NOLOSE, Intersectional Politics, and the Urban/Rural Queer Split

[riot_nrrrd]

The theme of this year's NOLOSE conference was "More Than Just Fat: The Intersection of All Our Identities." The conference's concentration on building a complex, coalitional movement recognizing the need to take a variety of identities and experiences into account-- for example, race, disability, trans identity, age, and the experiences of "superfat" people in addition to those who are simply plus-sized-- is, I think, crucial to building a truly effective movement. It is also a timely theme, given the explosion of conversations about race and racism in the fat blogosphere.

I think, however, that in order to build a movement that truly takes the intersection of all our identities into account, we need to be open to the element of surprise. That is to say, we need to be careful not to assume that we can know in advance which identities will intersect meaningfully with the issue(s) we choose to foreground. I think that this year's NOLOSE conference, with its focus on caucuses converging at a Town Hall meeting, potentially began some interesting conversations about the ways in which fatness and queerness intersected with certain other marginalized identities. But I also think that within that structure, there was little to no room for that element of surprise. There was very little room for marginalized identities and experiences whose importance was not determined in advance to make themselves known, and to ask the conference at large to take their experiences into account.

In my conversations with several conference attendees-- but most notably, my conversations with Gini, we perceived two major splits that were scarcely, if at all, taken into account. One such split was the coastal/middle America split: conference workshops and attendees seemed to foreground certain fat activist happenings occuring on America's coasts (the Fat Girl Flea was a particular point of interest) as having special weight (no pun intended) for all fat activists, regardless of their geographical location. This is something that Gini and I-- and, I'm sure, others-- hope to remedy by planning and publicizing more Midwestern fat activist events. It is a work in progress.

But the other split-- and the one I wish to explore in more detail here-- is the urban/rural split: the differences of interest and approach between those queers living in cities, and those living in rural and small town settings. The workshops and conversations taking place at NOLOSE seemed, by and large, to be founded on the assumption that people interested in, and affected by, the ways in which fatness and queerness intersect predominantly hail from urban centers with flourishing queer communities, in which conversations on the politicization of fatness are at least beginning to take place. But this is not true. And in order to build a widely effective, truly intersectional movement, we have to consider geographical location as a valid axis of identity and experience. We need to build a movement that takes the experiences of rural queers into account, that gives them credit as activists and bearers of agency, and that, to some extent, decenters the city as the locus of activism.

Gini and I are planning to address these issues at the next conference with a workshop (tentative title: "Radical Rurals"). I'd like, however, to start some dialogue now, well in advance of next year's conference, about how to better address the needs of rural and small-town queer fatties. First, however, I'd like to begin with some disclaimers, and a bit of background about my own positioning vis-à-vis small town queer identity.

I want to begin by asserting that I don't claim to speak for all rural queers. I have a lot of privilege, and a lot of background, that isn't common to everyone in a small town setting. First of all, I'm college-educated. In fact, I currently live in a small-ish (but not that small) college town in Ohio-- a town I moved to specifically to attend graduate school. My volition in coming here, my participation in an academic community with at least a passing understanding of queer issues (and a small but nonetheless present constituency of fat studies scholars), and my understanding that, because I am here for school, my residence here is temporary, grant me certain kinds of material, financial, and discursive privilege that are not available to all rural queers.

I should also note that I am not from a small town. I was born in a city (Portland, Oregon, to be exact), and have lived in and around that city for most of my life. As a former resident of a city, I have had access to queer and fat-positive communities that not all queer fat folks living in small towns have been able to enjoy, and bring my urban experiences and views with me to my current small-town setting. I prefer urban spaces to smaller ones, and would like to move back to a city upon receiving my degree. I hope that the experience of being a queer fat person who has lived in small towns her whole life is something that Gini will speak to, as that has been her experience, and (unlike me) she seems to prefer smaller settings to larger ones.

I would also like to disclaim that I did not attend the Town Hall meeting on Sunday afternoon-- I only heard about it after the fact, in a phone conversation with Gini. But I'm going to claim my inability to attend that meeting as a function of certain kinds of privilege. Like many participants, I could not afford to stay that late on Sunday, as it is logistically difficult to travel from Northampton, Massachusetts to NW Ohio, and I had to be at work on Monday. I'm going to argue that those logistical difficulties in traveling to certain parts of the country, in a conference that always takes place on the East Coast, ultimately mean that the placement of the Town Hall meeting ensured that certain voices were privileged over others-- namely, the voices of those who live in East Coast urban centers, and/or those with the financial and institutional ability to skip work on Monday.

