Meet the Fattylympian: Isha

Say hi to Isha!

Who are you?
My name is Isha (pronounced eye-sha), and dabble in a few creative things: writing, photography, making bags and blogging.

What does the Fattylympics mean to you?
It'll be my first time coming to this event, and look forward to meeting some amazing people who actually look like me! I'm looking forward to making like-minded friends in an environment where I won't be made to feel like an outcast. It's a level of acceptance that us plus size folks rarely get.

What's the best thing you can do with your body?
Compliment it with clothes that make you happy. If that means wearing a pencil skirt, then wear it, regardless of the amount of looks you may get for squeezing your hips into it! I personally LOVE wearing pencil skirts. Also, try things that take you out of your comfort zone- colour and pattens can be incredibly flattering- if you never try, you'll never know.

Who would you most like to invite to the Fattylympics, and why?
This is going to sound incredibly soppy, but I'd like to invite anyone who wakes up everyday and avoids looking in the mirror because of how they look (Charlotte: this might be the point to start singing the Fattylympics Anthem!). I want them to know that they are not alone and that there is a growing community that is there to give loving support and encouragement. I want anyone who attends to feel proud of their bodies, proud of their curves/flab/stretch-marks/non-commercial beauty, and realise that true beauty comes from loving yourself and realising that those that don't accept you, don't matter (I know it's a constant struggle).

Egg or Spoon? 
Egg surely?!An egg's hips don't lie ;p

What else would you like to say?
Er, shameless plug, but I have a blog : / I've only just started it actually, so it's baby steps thus far, but you can also see a small selection of the jewellery and bags that me and my partner in crime make: creativetypefashion.blogspot.co.uk

Are you a Fattylympian? Wanna be featured here? Get in touch: beefergrrl@hotmail.com

Reflecting on the Fattylympics Anthem

I'm so excited by the Anthem, I wrote a little post for Obesity Timebomb where I think about it a bit more.

Meet the Fattylympian: Verity

Verity volunteered to write the Fattylympics Anthem and she did a fantastic job. Take a look and have a listen. Here's a bit more about her and about it...

Please introduce yourself

My name's Verity Susman. I play in Electrelane and I've got a solo project now: http://www.facebook.com/veritysusman

Why did you volunteer to write the Fattylympics Anthem?

I wanted to have a go at writing an anthem for an important event, and of all the events happening in London this summer, the Fattylympics seems the most important.

Could you talk a bit about the process of writing it?

At first I thought about anthems and hymns I really like, then got a bit depressed thinking I can never write anything like that, but it was useful in terms of thinking about the structure of these type of songs.

After Charlotte sent me the lyrics I kept them going round in my head and when I started singing a suitable melody to myself I recorded it on dictophone. I went back to it later and worked out a chord structure to go with it.

The recording is the demo I sent to Charlotte - it's just using the keyboard I had to hand at the time (and a keyboard guitar sound - keytar! - because my real guitar got broken on a recent trip). It's just a demo because the hope was that people would learn it and sing it at the Fattylympics, which is the main thing.

I realised later on that there are lots of references to dreaming in the lyrics, what is your dream for the Fattylympics Anthem?

For 20,000 people to sing it standing in a field...or even 20 would do.

What else would you like to say?

I'm gutted I can't be there on the day - can someone make a film of the Fattylympics? (Charlotte's answer: yes!)

The Fattylympics Anthem!

If you're going to have a Fattylympics, and if you're going to have an Opening Ceremony, you need an anthem to go with it. Fattylympians, we have not let you down. It gives me enormous pleasure to share the official Fattylympics Anthem.

Please have a listen to it, familiarise yourselves with the words and the tune. Sing it loud and proud, or hum it quietly (substitute 'fudge' for the swearword if you need to). We will be singing the Anthem on the day, hopefully with you.

Listen to the Fattylympics Anthem, played and sung by Verity in super hi-fi (.wav 25mb) or slightly more lo-fi (.mp3 3.3mb)

The Fattylympics Anthem 2012
Words by Charlotte Cooper, music by Verity Susman

When you're looking in the mirror and you don't like what you see
Try to dream of social justice
Try to dream of being free

Trapped in the shadow of a corporate beast
You don't have to fuck people over to survive

You can try a different way
Maybe today we'll learn a new way to be alive

(shouting)
Let's try to dream it together
Let's dream it together today

It won't be perfect because things never are
But when times are hard we'll remember messing around in the park

Doo doo doo doo doo doo...

Verity and I have released the Fattylympics Anthem under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported Licence. This means that, as long as you credit us and your work is non-commercial, you are free to share this song and remix it as long as you share your remixes.

Fattylympics Anthem chords in F Major (.txt, 10k)
Fattylympics Anthem chords in Eb Major (in case you want to sing it in a lower register) (.txt, 10k)


The Fattylympics Anthem by Charlotte Cooper and Verity Susman is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at fattylympics.blogspot.co.uk.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://fattylympics.blogspot.co.uk/.

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