Stacy Bias: Links

How to Help Stacy

I want to thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. :)

First - the needs - but please be sure to read the letter below explaining the project more indepthly, and giving you information about why I feel it's worthy of your support:

If you're of a mind to, the following is a list of ways that you could help me in my personal journey as an activist. Some involve money, some involve time, some might even involve just knowing the right people,magically. :) And please know that there are NO expectations on this request, whatsoever. This is simply my way of asking the universe for help, by passing the request through the myriad amazing folks I know. If you haven't time, means or energy, please know that I absolutely understand. :)

Tangible Needs:

external hard drive for MacBookPro, to store large audio files from interviews
M-Audio MicroTrack II digital recorder (mine got hinky towards the end of the last trip)
Copy of Adobe CS3 Suite for macintosh (including flash, photoshop and illustrator) -- I'd like to dedicate a computer to the project and use it for nothing else, but I can't do so until I have a copy of the graphics software I'll need for project editing, website maintenance and promotion.
A MacBook Pro

Do you know anyone:

with a self-driving R.V. (meaning, you don't need to hook it up to a truck) that can sleep two (separately) -- that would be willing to loan or rent (reasonably) it for a two month period in the off-season?
who knows, or knew, or even *was* herself involved with a side show as a fat lady? (I really want to hear what that was like... was it empowering or exploitive?)
who works in the hotel industry who can tell me magically how to get free hotel rooms while we're traveling? ;)
who owns or runs an event space in Portland that would be willing to loan it to us for one evening for a fundraiser?
who has a skill or product they would be willing to donate to a fundraising effort for the project?
who works for an airline or has lots of frequent flyer miles that might be able to get us discounted or free tickets home at one point during the trip for a breather or fly our loved ones to us for a weekend?
who is socially responsible with their wealth and willing to fund projects that work for the greater good of humanity out of the goodness of their heart, either in part or sum total without requiring that they have a say in the creative process? (heh. I know. But you never get what you don't ask for.)
who knows how to transcribe video (to the timestamp) and would be willing to donate time and/or substantially discount it?
who works for a college or university that may be willing to bring me in for paid speaking engagement while I'm in their town as a way to offset the cost of the trip.

Are you willing to:

spend time helping me organize a fundraiser in Portland?
spend time organizing a fundraiser yourself outside of Portland?
donate funds yourself? (however small or large, nothing is insignificant.)
solicit donations from financially fortunate folks you know?
make me a truly excellent road-trip mixed CD?
Be a point of contact back home ( i.e. let me call and bitch to/share with/whine to you when I'm overwhelmed/excited/tired on the road?)
offer advice on how to eat well while traveling?
offer advice on really good travel shoes that offer support, comfort AND don't look horrible?
spend time researching/writing grants for the project?
go for me so I can stay home and watch southpark? ;)

The Project:

I'm working on a book project. The project involves extensive travel, live in-person interviews with women of size all across (and ideally beyond) the united states, and will ultimately (ideally) result in a book full of fictionalized monologues suitable for reading novel-style, or for stage performance as a show. (a'la vagina monologues) The sneaky goal behind this, as well as simple empowerment through shared experience, is this:

32 monologues exploring the theme of living in and learning to love bodies that fall outside the 'beauty myth = 32 women doing the same.
32 women exploring the theme of living in and learning to love bodies that fall outside the 'beauty myth = instant community.
community = support + empowerment that, by far, outlasts whatever fun and/or buzz the performance creates.
Yay!

The reason for this request:

I have finally decided that, noble though it may be for me to attempt to pay for the entire research and development process of this book out of my own savings, the truth is that the last road trip cost upwards of $10,000 and the next will cost roughly the same, not to mention the lost wages from taking 2 months off of work. Last trip, we did 41 interviews in 42 days, 16 states, lord knows how many cities, and towards the end of the trip, we *needed* hotel rooms. While the folks we stayed with were gracious, generous, loving and provided some of the most wonderful experiences on the trip -- I'm not sure how many more nights I could have woken up with random dogs licking my face. ;) Traveling is grueling, and with the emotional intensity of the interviews and the emotions brought to the surface by the process, couch-surfing on top of this and getting poor sleep found me visiting urgent care twice with bronchitis and an ear infection. Not something I am willing to do my body again, which means more hotel rooms, which means more expense.

In addition to this, the first road trip found me with the pleasure of Val Garrison's company and videography talent. Most interviews were captured on high quality video with professional lighting. There are tedious and expensive processes that the video needs to go through (transcription, editing, etc.) for a number of projects I'd like to do with it ( email me for more info on this. )

So -- the reason I'm writing this is simply: I need help.

It's a substantial list, I realize. This is a complicated endeavor, and expensive. But, hopefully, also very worthwhile.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I appreciate it so very much.

Stacy