Screen capture from one of Muzique's owners Facebook page after the apology

The management at Muzique said the comment was an accident and they are thinking of posting an apology. The funny thing is that a “Boycott Muzique Nightclub”  page has cropped up and posted the following exchange of an owner and a potential customer

So any apology would be pretty superficial at this point.

Then there is the case of Michelle Fonville of DeKalb County, Georgia USA. Michelle went to have a manicure, pedicure and eyebrow arch done at Natural Nails on Covington Highway in Lithonia. When she went to pay her bill, the salon manager Kim Tran, rang up her bill which was $5 more than it should have been. Tran explained that the $5 was a surcharge for her being overweight.  “I said, Ma’am, you can’t charge me $5 more. That’s discrimination because of my weight,” said Fonville.

Salon manager Kim Tran told Philips that the surcharge was due to costly repairs of broken chairs by overweight customers. She said the chairs have a weight capacity of 200 pounds and cost $2,500 to fix.

“Do you think that’s fair when we take $24 [for manicure and pedicure] and we have to pay $2,500? Is that fair? No,” Tran said to reported Eric Philips of Atlanta’s channel 2 Action News.

Tran refunded the $5 and asked Michelle not to return.

I think the problems starts with the government and the media. They start with the attack on the “thing” in this case obesity. They sterilize the subject so much that they separate obesity from the person with obesity and it becomes easier to attack. Then, slowly the two merge in the public mindset, thus making the obese person the subject of the attack, then, we find businesses like Muzique and Natural Nails and managers like Kim Tran who find it easy to vilify a person for their size.

So the question begs to be asked, as large/overweight/fat/obese or whatever label we are tagged with, what are we going to do about it?

As you may know, I am from Texas. And this weekend in Texas, we have a sales tax “holiday” so people can get these supplies saving themselves the 8-10% sales tax (depending on the county and city they shop in). It was very poorly timed this year as school starts tomorrow.

The first step in the process of school supply shopping is the list, or lists as the case may be. And therein lays my problem. There are three lists for me this year. A third grade, an eighth grade and a twelfth grade list.

Here are the lists:

Third Grade:

Two large boxes of facial tissue
One box of Crayola crayons – 24 count
Presharpened #2 pencils – 36 count
One package of 12″ x 18″ Manila Paper – 50 sheets
Two packages of 12″‘ x 18″ Sulphite Construction Paper = 50 sheets -
Two large glue sticks
One pair of sharp point scissors
One package of wide ruled notebook paper – 200 count
Solid colored pocket folders – one each in the following colors: red, blue, yellow, brown, white, orange, purple, and green – horizontal pockets with no brads.
Two spiral notebooks – wide ruled, 100 pages
Crayola Washable Markers – 8 pack – broad tipped
One 12 inch ruler English/Metric
Two black marble Composition books
One 12 count box of Color Map pencils
One package of Blue Ballpoint pens – 4 count
Four large erasers
One box of quart of gallon size Ziplock bags

Eighth Grade:

One 12” Ruler (metric/standard)
One 3 subject spiral notebook
One 8 tab divider w/pockets
One Grooming kit (toothbrush, toothpaste, comb)
One Hand held Pencil Sharpener w/Receptacle
One package 12×18 colored construction paper
One Package 12×18 Manila paper
One Package 8-tab dividers w/pockets
One Package colored lined index cards (3×5)
One Package highlighters
One Package of Graph Paper (1/4 inch)
One Package Red Ball point pens (no gel pens)
One package washable markers
One pair of scissors
One Ream of white copy paper
One-two inch 3 ring binder w/pockets
Two 1 inch binders
Two 1.5 inch binders
Two Flat Erasers
Two Large Boxes of Kleenex
Two Package Black or Blue ball point pens (no gel pens)
Two Packages 12 count colored map pencils
Two packages lined index cards (4×6)
Two Packages of Pencils (no mechanical)
Two spiral notebooks (75-100 pages)
Three 3- brad folders w/pockets
Three Glue sticks
Three Packages Notebook Paper (Wide-Ruled Only)
Three packages of wipes
Five Packages lined white index cards (3×5)
Seven black & white Composition Journals

