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Right Now Show Episode 16: The Fat and Proud Project

In episode 16 of the Right Now Show we discuss the Size Diversity Task Force’s New “Fat and Proud” project. We also talk about why The Fat Chick has chosen to reclaim the word “fat” and how we can use that word to describe but not to define us as people. Enjoy!

You can learn more about why Jeanette calls herself The Fat Chick on her website here:

You can learn more about the Fat and Proud project and download the page templates on the Size Diversity Task Force Web page here:

Learn more about the Size Diversity Task Force here:

Read a fascinating discussion about how one organization is coping with the word “fat” on Ragen Chastain’s awesome blog right here:

Subscribe to the Right Now Show here:

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Love,

The Fat Chick

New Zealand Tells South African Chef, “You’re Too Fat to Live Here!”

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I know I am not the first and I certainly hope I’m not to write about this story. Because you know what? This scares me right out of my sparkly, yet sensible shoes. Last week, New Zealand immigration officials told South African chef Albert Buitenhuis that due to his weight of 286 pounds he has an “unacceptable standard of health” and faces expulsion from the country. Despite the fact that Buitenhuis has actually lost weight since he was originally admitted to the country in 2007, he has lost his work visa because he failed to lose weight.

He needed to stop working immediately. And because Albert was the primary applicant on the original work visa, his wife needed to stop working as well.

An immigration spokesperson has stated that Mr Buitenhuis’s application had been rejected because his obesity put him at “significant risk” of complications including diabetes, hypertension and heart disease. The spokesman reportedly said:

“Unless it is in the extreme, obesity will not in itself cause an applicant to fail health screening requirements, but INZ’s medical assessors have to consider to what extent there might be indications of future high-cost and high-need demand for health services,”

It should be noted that Albert may also need a knee replacement which could cost the health system over $20,000. However, it has also been reported that the fact that Mr. Buitenhuis’ BMI was over 35, originally triggered the rejection of his work visa renewal.

This story has hit international news outlets including the Daily Mail and the BBC. So I am hopeful this won’t just slip into obscurity in the next day or two, and I am eager to hear how Albert’s appeal process proceeds. Because I have to admit, I find this story terrifying and frustrating in the extreme.

Here are just a few points:

1. Immigration officials arbitrarily choose to apply or not apply BMI statistics in regards to work visa renewal. If the irrational or irregular application of body size regulations are enough to leave people traveling on a jet plane in the lurch, think of the effect it can have on people moving their entire lives from one country to another. And as we’ve seen in regards to flying on airplanes, if fat people are unable to ascertain exactly how these regulations will apply to them they are more likely to avoid the situation altogether.

2. It appears that the rules changed after Albert moved to New Zealand. Albert and his wife set down roots, made friends, built a career and a life, and then the rug got pulled out from under them. This should be a chilling tale for everyone interested in ever immigrating anywhere.

3. It appears the New Zealand Immigration ministry are using BMI and health interchangeably. There is ample evidence that as a health metric BMI is extremely problematic and unreliable. There is significant evidence that people who have a BMI in the “ideal range” actually live shorter lives than those in the “overweight” range. Furthermore, I have heard no indication that New Zealand’s Immigration ministry are using other, far more reliable health metrics in determining visa renewal status. Are they taking into account issues like: stress level, sedentary lifestyle, tobacco use, levels of discrimination, lack of sleep, working third shift or driving a motorcycle, being older, or being male? There’s also evidence that bald men are more likely to have heart disease and taller women are more likely to get cancer. Why are they taking this one extremely unreliable metric (BMI) out of context and using it to determine immigration status?

4. Is BMI used because it is a “cheap shot” both figuratively and literally? Despite the many, many questions about the effectiveness of BMI as a health metric, there is no question that it is extremely easy to measure and verify. And I wonder whether discrimination based on body size is cheap politically as well? Immigration necessarily needs to limit the number of people who can enter and stay in a country. And they need to make sure the limitations that are used are politically tenable. Are fat people singled out and discriminated against simply because politically, they are easy targets?