Given these parameters, I don't want to claim that I have covered all the ways in which rural queers are marginalized in the context of NOLOSE. But I hope that I can go some way toward beginning a conversation that, I think, is far past due.


The Framing of Intersectional Politics

As I said above, I am in favor of a conference about queer fat politics that attempts to take into account "the intersection of all our identities," providing a forum for much-needed conversations. As I reflect on the conference, however, I continue to feel uneasy about some of the ways in which intersectional politics were framed. Conversations with Gini and other conference attendees seem to reveal that one of the principal criticisms of the conference was that, while workshops and other events focused on foregrounding identities other than queerness and fatness, specific conversations about queerness and fatness and their intersection were all but absent. Indeed, I agree that there was an extent to which the connections between queerness and fatness were assumed, within the context of the conference, to be a "done deal," apparent and obvious to all attendees. Which is, of course, not the case, and we have to be careful not to make that assumption.

More specifically, though, my principal concern with the framing of intersectional politics at NOLOSE-- in the keynote speech, and in some of the workshops I attended-- was the assumption that these discussions about intersectional politics are taking place in the context of a movement that already exists. In other words, one of the conference's founding assumptions seemed to be that all attendees have equal access to an in-person movement where discussions about queerness and fat oppression are already taking place, and that our principal concern with intersectional politics is to inject a broader analysis into a conversation that is already taking place, everywhere.

As a queer fat woman in a small town, I do not live in a place where the intersection between queerness and fatness is a "done deal." In fact, I don't live in a place where queer and fat issues are separately taken into account. Again, as a graduate student, I have access to resources that not all small town residents enjoy, but I still wouldn't say that I belong to a queer "community" here so much as a group of queer friends-- and, because of queer alienation and invisibility in small towns, even that has taken months to cobble together. Here, I'm just beginning to hear the barest whisper of discussion about fat politics-- and again, that only because I have access to a campus.

In workshops, I heard quite a few people from urban settings note that NOLOSE was a safe space for them, because most of the time they felt surrounded by thinner people, and thus marginalized as fat people. I suppose it's true that fat bodies are more visible in my Midwestern small town. But I'd like to remind people that, just as being surrounded by women does not necessarily mean that one is in feminist space, living in an area with more fat bodies does not necessarily mean that one lives in a fat-positive environment. I have many fat friends, but quite a few of them are enrolled in Weight Watchers, and many others struggle in less formal ways with accepting their size. Consequently, the conversations I have with people face-to-face are still quite elementary: debunking the obesity epidemic, explaining Health At Every Size, attempting to demonstrate that fat acceptance is a valid social movement. I cannot afford to assume that queerness or fatness, let alone the intersection between the two, is something that does not need explanation.

This is not to say that I have no use for intersectional politics. In general, I think that the trajectory of most social justice movements is problematic and needs to change: you know, begin with a single-issue movement, universalize the experiences of the most privileged members of that movement, piss off a bunch of marginalized groups, and then attempt (or don't) to build a more intersectional approach once the already-biased base has already been formed. It would, I think, be really nice if, in my current environment, I could help to build queer and fat communities and movements that are intersectional from the get-go. But in order to do that, intersectional politics needs to be reframed as the founding basis for a movement, not something you work to achieve once certain structures are already in place. And that reframing, I assume, is something that would benefit all queer fat folk, not just the ones who don't have urban privilege.


Different Stakes, Different Strokes

I'd like to thank Glenn Marla for help on this next point: it was his offhand comment in the "More Than Just Fashion" workshop about rural settings that helped me solidify what was, until that point, a series of inarticulate misgivings into a full-fledged analysis. In that particular workshop, we discussed what Cristy has called the "NOLOSE Fashion Olympics": the perceived pressure on the part of several conference attendees to dress in certain fashionable ways, possible issues of exclusion that issue from the pressure to dress up, and the meanings of fashion and exclusivity in a conference where a) sexuality and sexual desirability are foregrounded, and b) issues of race, class, gender, size, shape, age, and so on are always already present.

All but absent in this conversation, I think, is the particular effect the Fashion Olympics may have on rural conference attendees in particular. Foremost, of course, is the question of material access for fatties in small towns. Internet access may work to some extent to level out the playing field in terms of clothes shopping, but shipping costs, the logistics of having to return clothing that doesn't fit, technological savvy, and other factors may work to limit equal access in a small-town setting.

