Fancy Meeting You Here: The Podcast

A print version of this essay is available here.CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by MuttNotesRagen ChastainRagen writes Weight and Healthcare, a research-packed newsletter “examining weight science, weight stigma, and what evidence, ethics, and lived experience teach us about best healthcare and public health practices for higher weight people.” Regan has been doing this for a long time and is a national treasure. She has covered the science and marketing of weight loss drugs extensively. Start with Ragen’s work if you want to know what the drugs are and what the research actually says. Here are some highlights:Virgie Tovar The title of this essay is a play on Virgie Tovar’s You Have the Right to Remain Fat. She’s another longtime fat activist, writer, and trusted resource with a newsletter here on Substack. This smart, heartfelt piece is behind a paywall and well worth the subscription:Chrissy King’s The Liberation CollectiveChrissy has created The Liberation Collective, a space here on Substack for “body liberation, personal liberation, and collective liberation.” The title of this first piece is the perfect mantra for this moment:This second piece is a round up of excellent books by Black women that will help us stand up to this moment while also tending to our relationship with our bodies and nourishment:Frankie de la Cretaz Frankie’s newsletter, Out of Your League, covers the intersection of queer sports and pop culture. It’s smart, funny, and consistently ahead of the curve. I’ve cited Frankie’s work here before, and they’ve hit it out of the park, yet again, with this coverage of the way ads for weight loss drugs are showing up in women’s sports:Tell me what permission means to you! What does it do or not do for you? Tell me about a time when permission changed you. Tell me about other counter-programming you’re finding helpful as we weather this particularly hateful, anti-fat time. I want to know. Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by MuttLinksTressie McMillan CottomBlonde NYT Opinion PieceHere’s the original video:Here’s one of her responses to commenters:This duet is hilarious:Finally, here’s a little wrap-up video she made at the end of a day and a half of talking about blonde:Cameron EspositoCameron on IGThe Autostraddle PieceThe Just For Laughs set:The Politics of Personal AestheticsTressie McMillan Cottom on WickedPlus writing from Corinne Fay and Jessica DeFino:Salons I LoveMarmalade Salon in BerkeleyGoldfinch Salon in OaklandSalon 01 in Carmel, Indiana Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to season two of Fancy Meeting You Here!I’m Kelly Rafferty, a writer and an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning documentary producer based in Alameda, CA, a little island between Oakland and San Francisco. In this newsletter, I send you personal essays in text and audio from the land of queer embodiment. If you listen to the audio version of Fancy Meeting You Here, you’ll get to know Lisa Weaklim, my fiancée and producer. She’s a musician, filmmaker, and all-around creative genius. (I’m biased but also picky.) We end up talking a lot about the politics of sports, eating disorders, feminist theory, family, sapphic culture, and, one time, Florida’s finest frozen yogurt establishments.Season one began on a golf course and ended in a strongman gym. Where will season two take us? I have no idea! Wherever we go, I’ll be sharing monthly (instead of weekly) dispatches along the way. I have a book manuscript that needs some attention, so I’m adjusting the newsletter’s cadence this time around. If you’re new around these parts, you can catch up on season one in the archive, or just jump into season two.Thanks for being here with us. It’s been quite fun and meaningful to do this work with all of you. If you’d like to read this month’s essay, you can find it over here.Want to support Aubrey, Patrick, and other people who are helping us build bridges? I have some links for you:* Watch Daughters on Netflix* Read about ways to get involved through the Daughters impact campaign. * Participate in the San Quentin Film Festival! You can stream short films by filmmakers who are currently or formerly incarcerated for the next two weeks. Buy your festival pass here. I recommend starting with the documentary short Healing Through Hula.* If you’re in the Bay Area this weekend, you’re officially invited to attend Patrick’s performance on Friday 10/18 or Sunday 10/20. I’d love to see you there. Together we can stare into the void and contemplate the resources we recruit when it’s time to grow through the unknown. Click the link below to reserve your tickets.* Share Patrick’s crowdfunding campaign! He has 48 hours left to raise money for his upcoming tour. Even if you aren’t able to donate, watch the video and maybe send it to the people in your life who are working on their own daddy issues. * Here’s our interview with Patrick Barnes from last season: Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Over the past month, Lisa and I had conversations about trauma-informed movement training with four experts in the Bay Area that I have come to trust over the years:As we wrap up this series on trauma and movement, I want to share three of the gems I’ve been treasuring. These are the insights I find myself returning to, mulling over, and trying to incorporate into my life. I’d also REALLY love to hear what stuck with you. What did you find yourself nodding along to? Sharing with a friend? Pondering the next day? I’d like nothing more than to read about it in the comments.CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

For the last installment in our series of conversations about trauma-informed training, we’re talking with Patrick Barnes. Patrick is based in Oakland and he is the swiss army knife of movement coaches. He coaches ballet, weightlifting, powerlifting, strongman, parkour, kettlebells, martial arts, swordfighting, and basic gymnastics. This is the last interview in our series of conversations about trauma-informed training, and it’s a fun one. Patrick’s available for personal training, hybrid remote coaching, and something that he calls “movement problem solving.” If you have a persistent problem that is hindering your existing practice and you want to workshop that problem, Patrick can do that. Check out his website for more info.If you’d like to see a lightly-edited transcript of this conversation, it’s over here.CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by MuttSeries on Trauma-Informed MovementWant to check out the rest of this series of essays and interviews on trauma-informed movement? Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