So these are the two lists I have to work from. You will notice there is nothing listed for the high school senior here. That is because high school students get their supply lists the first or second day of class with their syllabus. The only thing we were told was that since classes can vary, the list will vary. WTF? So each teacher can’t go through and list online what the students need mid-summer so parents that are strapped for cash after the barrage of nonsense they require us to purchase for the younger grades can budget properly? That is absolutely ridiculous. The only thing we were told is that one class with need a TI-85 graphing calculator. A quick look at Walmart’s website doesn’t even list the TI-85. It does show a TI-83, which is over $100. I found it on Amazon.com for about 1/3 the price used and about the same price new.

And now the craziness of the younger children’s supplies. First off, folders. There are two things that really annoyed the hell out of me. Number one, color coding, and nutty color coding to boot. It is completely impossible in the 3 counties that surround my town to find a white folder. There is manila, but these do not have pockets. You would think that this would be probably the most common color, but, alas, no. The same holds true for brown. I purchased a folder that was white and another that was brown that had designs on them, and this will have to suffice. Next, they mention no brads. It took me 3 hours, literally, to find out what a “brad” was. Apparently, it is the metal file clip they put in folders to hold the paper in. To me it would seem beneficial to have them, but who am I? Just the person that buys the stuff, that’s all. Then there is the wipes and tissues and etc. Ok, we had the bird/swine flu stuff, it may be somewhat reasonable. But I hear some schools are requiring parents to send toilet paper with their kids. Again, WTF? Also these composition books. I went to 7 stores to find the 8 that I needed. And the list state black, I could only find 3 black, the rest are purple and green. But once again, what is wrong with a spiral? There were plenty of spirals and they were much cheaper.

And to further my rant, aren’t we in the 21st century? In the long run, wouldn’t it be more economical to have the students get a netbook or laptop, a Kindle and a Livescribe?

For those who are not familiar, The Livescribe is a smartpen. It features a ballpoint pen with an embedded computer and digital audio recorder. When used with special paper, it records what it writes for later uploading to a computer, and synchronizes those notes with any audio it has recorded. This allows a user to replay portions of a recording by tapping on the notes he or she was taking at the time the recording was made. It is also possible to select which portion of a recording to replay by clicking on the relevant portion of a page on-screen, once it has been synced to the Livescribe Desktop software. If your child used the LeapFrog software when growing up, this will be familiar to them. The founder of Livescribe invented the Leapfrog Pentop computer. If you want to check it out, you can click here.

If you do not know what a Kindle is, it is an electronic tablet that specifically allows for the downloading and reading of books. If you are a Star Trek fan, it you be similar to the tablets they used on The Next Generation series and later in which they could read entire books on an electronic “pad”. It is exclusive to Amazon and you can get more information here.

I understand that these 3 items alone can cost between $500 and $1000 per child, but think of this, if it’s implemented in the 3rd grade let’s say, these are items that can follow them through the end of high school. So the $500 I invest this year versus the $300 I pay per child every year is made up in 2 years time. Even if it’s $1000, I have saved by the time my child enters middle school. Then, there are no need for the schools to spend millions on text books, as the whole book can be downloaded to the Kindle for pennies on the dollar. There would be no need to 50 different types of paper, only the Livescribe paper and not much of that because the assignments can be uploaded to the laptop and emailed to the teacher for review. Plus, parents can see all the work. The only “file folder” the child would need would be on the laptop.

Arguments can be made that in 9 years that I am suggesting this span that technology can change dramatically. I can understand. But, I will say this. The kids right now have Dell Dimensions 2400 and 5300 desktop computers at home. They were manufactured in 1999. They run Windows XP and both have Office 2007. And aside from a few updates, they work fine for them. So, these computers are 11 years old and still get the job done. There is no reason why that can’t be the case for equipment bought today for a 3rd grader.