Throughout the course of the conference, both Gini and I heard some urban conference attendees display contempt for some of the major brick-and-mortar plus size clothing stores, such as Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and so on. I'm very much in favor of supporting independent vendors whenever possible, but the fact is that because I live in a small town, I'm basically thrilled whenever there's a store with clothes in my size that I can walk into. I'm lucky enough to live in a place with a Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Torrid in relatively close proximity-- but even then, all three stores are in towns half an hour away, and because I don't own a car, I'm at the mercy of friends whose shopping moods and financial windfalls coincide with my own. Let's not forget that being able to shun the principal paths to plus-size fashion is, in and of itself, a privilege.

More important for me, I think conversations on the Fashion Olympics and NOLOSE sexual economies failed to take into account that, due to our differing geographical locations, attendees have differing emotional stakes in the conference. In particular, I am thinking about a comment during the "More Than Just Fashion" workshop asserting that conferences are perhaps more fun, and less stressful, if one does not attend with the expectation to participate in some sort of sexual economy, and/or if one does not attend with the expectation that NOLOSE will be the place where one is accepted. I think that kind of nonchalance is much easier when one lives in an urban setting, with a vibrant queer community and a significant fat-positive voice, where access to social acceptance and sexual currency is much easier to come by. But while, for some attendees, NOLOSE is a place where they can focus their energies and bring their experiences back to already-vibrant communities, for many rural attendees, NOLOSE is the only place where we can hope to depend on social and sexual acceptance. Many of us come to NOLOSE-- I certainly did-- with the knowledge that what community and connection we don't find at the conference, we will almost certainly not find at home. That automatically raises the stakes for us.

As such, when we talk about fashion and exclusion in a setting like NOLOSE, we need to take into account not just differences of material access for conference attendees, but also emotional access. We must also realize that small-town queers may not have access to the social connections enjoyed by urban queers, and as such, gaining entry to the social life of the conference may be more difficult-- a problem compounded by these increased emotional stakes.

* * * * * *

Those are my thoughts on the urban/rural split for the moment. As it has only been two days since the end of the conference, I don't have any firm conclusions or definite solutions yet. But I hope that this can be a starting point for a productive dialogue on how to include rural and small-town queers in NOLOSE, and in fat and queer politics more generally. I certainly welcome suggestions and comments on all of the above points, and would love to hear about the experiences of other small-town conference attendees.

Comments

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

I need to come back to this. I talked briefly with you and a few other people about the rural/urban split and east coast centrism. And some stuff.

So. I'm seeing you somewhat say that not everyone can be intersectional yet. And that before that intersectionality can happen, we need to deal with rural/urban splits, etc.

But but. Talking about rural/urban issues is something that is an aspect of intersectional identity. You are not a generic queer fat woman (as if there could be one). Your life as a queer fat woman is impacted by your physical location, your education, your money situation, etc. etc. Tackling the issue of NOLOSE making certain assumptions about the lives of its attendees is fundamentally about intersectionality. I think.

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

I'm not trying to say that not everyone can be intersectional yet. In fact, I'd say that the opposite is true: that social movements of all kinds need to be intersectional from the beginning. What I'm trying to say is that, in light of locational differences, urban queer fat folk need to revisit their assumptions about what an intersectional politics means, and what it looks like.

I agree with you that this is fundamentally about intersectionality, and I'm attempting (if not necessarily succeeding) to frame my concerns within that context. My concern about the conference is precisely the fact that it claimed to be about intersectional politics, but then went on to make some untenable assumptions and marginalize certain attendees. I don't want to claim that intersectional politics are unimportant, but I do want to say that for them to be effective, we need to allow, and account for, identities that we didn't expect.

[masculine-lady.livejournal.com]

I also need to come back to it, as I am with my kid at the moment. but I live in the midwest! so, yeah, I get what you are saying and want to talk about it more.

Gini's Response Part 1

[giniliz.livejournal.com]

Thanks for getting this written up and this discussion going somewhere beyond just some frustrated conversations between the two of us. Some additional thoughts of mine regarding rural fat queer radicalness:

I do, indeed, prefer smaller and even slightly more conservative areas. I like being a big fish, and I also like being The Local Radical. Radical in a small conservative town, however, may not look radical to those who are from more progressive and urban areas. I work in a job where I honestly have to define "GLBT" every single day for people on campus, and tossing in a Q or switching up the L and the G are the hot "new" topics of debate. I love retreating to space (such as NOLOSE) where such conversations are entirely old and I can catch the pulse of a larger movement that is moving forward at a faster pace, but the practical matter remains that I cannot take a whole suitcase of language, ideas, etc from such space and just plop them into rural southern Illinois and expect them to work.

