Self-Portrait

Portrait artist Riva Lehrer’s groundbreaking work on identity and disability has been exhibited at such prestigious venues as the United Nations, National Women’s Art Museum and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C. The recipient of numerous grants and awards, Lehrer has been an invited lecturer throughout the United States and in Europe, and was the subject of the documentary Self-Preservation: The Art of Riva Lehrer. She is a professor of anatomy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Lehrer has Spina Bifida, a congenital disorder where part of the spinal cord is exposed through an unfused section of the backbone.

Ms. Fit chatted with Lehrer over Thai food in her cozy Chicago apartment. What follows are excerpts from that conversation and, because she’s really smart, we let her do most of the talking.

What is it that you misunderstand about these hips?

my hips?

These are my hips-

these fifty – two inch hips

attached to this thirty-six inch waist

are my hips and they tell herstory

perhaps you question the size of my hips-

the second largest continent in the world sired these hips

of course they would be as large-

the oldest civilization on earth gave birth to these hips

of course they would be as wide-

Writer Stephanie Kuehnert Overcame Gym Class PTSD and So Can You!

As the child of two nurses, I was an active, healthy kid outside of school. I took swimming classes since before my first birthday and the pool was my favorite place to be all summer long. I was always enrolled in either dance or gymnastics. My primary forms of transportation were biking or rollerblading (well, as a child of the ’80s, I started with roller skates.) I even played baseball and basketball with my brother and boy cousins.  All of these activities were for fun. No one cared how well I did. It was never a competition.

Gym class, however, was a different experience. There the boys taunted, “oh my God, you suck!” at any missed swing, throw, or catch. I was always among the last to be picked and the first to be blamed for any losses.

But the worst thing about gym class wasn’t the bullying or the sexism or even that universal childhood trauma known as dodge ball. It was that goddamn yearly Presidential Physical Fitness Test (now known as the President’s Challenge.