Last evening, Francesca crossed off the last item on her to-do list, scrubbed the kitchen counters as she does every night, took a bubble bath, and got into bed with Rhett Butler.
Life just does not get any better than this.
Francesca has been greatly enjoying a wonderful, informative, and thought-provoking blog by a nurse, Junkfood Science.
Here is the “subheading” of the blog, which will help you see why it is so superfantastic:
Critical examinations of studies and news on food, weight, health and healthcare that mainstream media misses. Debunks popular myths, explains science and exposes fraud that affects your health. Plus some fun food for thought. For readers not afraid to question and think critically to get to the truth.
Before reading this blog, Francesca knew that newspapers and magazines and television often gets science wrong — because most people are just not very good at interpreting scientific studies — but she had no idea how often. It is truly unbelievable how often a newspaper will tell us something along the lines of “study shows that fat people keel over and die ten horrible deaths before they are 28!” when in fact the study cited just says that “people whose BMI’s are over 45,000 are more likely to have a stroke by the time they are 72 than people whose BMI’s are 44,999.” (Francesca exaggerates, but you catch her drift.)
Anyway, to educate yourself, dear Manolo reader, about how to spot mathematical and scientific fallacies in your mainstream media, Francesca suggests you begin with the superfantastic, easy-to-read, and short-and-to-the-point book, Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics: The Manipulation of Public Opinion in America.
Francesca hath spoken.
Our internet friend Shannon turned our attention to a delightful fashion-related article in an online publication called “The Smart Set.” Writer Jessa Crispin reviews various books about fashion . . . .
Instead of alleviating our body fears, however, so many books advising what to wear do nothing but exaggerate them. The entire structure of Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine’s book What Not to Wear is built to help you define your particular version of body dysmorphic disorder. Do you think you have short legs? A big butt? Big arms? There’s a chapter telling you how to dress around each perceived flaw. It’s hard to walk out the door feeling hot and feisty when your entire dressing process has been focused on your main source of anxiety. If I tried to dress to hide all the parts of my body I have ever been self-conscious about, the only thing left to wear would be a hazmat suit.
. . . . and ultimately recommends The Meaning of Sunglasses: And a Guide to Almost All Things Fashionable by Hadley Freeman.
If more fashion writing was done in the tone of smartypants Freeman, we could avoid the fear that caring about our appearance makes us a vain fool or a victim. A work colleague recently took one look at the four-inch peep toe heels I was wearing and snarled, “Don’t you know why men invented high heels?” I doubted anything I said would deflect what was coming next, so I just shrugged. “So you can’t run away when they want to rape you.” I understand. I used to be a humorless feminist, too, complete with shaved head and my father’s combat boots. Then I discovered Charles David heels and got over it. If only The Meaning of Sunglasses had existed sooner, I could have spent less time being a self-righteous twit.
Francesca says: It is possible to be intellectual and feminist and fashion-conscious!
Francesca has been reading the famous book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by the economist Steven D. Levitt and the journalist Stephen J. Dubner.
It is entertaining, and fascinating, and easy to read. Francesca likes!
Once in a while an artist creates something that touches me on such a deep and profound level that my life suddenly has a great jagged rift of before and after smack dab in the spot where I saw that piece. Once in a while a book comes along that turns my world upside down, much to my eternal joy. I was introduced to just such a book of just such art this week and I want to share it with all you superfantastic ladies out there. This does include links to sites with pictures that may not be work safe, so be aware of that before checking them out.
Roseanne Olson is a photographer. She’s also an anorexia survivor. When a woman with breast cancer asked for a nude portrait of her pre-surgery body, and her photography class had an assignment of ‘Naked Truth’, Olson had an inspiration. Over the course of the next six years, she interviewed nearly sixty women about their bodies and did nude photographs of them. The women were close friends, women she met at parties, even complete strangers who heard about the project and offered themselves as subjects. None of the women were professional models. Only one had been photographed in the nude before. Sadly, many of them had little good to say about their bodies.
The result, however, is a powerful celebration of the female body in its most basic form. The quotes that are negative stand in stark contrast to the beauty we can easily see in these same women. The women who accept, love and celebrate their physical forms are inspirational.
Francesca has been re-reading the superfantastic play Life Is a Dream by the incomparable 17th-century Spanish playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca.
This story thrills and satisfies and provokes thought every time.
It serves as a fascinating precursor (and stylistic counterpoint to) The Matrix, which is one of Francesca’s favorite movies - not (only) for its action and special effects, but because of the existential questions it raises.
Perhaps it is time, too, to recommend Philosophy for Dummies.
Happy reading and thinking!
xoxo
For this week’s book selection, Francesca thought it would be nice to choose a nice little group of of books and other items honoring those of our readers who will soon be celebrating Passover. But, my goodness, there is a wide selection for the Big Girls! (ha! Francesca puns!)
Here is a cookbook which would make a lovely house gift for one’s hosts for a Passover seder. Francesca notices while reading the “about this book” section that the recipes are gluten-free! But of course, that makes sense! Passover must be pay-dirt for gluten-free peoples!
So here is another beautiful, gluten-free book!