We’re continuing our series of interviews about trauma-informed movement with this conversation with marriage and family therapist Erica Gibbons. If you’d rather read instead of listen, there’s a lightly-edited transcript of this conversation here.Links1000% Me: Growing Up MixedRadically FitErica’s Therapy PracticeCreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by MuttSeries on Trauma-Informed MovementWant to check out the rest of this series of essays and interviews on trauma-informed movement? Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Are you new to Fancy Meeting You Here? Welcome! If you like personal essays about sports, queer stuff, critical theory, or bodies, you’re in the right place. I’m an academic who became a documentary producer. I record this podcast with my partner, Lisa Weaklim, who is a filmmaker and musician. For some more context on who we are and what we’re doing here, you can listen to Podcast Episode 1: Do my golf clubs go in the U-Haul?We’re currently in the middle of a series of interviews about trauma-informed movement practices. For more about the origins of this particular side mission, you can listen to Podcast Episode 17: New Gym, Old Business and Podcast Episode 18: I’m thinking about the Kavanaugh hearing again. This week I’m excited to share an interview with one of my favorite yoga teachers, Ceri. She describes herself as a student who lives in the watershed of the Sausal that runs to the Pacific Ocean. She’s a sister and seeker, sometimes a minister and a mover. Hoping to be a healer and a unifier. Currently, she studies Divinity at the San Francisco Theological Seminary.She says that folks who want to know more about the topics we cover in this conversation should look at the teachers and healers Jeff Chu, Abby Tucker, and Ashley Sharp. You can find a lightly-edited transcript of this interview over here.CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Erin’s Website + InstagramSign up here for her weekly email, Living Room Yoga.Looking for the transcript? It’s over here.CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Content Note: Mention of the existence of sexual assault and rape culture. CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Here’s a more detailed look at the history of LIV Golf from Sportico, “PGA Tour - LIV Golf Timeline: From Creation to Merger.”Other Sources in Order of AppearanceGolf Magazine “Inside the costly — but worth it — nature of pro-ams”Golfweek “With Super Bowl in town, 2024 LIV Golf Las Vegas has loaded pro-am field”New York Times “The Alliance of LIV Golf and the PGA Tour: Here’s What to Know”Richard Blumenthal “Blumenthal Opens Probe Into PGA Tour & LIV Golf Agreement”The Hill “Saudi investment fund fights Senate subcommittee subpoena”Illinois Times “Sex and the LPGA”Outsiders in the Clubhouse: The World of Professional Women’s Golf NBC Sports “Did Asians Save the LPGA?”CreditsProduced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

* If you have questions about including trans people in sports or you find that the conversation makes you uncomfortable or you’re excited to learn more, please go read Frankie de la Cretaz’s work. Frankie’s a trans journalist who covers this beat and has real expertise here. This piece is a good overview of current challenges facing trans athletes and this one focuses on trans kids in sports.* And here’s a link to Muffin Spencer-Devlin’s glassblowing business!* Credits:Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

As promised, here are the Gravity Golf practice drills that improved our swings but put our social standing at risk:This transfer drill makes you look like Happy Gilmore:This one makes you look like a preppy flamingo:And this one makes you look like you’re just farting around:If you need more ‘90s nostalgia before we move on, please enjoy this amazing Gravity Golf infomercials that ran on the Golf Channel day and night:The fashions! The aspect ratio!And here’s luca’s essay, the one that’s good company for your grief: Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Here’s the rope drill that my dad taught Lisa. It was created by Dr. Kwon at Texas Woman’s University:Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

As promised, a cornucopia of links: * Here’s the long-ass IG caption about how we became friends with Kate and Lauren. I wrote after Lisa and I attended their wedding. * To read more about their wedding, check out this piece in the New York Times. * To read a lovely thing that Kate wrote about their wedding, go here to her Substack, I Love What You’re Doing. * Have you subscribed to Kate’s Substack yet? It’s so good. Her most recent piece, an interview with the artist and activist Miriam Klein Stahl, is exceptionally beautiful and smart and helpful right now, especially if any part of your heart is breaking for Gaza. * In the postscript I mentioned the documentary I produced called 1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed. You can watch it on MAX.* And here’s where you can find the supremely well-designed study guide that the San Francisco International Film Festival put together!Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by MuttWorks Cited Cook, Kevin. Driven: Teen Phenoms, Mad Parents, Swing Science and the Future of Golf. Gotham Books, 2008.Dinshaw, Carolyn, Lee Edelman, Roderick A. Ferguson, Carla Freccero, Elizabeth Freeman, J. Halberstam, Annamarie Jagose, Christopher Nealon, and Nguyen Tan Hoang. “Theorizing Queer Temporalities: A Roundtable Discussion,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. Duke University Press, 2007. 13(2-3): 177-196.Stockton, Kathryn Bond. The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century. Duke University Press, 2009. Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by MuttWorks CitedDinshaw, Carolyn, Lee Edelman, Roderick A. Ferguson, Carla Freccero, Elizabeth Freeman, J. Halberstam, Annamarie Jagose, