Ellen Hart Pe帽a, a former world-class athlete and subject of a TV movie about eating disorders, will speak Feb. 24 at the University of Colorado at Boulder as part of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and CU-Boulder Body Acceptance Month.
Pe帽a will present her program on eating disorders at 5:30 p.m. in room 235 of the University Memorial Center. Pe帽a's presentation and all other events related to the Feb. 23-27 National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and March Body Acceptance Month are free and open to the public.
Pe帽a is a graduate of Harvard and the CU-Boulder School of Law and is the former wife of Frederico Pe帽a, the former mayor of Denver and U.S. transportation secretary. Her 10-year struggle with bulimia and anorexia, even as she narrowly missed qualifying for a spot on the U.S. Olympic track and field team, was dramatized in "Dying to be Perfect: the Ellen Hart Pe帽a Story," a 1996 ABC-TV movie.
She now lives and works as an attorney in Colorado and has completely recovered from her eating disorder. She travels around the country to speak to young people about avoiding and overcoming food addictions.
On Feb. 25, a panel of experts and a survivor of an eating disorder will be available for discussion and questions at 3 p.m. in UMC room 425. Attendees can test their "eating IQ" immediately following the event.
After National Eating Disorders Awareness Week concludes Feb. 27, a series of free events in March is scheduled in observance of Body Acceptance Month.
On March 2, Sound Circle, a women's a cappella musical ensemble, will perform an original piece about bodies and body image at 7 p.m. in the Old Main Chapel. "Sound Circle: On Bodies" includes monologues and performance pieces with music and movement. The stories are both unique and universal and speak to people of all ages, organizers said.
"The performance is about body image, and about how it feels to live in a body," said artistic director Sue Coffee. "It is about how we as individuals take in societal and cultural messages about bodies - what is good and bad, desirable and undesirable - and what we each do with those messages, what individual paths we forge through all the messages and images."
The following is a complete listing of CU-Boulder events related to National Eating Disorders Awareness Week and Body Acceptance Month:
* Feb. 23-27: information tables at the UMC.
* Feb. 24: "Outside Inside" with Ellen Hart Pe帽a, UMC 235, 5 p.m.
* Feb. 25: panel on eating disorders and Test Your Eating IQ, UMC 425, 3 p.m.
* Feb. 26: "Strength to Resist" film screening, Hellems 211, 7 p.m., Test Your Eating IQ, UMC 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Student Recreation Center 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
* March 1: Body Acceptance Month information table, UMC.
* March 2: Sound Circle "Sound Circle: On Bodies聟" performance, Old Main Chapel 7 p.m.
* March 3: "Eating On The Run," Student Recreation Center, noon. "Loving Your Body at All Shapes and Sizes," featuring Carmen Cool, UMC 425 at 5 p.m.
* March 8: cooking demonstration, Student Recreation Center, 5 p.m.
* March 9: Breakfast Day - free breakfast, 9 to 11 a.m. at Norlin Quad.
* March 10: "Bulky Boys!" with John Fox, Student Recreation Center, 5 p.m.
* March 12: "The Obsession With Thinness," featuring Jean Kilbourne, UMC 235 at 7:30 p.m.
* March 15: Body Acceptance Month information table, UMC.
* March 17: nutrition presentation with Nanci Grayson, UMC 457 at noon.
The events are made possible by the CU-Boulder Student Wellness Program, the Community Health Education department of Wardenburg Health Center, CU-Boulder Department of Psychological Health and Psychiatry, CU-Boulder Women's Resource Center, CU-Boulder Department of Housing, the President's Fund for Diversity and the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs.
For more information call the Student Wellness Program at (303) 492-2937.