Think Tank: Volunteer!
Here's a short list of items that we could use your help with. (One of them will be teaching me how not to end sentences with prepositions.) If you're interested get in touch and be specific!
- Media Guide: A MAFRAD project. The goal is to have a resource for journalists and other professionals on how to report on fat. If you're interested, join the Yahoo Group.
- Media/Newspaper Contacts: A list of people who are "go to" folks. Who are our legal experts? Who are the medical know-it-alls? Who knows how to party? We need lists of people who are willing to talk to the media, and what our specialties are. The list needs to be complied and maintained.
- Elevator Pitch: Distill fat rights and fat acceptance and all that into a short, 3-4 sentence statement. HAES probably shouldn't be a part of the initial statement but there should be a secondary one (to respond to, "OMG but isn't fat unhealthy?!")
- Website and Identity for COFRA: This one has a number of subtasks involved with it. We (ie, Kate Harding) already have the domain name. I'm temporarily hosting it, but will want to move it off to its own account/hosting plan. That right there is a financial goal that won't take a ton of cash (around $150/yr for a reliable host... unlike the one BFB uses right now.) We also need a logo. I have one that can be used as a template/idea, or thrown out. I'm open. We also need (!) a website design. Templates, look and feel, all that good stuff. And hey, how about a content management system? Yep. Need someone (or ones) interested in setting it up and getting it going. Would be great to also have a wiki, forums, etc. - Drupal seems like a natural for this. And then, there's all the content. We also need to brainstorm what content we need!
- "50 States" Project: This would be the 50 states project we discussed. Ideally each state would have a page with legal information ("Is it legal to discriminate against fat people here?") and a doctor page (who is fat friendly in that state, etc.) This could be a part of the COFRA website or not - I think that at least, it'd be heavily linked. This, like COFRA, would need design, logo, technical, etc. Seems like it'd be a natural for a wiki (with closed access...?)
- Non-Profit and Biz Related: Research into what COFRA would need to do to become a Real Organization. What the options are. What's best. How much it costs. All of the legal issues. And probably many things I haven't thought of, yet.
- Street Activism: Last but certainly not least, street activism. What can we do to get the word out even more? How? When? We need people who know what's going on in their respective cities to rally the troops so to speak.
We expect to accomplish these goals within the next 3-6 months, and have a somewhat-tentative-but-firmish deadline of May 1, 2008 on them.
If you've got skills, and want to participate, now's the time!
Think Tank: Overview | Diet Drugs Don't Work
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The response today has been fantastic. It's going to take me a little time to process all the emails but, if you sent in a letter rest assured it's been received!
It would be nice if the "50 States" project could also include the provinces of Canada.
Canada definitely needs to be included. We already have a core group in Toronto. Anyone out there is Vancouver? Montreal?
There's definitely a lot of interest in taking the 50 States project international, so if that's something you'd like to pitch in on, do speak up!
Open Source Web Design:
http://www.oswd.org/
has templates galore!
Sorry again I wasn't able to make the Think Tank, but it looks like you all really made some solid goals...and I'm loving all of them. I really appreciate you supporting MAFRAD and sending people our way. We have six new members this week, and we need all the help we can get. The 50 states (+Canada+More) is a fabulous idea, and a list of Media/Newspaper Contacts would really help MAFRAD when/if we decide to send out copies of the guide.
I am really excited to see the movement flourish
I'm sorry I haven't been able to participate much with this, or at all lately. But I would like to help out as much as I can.
Are there any plans to expand the 50 States idea to the UK? We are constantly bombarded over here with total fat panic, and it's really getting on my nerves. Anything I can do to fight back would be good.
Seconded on that Mandark. I'm Leeds-based and the fact that there seems to be absolutely no dissent and nothing even resembling the beginnings of an organised movement over here (unless I'm looking in the wrong places!), is depressing and worrying in equal measure.
It's quite clear from recent media interest, pontification by various important ministers and this new rash of studies that the powers-that-be are gearing up to take the War against Fat People to a whole new level. The Foresight report I mentioned in another post frankly terrifies me, because its recommendations, if adopted to any meaningful degree, would effectively criminalise being fat in the UK.
I don't have any specific skills such as web design; neither am I much of an organiser, but even if you just need bodies to hand out flyers in town on a Saturday afternoon then let me know. There's not much a lone activist can accomplish (only so many emails one can send to the BBC!) but a co-ordinated movement in this country to oppose the dozen or so well-known obesity pressure and lobbying groups could make all the difference to the way fat people are perceived and treated.
There's been an expressed interest in expanding the Fat Fifty idea outside of the US - specifically Canada, the UK, and Australia. It's a great idea and will happen. Within the first 3-6 months? Maybe.