OMG They’re Here! Advance Copies of The Fat Poets’ Society First Volume of Poetry

I have just received a few advance copies of Fat Poets Speak: Voices of the Fat Poets’ Society. How freaking cool is that?! I have two poems in this edition, which will be available on May 6, 2009.

The book is the result of a poetry workshop that was offered at the 2006 NAAFA convention. It was a wonderful experience for me personally as a writer, because I primarily write prose fiction. That poetry workshop had a tremendous impact on my creative writing and the writing that I do for this blog. A few of us from that workshop started a private online group where we could share our writing in a safe space. We laughed, we cried, we fought and we kept writing and we kept coming back. And now, three years later, I am holding a physical book in my hands. I am beyond happy. This is absolutely thrilling.

I am proud and honored to be published among such talented, boisterous, and outrageous women writers. This month I will be interviewing my co-authors, and our poetry coach and editor, Frannie Zellman, who recently published her novel, Fatland, as well as our magnificent publisher, Dr. Peggy Elam of Pearlsong Press. I will be post a link for Amazon pre-order soon but until then, you can get a sneak peek if you come to my vending table tomorrow.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ll be at the Fat Girl Flea Market tomorrow, April 4, 2009 from 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m and maybe longer. Hey, who wants margaritas?

The flea market is held in the LGBT Community Center at 208 West 13th Street in Manhattan. Located between 7th + 8th Avenues in Greenwich Village.

You can reach the Center easily by subway: on the IRT Broadway/Seventh Avenue line, take the IRT 1, 2, 3 or 9 (the red line) to 14th Street at Seventh Avenue; or on the IND line, take the A, C or E (the blue line) to 14th Street at Eighth Avenue.

I will be there from 11:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. as a personal shopper and I am really looking forward to working with any and all to put together outfits and find the perfect size. My husband will be joining me at a vending table with some of the items that I sell at various events. I have beautiful large-size, hand sewn beaded shawls, gorgeous costume jewelry, truly lovely fairy figurines, and I am giving away lots of This Lush Life t-shirts in anticipation of the extremely exciting massive redesign and site re-launch coming very very soon.

If I don’t see you tomorrow, have a great weekend!

Government Adjusts Weight System to Help Country Lose Pounds

This article courtesy Mike Kramer,
WASHINGTON DC, APRIL 1, 2009

Alarmed by a growing obesity rate across the country over the last decade, the United States Government has instituted sweeping changes in its system of measurements and weights.

The most significant change involves increasing the value of the pound. One current pound will be valued as 1.1 pounds under the new system. What does this mean? Fewer pounds per person. For example, a person who previously weighed 167 pounds would now weigh just 152 pounds.

“We think these changes will help the country solve its obesity problem,” said April Wahn, Community Director of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). “When eating right and exercising don’t work, these new standards can help people reach a healthier weight. It’s not the only answer, but it’s a start.”

To underscore this point, Wahn estimates that this change alone would bring the number of overweight Americans down dramatically, from 63% to 49%.

To help people adjust, the US Office of Weights and Standards will make available scale calibration kits that can be used to bring any scale in line with the new standards. You can call 1-800-000-2005 to receive your free kit.

Consumer groups are responding to this change with enthusiasm. One local news editorial claimed, “It’s about time the government stepped in and did something about the country’s weight problem. It needs to be fixed – and quick.” 10,000 scale calibration kits have already been distributed. But the biggest challenges in retail packaging, fishing regulations, and newborn weighing still remain.

“This isn’t going to be something we can incorporate overnight,” continued Wahn. “It could take years and millions and millions of dollars. But in the face of unhealthy weight levels, we’re running out of options.”

Wahn refused to comment on the growing opinion that numbers on the scale are becoming increasingly unimportant in the creation of a healthy lifestyle.

Confronting The Wall of Mirrors

A few weeks ago I started Monday night belly dance lessons in Ossining, about an hour north of Manhattan for those of you who live elsewhere. I have always wanted to take belly dance and so I was thrilled when I found a class that was affordable and conveniently located directly between my office and home.

Our teacher, Nahara, is talented, lovely, gentle, encouraging and fun. I can’t imagine a better way for me to confront the dreaded wall of mirrors.