I admit that I can’t claim to know everything that is going on in this case. I will be watching with interest to see how it plays out. But, in any case, I think this is further proof that we need to be ever vigilant of new ways that discrimination is heaped upon people of size.

Love,

The Fat Chick

UPDATE: Don’t miss this amazing post by Angela Meadows in Huff Po! And don’t forget to like the story and comment if you have the sanity points to spare!

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New Study Finds Shaming People Doesn’t Help Them Lose Weight: Confirms Ursine Creatures Poo in Forest

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Bear poops in woods. News at eleven!

Yet another study came out this week confirming that perceived weight stigma does not help overweight get thinner people. In fact, weight discrimination is more likely to make them gain weight.

Participants who experienced weight discrimination were approximately 2.5 times more likely to become obese by follow-up (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.58–4.08) and participants who were obese at baseline were three times more likely to remain obese at follow up (OR = 3.20, 95% CI = 2.06–4.97) than those who had not experienced such discrimination.

In other news, a study confirms the pope is Catholic.

It’s possible by now you are well and truly sick of hearing me say that fat shaming people does not help them lose weight. I know I’m a little sick of saying it. But as long as the world takes this “fat shaming doesn’t work but let’s try it again” approach, I’ll feel honor-bound to keep repeating it.

On the same day that I came across this new research, I came across this gem (warning, serious asshattery) touting some new “hard-hitting childhood obesity ads” out of the UK. While the article on Buzz Feed praises the ad for not showing pictures of fat kids looking miserable (as in the Georgia Billboard campaign), the author clearly needs a delivery from the clue department. Because, even if you use kindergarten level graphics or an image of an overflowing urn, shaming people is shaming. And shaming people doesn’t work. Shaming people doesn’t work. SHAMING PEOPLE DOESN’T WORK. *Grabs paper bag and starts breathing into it…*

Despite all the evidence mounting from all the studies about shame and obesity, the anti-fat people regularly demonstrate the qualities of insanity by trying the same things over and over again and expecting different results. I think the reasoning goes something like, “Even though it didn’t work last time, fat-shaming gets government and organizational funding like nobody’s business. Let’s get a grant to do it a little bit differently than we did it before and spin the results like a Maytag washer.”

So it seems that folks are going to continue to spend money on ineffective and dangerous fat shaming. And I’ll continue to write about it. It’s the circle of blog life I guess.

Love,

The Fat Chick

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Why We Can’t Forget Dr. Geoffrey Miller AKA Professor Terrible

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It seems a lot of the uproar surrounding Dr. Geoffrey Miller has died down. But a new study out of Bowling Green University helps to confirm that this issue of discrimination against fat college applicants is real and maybe it’s really, really important that we don’t stop talking about it.

For those of you who might not remember, Dr. Geoffrey Miller got himself in just a little hot water for tweeting:

“Dear obese PhD applicants: if you don’t have the willpower to stop eating carbs, you won’t have the willpower to do a dissertation #truth”

As I predicted, the PR poo storm did indeed hit “Biblical proportions”–at least for a while. Dr. Geoffrey tried a multitude of evasion tactics, including a half-hearted, insincere apology and claiming that he was doing some sort of research experiment.

Many of us, including me called shenanigans on his post tweet wiggling. And the University of New Mexico pledged to look into the whole “research experiment” claim. They did. And not surprisingly, they decided that the claim was baseless, that the tweet doesn’t qualify as research and they are continuing a disciplinary investigation. UNM suggests that the investigation would take several more weeks. NYU, has not indicated they have any intent of pursuing disciplinary action against the tweeting professor.

Since then, the world has not paid much attention to Dr. Geoffrey Miller or the issue of fat discrimination in college. And that’s not good.

Because the study out of Bowling Green indicates that this business of fat discrimination for college applicants is a really big problem. And as the amazing Lesley Kinzel of Two Whole Cakes points out in her brilliant article in xoJane, this is hardly the first study to indicate that fat bias in college admissions.

