[Nolose-announce] Announcements! call for Workshop proposals! Keynote speaker! All kinds of good stuff!

[nolose-announce at nolose.org]

*Big Fat Announcements! Please read all the way to the end!*



I know it's been a little while since you heard from us.  Well, you know,
except for the conference announcement.  We are so excited to be heading to
NoHo this fall.  We can't wait to see all of you.  We have some exciting
conference news, as well as some general announcements in this email.  We
are pleased to bring you the 2008 Call for Workshop Proposals.  And stay
tuned, because the next thing you are going to see from us is the conference
registration and financial assistance applications.  We have some exciting
stuff going on with financial aid this year, and we look forward to sharing
that with you.  For the time being though, check this business out:



*Keynote Announced:*

We are thrilled to announce that keynoting NOLOSE 2008 will be the
inspirational Geleni Fontaine. Geleni Fontaine is a fat, queer, Latina/o
transperson living, studying and working in Brooklyn, New York. Former Board
member of both NOLOSE and the Audre Lorde Project (the first queer
people-of-color community center in the U.S.), Geleni is working to
integrate her background in human rights and anti-violence activism with
hands-on healing and empowerment work.



*NOLOSE '08 Call for Workshop Proposals!*

*NOLOSE '08 September 26-28, 2008 Clarion Hotel & Conference Center,
Northampton, MA*
Fat and ?: More than Just Fat

*Call for Workshops, Hands-on Activities, You Name It*
This year, we are actively seeking workshop proposals along a theme:* Fat
and ?: More than Just Fat*. We are all more than just fat; we all have
multiple places in the spectrum of humanity that we occupy. How do we bring
our fat to our other identities and bring our other identities to our fat?
How do we make space for those that are different from ourselves in the fat
liberation movement? How do we embrace and find value in the multiple
identities, perspectives and backgrounds that we all bring to the table as
activists and as human beings?

The workshop possibilities are endless under this umbrella, so put your
thinking caps on! We plan to have at least one workshop per timeslot that
falls into the More Than Just Fat track. And a workshop in the themed track
is more likely to get our attention if it has an element of "what we can do
about it" rather than or in addition to just a discussion or academic
presentation. Of course, there is still plenty of room for workshops that
don't necessarily tie into the theme too, so don't be shy. Bring it on!

Some ideas about what we are looking for:

Hands-on, How-To Workshops - What are your special skills? Teach us!
Examples might be:
• "Where All The Bargains At: Stretching Your Fat Dollar"
• "Dismantle the Patriarchy in 10 Easy Steps"
• "How to Alter Clothes to Fit Your Body"

Guided discussions, caucuses and networking - Tell us what's on your mind
that you feel merits a group discussion at NOLOSE. Examples:
• "Fat Folks of Color Caucus"
• "Supersized, Disabled and Brown: Where I Stand is All About Where I Sit"
• "Who Wants to Be Rich and Thin: Fat and Class"
• "Fat in the Academy"

Presentations and performances - You name it! Like:
• Writers reading their work
• Musical/instrumental play time
• Improv performance

Acitivities - Such as:
• Synchronized Swimming
• Scooter Races
• Crafts
• Movement and Dance
• Speed Dating

Or or or...
Really! What do you want to do at NOLOSE? Who do you want to talk to? What
burning issue would you like to discuss? What is your special skill? What
experience or knowledge would you like to share? What would you like to see
happen at this year's amazing space?

*Deadline for proposals is June 1, 2008.*

All conference attendees (fat dykes, lesbians, bisexual women, trans folks,
and our female & trans allies) are welcome to send proposals. While we are
unable to provide stipends/compensation for leading workshops, and ask
workshop presenters to please register themselves and/or use the NOLOSE
financial assistance process, we will have small gifts for workshop
presenters.

Please keep in mind that we have a diverse crowd, so assume a broad range of
sizes, physical abilities, ethnicities, nationalities and genders among your
participants. We ask that people leading physical activity classes prepare
alternate exercises for people using scooters, chairs and wheelchairs.
Please indicate your plan to do this in your proposal.

To send us your idea, please complete the simple form at the NOLOSE website
<http://www.nolose.org/08/call4proposals.php>. Any questions? Just ask
programming at nolose.org or leave a comment here.

* *

*Brooklyn** Flea*

Our good friend and dynamo NOLOSE fundraiser Deb Malkin has launched her new
business, Re/Dress, selling vintage clothes in size 14 and up.  You can
check her out nearly every Sunday at the Brooklyn Flea-see her announcement
at: http://bounce-n-jiggle.livejournal.com/568943.html.



*And lastly, a call for submissions:*



2008 Call for Submissions

Phat Girls in Search of a Pretty World: Hot Lil' Fat Chicks Speakin' Out!