I would be totally on board with this, and then maybe people wouldn’t have to lose 90% of their sanity trying to find the correct brand, color and style of toilet paper the school needs because the school administrators can go back to budgeting for it and teachers can go back to worrying about educating instead of trying to hunt down the tools they need to do their jobs.

Several years ago I started with a company and I was very optimistic about my future there. I had already served in management in the last few companies I had worked for, working my way up from entry level positions in each one. I had thought that this company was good and worth working my way up again. So, I took an entry level position.

The day I started, I also went on a diet. I weighed about 525 pounds and I was very unhealthy. I didn’t exercise and I did not eat healthy. So, in an effort to lose weight, I did was many tend to do and did a crash diet, I actually fasted…for 50 days. I consumed juice and water and supplemented with vitamins. In the 50 days I fasted I had lost about 90 pounds. After working for the company for 9 months, my supervisor was suddenly quitting, and I was chosen to be put into an “acting” supervisory role. I was there for 4 months. In that time, I started gaining weight, as people who do crash diets usually find. After the 4 months, I returned to my entry level position. I had also gained about 70 of the 90 pounds I had lost. My manager (who left the company soon after my stint) actually gave me an award for my performance and 5 of my 12 employees were promoted during or within a month of my temporary role.

I went back to my entry level position. I did apply for several supervisory roles; however, I did not even get selected for an interview. During this same time, I started looking into getting weight loss surgery. I thought that that might help my overall health. However, even tipping the scales at 600 pounds, the surgery was an “exclusion” under my company’s policy. Which is interesting seeing that the company had a self managed plan, so all appeals went back to the company. (Insurance stated they wanted to approve it, but they couldn’t because of the company).

After about a year, I got an interview, and I thought i did well. An old supervisor of mine actually was on the board. But I didn’t get it. New supervisors were chosen and I was put on one of the newbies team. Since she had never been a supervisor before, and I had, the manager asked me to show her the ropes. Being the “team player” I trained the woman that beat me out of the job (who incidentally had no management experience versus my 10 years with different companies in 3 different industries, including the industry I was applying for).

After about 2 months I was in one of my coaching meetings with her (she was coaching me as required by her job) and she was pointing out my strengths and “opportunities”. I finally told her that she didn’t need to do that with me and I finally addressed the 600 pound gorilla in the room: me. I told her what had happened, I also told her that in my estimation, since I wasn’t given more opportunity to increase my income through promotion, and that I was being denied an opportunity to get the surgery I needed that the company just didn’t care if I lived or died. And I know that no one is irreplaceable etc, but they touted high employee satisfaction and I just wasn’t seeing it. Keep in mind, this was a sedentary job.

She was nice about it, empathized and then tried to get me to see the company view and encouraged me to keep trying etc. Later on that day, she asked to meet with me again. She handed me a business card for a psychiatrist. She (possibly after consulting with her manager) thought that my statement was a sign of depression and that maybe I needed to seek help.

I am not knocking anyone with depression, as I did have a serious bout with it several years later. But at that time, I was not depressed. I was just beat up.  I never got the management position there. I wound up moving on.

The stigma of being fat is being lazy. When they put me in that acting supervisory role, I worked up to 14 hours a day, sometimes 7 days a week. I made sure that all of my team was at minimum competent at their job, but most excelled because I worked with them and taught them what to do. I wasn’t lazy. I was fat.

So when you see me write about things like the Elliott-Larsen Act in Michigan and of anti-weight discrimination laws in San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Washington, D. C., I don’t think that anyone should have to train the person that beat them out of a job because they were too fat.

That is my personal recollection of an instance I faced. Do you have any? Post it in comments below.