But the Bowling Green study looks very specifically at the issue of when college students experience the discrimination and the disproportionate effect the discrimination may have on women. The study found that when fat and thin students did an in-person interview, the fat applicants were less likely to be admitted to college. However, the study found, when applicants were interviewed over the phone, fat students were admitted at about the same rate as thin ones.

So my dear readers, I suggest that this is no time to be quiet on the subject of Dr. Geoffrey Miller, his ill-considered tweets or the subject of discrimination in college admissions. Maybe now would be a good time to write some letters to NYU and UNM to let them know that Dr. Geoffrey Miller should not be let off the hook and that we are deeply concerned about college admissions discrimination.

Love,

The Fat Chick

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Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Cassini Spacecraft

First Interplanetary “Photobomb”–Geeks Celebrate Globally

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Mr and Ms. Geek Wave at Saturn during NASA's World's Largest Photobomb

Mr and Ms. Geek Celebrate NASA’s World’s Largest Photobomb

Last week Friday, my hubby and I confirmed our card-carrying geek status by participating in the first interplanetary photobomb. On Friday, July 19 between 14:27 and 14:42 PST, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft took aim from its perch in the Saturn system and started taking pictures of our fair planet. Earthlings were given fair warning that the photos were to take place. We were encouraged to go outside during that magic fifteen minutes, look east and “wave at Saturn”. And when NASA calls, my husband and I are not about to shirk our duties. I put on some lipstick, we went outside, and we waved like mad people. We participated in the event that NASA has dubbed, the first interplanetary photobomb and “the day the earth smiled”.

Yup, I went and got the certificate…

Now given the fact the photo was taken from over 900 million miles away, I’m not sure the lipstick was strictly necessary. It will take a little bit longer for NASA to process the photos, but we’re told the Earth will likely only appear as small blue dot–probably one or two pixels wide. All of this got me to thinking about you my dear readers and how the world’s first interplanetary photobomb might be relevant to the size acceptance movement.

Simulated view of NASA photo. As you can see, I probably didn’t need to get a manicure first…

1. It’s more fun to do crazy things with other people. Yes, my neighbors thought we were crazy. But at least with my husband by my side I felt less likely to get hauled away to a rubber room. Heck at JPL hundreds of people gathered to wave at the ringed planet. (I think those with hula hoops were particularly inspired.) But I think that’s an important lesson for our size acceptance community. Whether it’s doing a flesh mob in bikinis at the beach, staging a “kiss-in” on the steps of a major New York publication, or exercising on the street to protest a 24-Hour Fitness billboard we can do amazing, powerful, fun and crazy things as long as we do them together.

Hundreds of folks gathered at the JPL mall to “wave at Saturn”

2. There’s a lot of perspective to be had out there. Of course we all have problems. And of course they seem like the biggest thing in the world out there. But it pays to look at the bigger picture. (And as big pictures go, the “Wave at Saturn” one is likely to be pretty darn huge.) It’s easier to cope with the next stupid pseudo-science death fat article and the next Joan Rivers celebrity fat bashing gaffe if we can take it into perspective.

3. Framing is important. It is unclear at this point how many people participated in the first “interplanetary photo bomb”. However, I think it’s fair to say that more people participated in “Wave at Saturn” or “The World’s Largest Photo Bomb” than would have participated in the “wave at the sky and look like an idiot” project. That’s not to say that every aspect of what we do needs to be reduced to a sound byte or a photo opp or a social networking stunt. But I do think it’s important to use all of those tools from time to time to create connection points for our community. I think it is important to think about how we can be welcoming, how we can create on-ramps for people to find size acceptance and how we can create opportunities for people to feel how great it is to be part of our group. And I think what we name these things and how we present them are important as well.

So what do you think? I’m looking forward to seeing our “solar system group portrait” when it comes out. But in the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas about some other fun things we can do to connect our size diversity community to the wider universe. Just hit me in the comments section below.

Love,

The Fat Chick

UPDATE: Somebody has created a RAD FATTY MAP. Go here to enter your deets!

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Should the Boy Scouts Add a “Weight Cycling” Badge?