Phat Girls will explore plus size women's private and public journeys with
weight. In this original collection, we will express our diverse experiences
and memories of how our weight and self/body image have shaped us as
women—from childhood to adulthood.

Phat Girls will illuminate the successes achieved and the challenges met by
women negotiating a desire for self-love and acceptance of our selves/bodies
within an often "thin obsessed" and "thin accessible" society.



We all have diverse paths and histories, cultures, relationships and
ambitions, but one thing most of us do in the morning is look at ourselves
in the mirror! Phat Girls is interested in your story—what YOU see, think,
hear or imagine when YOU look at your fabulous you. Who do you see looking
back and what message(s) does she give you about how to live your life? Who
to live your life with or for?



What message(s) does your self-image give you on how to navigate through
your community as a female, student, professional, an occupant of public
spaces for instance on the public transit, at a restaurant, a social or at a
movie theatre? The spaces and roles we occupy in our lives are endless! What
messages do we get from society (or from those negative nagging voices in
our own minds) about how we should look and about how to achieve 'real'
success? How do all of these factor into our perceptions of our bodies?



Every "fat girl" has her own story. There is no one story that rings true
for all of us and this is exactly what Phat Girls will capture. It's a
platform for you to tell your story, to share your ups and downs in the
hopes that maybe your words might inspire another woman to share her own.
Through sharing there is healing and more so empowerment! Phat Girls
contributors will reflect the stories of women from different race, class,
ability, sexual identity, religious, geographical and education backgrounds.

Your submission to this anthology can take several forms:

·        Short stories (non-fiction) or "fiction" based on your life stories
with fictionalized characters

·        Monologues (one-person plays)

·        Reflective Essays (academic and non-academic)

·        Response Papers (for example, your reaction to a particular ad,
conversation, experience with weight discrimination or topic i.e. Fat Suits
in Hollywood; Beauty Pageants or "Makeover" TV Shows etc.)

·        Memory Work (for example, writing a story about the first time you
ever thought you were fat; writing a story about a particular body part and
what it has meant to you over the years)

·        Comic Strips

·        Visual Arts (photographs of paintings, collage art (visual or
words) etc.)

·        Photo essays

·        Poetry/Spoken Word

·        Other (Phat Girls is open to receiving your creative submissions
that are combinations of the above)



DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: September 1, 2008.



Please send by mail only. Late submissions will NOT be considered.



MAIL TO:



Phat Girls Anthology

C/o Jill Andrew

2620 Eglinton Ave East

PO Box 42503

Toronto, ON Canada

M1K 2S0



Contributors 18 years and over are welcome. Submission maximums should be no
more than 3,000 words (12 page max.), DOUBLE-SPACED, single-sided, 12 point
font. Include a contributor's bio of 100 words or less. Please remember to
save an electronic copy of your submission should it be selected.



Mailed submissions will not be returned unless there is a self-addressed
stamped envelope enclosed with your submission. Please ensure you weigh your
package beforehand at the post office to ensure you've got sufficient return
postage.



All visual contributions (pictures, photo essays etc.) must be sent on a
disc (high resolution Jpegs only) along with hard copies of each of the
visuals. Please include an SASE with adequate postage, otherwise we cannot
return this material to you.



Poetry/spoken word contributions please send a maximum of 6 completed prose.



Individual contributors are welcomed to submit multiple submissions but do
note that in the hopes of having as many diverse voices as possible, likely
on 1 submission per chosen contributor will make the final project.



All submissions will be read thoroughly. If selected for the Phat Girls
anthology, there may be additional editing required. At that point, the
*author(s) of the submission will be contacted directly for input. *Multiple
authors per submission are permitted but the same word count still applies.



Here are a wealth of general topics and questions to help you start
brainstorming your submission(s):



Topics:

·        Body Image, Size Acceptance and Friendships

·        Body Image and Intimate Relationships (dating, intimacy with the
lights on or…off?)

·        Weight Discrimination, Body Image or Acceptance in the Health Care
System

·        Perceptions of Health or Illness and Weight

·        Surviving Illness through our Bodies

·        Weight Discrimination in Employment

·        Weight, Body Image and Fashion, Entertainment, Media & Pop Culture
(Music, Music Videos, Magazines, Facebook, MySpace, Blogs, Advertising etc.)

·        Fat Representation in the media (film, TV, print etc.)

·        Size and Consumerism

·        Cosmetic Surgery, Body Modification and "Beauty"

·        Beauty and Ageing

·        Body Image and Race, Body Image and Ability, Disability, Body Image
and Sexuality (sexual identity, sexual orientation etc.)

·        Size & Gender, Gender Roles; Size, Weight and "Performing" Gender
through our Fat Bodies

·        Body Image, Compulsory Heterosexuality and the Construction of the
'Feminine' and the 'Masculine' "Ideal"

·        Multi-racial views on Body Image, Beauty and the Desire for (or
rejection of) a 'Western' "Mainstream" standard of beauty

·        Body Image, Fat Phobia and Acceptance in the Everyday World

·        Fat bodies, Tight Spaces

·        Fat Activism (performance groups, advertisement campaigns,
community activism, zines etc.)

