A fat idea

I realise the title is a bit cryptic. That’s just the way it is. I have a new idea and I’d like you to hear about it. But rather than write about it, I’ve talked about it. Have a listen.

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(If anyone would like to transcribe this for me, please do. I am pushing stuff up a hill today so won’t get to it for a while…)

ETA: Here is the transcript

Hey. So. You’re listening to this file. Congratulations, you’ve one yourself a prize. And that prize is the chance to listen to me explain to you the idea that I’ve had in the last.. oh..  I’ve had the idea for the last three or four months but I’ve kinda sat on it. And realistically the weekend – the Fat Studies conference has forced me to come out and chat about that idea.

And, what is my idea you might be thinking?

Well you’ve probably heard about Lesley and Marianne doing the fatcast in America. Well, for a long time now I’ve been a very big aficionado of radio and internet radio and podcasting and back in the day I used to actually work for a community radio station which means I’ve got a few skills in regards to audio mixing and editing and things like that. And for a long time now I’ve really wanted to have a podcast of my own. But I haven’t had the guts or the time to really put anything together. But now is the time; now is the time for action. And so I’m here asking you today if you will join me on this journey.

What I want to do is I want to start a fatcast and just to see if whether can do something that is similar to Marianne and Lesley but in Australia. Not just US focused but Australian focused for all those Australian fatties out there who sometimes think that the world doesn’t realise that they’re there. Because we do have a very strong FA community within Australia; it’s just that half the time we never know how to communicate with one another.  So how about communicating with one another through a podcast?

So, my idea is this. That once a week, you know, three or four of us would get together and we’d have a bit of a chat over Skype, so you’d be able to do it from home, and I would record that and that would end up becoming a podcast. We wouldn’t be aiming for any official sort of format per se. I mean there would be guidelines; like we’d probably have an intro and maybe look at some sort of, like, article or something that has happened in the community in the last week or two and then we could all talk about it and discuss it.

Now, so that it’s not a burden what I’ve also thought is that we could have like a rotating cast I guess you could say. So that there’d be three or four of us and I’d be here all the time ‘cause I’ m the one sorta, you know, doing the recording and mixing and all that but we can have lots of different people rotating through the other positions. So like, for example, Natalie, my wife, will be involved one week and then maybe another person and… you know that way it just mixes it up for you guys. Some of you will want to be involved every week, and that’d be awesome, but there’s  some of you that are only going to have like, maybe be able to do it once a month or twice a month. So, it just gives you the option to, sort of, work out what you think you can do.

So where from here? Well, basically the idea is that I want to get one done within the next 30 days. I want to get one trial run done just to see what is sounds like and to see how we are, you know, on the voice side of things and the technology side of things, cause I’ve never done any of this sort of Skype recording. I’ve got some software which I can use which I’ve got a trial for30 days, and that’s why I’ve got the 30 day time frame.  Let’s get it done. Let’s see if we can do it, and let’s see if we can be productive because I think this is really important.

You know, we’ve got the knowledge and we’ve got the backing behind us of our own conviction so why don’t we use that for the good of all the other fatties within Australia who really want to hear an Australian voice.

It’s going to be great to have a male voice on the panel, and if I can find other men to interview along the way that would be great. Also, yes, interviews. I want to find people that we can interview; again we can do that over Skype so we can get people like Charlotte Cooper and lots of other people around the world interviewed from their place at a time that suits them. So we’re not limited by trying to fly people into a studio or stuff like that. So it’s going to be awesome.

So are you interested? Are you as excited about it as I am? I hope so. Because if you are, get in touch. I want you to be on this thing. It’s not just about me, it’s about all of us getting together and having a good chat and a bit of a fun time, but then getting that out there so other people can see just how awesome Fat Acceptance can be.

So I hope I’ve convinced you. If I have, drop me an email or get it to me on Twitter or on Facebook or wherever you can get in contact with me and let’s do this thing.

Cheers.