An Equal Opportunity Employer is one who is simply following United States federal law by complying with laws preventing discrimination on the basis of race, sex, creed, religion, color, national origin, age (for those over 40), disability status, genetic information, and military history. These employers also must follow certain state and local laws that include non-discrimination policies against sexual orientation. In essence, the proclamation on these documents is that “we follow existing law”.

But what about “size-opportunity”? I guess it would help to define “size-opportunity”. Size-opportunity is the doctrine that every person has equal opportunity and access to a service or product from which they can benefit without regard to their height or weight. This principle allows for any person, no matter if he/she is short, tall, fat, thin or anywhere in between.

Currently only one state has codified this principle. In 1976, Michigan created the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which declared “The opportunity to obtain employment, housing and other real estate, and the full and equal utilization of public accommodations, public service, and educational facilities without discrimination because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status as prohibited by this act, is recognized and declared to be a civil right.”  This was landmark legislation in the world of size-opportunity. Since then, 3 United States cities, San Francisco, California, San Jose, California, and Washington D.C. have passed laws preventing discrimination on the basis of size.

So that brings me back to what is a Size-Opportunity Employer? A company that is a Size-Opportunity Employer adheres to the following:

• Does not discriminate against a person on the basis of height or weight in hiring processes
• Does not discriminate against a person on the basis of height or weight in promotion processes
• Does not employ tactics that are designed to “shame” a person based on their height or weight (for example, charging a person more for insurance due to their weight or not providing desks with enough room for a tall person)
• Does not employ tactics that are designed to keep a person hidden from public view based on their height or weight (for example, not hiring a fat person for a customer facing position)
• Does not allow an atmosphere of sizism in the performance review and it’s pay policies
• Does not promote weight loss as a company tool for overall health, but promotes healthy living and lifestyles (such as a Health at Every Size program).
• In organizations where uniforms are required or company apparel is either offered as incentive or as a promotion, to provide equal access to this apparel to employees of all sizes
• Provide accommodations to people according to their size with company equipment.

The above is certainly not a comprehensive list, but it is a start.

So why am I discussing Size-Opportunity and what it means to be a Size-Opportunity Employer, or even a Size-Friendly employer? The reason is simple. Two-thirds of Americans are either overweight or obese. And that includes tall and short and everyone in between. This is a matter that affects everyone on a large-scale (no pun intended). In order to function, companies will have to adopt these ideals; especially those jobs which are relatively sedentary. Those jobs where the person sits at their desk for 8 or more hours a day; jobs such as call center representatives, receptionists, and analysts just to name a few.

So if you are a size friendly employer and want to advertise as such, here are a few places where you can list you postings. Be sure to include “size” in your Equal Opportunity Employer statement!

Yahoo HotJobs

Job.com

I invite you to visit the site, join and create your profile. It is not an organization, but a way for anyone who is involved or is a friend of the size acceptance community to network. The web address is http://sizeacceptance.wackwall.com. The site also maintains a Facebook group page, a Twitter page and a LinkedIn group page. All of which can be easily accessed from the main site. I have lsited the press release below and I hope to see you on the UNSA community soon!

Size Acceptance Community Unites
Fat, tall & little people have a new place to call home & find acceptance. The Universal Network for Size Acceptance has officially launched. A site dedicated to promoting size acceptance, UNSA is be the “Facebook” of the Size Acceptance movement.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 01, 2010 – UNSA is a free community of activists, advocates, supporters and friends of those who support size acceptance. UNSA is not an organization, but it is a place where organizations can reach members in a personal atmosphere.  http://sizeacceptance.wackwall.com/

The UNSA Community is unique in 2 ways. First, it encompasses not just fat people, but tall and little people as well. UNSA is a community that believes size is 3 dimensional and as such, should support people of all shapes and sizes. Secondly, it is a social community. Powered by the Wackwall Social Network Builder, UNSA allows users to befriend other users, join and create groups, post links, videos, pictures and forum topics. It allows all walks of the size acceptance movement to interact, collaborate, debate and most importantly, work to advance the cause of size acceptance.

