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The Fired Fat Girl Travel Fund

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Help me hit the road to socialize and politicize about body size! I am unemployed for the first time in my adult life. That means there's something else important I need to do.

In 2008, I created Full Figure Entertainment to establish an additional space in the Bay Area for full bodied women to mix and mingle in a nightclub environment with people of all sizes who love their curves. From the beginnning, FFE has always had a clear and stated intention to have an impact that goes beond the parties we have on Friday night. (You can check the mission and value statement on our website for more details about how we stive to do this). We have embraced opportunities to expose more people of all body types to the Healthy at Every Size and Size Acceptance movements.

I also worked since 2005 as a diversity educator and women's studies teacher at a local private high school. My school was always well aware of my nightlife and activism through FFE. Recently, students and parents objected to the an online video of behind-the-scenes footage from a semi-nude photo shoot in which I participated in 2011. The short video clip is 90 seconds from a 52-minute French documentary about the obesity epidemic in the United States. Although the art show itself was approved by school leadership, the behind-the-scenes interviews were considered more troubling because "a video on the internet is different from art in a gallery." Consequently, I was fired.

The Fired Fat Girl Travel Fund is my attempt to make lemonade from the lemon that was handed to me when 90 seconds of video footage outweighed nine years of work. I now have time on my hands to broaden my own horizons and to broaden my committment to size acceptance by spending time with some of the other activists and leaders who are doing this work all over the country and in other parts of the world.

Your contributions to the Fired Fat Girl Travel Fund will help me get to Stockholm, London, NYC, and other points in the USA to socialize and politicize around body size. My goals include
          - returning to Sweden to see the finale of Sweden's Got Talent with Gunnar Holma (check us out on the qualifying round of the show)
           - traveling to NYC to attend Full Figured Fashion Week and to pose for the incomparable Substantia Jones of the Adipositivity Project
           - attending the Well Rounded BBW Bash in Las Vegas

I'd also like to visit some of the plus sized nightclubs in other parts of the country to investigate if/how they build community beyond the few hours of their parties. Locations will be determined based on invitation and availability. I am open to suggestions!

Because my travel plans will be dependent on whatever my next professional opportunity is, I will be solidifying plans a little bit at a time to coordinate around job interviews and (hopefully) start dates.

In exchange for your donation, I am happy to do one of the following:
       - donate a matching amount to the charity of your choice within a year of accepting a new full-time job (you can put your chosen charity in the comments when you donate or you can contact me directly to name your charity)
       - volunteer time at a charity of your choice (1 hour for every $25 you donate)
       - join you for the free or cheap social activity of your choice so you can hear in person about the adventures you've helped fund.

I will also blog and vlog my experiences so others can learn from what I'm learning during my travels.

What will I use the money for? Air and ground travel, lodging, food and admission/registration for fat-related events. Anything else I need, I'll figure out other ways to buy or supply. Your donation goes to the things above unless you explicitly ask me to use your donations for a particular project, supply, or activity.

Why is the goal amount so high? I want to pack in as much as I can while I have the flexibility to do it! All funds donated will be used by the end of 2014. Anything I cannot use by the end of the year will be donated to other size acceptance causes.

THANK YOU for helping this fat girl fight discrimination and spread size positive love!


* Both photos by Desmond Rodgers Photography of Oakland/Alameda, CA.

Organizer

Tigress Osborn
Organizer
Oakland, CA

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