As for queerness and fatness in areas such as this, a large part of it is due to practical realities of population density. If you have 450 people in a town (as the sign outside Makanda actually claims), the number of fatties and the number of queers is going to be small. The overlap is going to be, for all intents and purposes, nonexistent. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it means that a large need I see working in areas like this is for tools and frames that can move people of all identities to a broader understanding of social justice and (perhaps without using the phrase too loudly) radical politics. Queer fat activism for me in this time and place is going to have to involve working with groups on issues of poverty, racism, reproductive rights, etc... and bringing my queer fat self to those tables. In a rural area, intersectionality in political action is practically a given, because the 10 progressive people in the area are all simultaneously running the entire show of all progressive action for the area. There often just aren't enough of us to have isolated causes that are completely unaware of one another. That said, however, I do see some groups in this area (and others in which I have lived) falling into the trap of social justice issue isolation. I have seen it lead to burnout, fighting over limited time and resources, etc. And I have seen it lead to no change whatsoever. Rural areas are ripe for intersectional approaches to activism.

You brought up the matter of college and university campuses. That alone deserves some focused attention, in my opinion. Often in conservative areas and rural areas (frequently, though not always, the same areas) that house a university, the town-gown divide is sharp, and there is a great deal of community distrust for the "liberal politics" flowing from the educational institution. Many students find themselves just biding their time until they can escape and go back to a city, but how might that relationship be altered? I think there needs to be some conversation, especially for those of us who expect to remain in rural areas, about how to connect with the surrounding rural areas instead of seeing them as hopeless or irrelevant.

When I lived in Macon, I learned a bit about the "Rural Pride Initiative" that sought to provide support and resources and community for LGBT folk living away from Atlanta. Their goal was to create viable options other than moving to the city. As a friend and I were discussing just yesterday, the world could probably use a few more queer fat farmers! The priorities of the queer fat farmer, however, are likely to be pretty darn different from those found in the urban centers of the current developing movement. The language, communication strategies, etc may be different. Are we prepared to deal with that? (Side note: related matters even came up at the Town Hall meeting when a few folks expressed a desire to be contacted by phone instead of email.) Do we have space to recognize the radical awesomeness of a queer fat farmer who gets together with 2 other nice folks in town once a week to eat pie and talk about how to get some better people on the school board to address the abstinence-only sex "education" curriculum?

Gini's Response Part 2

[giniliz.livejournal.com]

"We need to build a movement that takes the experiences of rural queers into account, that gives them credit as activists and bearers of agency, and that, to some extent, decenters the city as the locus of activism."

Can I just say how much I love this phrasing? I think you may have just produced the best possible one sentence description of this project/conversation.

Weight Watchers, Curves, fundamentalist religious groups, and tons of anti-fat public health dollars are being poured into rural areas. There is, therefore, a great need for radicals to be able to make their home (whether temporary or permanent) in such areas and effect change. I like being in such an area because I can see clear results of my work. I hope we can develop some space for conversation with others about how that fits into the bigger picture of queer fat activism.

"As such, when we talk about fashion and exclusion in a setting like NOLOSE, we need to take into account not just differences of material access for conference attendees, but also emotional access. We must also realize that small-town queers may not have access to the social connections enjoyed by urban queers, and as such, gaining entry to the social life of the conference may be more difficult-- a problem compounded by these increased emotional stakes."

I truly got teary when I read this. You've hit on something very real here. Just 2 days a year to be around people who get it -- toss in a hefty cultural divide and consistent reminders that you're a visitor to this "scene" located far from where you live, and it's just a lot to handle. Some of this will always be an issue and none of this is anybody's "fault," but there must be ways to make this movement more accessible to those of us whose grassroots activism is located in the middle of corn and soybean fields.

[masculine-lady.livejournal.com]

ok. hmmm. you are right. but I need to add that there was no way in hell we were ever going to be capable of addressing every intersection that met us in those rooms. that being said, I have often struggled with this myself. I live in the fattest state in the nation, and sure, I see lots of fat people all the time. But I don't see Fat people. Lots of lesbians, not so many queers. And none of them have any idea about intersections, save the few close friends I have been able to make.

