#bri lee

[surelyucantbe]

I was shocked but not ultimately surprised to read that 'Australia's four richest schools spent more on new facilities and renovations than the poorest 1,800 schools combined'. To put this even more simply and egregiously: 'The richest 1% of schools spent $3 billion. The poorest 50% spent $2.6 billion combined. The poorest 50% of schools teach nearly five times as many students'.

Who Gets to Be Smart, Bri Lee

[mixedlollybag]

My latest read and new favourite book.

Eggshell skull documents the real story of an Australian woman working as a Judge's associate, seeing the disparity of justice for women. Two years later she is back as a complainant in her own trial, having confronted her personal history and telling her own story.

This book does discuss sexual trauma and the was Bri coped with it. It does discuss the flaws of many systems in Australia. It describes events as they happened in 2014-2017. And it does overflow with fire, fury, and courage.

[literarystorm]

Title: Beauty

Author: Bri Lee

Genre: Non-Fiction

Pages: 160

Rating:  ★★★★1/2

SYNOPSIS:

A powerful meditation on beauty and body image from the author of Eggshell Skull. You were either fit and trim or you weren't working hard enough. Your body was how you conveyed wealth and status to your peers, it was a personality trait, a symbol of goodness and values: an ethical ideal. In recent decades women have made momentous progress fighting the patriarchy, yet they are held to ever-stricter, more punishing physical standards. Self-worth still plummets and eating disorders are more deadly for how easily they are dismissed. In Beauty Bri Lee explores our obsession with thinness and asks how an intrinsically unattainable standard of physical 'perfection' has become so crucial to so many. What happens if you try to reach that impossible goal? Bri did try, and Beauty is what she learned from that battle: a gripping and intelligent rejection of an ideal that diminishes us all.

Goodreads

REVIEW:

’If we feel even slightly or subconsciously ashamed of parts of our bodies, if they are alien to us and not what we want, it is striking how much more abuse of them we will accept’ (p. 88)

THIS WAS AMAZING. So I feel like I need to justify why the 4 stars (really a 4.5) instead of 5. Bri talks a lot about the superiority of thinness, the unattainability of ‘beauty’ and the contradictions in calls for empowerment while simultaneously selling anti-ageing creams. I loved the attention given to the seemingly obvious connection between how women are told their bodies have no value and how women (and girls) are shamed when they treat their bodies as if they are “trash”. There were a few tears when I read this as some of the thoughts resonated with me; really the high school version of me. BUT I found something missing, something that is heavily connected to my view of beauty. Fatness. I understand that this is a personal essay so it may not be something that Bri understands or is within her frame of view. But there were only two brief mentions of plus-size women; a famous plus-size model and a woman in a restaurant which poked at Bri’s fear of ending up “big like her”. As she quickly recognises this is a cruel thought, she then moves on to New York fashion week. As such a huge part of my own psyche and something I continue to battle with, I can’t help but wish there was more discussion on fat-shaming and experiences of plus-size women etc. I feel like it was too brushed over in the grand scheme of things or even forgotten along with other factors such as disability or cultural differences. Again, however, this is a highly personal essay. Overall, this is an amazing book which I loved to read. I felt the need to scream YES every few sentences. Bri has yet to disappoint me.

[yarnndglue]

{Wednesday 29 August 2018}

With all the excitement of getting a new job + training for my half-marathon, I have been procrastinating so much these last few weeks but I am finally back on track. I am a third of the way through an assignment due next week and on top of all my readings!

My goals for today:

Write 1000 words for my essay

Write up contract law notes

Go for a run

Make notes on past papers for contract law

[alotofconcordes]

Across 72 hours I neglected assignments, holiday jobs, me-time and basic hygiene to demolish this bang-on book about lady-warrior Bri Lee and her battle for vindication = Eggshell Skull. It was horrific to read the impact that her body and mind took because of an opportunistic m**ther f**ker thinking that their appendages had rights to that of another person. Those many bleak moments were really hard to get through and made me even more sadder and angrier :(  But the best bits were the politik and court-speak being explained in ways that even I could understand! It was like ‘Silk’ but on speed! And I love ‘Judge’. What a wonderful being!

I feel like I know way too many Sean’s. Just slobby slacker dudes who think minimal-effort is good enough and they cant see past their own dude blinkers. Oh and Samuel Levin’s - well he just needs an eye-gouging.

I basically just smashed through a 350 page + book in less than 3 days. I want more lady literature to help arm myself!

[surelyucantbe]

Knowledge is power, and when powerful people are allowed to shape knowledge and restrict access to knowledge, they are able to consolidate and strengthen their hold on that power. Manusians are not cannibals. Neither are Indigenous Australians. Yet the terror of those who engage in that most deeply held taboo was rolled out over 100 years ago by our government and newspapers to gain new land, and here it was now being rolled out again, ostensibly to protect that land. A horrifying mirroring of history; nothing learned.

Who Gets to Be Smart, Bri Lee

[mixedlollybag]

Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee

Started reading Eggshell Skull by Bri Lee. And oh boy did I have to dissociate / numb from the trauma in that book. Don't get me wrong, I'm 125 pages in and it's amazing. But things are so messed up with the Australian Justice system and with people who perpetrate violence.

That was just one trauma mention too much for me this week. Thank goodness none of my clients tomorrow have s*xual trauma.

[insolent--son]

How it feels to be Australian right now