My first wall of mirrors was in a ballet class when I was 5 years old. A room full of little girls in leotards all excited to move our bodies like the ladies we saw at the ballet. Honestly, I think the thing we were most interested in was playing pretend ballet dancer because it’s not like any of us was thinking about a career. Sadly, that room full of little girls came complete with a room full of disappointed mothers, desperate to push their pretty little darlings into the spotlight. I remember being pushed to the back of the line by mothers more competitive than mine, stepping in to move their darling to the front.

There was also a dance teacher who told me that I would be the only kid in class not allowed to do the “Falling Leaves” movement that the other little girls practiced. All the girls would line up at one corner of the room and we were supposed to flutter. Quickly moving on the balls of our feet, our arms raised up high over our heads and then fluttering up and down, like falling leaves. I wasn’t allowed to be a falling leaf because the teacher said I didn’t have the right body type for that movement. That was the day all the other kids in class stopped talking to me. For fuck sake, what kind of miserable hag singles out one little kid in front of the entire class for having a “wrong” body?

I remember tearfully looking over at my mother fully expecting to see a look of outrage on her face. I fully expected her to come running over to defend me. I fully expected her to insist that every kid who paid for the class got to practice every movement that every other kid in class practiced and they got to do it with a smiling and encouraging teacher. But that isn’t what happened. Instead, I saw the face that I would see every day from that moment, until I finally moved out of her house and stopped talking to her for several years. That was before we got a few issues handled. But back then, when I was 5, she was ashamed of her chubby daughter with the frizzy hair and the wrong body type to be a falling leaf. Hell, maybe she still feels that way but now she knows not to tell me, not even “for my own good.”

So here I am facing the wall of mirrors again but this time it is wonderful. I know that my muscles aren’t familiar with these movements and that I am clumsy, but the brilliant Nahara tells me that I am doing great. I know that I am the largest body in the room but all the girls in this class smile and chat before and after the class because our body shape has nothing to do with our friendship. There are no pushy stage mothers here – just women looking to feel good and have fun. I love the music and the scarf with coins that I wear around my hips. I love to watch myself shimmy and shake and learn choreography. And even if no one else outside of that classroom ever sees me I feel like I have finally gotten to be a falling leaf, and I am the prettiest leaf ever of all time.

Have A Fun Filled Weekend

W.B. Yeats
A DRINKING SONG

Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That’s all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.

Have a truly wonderful weekend filled with love and celebration!

And remember: I choose the winner of the $100 Igigi Gift Certificate at Midnight tonight. I will announce the winner on Monday. First I will send the winner an e-mail and I must hear back with confirmation that I have a valid e-mail address and a real person who wants that gift certificate by Sunday afternoon sometime. If I don’t hear back from you by Sunday I will then choose another number to be winner.

Photo Credit
A woman opening bottles of wine during a wedding feast.
Location:Brittany, France
Date taken:November 1953
Photographer:Frank Scherschel
Source: Life Magazine

Igigi sale extended to make wallets happy

Oh joy! The IGIGI Evening Wear Sale has been extended through Friday, March 27th.

You could be wearing this perfect dress on Saturday night. Just let me know where you’ll be because I would hate for us to show up wearing the same thing.

And remember, to be entered to win the $100 IGIGI Gift Certificate, please CLICK HERE and leave a comment. The drawing will be held Friday at midnight. If you post a comment here, I won’t be able to include your name in the drawing.

Thanks everyone for your enthusiasm! I am so completely floored by your comments. It is very inspiring to hear how much everyone hearts Igigi – because seriously y’all I remember a time when clothes like that not only didn’t exist for women my size but it was thought perhaps inappropriate. Maybe that idea still exits but together we are breaking down those barriers.

Three years ago, when I announced to my friends here in New York City, most of whom are very thin, that I was starting an online shopping website selling fashion exclusively to plus size women, the reaction was mixed. Some of my friends were happy for me that I was expressing myself creatively (“You go girl!”) but for the most part I was met with stunned silence. “Why on earth would you want to do that?” “Oh but you’re not that kind of fat!” “But if you lose weight then we can shop at the same stores.” I told that last person that if she just gained weight we could shop at the same stores! One woman expressed her shock by saying that it just isn’t a good idea to make it easy for fat women to find nice clothes because what would then inspire them to lose weight? Oy!

