Fat and Not Afraid

 Guest post by Carolyn Fox!

"The essence of propaganda consists in winning people over to an idea so sincerely, so vitally, that in the end they succumb to it utterly and can never escape from it."  Joseph Goebbels

Kathleen Parker needs some facts and info. Stat.

This garbage nightmare of an opinion piece appears in the Washington Post. Strong trigger warning for fat shame/hatred and diet talk. She's alarmed at a new report out suggesting that the number of obese folks in the states is going to BALLOON OUT OF CONTROL and infers that "a government-mandated health-care system eventually would necessitate a government-mandated diet to control costs." She assumes fat people are all in the fast food lanes, that genetics can be beaten by personal responsibility, that fat people feel awful about themselves, and that anyone can be thin by just eating the 'right foods' and watching their portions instead of eating like a 'normal person' (what does that even mean?!)
As an aside, I'm sorry, but correct me if I'm wrong: I didn't think that the States HAD a government-mandated health-care system. People exist, lots of them, without any kind of healthcare insurance or care at all. So much for small government! If you're fat (or a woman, and heaven help you if you're both) your body is totally the government's business. Kathleen's entire piece is just one fail after another, from beginning to end. Read it if you dare, and of course, avoid the comments. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but noone is entitled to their own FACTS.
Please write to Kathleen and set her straight; maybe if she gets enough data she'll absorb some through osmosis and stop writing such utter shit. Please also write to the Washington Post and let them know what you think about their publishing such utter shit.
Hat tip to Fierce Freethinking Fatties on Facebook for this one.  

Spoke with my midwife this morning and the forecast for August is a 95% chance of GIRL arriving!


This somewhat conveys my excitement. <3 We've got a name chosen, Katherine Violet, and a request out already to family and friends not to inundate us with pink and/or princessy things. We're die-hard geeks at our place, so I'm hoping to see some awesome video game or RPG themed things appear. So ya. EEEEEEEEEEEE!

Welcome to the Fabulous Hybrid Blog Carnival. Our topic this spring is Change! This post was written for inclusion in the quarterly Blog Carnival hosted by The Fabulous Mama Chronicles and Hybrid Rasta Mama. This month our participants reflect on change in all of its many forms. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.

Hi there, Fabulous Hybrid Blog Carnival Readers! Welcome to Fat and Not Afraid! And a big hello to all my regular folks too. Today’s blog is about change, or more specifically, the things I’d like to change before Raisin arrives sometime in August. I’ve written in the past how things have changed recently in my life; our giant move from Northern Ontario to Nanaimo, Gabe’s struggles with school, this pregnancy and its effects on my body and way of thinking, even changes in my Circle as a Pagan, but these are things that have happened to me or around me. Yes, I chose to move, and I definitely chose to have this baby, and I chose to volunteer to become Priestess, but during our move it was more like being chauffeured across the country, enjoying being a passenger, and with pregnancy, again, you’re really just along for the ride! Priestessing fell into my lap and I wasn’t going to say ‘no’ and potentially watch the Circle stagnant or worse, fall apart.

Before Raisin arrives there are a few things I’d like to take firmly in hand, a few changes I’d like to make; as we say in Circle, She Changes Everything She Touches, but instead of the Goddess making change all over, I want it to be me! Being a working mom, even part time, and wife, and Priestess, and blogger/online activist I feel like I never have a lot of time. That’s the first thing I’m going to change. With long days stretching ahead of me and a naturally early bedtime, I’m going to wake up early, before Gabe or Ryan, and take advantage of my morning bounciness. Checking my email in the quiet light, sipping a well-brewed cup of coffee, and organizing my thoughts for the day sounds a lot better than the usual run-around in 45 minutes I have been getting as I try to get all of us out the door and on time.

Part of the organizing my thoughts will be being able to FIND ALL THE THINGS. I keep a fairly tidy house, but ask me to put my hands on my landlord’s phone number, or that book I borrowed from you several weeks ago, and I’m at a loss. My desk is a hopeless clutter of piles of paper, kid toys (right now I can see a Pikachu, Pokemon cards, some and some perler bead creations), and odds and ends. The counters around me in the kitchen are the same. Every once in a while I try to do a massive clean up and throw out, but within a few days it goes right back to the way it was. Obviously this isn’t working. I need a system of some kind for all the papers; blogging ideas, things to scrapbook (ha ha ha! Yeah right; I haven’t made a page since shortly after Gabe was born!), reviews for the paper, work information, Gabe’s school notes, there’s just a lot. Bills and paystubs and other Important Things have a home in Ryan’s filing cabinet, but the rest of it is up to me.

Finally, the biggest thing I’d like to change I’d like to tackle is simply being more mindful; being in the moment, enjoying things as they come up, like story-time with Gabe or movies with Ryan, time outside in the gardens (such as they are), walks to work, and hanging out with friends. I spend a LOT of time online, way more than I should, both at work and at home. For a while I had a timer on my computer that would turn off the whole thing every hour, but it was only a free trial and since it’s run out, I’m back online probably 8 hours a day, including work time where I do data entry. That’s probably going to be the biggest challenge, staying offline more and being more efficient with the time I DO spend online. I’m hopeful that if I start making these changes now, over the next three months or so I’ll have this new routine and way of doing things down pat just in time for Raisin to show up and throw it all out the window! Thanks for reading, and welcome again to Fat and Not Afraid.

 Visit Hybrid Rasta Mama and the Fabulous Mama Chronicles to find out how you can participate in the next Fabulous Hybrid Carnival!

• Unschooling My Way To CHANGE - Patti at Canadian Unschooler discovered that Unschooling her kids was EASY compared to the bigger change required to Unschool her heart.
• Change (Variety) - Rachel at Lautaret Bohemiet writes about how variety is the spice of life.
• No More Threats - Amy at Presence Parenting flips the idea of parental control through threats on its head, for good.
• Why Are You Mad??? Turn Off the T.V and Meditate - Destany of They Are All of Me discusses limiting stress by focusing more on your Inside self.
• Co-ed Sleepovers?  Changing My Mindset – Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama takes a hard look at her previous beliefs about sleepovers.
• Change Can Mean Puddles - Jorje of Momma Jorje has had to clean up some puddles after major changes.
• On Acceptance - Laura at Authentic Parenting writes about how she ditched the constant longing for change and came to accept herself as she is.
• Blissed Out on Birth, Drunk on Baby Skin - Melissa from Mothers of Change passionately explores the changes she would like to see come to the maternity care system, and our universal love of the smell of a newborn baby.
• Changing My Mindset, One Challenge at a Time - Wolfmother at Fabulous Mama Chronicles speaks candidly about her challenges in changing how she parents.
• Because Mommy Said No - Dawn of Raising Natural Kids discusses the use of a common phrase that makes Mommy out to be the bad guy when, in reality, she is making decisions out of love.
• Through Adversity We Grow - Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children chooses to take a positive view on change and growth.
• Life is Change - Rae of Ital Livin' writes about the large changes her family has made within the last year.constant in life.
• A Changing Voice - Jennifer at Our Muddy Boots discusses how in order to grow change is unavoidable.  That does not mean the process is easy though.
• Being. Changing. Believing. - Amy at Me, Mothering, and Making It All Work reminisces on the changes that have shaped her adult life thus far, and molded her into an adaptable, but still type-A, believer in change.
• Motivating Change In The Face Of Apathy - Brenna at Almost All The Truth is asking the question many of us who actively work to change the world: how do we get people to care?
• She Changes Everything She Touches - Change is the only thing we can count on in life, and Jen in Canada examines some of the biggest things she'd like to tackle before the birth of her second child.