the change been hard?”  Actually, here’s the weird part. NO.  It hasn’t been for me.  I’m kind of terrified at how easy the changeover was for me.  Richard has had a few cravings, but we both are just amazed at how simple the change was.  You have to cook more, but there are tons of inexpensive and yummy options.  We are truly loving it.  Even Richard is thinking of only eating meat once a week or just sticking to fish once this month is over. 

“Are you going to stick with it after the month?”  I plan to, but I will be converting to pescetarian so that I can eat fish and shellfish from time to time. I have a sushi addiction that isn’t going anywhere and I plan to feed it occasionally :) I am also not going to be militant about it.  If I am at a family function and they are serving turkey, I will probably have a small piece.  And on my anniversary, if I want prime rib, I am having prime rib.  I know it will make me ill as hell but oh well.  :) Thus is the price I pay.

“Have you lost weight?”  Yes.  I have. Richard has lost more than I have, so far at 11 lbs over the last 14 days.  This is a bit faster than we’d like, but it isn’t like we aren’t eating.  We are eating.  Hoh boy are we eating.  I’ve dropped about 6 lbs as of last week.  

“What other changes have you noticed?”  I have increased energy levels all around, and I don’t require caffeine anymore unless i really want it.  It has also forced me to cut out processed foods for the most part, so I am eating healthier and greener, and it has made my body react in wonderful ways.  I’m much more aware of my body at the moment and I am losing some weight, though that wasn’t the focus of this exercise.  It’s a nice bonus though.

“Are you taking suppliments?”  Yes.  Daily.  I am also stepping up my consumption of high protein foods, like eggs and nuts and legumes.  And when I don’t take something, I do feel it.   

If you have more questions, just ask. But hopefully this sheds some light on the situation :)