Exposure!

Hello and welcome, friends and fats, to Fatcast, what we hope will become a regular series of informal conversations about fat acceptance and body politics between Lesley Kinzel and Marianne Kirby. The subject of this first episode is exposure and being a public fatty, and we think it turned out pretty darn swell for a first effort (I am still getting the sound-editing thing down, as I’ve never done this before, but I expect to get better at it as we go.)

So why are we podcasting?

Marianne:  Lesley, why are we doing this?

Other than because we get to say fuck a lot?
Lesley:  I think we are doing this because you and I have a history of protracted and intense conversations about fat politics. And I know I typically have some great revelations/ideas from talking to you.
And we’re also inveterate talkers.
Also: I have always wanted a podcast of my very own.
Marianne:  AS HAVE I. It’s like a perfect storm of reasons.
Also, I think bringing fat topics to various forms of interactive media is important in its own right.
People respond to different formats and I don’t want someone who doesn’t read blogs to not ever be exposed to FA just because we are comfortable writing things down.
Lesley:  Indeed. There are very few fat-related podcasts. Or social-justice-related podcasts in general, comparatively speaking.
Marianne:  I would ask why you think that is, but then we’d never wrap up our line of reasoning.
Oh, oh, can we say we are doing this because our fat cannot be contained by one outlet alone?
Lesley:  Yes. Our fat is mighty and will soon dominate the eart.
H
The eart too.
Links we mention in this episode:

Lesley’s Newsweek article on childhood obesity (avoid comments)

Lesley’s profile in the Boston Globe (again, avoid comments)

Marianne on Nightline Face-off (just always avoid comments, okay?)

Recap of Marianne’s appearance on Dr. Phil

Picture from the fats convention under the Botero “Eve” sculpture in the shops at Columbus Circle, NYC

Redress NYC

Lessons From the Fatosphere on Amazon.com

The music used in this episode was by Revolution Void.

You can also subscribe in iTunes.

12 Responses to “Exposure!”

  1. Tweets that mention Two Whole Cakes Fatcast - Conversations about fat politics -- Topsy.com Says:

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marianne Kirby, Marianne Kirby, Lesley, Snarky's Machine, Tasha Fierce and others. Tasha Fierce said: RT @52stations: So @therotund and I are trying our hands at podcasting. Adventure! Intrigue! Listen: http://bit.ly/bQMx2s iTunes: http:/ … […]

  2. Scott Says:

    Hey guys, just started listening to this now, and before I get into the meat (or fat) of the matter I was wondering if you guys would be OK with me linking a version of the podcast encoded in Vorbis format. Vorbis is just another audio format like MP3, in that it takes sound and removes some stuff and compresses some stuff, ultimately making it smaller while (hopefully) sounding roughly the same. The difference being that Vorbis is somewhat newer and nerdier; in short, the compression is usually superior for the same quality, meaning smaller files. Now, converting from one “lossy” format (like MP3, Vorbis, AAC, etc.) to another is usually frowned upon because you’re performing a lossy operation twice, which means you’re objectively losing quality twice, but for a medium like speech this really isn’t so noticeable.

    MP3 is obviously the gold standard for podcasts, etc. because it’s what everybody’s MP3 player is capable of playing, but many modern software and hardware MP3 players can play back Vorbis as well as MP3 (among other formats), and my MP3 player is one of them, so I made myself a Vorbis version of the podcast just to save a bit of space on my player. My file came out to 23MB (vs. 56MB for the original) and I was considering uploading it somewhere for others who are able to play Vorbis files–and many may not even be aware that they can, see http://www.vorbis.com/software/ for a brief, incomplete list of supported apps; also note that many MP3 players are also capable of playing Vorbis files (they may refer to them as “Ogg”, check your manuals)–but wanted to check with you guys first since it’s your intellectual property, etc. I’ve listened to both MP3 and Vorbis versions side by side and can’t hear any difference through my headphones; high-end setups may expose quality loss but since it’s mostly speech it really shouldn’t matter.

  3. Lesley Says:

    Hi Scott!

    This is great info – I’m handling the techy recording stuff and this is my first audio production ever, so I’ve obviously got tons to learn.

    The good news is we’re releasing these podcasts under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license, so you are encouraged to re-encode and share as much as you’d like and whereever you’d like, so long as you credit us (ideally linking back here) and don’t make money off the endeavor (good luck with that, haha).

    Thanks for listening, and thanks for the format education. 🙂 By calling Vorbis “nerdier” you’ve totally piqued my interest.

  4. Julia Says:

    The fatty visit at the Botero was separate from the fatty visit to do with the book. We all came down to visit Deb when she was still vending at the Brooklyn Flea Market pre Re/Dress being a store.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliastarkey/2505429832/in/photostream/

    Also, Marianne wtih the Botero BUTT on her head
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/juliastarkey/2504600949/in/photostream/

  5. It’s nice to share | definatalie.com Says:

    […] Two Whole Cakes/ Fatcast A new podcast by Lesley of fatshionista.com and Marianne of therotund.com in which these two amazing women talk about fat politics, reactions to their being “fat” in the media, and other stuff. At the time of posting, Lesley and Marianne have just put up Fatcast 1.5 on “The Fat-o-sphere”! […]

  6. Margarita Says:

    Loving your podcasts, dears! It’s really nice to hear the conversations happening in real time. Also y’all are funny and charming.

    Also, as someone who used to work in radio, please please don’t worry about “ums” and “likes”. They are a natural part of speech. EVERYONE does it, even the President. The only time people don’t do it is after extensive training, or when they are reading a prepared statement. People don’t even notice it half the time, and if you’ll pay attention in radio interviews you’ll hear that producers don’t even bother to edit all of them out.

    XO!

  7. FatWaitress Says:

    I too have dreamed of a fat flash mob. I personally think we should do it in Boston during the NOW conference July 4th weekend. Synchronized dancing fatties just think!

  8. Katryn Says:

    This is totally frivolous, but I LOVE the polka-dot dress the woman 3rd from the left is wearing in the Botero picture. Any idea where she got it?

  9. Lesley Says:

    I am pretty sure she made that dress. Good motivation for learning to sew!

  10. Katryn Says:

    Damn! No wonder it fits so well. I can hem a skirt or take in a shirt, but I think a fitted dress is beyond my very basic sewing skills.

  11. Julia Says:

    I did indeed make the polka dot dress. Jane BonBon on etsy also makes polka dot dresses.

  12. It’s Alive: We join our intrepid heroes as they venture cautiously into the world of podcasting. « Two Whole Cakes Says:

    […] still pending in the iTunes store but until it gets approved you can download (or listen to it) here. If you’d rather grab an RSS feed, you can find that here. EDIT: And now Fatcast is up in the […]

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