The Universal Network for Size Acceptance invites all organizations and individuals to join and to use the site as a way to communicate group or personal activities. The site is located at http://sizeacceptance.wackwall.com/

# # #

ABOUT UNSA: UNSA is a website that is operated by Steven Zarella. The original incarnation of this site was known at the Fat Activist Network, created by Krissy Durden (Pony Boy Press) and Carrie Padian (Big Fat Blog/Fat Rights Coalition), both of which are ardent Fat/Size Acceptance advocates and activists. In May 2010, the site was acquired by Steven Zarella and over the following few months expanded the site to include not only weight based groups, but height as well. Steven Zarella is the author of the blog Big and Tall Shorts and operates the size friendly commerce site Huge Comfort.

But don’t fret, because there is hope. First of all, what you need to do is assess the space you want to use. Ideally, it will be a separate room, but there are sometimes where you need to share your workspace with another function of your home. If you do not have a separate room available, be sure you pick a room where you can comfortably work free of distraction. If you have children, then the family room or living room might not be the greatest space. Instead you may want to consider a bedroom or even the garage. At any rate, whichever room you choose, put in some sort of divider, that way you are not a slave to work or distracted by the other features in the room.

Then you have to decide on a desk. If you are tall, then leg space will be essential. Some desks have adjustable height features; these may be your best bet. If you are big, then you have to consider the space under the desk. In my case, I chose a drafting table styled desk. It has no drawers; it is big and strong enough to hold all of my peripherals on the top of the desk. But your needs may vary, so look around.

One of the most important aspects of the office is your chair. Without a comfortable chair, the office is useless as you will not want to utilize it. Chairs with high backs, adjustable height, and a high weight capacity are all features you should look for. Also consider the spacing of the arms. Lots of chairs have arms that telescope out at the side to provide maximum comfort. However, even these may not be big enough. Chairs without arms may be the way to go if that is the case. One great site that I have found for this is SitBetter.com. Check them out and see if they have something that suits you.

In the modern world, no office is complete without a computer system. A basic office should have a desktop or laptop computer,
Kindle reader, printer, scanner, internet access, and appropriate lighting. If you are looking for power and don’t need to travel, then a desktop is for you.

With the emergence of the 6-core desktop computer, desktops have all the power you need for you home office. Desktop computers can have up to 8 gigabytes of RAM in really good systems. They can also have hard disk drives with up to 2 terabytes of memory.

On the flip side, if portability is essential, then the laptop is the way to go. You will still need the peripherals (printer, scanner, etc.) but they stay at home and the laptop can go with you. Most laptops cap out at 4 gigabytes of RAM and you can get about a ½ terabyte hard drive. Just insure there is room for expandable memory and lots of USB slots to accommodate the peripherals on your desk, otherwise, invest in a high speed AC powered USB hub. Great deals on computers can be found at such places as TigerDirect, eBay, and Amazon.

Just remember, in order to work effectively, you must be comfortable, so you have to make sure that the equipment you get works for you. Try to go to stores that have what you need. But also, you can comparison shop price online and see if you can get the items cheaper (the above mentions sites have great deals!) These few small steps can make you home office a place where you can live work and enjoy!

Pictures – If you have them saved on your computer already, then you already have it backed up, you will simply need to upload it on the new site when it is available. If, however, you do not have it saved on your computer, simply go to your page, go to your photos, and open up the picture by clicking on it (this is so it can open up to its largest state). Once the picture is opened, right click on the photo and choose “Save As” and choose the location on your computer that you wish to save it on.

Right click on the picture and select "Save Image As..."

Select the location in which you would like to save and click the "Save" button.

Once it is saved, you can look in your file and see if the picture save correctly!