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Proposed (by me) “Weight Cycling” patch

In the wake of my previous blog post about BMI and the Boy Scouts of America (BSOA), I’ve been reading some responses. And the responses I’ve been reading by various members and officials within the BSOA are troubling to say the very least. Let me give you some examples:

1. We haven’t turned anybody away because of BMI. In an article found in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Adult leader Ron Blasak states, “there was no one in the Greater Cleveland Council who was turned away because of a BMI issue.” However, Blasak also admits that it’s possible “that someone read the requirements and shied away.” To which I reply, hmmm. Do you think so? Do you think that plastering BMI requirements all over the marketing materials and saying they will be strictly enforced just might make a kid fear that he will be shamed and ridiculed at this shindig? Do you find it surprising that your average 13-year-old might choose not to trap himself miles away from civilization with people who are convinced he can’t do anything?

2. We’re turning away kids with high BMI for their own good. In that same article, Blasak also states, “Overweight boys would have a tough time getting around and probably wouldn’t have much fun.” I have to wonder what evidence he is using to form this conclusion. BMI is a simple calculation based on height and weight. It doesn’t tell you anything about the fitness level of a potential participant. A Scout with a BMI in the “ideal” range may be very unfit and may be at greater risk than a stouter scout who exercises more and has greater functional fitness. Assuming that all the overweight kids will be miserable is just that, an assumption. And we all know what happens when you ASSuME.

We’ve given the scouts plenty of time to get thin. In many of the articles I’ve read, BSOA spokespeople are quick to point out that they released these health requirements two years in advance of the Jamboree, which should give the scouts plenty of time to get fit and achieve an acceptable BMI. In an article published by Fox News, BSOA spokesperson Deron Smith states:

“We published our height-weight requirements years in advance and many individuals began a health regimen to lose weight and attend the jamboree. But, for those who couldn’t, most self-selected and chose not to apply.”

To which I say, “You got it half right, but 50 percent is still a failing grade.” Over a two year period, it may be reasonable for a young person to make significant changes to their overall conditioning and fitness level. We know how to do that. What we don’t know how to do is make a fat kid into a thin kid–at least over the long term. We can make a fat kid into a thin kid temporarily. We might even get the timing right and make that fat kid thin at just the right moment to pass his physical and enjoy the Jamboree. But when we look at the statistics for that kid staying thin over the long haul, the success rates are dismal. So instead of teaching fat Scouts how to become thin scouts, we are teaching them the amazing, adult-level skill of weight cycling. This is the process of losing weight, gaining it all back plus a little more, losing weight, gaining it all back plus a little more and so on and so on. In fact, this process of BMI busting in order to make Jamboree weight seems ideally suited to the process of weight cycling. That’s what led me to suggest that maybe the BSOA should just make a “weight cycling” badge and be done with it. (Please see proposed badge design above.)

And what can I say about “self-selected and chose not to apply” other than “see point 1 of this blog”? Yup, if you tell pudgy kids and chubby kids and fat kids that they are not welcome in enough ways, with enough 14 point bold print on your website, they will ultimately get the message, “Don’t bother to apply, because we don’t want you.”

But the real story is not in the rhetoric that is flying back and forth on the airwaves and in cyberspace. The real story is the way that this policy will affect the lives of real kids. Kids like the one referenced in this recent NAAFA press release:

One mother reported to NAAFA in 2009 that her son was having issues attending Philmont High Adventure Boy Scout Camp in Cimmaron, NM. “Philmont has a weight standard and anyone over this standard is labeled unhealthy and cannot participate. I tried to explain to them that my son plays football, wrestles and runs relays, shot put, discus thrower, in track & field and a weight lifter. During the summer he swims, weightlifts and conditions for football. He has been conditioning for Philmont by hiking for 2-3 hours with a 50 pound pack on his back for the last 2 months. He weighs 261 lbs. and has been eating a 1200 – 1400 calorie diet trying to lose weight. Unfortunately he only lost 3 pounds… According to Philmont medical staff if he doesn’t weigh below 246, he will be sent home. It didn’t matter to them if he is active, only his weight number. I have watched my son condition for football and he can run circles around other players that are what society deems healthy.”

