Abundia Retreat 2008 - Speakers and Their Workshops

Books at Abundia

This is your time to bring books you love; they can be specifically about size and size acceptance or simply books that have touched your life. Please bring the book to show and be prepared to give a short description of the book and why you brought it. We will make a list of all books and distribute the list following the retreat.

Fat Politics - by Marilyn Wann (www.fatso.com)

In this presentation on fat politics, Marilyn Wann will engage people in unearthing the scope of weight-based messages in our society and reveal the underpinnings of such thinking, so we can each question and challenge and undo the impact of prejudice and discrimination in our own lives. The goal, with such politics, is about imagining a world in which people of all shapes and sizes can live fully, happily, and healthfully.

Marilyn Wann started being a free-range fat rebel in the mid-90s, when, on the same day, a guy told her he was embarrassed to introduce her to some of his friends because she is fat and Blue Cross told her they wouldn't sell her health insurance due to her "morbid obesity," alone. She immediately decided to speak out against needless and harmful barriers to fat people's equal participation in society. She started a 'zine called FAT!SO?, wrote a book also called FAT!SO?. She has performed with Big Moves as part of the Phat Fly Girls and Mass Movement, with the Padded Lilies synchronized swimming troupe, and with the Bod Squad cheerleaders. Marilyn serves on the NAAFA board and enjoys working on passing height/weight anti-discrimination legislation in places like San Francisco and Massachusetts. She gives weight diversity talks around the U.S.

Body Painting

This body painting session is an opportunity to experience your body in a way that can subtly yet powerfully shift your thinking and feeling about yourself. Previous body painting participants have found the session wildly exhilarating, more fun than they could have imagined, and a lasting touchstone for feeling at home in their bodies. We'll body paint ourselves and each other using totally non-toxic and non-staining paints, and we'll also create a vibrant mural by tracing each other, printing from our painted selves, and painting directly on a length of fabric. The session is a safe and accommodating space for people to interact and create a new vision of happy embodiment. Please bring a hotel sheet or very loose garment to wear afterward. Showering is recommended after this session.

Body Painting is scheduled right before water aerobics so you can body paint in your swim suit if you’d like, use the showers in the health club or your room and then go to water aerobics.

Body Image and Sexuality - by Lauren Brown and Jennifer Schwartz

Lauren Brown attended Saint Mary’s College, in Notre Dame, IN and graduated cum laude with a degree in Biochemistry. Subsequently, she attended Michigan State University and earned her MD degree. Lauren is currently training as a resident in Michigan State University’s Department of Psychiatry. Her academic interests include eating behaviors, body image and their affects on interpersonal relationships and sexuality.

Jennifer Schwartz is a graduate of Lansing Community College and holds degrees in Theatrical Performance and Japanese Language. She is a long-standing advocate for the rights of marginalized groups and has attended and presented at numerous forums for LGBT persons, people of size and persons of different ability, whether the topic be anti-discrimination, activism, education or healthcare. Jennifer plans to continue her education at Michigan State University’s Department of Sociology.

Together Lauren and Jennifer have begun to embark on a wonderful journey into patient and physician education. They have formed the organization “Playin’ Doctor”, which seeks to educate individuals about their own healthcare and rights and helps the medical community to better serve their patients through diversity training. Created from a sexual health standpoint, “Playin’ Doctor” has already presented to individuals and healthcare providers on the topics of mentally, physically and emotionally healthy sexual relationships for people of many orientations, sizes, and abilities.