You are clearly very smart and thoughtful, and well, I am all kinds of personalizing this, but it rings true. What also rings true, however, is that NOLOSE is dynamic and open to change.

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

but I need to add that there was no way in hell we were ever going to be capable of addressing every intersection that met us in those rooms.

Well... no. But that doesn't absolve any of us from trying. Nor does it mean that the intersections that weren't explicitly addressed at the conference are somehow less important than the ones that were. I'm not asking that anybody at NOLOSE-- attendees or board members-- attempt to anticipate in advance all of the ways in which fat might intersect with other identities. But I think there might be ways, in future conferences and future iterations of queer and fat activism, to open up a space for unanticipated intersections to emerge and become part of the conversation.

I would also add that I don't think urban/rural issues are new or unexpected. Rural queers have been complaining about urban chauvinism for years. This is, in my opinion, a long-overdue conversation-- not just at NOLOSE, but in queer circles more generally. What can we do to make this particular conference a place where that dialogue can begin to happen?

I live in the fattest state in the nation, and sure, I see lots of fat people all the time. But I don't see Fat people. Lots of lesbians, not so many queers. And none of them have any idea about intersections, save the few close friends I have been able to make.

I definitely struggle with the same problem in my small town an hour or so away from yours. I do what I can. I make friends with like-minded people, and try to do what I can to make my small group into a community. I am open with my friends in Weight Watchers about my fat-positive politics-- with the hope that, months or even years down the line, what I say will make sense to them. I teach my students the basics of intersectional politics-- and while they're not quite where I'd like them to be, I think they may be starting to get it, just the teensiest bit. I try to create spaces for this stuff, the best way I know how. And I think we'd all benefit from more dialogue on how to create such spaces and communities in non-urban settings, as well as how to connect the work of rural activists to larger national movements without marginalizing their contributions.

You are clearly very smart and thoughtful, and well, I am all kinds of personalizing this, but it rings true. What also rings true, however, is that NOLOSE is dynamic and open to change.

I know it is, and that's why I want to start this conversation. This entry isn't intended as idle whining about how the board didn't do enough. I recognize that, as board president, you busted your ass for this conference, and I hope you know that I appreciate your efforts. What I want-- what I intend this entry to be-- is a way to open up dialogue about how we might change things for the better in future conferences. This year's conference is over; what's done is done. What do we build from here?

[giniliz.livejournal.com]

"I need to add that there was no way in hell we were ever going to be capable of addressing every intersection that met us in those rooms."

I see this as one of the ongoing critiques of identity politics and very much related to my point (above) about the inherent overlap of justice efforts in small communities where the same 10 people do just about all the progressive work. It's not that we need a rural caucus. It's that this is a general awareness issue that needs to be integrated into the conversation. If we go about justice work with a checklist of intersectional identities ("Okay, let's see... have we covered race? Check. Class? Check. Gender? Check. Age? Check. Ability? Check. Urbanization? Check.") we're not really going to get to the broader and deeper character of a justice movement because we'll be so wrapped up in our evergrowing checklist which, by its nature, will never be complete (since the axes of oppression are ever emerging). Addressing specific intersections in isolation is one method, but not the only method, of looking at issues of access and marginalization in a movement.

[daland.livejournal.com]

isn't fatness one of the very stereotypes of the rural poor?

i mean, many of the very vocal I DON'T SHOP AT WALMART types cite the unattractiveness (read: fatness) of the other customers as reason enough not to go. there are of course better examples of what i mean here but the premises generally are:

1. rural america is a land of moo-cows
2. it is solely due to their bad life choices of eating doritos and drinking mass-market beer
3. their fatness is a good predictor of other bad traits: ignorance, alcoholism, bigotry, etc

[giniliz.livejournal.com]

re: 1, indeed! I was thinking how ironic it is that those who live right next door to the pigs and cows of fattie insults are often the most removed from the world of fat activism.

[geeksdoitbetter.livejournal.com]

specific conversations about queerness and fatness and their intersection were all but absent

OOooO

your line about what may or may not have been said/heard in conversations struck me

i initially thought "oh man! my in person communications were being evaluated and perhaps found wanting?"

but, when i went back to re read the paragraph, i think i was wrong. i don't think you were describing a difference between what was said in workshops and what was said in personal conversations.

so, while it's totally not what you meant or even said, it's apparently very much what i was worrying about all weekend. which i will now ponder along with the whole clique bit

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

*smile*

Don't worry; I wasn't judging all your comments and finding you wanting. In fact, if anything, what struck me about your comments (well, there was a lot about you that struck me, hee hee) was that when I mentioned my issues about the conference as a rural resident, you responded with: "I hadn't thought about that before. I'll have to consider that more." Which, I think, is The Right Answer. We don't always take everything into account, but we can, when confronted with something we don't normally consider, make an effort to take it more into account. And you did that, and that was what I appreciated.