Here is the cookbook which Francesca herself would use, if she were Jewish, since she can hardly boil water without starting a fire. But it could also form the basis of a fun Sunday in the kitchen with her nieces and nephews. If they were Jewish. But, well, Francesca supposes that anyone can love kiddie chicken soup and glazed carrots. Even little Catholic children, yes?
Hah! It is a Passover Bag O’ Plagues. Francesca is amused by this toy!
And in the “most random holiday gift items Francesca has ever seen” category, we have The So Called Seder: A Hip Hop Haggadah on CD. Francesca has no words.
Happy cleaning and happy holidays! xoxo
Here, for your amusement, is Francesca’s absolute favorite excerpt from Wake Up, I’m Fat!:
Protesting injustice is a way of life in my family. One summer in Santa Cruz I was arrested and thrown in jail for participating in a pro-choice rally. So I called my parents to get me out.
CAM: Mom, Mom, I’m in jail.
MOM: You’re what?
CAM: I’m in jail, Mom.
MOM: Oh my God, what for?
CAM: Mom, I was arrested for participating in a pro-choice rally.
MOM: Oh, honey, that’s wonderful. Mazeltov! Jerry, Camryn got arrested for civil disobedience.
DAD: That’s great, honey, Go Go Go! Fight fight fight.
MOM: Stop it, Jerry. It’s long distance prime time, for God’s sake.
CAM: (screaming) Mom? Get me out of jail!
MOM: No, honey, you stay in there and make your point.
Click.
OK, Francesca is very, very excited about this one!
You see, for many years Francesca has been following a super-fantastic fantasy epic called The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan. This is by far the longest series she has ever read, but to give you an idea of how popular it is, and how many fans stuck through with it even when it started to feel like it was getting a leetle too long, when Francesca went into Barnes and Noble to buy Book 10, the clerk asked “What is this book? It’s been going like hot-cakes.” Yes indeed! Books 8-11 reached #1 on the NY Times bestseller list! Because the world which Jordan has created is incredibly rich, with characters drawn so well that Francesca is sure she would recognize any one of them if they passed her on the street. There are multiple continents, multiple countries with multiple cultures, a good 1800 characters, and while of course there is the one heroic “good guy” and his friends, and a horrible “bad guy” and his cronies, there are also other groups of people who fall on the spectrum of “good,” “bad,” or “both,” depending on their agenda.
Anyhow, the tragedy of this series is that Jordan died before completing the final book. It was a horrible, horrible day for the fans.
But Francesca just found out — a bit belatedly — that before he passed on, Jordan left copious notes about what was to happen in the final installment, including chapter outlines, a near-complete draft of the final chapter, and voice recordings adding details to help tie up loose ends. His wife-editor has just hired an established writer to complete the last installment on Jordan’s behalf. And so, someday not-soon-enough, the Wheel of Time will finally turn for the last time. And now Francesca feels safe recommending the series, because you can “get into it” secure in the knowledge that the epic climax will, indeed, be provided.
Book One: The Eye of the World
Book Two: The Great Hunt
Book Three: The Dragon Reborn
Book Four: The Shadow Rising
Book Five: The Fires of Heaven 
Book Six: Lord of Chaos
Book Seven: A Crown of Swords 
Book Eight: The Path of Daggers
Book Nine: Winter’s Heart 
Book Ten: Crossroads of Twilight
Book Eleven: Knife of Dreams
Book Twelve will be the final installment.
As you can see, the reading of this series is a big project to undertake. And a wonderful one!
Francesca loves the fantasy epics!
And now, a question for those of you who are already fans: What Ajah would you join? Francesca is thinking Green because they are the best-dressed and the coolest. But Gray also holds its attractions. What about you?
Here is another amusing exerpt, chosen randomly from our Bible, the superfantastic Wake Up, I’m Fat!:
The Road to Wellville was a film about bodies. All kinds of them. Fat, thin, short, funny looking, and Alan was looking for people with all kinds of body shapes. He asked me if I could ride a horse, and once again, like all well-trained actors I told him, “Absolutely.” If he had pursued it, I was prepared to tell him that I spent every summer at my family’s ranch in, uh, Montana, just a two-day trot from Peoria. Never mind that I hadn’t been on a horse in over twenty years. Then he asked me how I would feel about getting naked. I said, “I feel fine about it, how would you feel?” He laughed, which I sensed was a big accomplishment. Finally I just said, “Listen, I’ll ride a horse naked if you want me to.” I got the part. That was the good news. The bad news: He really expected me to follow through on that whole get-naked thing. You’d think I would have learned by now, but knee-jerk I-can-do-it actor’s instincts still get me in trouble. Like, when the publishers of this book asked, “Do you really think you can write a book?” “Sure,” I said. “I spend every summer at my family’s book-writing camp in Montana. The problem was that they actually wanted me to write a book, which is a damed sight harder than getting naked.
Francesca wants to know: What would be easier for you, writing a memoir or getting naked in a feature film?
Francesca says, for herself: Getting naked in a feature film is much less time-consuming, but would require many, many shots of Frog Water Cocktail to happen.
