I just started reading the book “Shadow On A Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression” and am only about 30 or so pages in. Strangely, I’ve had the book for over a year just sitting on my bookshelf. That is until my friend Jessica mentioned it and I said I needed to read it and then realized I already owned it! Ha-ha! I am grateful for this reminder though because sometimes I get overwhelmed with reading too many books. I’m bit of a slow reader and don’t have enough distraction-free time in my life to get much reading done anyway. So I can’t exactly comment on the book itself, but some things I’ve discovered so far are very interesting. The book was written by many women all over the world submitting essays and poems and such. Great stuff! Some of the language used would be different now and certainly because this is pre-internet era, things have changed. But not everything. I can’t go into detail, but it’s a great read and definitely a must read for any fat activists out there!

The first thing that struck me was the mention of where the word “obesity” came from. I’ll quote from the book, “The word “obesity” itself (Latin obesus, from obedere, “to eat up”) presents  view of fat people which rules the thinking of virtually all obesity scientists, regardless of their specific field.” I quote that because I didn’t know where the word originated and now I cannot help but wonder (and if you know or can link, please share!) when this word became part of the scientific, medical and finally general society? I will now refuse to accept this word as anything relating to myself or other fats. It is a gross and prejudicial word in my mind now. I honestly had no idea. Just thought I’d share that with ya. =0)

What made me want to post about it today was a song that I woke up to this morning (gotta love radio alarm clocks) . I thought it was a Randy Newman song! Oops! It was, in fact, a Leon Russell song called “Tight Wire” and I love it and wanted to share it with y’all! It’s general vibe is just rad. And the lyrics are awesome. Here’s the song and I’ll post the lyrics below:

I’m up on the tightwire
one side’s ice and one is fire
its a circus game with you and me
I’m up on the tightrope
one side’s hate and one is hope
but the tophat on my head is all you see
And the wire seems to be
the only place for me
a comedy of errors
and I’m falling

**Chorus**
Like a rubber-neck giraffe
you look into my past
well maybe you’re just to blind to – see
I’m up in the spotlight
ohh does it feel right
ohh the altitude
seems to get to me

I’m up on the tightwire
flanked by life and the funeral pyre
putting on a show
for you to see

**Chorus**
Like a rubber-neck giraffe
you look into my past
well maybe you’re just too blind to – see
I’m up in the spotlight
ohh does it feel right
ohh the altitude
really gets to get to me

I’m up on the tightwire
flanked by life and the funeral pyre
putting on a show for you to see