This is why this is such a big deal. We have kids who really want to go, who have put in the long hours of training required to be physically prepared for the challenge, who are probably in far better physical condition than many of their younger counterparts who are told, “go home fatty.” Given the rise in eating disorders among young men, I have a hard time understanding not only how this is considered reasonable, but also, how it can be considered responsible.

Maybe we need to help the BSOA along a little and propose some new HAES-friendly, body-positive awards. Got any ideas? I’d love to hear your proposals for new BSOA awards patches that are more likely to help young men accept and care for the bodies they already have and learn to feel comfortable in the skin they are in. Feel free to post your ideas in the comments below!

Love,

The Fat Chick

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Boy Scouts, BMI and Managing Risk

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Would the BSOA deem Russell “too fat” to go to camp?

Yesterday, I read Ragen Chastain’s amazing post on the new policies implemented by the Boy Scouts of America regarding participation in events and BMI. In order for any Boy Scout to participate in a “high adventure” activity which includes a duration of over 72 hours and being over 30 minutes drive from emergency medical services, his parents and doctors must fill out a group of forms including Part C which has a whole lot of questions about BMI. In fact questions about height and weight are the first things listed on the form before listing any pre-existing conditions or other information about disease or wellness. Any scout with a BMI over 40 will be forbidden from participating in these high adventure activities (including the Jamboree). And according to the site:

The Jamboree Medical Staff will review all applicants with a BMI of 32.0–39.9 and consider jamboree participation based on 1) health history, 2) submitted health data, and 3) recommendation of the applicant’s personal health care provider. For applicants with a BMI >31.9, a recommendation of “no contraindications for participation” by the applicant’s personal health care provider does not necessarily guarantee full jamboree participation. The jamboree medical staff will have final determination of full jamboree participation.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSOA) site, lists these reasons for the new restrictions:

“Anyone who is obese and has multiple risk factors for cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary disease would be at much greater risk of an acute cardiovascular/cardiopulmonary event imposed on them by the environmental stresses of the Summit. Our goal is to prevent any serious health-related event from occurring, and ensuring that all of our participants and staff are “physically strong.”

And frankly, all of this sent me scrambling for my manuals and training information about exercise in children. One question I had right away was, “Are they using data for all-cause mortality in adults and extrapolating that information for children?” Because, the data I’ve reviewed indicate that mortality among exercising children and teens comes from different sources that that of adults.

According to the Youth Sports Safety Alliance, the number one cause of death among exercising young athletes is Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). During my fitness certification training, I learned that the number one cause for SCA is a heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart muscle. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and other heart conditions likely to lead to SCA are often virtually undetectable from a standard physical exam. This is why many schools are starting to recommend and a few are beginning to require a EKG for participation in strenuous school sports. When SCA occurs, death often follows. Being close to a hospital only helps so much as mortality risk increases by 10 percent for every minute it takes to get to medical care. This is why there is a greater focus on CPR and Automatic External Defibrillators for helping to protect student athletes these days.

I am not aware of any research indicating that SCA is more frequent among overweight or obese young athletes. I am also unaware of any efforts on the part of the BSOA to ask that participants in high adventure activities be screened for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or be given an EKG as part of the Part C form. Now, I understand that an EKG can be expensive to administer and read, but if the concern is really about the safety of the participants, it would seem that this is a more important test than BMI.

Another important risk for kids and strenuous exercise is heat stroke. And there is some research that indicates that heat illness is more frequent among overweight and obese football players than “normal weight” players. But many experts stress that exertional heat illness is 100 percent preventable. Most experts strongly recommend an acclimation process to help get student athletes ready for physical exertion. The super punishing, first day of practice workouts in full pads and gear is now frowned upon. I wonder if the Jamboree and other “high adventure” scouting activities really do enough to help scouts of all sizes acclimate to higher temperatures and altitudes or if they simply assume that as long as the kids are skinny, they will be safe.