Videos – I believe all the videos are actually links from sites such as YouTube. So, luckily, all you will have to do is save the link. You can do this by “adding to favorites on your internet browser or open a document such as Microsoft Word or Notepad and copying the link and pasting it into the blank document and then save it to your computer. When the new site is up, you can add the link on your new page.

Text – For those of you who wish to save the text of something you wrote, what you will need to do is to highlight the text and right click and choose “Copy”. Once it is copied, open up a program such as Microsoft Word or Notepad and then right click on the blank document and choose “Paste”. Then save the document to your computer. Once the new site is up, you can copy from the document and paste into the new site.

At the beginning of April I received an email as did the other 300+ members stating that the network would soon close due to the fact the the service hosting the site was going to start charging for the use of the space.

I was disheartened over the email as I thought the site was a great idea and could do wonders in advancing the movement. At the same time, I had a friend who hosted another network on the same host and he stated he was moving his site to another host who offered free hosting. When I heard this new I emailed one of the administrators, Krissy Durden (the other administrator is Carrie Padian of the Fat Rights Coalition) and let her know of the opportunity.

After sharing how I felt about the site, my ideas for expansion and several emails, Krissy and Carrie decided that I should be the one to continue the work that they had started.

As of Friday May 14th, I officially took over as director of the Fat Activist Network.

There is a lot of work ahead of me. Not only do I have to move the entire network, but I have to implement changes before the relaunch.

Some of the changes involved will be of course the move itself, expanding the network to included not just activists but advocates (yes, there is a difference) a possible name change (to reflect the expansion) and then the promotion and relaunch.

When the new site opens, I hope that you will come by, join and participate heavily.

Although we will not be accepting any new members until the new site opens (and it will have a new URL with the relaunch) if you would like to visit the site you can do so by clicking here.

I want to thank Krissy and Carrie for the faith they are showing in me and I hope I can build on the work they started.

I have to admit that I had no idea what I wanted to do with this blog. I knew that I had something to say, but didn’t know what. But with time and research I have developed it into a site that is dedicated to size acceptance though my eyes. My goals have been modified a bit in the last 365 days, but in essence, I want to tell the world what it is like for larger people to live in a world designed for “normal-sized” people (whatever “normal-sized” means).

Sometimes I will use personal experiences and sometimes I will use news stories to make my point. For example, I did articles on the deaths on Michael Jackson and Phoebe Prince to try and cast wide nets for understanding. My thoughts on the matter are that the more relatable the story, the more people will understand what we as biog people go through.

I also bring a unique perspective in the fat-o-sphere as I am both male and I am a lap-band patient. Although there are a few blogs out there that give a male perspective on fat acceptance, there are far more that are authored by women. And as a lap-band patient, some people may consider me as not true to the cause. The reality is that I had to have the lap-band surgery because of medical necessity. Weight is not necessarily a cause of poor health, but it can be. I was 700 pounds (305 kg) and climbing. I had severe lymphoedema and I just couldn’t move. I am under 450 now. I am still big and I am a big follower of Health At Every Size, which is an awesome companion to my overall health plan. I don’t think that weight loss surgery is a good option for the majority of people out there, but my case was extreme. I think it’s a personal choice however, and that no matter whether you are big, small or anywhere in between or for that matter a WLS patient or not, you deserve to be treated with common human decency, and that is a big part of what I want to put forth.

Over the next year, I certainly hope to expand my readership. I have expanded the site via Twitter and Facebook (where we have a discussion page) and I encourage you to sign up for these updates and please feel free to post on here or the Facebook page.

I would also like to ask that you re-Tweet or repost any new topics you may see from me, the more people that we can get the message of size acceptance out to the better.

In closing, whether this is the first post form Big and Tall Shorts that you have read or if you have read them all (or anywhere in between), I want to thank you. I hope you will continue to read and enjoy the site and click on the links that support other in the size acceptance movement. I also ask that you support the fine organizations that I profile on the right side of the page as they are at the forefront of the movement.

Here’s to another year. May it be a great one!