My friends have come a long way towards fat acceptance but I am still considered somewhat of a maverick. Thanks to those of you who send me e-mails about your life, the community that we share through the Fatosphere, and the inspiration of other bloggers, I keep finding the courage to love my body, enjoy my life in this fat body, and dress for success. As my sister said to me just the other day when I was ranting about fat prejudice, “The best revenge is living well.” She’s right and I’m gonna start by drinking champagne while wearing that dress.

More giveaways and contests are coming in the next few days to celebrate the complete redesign and relaunch of This Lush Life. I am so excited!

Bruce Jenner is an @$$%0!e. Oh yes he is.

I don’t watch E! Network because at any moment it might trigger my desire to throw objects at the TV and we own The TV That Ate My Living Room, also known as World’s Most Expensive Dust Collector, and I try to avoid throwing things at objects that pricey.

Celebri-tainment makes me a bit nauseous but yesterday I accidentally turned on that channel. I guess I thought I was on Food Network, and while in the kitchen during the commercial I heard that Khloe wanted to pose nude in a PETA ad about not wearing the fur.

oooohhhh kayyyyyyy This ain’t Paula Deen and that’s for sure.

I know that I might have some readers who love PETA. I personally am not opposed to the wearing of the fur. I eat animals and I wear animals and let’s just agree to disagree, ok?

While carefully tending to my beautifully constructed spinach and feta fritata (I should have taken a picture for you it was that gorgeous) I overheard the voice of Khloe complaining that she is head and shoulders taller than her petite sisters, just has a larger frame, and that even though she is fit and slender people give her grief about her body size (even though she lost 12 pounds), and sometimes strangers on the internet tell her to lose weight. OK I thought, this is not surprising especially since she and her sisters are L.A. media whores. I’m not saying it’s right – fuck no it is not right to publicly or privately call out anyone on their weight, but I did think, well, not surprising. I am not saying the victim is to blame but I am saying that Hollywood is harsh and particularly harsh to young women regarding their weight no matter how thin they may be. These young women are constantly being told to gain and to lose.

And then came the moment that I almost dropped my lovely brunch on the floor. I heard one Bruce Jenner say, “well don’t you think you could stand to drop a few pounds?” WHAT????!!!!!

Bruce oh Bruce! Say it isn’t so! Oh how my family loved you back in 1976 when you were a Decathlon dreamboat! When my father wanted to ban rock and roll from our house I could point to your muscular all American handsomeness on our box of Wheaties as evidence that longish hair on boys was ok. And now this? You shove your own step-daughter’s self esteem in the mud on national fucking television?

You married her mom when she was 7 years old. She is now nearly 25 so this means that for last 18 years you have been a father figure and she is the big sister to the two daughters you have had with her mom. Her father, Robert, died and while I think he too was a douche for supporting O.J., still he was her father and from everything I learned while watching the show for 20 minutes, she certainly loved him.

You fucking called your step-daughter fat on national television. You are a douche.

Fat Girl Flea Market returns to Manhattan

I just received this information via e-mail from Bevin, Flea Market Captain, 2009 and I am so happy I could plotz!

The Fat Girl Flea Market is just a couple of weeks away!

Saturday April 4th
11am – 8pm
$8 entrance fee
LGBT Center — 208 West 13th Street, 3rd floor, Manhattan, NYC

DONATIONS
The Flea Market CAN NOT HAPPEN without your donations. Keep clothes that you love and that make you feel good about yourself. Purge everything else to make room for other clothes that you love. How empowering would it be to have a wardrobe made up entirely of clothes that fit you well and make you feel incredible? Bless someone else with the clothes you no longer love, or that you love but never wear.

And did you know that all donations are tax deductible? For more information about donations, please see the website. How To Donate.

Email donations@fatgirlfleamarket.com to arrange a donation pick-up by a volunteer!