·        Body Image & the Arts (visual arts, exhibitions, photography,
literary work etc.)

·        "What I absolutely LOVE about my body…"

·        Memories of Body Image or Fat Issues in the Home and How These Have
Informed Your Sense of Self Today (meal times, family traditions,
experiences with childhood abuse or neglect, sibling rivalries etc.)

·        Body Image & Poverty

·        Globalization & The Female Body

·        Psychic & Physical Trauma(s) (i.e. emotional, physical, sexual
abuse etc.) and Eating Problems

·        Fat Bodies and Violence Against Women

·        Body Image, Fatness and Weight Issues in Public Spaces (i.e.
experiences in theatres, public transit, restaurants, malls, fitting rooms
etc.)

·        What's in a Name? Body Image? Body Consciousness? Eating Disorders
or Eating Problems? What's relevant to you?

·        Weight and Accessibility

·        Body Image, Fat Acceptance and Education (size discrimination in
schools, assumptions made about you because of size/weight etc.)

·        Weight preoccupation and Food

·        Smokes, Alcohol, Drugs and Our Waistlines

·        Eating Problems (under eating, overeating, control/loss of control
etc.)

·        Feeling "outside of" or void of a/your body

·        Weight & Fitness

·        Body Image & Sports

·        Fat & Feminism

·        Fat is Beautiful

·        FAT & FABULOUS

·        A Historical Look at Fat when Fat was "in"

·        Being Fat Across Borders: What are the beauty ideals around the
globe?

·        Other topics related to your experience(s) as a "phat girl"
speakin' out!

Questions:

·        How or has your weight (or your perception of your weight) altered
moments in your life that otherwise should have been pure joy and
satisfaction (i.e. dreading taking pictures, saying no to outings because
you didn't know what to wear etc.)

·        How do you resist the "beauty myth" on a daily basis? Or do you?

·        How do friends, family or intimate partners 'react' to your fat
body?

·        How do we as 'fat' women construct our sense of self and of
community? How are we inspired to love ourselves despite the fact that the
world is so thin obsessed? Share your secrets!

·        What is…a "good" body?

·        Have you ever had an experience with fat on fat discrimination?

·        What does being a "fat girl" mean to you? What does the term "fat"
mean to you? When did you first realize that you were fat? When did you
first realize what "beauty" was?

·        Have you ever found yourself playing into 'fat stereotypes' in
order to 'survive' or to 'save face'?

·        What part of your body do you absolutely love and why?

·        Which parts do you absolutely detest and why?

·        What don't you see when you look in the mirror?

·        How or has your sexuality (or sexual identity) been influenced by
your fat body?

·        How has your body influenced (negatively and/or positively) your
career, career choices (or lack thereof), access to opportunities etc.

·        Are you a sexy woman? What makes you a sexy woman? And if not,
should you want to be, how might you get there?



About the editor:



Jill Andrew CYW, BA (Hons.), BEd, MA (Sept '08) is an award-winning national
columnist with the Metro Toronto Daily Newspaper and still enjoys livening
things up as a teacher, women's/youth advocate, performer, entrepreneur,
events host and public speaker throughout the city. Jill is the founder and
producer of Curvy Catwalk— Canada 's first and only annual "plus size"
fashion fundraiser increasing body image/eating problems awareness and funds
for Sheena's Place & NEDIC (National Eating Disorder Information Centre).
Annually on December 24, Jill also organizes with friends and media/activist
colleagues the JAM (Jill Andrew Media) For Hope Homelessness Initiative
providing food and clothing necessities to those in need. Jill's on-air and
print appearances include the Toronto Star, NOW Magazine, Passion Magazine,
Sway, Vervegirl Magazine, GRAND, City TV, OMNI, CP24, CBC Radio, Global, ET
Canada, HGTV and more. Jill is a member of the Canadian Ethnic Media
Association (CEMA)

where she has won two national awards for Best Editorial and Best Column,
the Black Business Professional Association (BBPA) and the Canadian Women's
Foundation (CWF) Vanguard Philanthropy Group among others. Jill loves to
socialize, is obsessed with cats and still believes her lottery jackpot is
just around the corner! Jill is completing her Women & Gender Studies
Masters degree at the University of Toronto and one day plans on hosting her
own TV talk show. Jill Andrew is also the recipient of the 2008 Michele
Landsberg Award. The national award, presented by the Canadian Women's
Foundation (www.cdnwomen.org), recognizes young women 30 and under who are
outstanding feminists in the area of media and/or activism. Jill currently
resides in Toronto , ON Canada . For more visit www.jillandrewmedia.com or
www.curvycatwalk.com

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