Rock & Roll HOPE For 2011

Amanda Palmer

Having the job as “The” Victorian blogger is an awesome throne to sit in. Not only do I get the opportunity to talk about myself with you fine folks, but I also get to do research on eating disorders, addictions, health and spirituality. When I started this job a little over a year ago I was amped and excited, but as with any new place you visit the imperfections start to show and the sparkle wears off.

As much as I love writing on these subjects there is a heaviness that goes with eating disorder recovery. Even though I may have recovery under my belt I daily read stories and medical studies about those that do not. My mind is filled with the anguish of parents at a loss of what to do with this disease that is killing their child, I hear about people I once knew dying of this disease and of others refusing treatment. I hear about studies coming out about children developing eating disorders as young as the age of 8 and of rehabs and doctors overwhelmed with the amount of clients and trauma they are dealing with. Maybe this is why it’s so hard to get out of bed in the morning? Maybe I secretly fear what new eating disorder death sits in the Health section of The New York Times.

However, there are some days like today that I am given a morsel of HOPE and it’s always great when that hope is delivered with a melody. That hope came from a Los Angeles Times article featuring Amanda Palmer, who asked to split with Roadrunner Records in April. Palmer claimed the label sought to cut or alter shots of her stomach in the music video for the “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” song “Leeds United,” Palmer asked to be dropped in late 2008. As fans bared their own bodies in an online protest dubbed “The ReBellyon,” the singer took to performing a song pointedly titled “Please Drop Me” in concert. Palmer has gone on to join Band Camp an online music publishing platform that allows artists to have more control of their sales and merchandising.

This story blew away my “Debbie Downer Syndrome” and made me smirk at the audacity this young Rock & Roller has to ask to be dropped from her record label. In a day and age where celebrity eating disorders are as acceptable as celebrity divorces I was pretty shocked to see Palmer give “the bird’ to her record label. Here’s a chick who is edgy, popular and punk rock and won’t let the powers of “approval” alter who she truly is. This story gives me a good 500 mg of hope because this is a woman who very easily could have been motivated by fear and just gone along with edits on her body. Instead she stayed steady with what she knew was true, right and just and choose to stay stick with it and not sell out. It was a risky choice, but she definitely made a fan out of me.

Palmer gives me hope for 2011. Hope that if one girl can stand up and say, “I refuse to agree with you. My body IS good enough exactly as it is thank you very much.” I wonder what the rest of us could say?

Happy New Year!

Irvina