Which makes me wonder. Where is the data? Show me the data that BMI has a serious impact on safety for children and youth who wish to participate in strenuous physical activity. Do not simply show me studies from adults and extrapolate down to kids. And if the health and safety of your scouts is of primary importance, why are you not requiring adequate screening for the leading cause of death among young exercisers? Are you building adequate acclimation days to make the camp safe for participants? Or again, are you assuming skinny = safe and healthy? And why are you making your most important event so strenuous that you have to worry so much about health and safety in the first place?

To borrow from a famous phrase from the film Jerry Maguire, “Show me the data!”

Love,

TFC

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Our Big Fat Community

See Fatty Run: Designer Sweat and Supermodel Athletes

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It’s enough to make you crazy. People of size are constantly asked to exercise, but are criticized for neglecting to look like supermodels while they are doing it. Sometimes in the same article we are told not only that we need to get off the couch and exercise but also, please, for the love of all that is holy do it somewhere in private where there is positively no chance the “enlightened author” will have to look at us. Is it any wonder some of us get fed up with exercise?

It seems that even for those in the highest and most prestigious positions in the land are especially vulnerable to attack while exercising. I’m not talking about physical attack. Those secret service dudes are serious business. I’m talking about emotional attacks that play out in traditional and social media. I was struck by this recent piece in the Telegraph entitled George Osborne horror pic: Why do Fat Politicians go Jogging in Public. Seriously. For realz. A major paper published an opinion piece by one of the EDITOR of their blogs complaining that politicians who don’t sport a perfectly toned and tanned body need to exercise in a gym, far away from they prying eyes of the public.

And this is by no means a new development. Bill Clinton was ribbed endlessly for his public jogging pictures–and not just during his presidency. When new Bill Clinton and Al Gore jogging photos surfaced in 2011, it made NATIONAL NEWS for crying out loud.

Obsession with the weight of the president complete with the obligatory Bill Clinton jogging shot.

Even incredibly talented and extremely accomplished professional and Olympic athletes are expected to look like supermodels at all times. I mean when an African American gymnast wins one of the most highly coveted medals of the 2012 Olympics we still feel the need to spend news cycles talking about her hair being a little bit messy. Because as we all know, Olympic athletes are all about teh sexy. And as the inimitable Ragen Chastain points out, even winning Wimbledon doesn’t prevent snarky newscasters from expressing their disappointment that the winning tennis star doesn’t meet their personal standards for personal attractiveness.

I blame Sports Illustrated. Not only do they have a swimsuit edition, which requires the featured women to have exactly enough athletic prowess to pose nearly naked on a beach for a few hours.

Is it any wonder that so many of us feel so very intimidated by the notion of going out to exercise in public? Is it any wonder that many of us who can’t afford designer workout wear, fake tans, liposuction and a secret service team feel like we can’t be seen on public streets working up a sweat. And once we get up the courage to get out there and stumble along, yet find ourselves facing some stupid kid hollering insults or making animal noises out the window at us, will we do it again? Will we lace up our sneakers, head out the door and face more abuse?

With all the outcry about lack of physical activity in this country, I think we need to spend less time idealizing “athletes” who have their own hair and makeup people and personal stylists and spend more time making fitness safe for the rest of us. We need to make more places that are physically safe for us to walk the dogs, ride our bikes and even run our untanned, unretouched chubby legs down the street. And we need to create a culture that makes exercise emotionally safe for people who don’t happen to look like supermodels.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Dear friends, starting tomorrow at 10 AM Pacific Time, we will be streaming live from the Size Diversity Task Force Big Fat Flea Market in Los Angeles. YOU CAN PARTICIPATE EVEN IF YOU ARE NOWHERE NEAR CALIFORNIA. You can buy raffle tickets online and you could win one of over fifty prizes with a total value of over $1,000. You can also use our live streaming feature to connect virtually with one of our personal shoppers. They will hand select clothing just for you and send it out via priority mail. This all happens TOMORROW, and you so DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS!