#fffp

Most weight loss blogs I find nowadays are all the same. They usually go something like this:

“Hey, I used to be fat too. But look at me now! I eat carrots and cauliflower and paleo/gluten free/vegan/flavorless whatevers and I can run for 439 mileswithout even getting winded! So I totally understand your struggles…”

You know what…good for you (I promise that I’m not as condescending as that made me sound – yikes). I know that that person used to be exactly where I am. And I'm genuinely happy for anyone who is able find what they need to make themselves healthier and happier. But that’s not what I need right now. I need the person who has to grip their steering wheel a little tighter whenever they drive by Dairy Queen so that they don’t accidentally drop in and pick up a large Chocolate Extreme Blizzard (extra brownies please). I need the person who is fat with bad knees and needs that extra motivation to get up to work out again today. Not because they don’t want to…but because they’re still in pain from yesterday’s workout. I need the person who works all day and needs a serious pep talk to provide the motivation to get up and cook dinner (after a long workout, of course) instead of just calling up that Chinese restaurant that knows your name, your order, your address, and to go ahead and throw in those couple of extra packets of duck sauce.

And you know what…I couldn’t find that person. After spending many evenings on the couch with my girlfriend, our dogs, and embarrassingly large portions of ice cream, I decided that I could be that person. Maybe other people are looking for the same thing. If so, awesome. Maybe this little blog will help us both. If not, well…dammit.

This week started off with a day off due to Columbus day.  From there we spent a day stuffing envelopes that are going out to previous members of the Historical Society or those who have done business with us.  These contained a letter and a membership slip asking if they wanted to start or renew a membership with us.  On Wednesday, we held a Censorship Round table.  Roughly forty people arrived for the event in which we had several guest speakers including Paula Giaquinto (Assistant Superintendent), Charles Amand (Editor of the Sentinel), President Antonucci (President of FSU) and moderated by our own Shirley Wagner.  

The event lasted 3 hours and was live-tweeted by several people at the request of Susan Navarre.  The questions that were brought up ranged from if there have been any censorship issues in the local school system, the University or the paper.  This led to discussions of what had been big issues in the past as well as if anyone uses monitoring software to keep an eye on internet usage.  The only yes to this question was from the Assistant superintendent who stated that certain keywords had been blocked to make sure students are not looking at anything inappropriate during school hours.  After questions from the moderator were asked they moved to questions from the audience, These included:

How do you handle informal censorship