Drop off available on Thursday & Saturday from 12-9 PM at Re/Dress NYC (to Bevin) 109 Boerum Pl, Brooklyn, NY (please email Bevin: donations@fatgirlfleamarket.com or contact Deb Malkin at Re/Dress NYC: deb@redressnyc.com to let them know you’re coming).

Drop off locations also available in Jersey City, Massachusetts, Philadelphia and Central Jersey.

They really need pick-up volunteers

Can you donate a few shifts picking up donations from people? Can you pick up items from folks who wish to donate? They really need volunteers for this. Especially in Brooklyn. Email donations@fatgirlfleamarket.com

Donation Drop-offs
Can you be a drop off location? Can you coordinate people in your area to pick up from people in your area?

Volunteers
Sorting the night before and before, during and after the event; moving clothing from storage to the truck the day before; working at the event as a personal shopper, door greeter, and check out. volunteer@fatgirlfleamarket.com

This is the largest fundraiser for NOLOSE and they are extremely thankful for all our support. To find out more about NOLOSE and where the money for this fundraiser goes please read the FAQ section on their website.

I’m going to volunteer that day so please introduce yourself if you see me.

Handbag Designer Awards

Could this be you? Handbag Designer Awards Application.

Handbag Designer 101 invites you to compete in the Third Annual Independent Handbag Designer Awards, the only handbag competition of its kind in the world and now with shoes!

Win a chance to present your handbag at a high profile New York event at the New York Historical Society and compete for one of eight Awards for Handbag and Shoe Design Excellence, international recognition, a variety of coveted prizes and a chance to have your handbag (and shoes) go on marketing press tour.

To participate in the open call, you are required to upload one digital jpeg image (please read the tip sheet carefully) in any one or more of the following categories:

Best Student Made Handbag

Best Handmade Handbag

Most Socially Responsible Handbag

Best Green Handbag

Audience-Selected Handbag (based on Finalists selected)

Best Handbag in Overall Style & Design

New! Best Use of CRYSTALLIZED(™) – Swarovski Elements

New! Best Shoe in Overall Style & Design

Submissions will be accepted from January 12th, 2009 until April 15th, 2009.

If you submit a design for this award competition please let us know in a comment here so we can all be sending you good luck vibeage.

Audience Participation a Success!

Well done people! Yesterday, I asked you to post positive comments on an article about the Everybody, Every Body, Fashion Show for all Body Types.

I say love wins the day, good conquers evil and trolls have been banished. The positive comments far outnumber the negative. I recognize some of those commenter names and I know you came through the wondrous fatosphere. Well done and hip hip hurray.

Thank you for playing along.

Fashion Show for All Body Types

I just read this great article in the Seattle Times about University of Washington students. They have organized a fashion show called, Fashion Show for All Body Types. The show, set for Thursday (today), is timed to coincide with National Eating Disorders Awareness Week.

“It celebrates everyone being comfortable in their own skin,” said James Fung, a student designer majoring in architecture.

The models in the show are far from twiggy. Female models range from size 0 to 26, and from 4-feet-10-inches to 6-feet tall. And male models range from size 30 to 44 and from 5-feet-6-inches to 6-feet-3-inches.

“I would never make it as a model,” said freshman Tunny Vann, pointing out his 5-foot-8-inch height. “But this show is about loving yourself.”

Sophomore Natalie Santos said she faces the same situation.

“I told people I was in a fashion show, and they said, ‘Wha?’ ” said Santos, who wears size 18 to 20. “Not everybody is that itty bitty. I grew up in a family where big was normal. Big was what’s what. Now I go to school and everyone is like, ‘You’re overweight.’ “

Besides that last sad quote from Santos saying that she grew up thinking she was normal and then going away to college and having everyone tell her that she’s fat, the article is wonderful. This is the second year that the UW fashion students have organized this event. The fashion show is happening today.

NOW HERE IS WHERE I AM GOING TO ASK FOR AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION. The trolls own the comments. Please! Let’s fill the comments section of that article with positive vibes. I would also give unasked advice (my speciality!) that you avoid getting into any fights with trolls — you know how that goes.

These students will be reading this article online. These kids will be reading these comments and I really want there to be more positive ones than negative ones. I’m gonna go post my positive comment now. Will you join me?