From Sabrina Dropkick, Chicago IL; favorite food: baked goods.

I haven’t read this one yet, but it’s been in my Amazon cart for a while. Fat Girl, written by Judith Moore, is a memoir written because she was compelled to unveil the truth about being fat. I found a response from Moore on http://www.vachss.com about why she wrote the book: 

“ I wrote Fat Girl because I’d read books that other fat women wrote about how they were fat. Most fat women didn’t write the truth about fat. They didn’t write about fat fat fat fat thighs and how tender flesh on the inside of fat thighs rubs and rubs. The skin on one thigh rubs the skin on the other thigh down to raw blister. Every step you take, this raw blistered skin hurts. You can’t tell anybody “I have blisters” and “I hurt” because first off, you don’t want to talk even in whispers about anything that goes on in the gloom between your thighs. No way. You are disgusting and what goes on between your thighs is disgusting, so you don’t tell. Besides, anybody you told would know you got the blisters because you’re fat. They’d cluck-cluck-cluck that you were fat because in one sitting you poked in your snout and gobbled, with warm garlic French bread: an entire four-serving bowl of the perfect Cobb salad (Romaine and Bibb lettuces, Haas avocado whose soft ripe flesh turns an immeasurably buttery green, watercress, tomato loosed tenderly from its tight skin, cold chicken breast and ham cut into batons, hard-boiled egg, chives, crumbled Maytag Blue cheese, bacon fried and broken up, and for dressing, a heavy sluice of whatever you like). Anyone you told about that Cobb salad and French bread would feel either revolted by you or sorry for you. You don’t want anyone to feel either way, not about you. You don’t wish friend or stranger to feel sorry for you because you don’t feel sorry for yourself, you feel fat.”

You can find the entire response here: http://www.vachss.com/media/righteous/why_fat_girl_moore.html

You can also buy the book on Amazon, used, for $.09 (yes, 9 cents!) and new for $3.49 - http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Girl-Story-Judith-Moore/dp/0452285852/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268532919&sr=8-2

From Sabrina Dropkick, Chicago IL; favorite food: baked goods

Their mission:

“You Are Beautiful is a simple, powerful statement which is incorporated into the over absorption of mass media and lifestyles that are wrapped in consumer culture. 

The intention behind this project is to reach beyond ourselves as individuals to make a difference by creating moments of positive self realization. We’re just attempting to make the world a little better. 

Intention is the most important aspect of the You Are Beautiful project in its idea of purity. Nothing is sacred. Everything that has a perceived value becomes commodified. We work extremely hard that this message is received as a simple act of kindness, and nothing more.

Advertising elicits a response to buy, where this project elicits a response to do something. The attempt with You Are Beautiful is to create activism instead of consumerism. 

You Are Beautiful uses the medium of advertising and commercialization to spread a positive message. 
Projects like these make a difference in the world by catching us in the midst of daily life and creating moments of positive self realization.”

From Sabrina Dropkick, Chicago IL; favorite food: baked goods. 

I’ve always struggled with my weight and will (probably) continue to for the rest of my life. But after being introduced by a lovely band called Gossip, I was also introduced to a newfound confidence in my size with the help of lead singer Beth Ditto. 

Here’s a little backstory from her wikipedia page:

“Mary Beth Patterson, known by her stage name Beth Ditto (born February 19, 1981, in Search, Arkansas), is an American singer-songwriter, most famous for her work with the indie rock band Gossip. Ditto, who is a lesbian, is well known for her outspoken support of both LGBT and feminist causes… [she] is known for her noticeable stage dances and her unique and revealing image. She classes herself as a punk, and thus does not wear deodorant or shave under her armpits, having once remarked that, “I think punks usually smell.” She has been lauded for her support of positive body image, despite comments from doctors that she may be causing harm to public health by normalising obesity. She also formerly contributed to an advice column on body image to The Guardian newspaper…On July 9, 2009, Beth’s fashion collection for the UK retailer Evans [began] being sold online in select stores across the UK.”

Needless to say, Beth Ditto is as bad-fucking-ass a woman as she is a musician. You can listen to entire albums of Gossip for free on their site at: http://www.gossipyouth.com/us/music/music-men