I really was thinking more about conversations in workshops when I wrote this. Generally speaking, my personal conversations were pretty positive.

[cappucinogrrl.livejournal.com]

Do you know what's happening with fat girl flea market?

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

Not even a fraction of a clue. Sorry.

Are you a member of fatshionista? You might be more likely to get announcements when the Fat Girl Flea Market is coming up.

[little_star]

folks are talking about planning one for the Spring of 2009.
i'm sure all will be revealed when there's some information.


but also anyone can organize a fat girl flea market type event in their area. i'm more than happy to help give advice. look for a post from me in the next week or so about how to do that. it's a fantastic way to help build community for sure.

[wylddelirium.livejournal.com]

Was pointed here from nolose, and really appreciate your insight. I come from a suburban area, with some urban access but not on a regular basis (DC is about an hour, as is Baltimore, from where I live). I did notice an urban focus to the event - the assumption of certain access (to lbgtq health centers, to doctors of all shades who are lbgtq friendly, access to other politicized fatties on a regular basis, etc). I noticed the lack of "do you need to meet more nolose peeps from where you're from" activities, or even somewhere for people to post about fat activism in their part of the country. It all felt somewhat assumed, that we were either already plugged into that, or could easily find it if we went looking. I dunno - I live inbetween two big cities and I haven't really found it yet.

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

*nods* Exactly. I think there was an assumption of certain kinds of access.

And I think it might be cool to have "meet NOLOSE people where you're from" activities, or regional caucuses, or something in the near future. Something that enables us to plug into activist circles and continue working on this stuff after the conference is over.

[falcngrl.livejournal.com]

It's interesting because, while I do come from a large city, I experience NOLOSE in many of the same ways that you do.

I constantly had to ask people to clarify jargon/acronyms that were Americanized. Many people understood what was meant automatically, but as a Canadian they didn't always ring a bell. Also, people would talk about US events as if they were the norm for everyone, whereas I think they were the norm for urban americans.

There were a whole slew of TO folks at the conference. I had met one (besides the friend I brought with me) once several years ago, and heard of one. So even when there is a city there can still be isolation.

T

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

I think you bring up an interesting point. Even though I'm mostly focusing on the experience of coming from a rural area in the U.S., I did meet quite a few Canadian and British participants. The conference did seem to take American identity politics as its assumed basis, and I can imagine it might be more than a little disorienting and frustrating for people who come to the conference from other countries.

Do you have any specific suggestions for how the conference might be more open for non-American attendees, that are different from what is suggested in this thread for rural attendees?

[fattest.livejournal.com]

I would so love to know what jargon is Americanized, so I can be aware of that when I'm speaking. Sadly, I don't have the first fucking clue!

Also, some folks and I were talking over brunch today about how much of the language used at nolose is rooted in our various subcultures, and quite inaccessible. I read the evaluation forms, and one person requested a glossary. Not a bad idea, actually.

[etana.livejournal.com]

would you be interested in guest-blogging this on fatshionista.com?

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

OMG ABSOLUTELY YES

Tell me what I need to do, and I'll do it. ;)

[plasticsturgeon.livejournal.com]

Apparently I somehow failed to meet you (or identify you) there! Too distracted to say anything intelligent now, but wow! I like your posts!

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

*blush* Awww, you flatter me!

We may have met. What's your name? Your LJ handle rings no bells, alas.

And if we didn't meet, that's just plain sad, and we'll just have to continue to talk online and meet next time around!

[fattest.livejournal.com]

Off topic, but is there a shorthand way to insert someone's actual name in the username link, or do I have to type all that code by hand? (I looked at the source code and it seems like a total pain in the arse.)

[starstealingirl.livejournal.com]

I post my LJ entries using the Semagic LJ client, which has a built-in shorthand for inserting someone's name in the username link. You can go here (http://www.livejournal.com/download/) to download a client, if you're so inclined.

[effrontery.livejournal.com]

Hey! I posted here on the NOLOSE boards about your post..I'd love it if you came over there and dropped your insight! Thanks for raising these issues...I think they're really important.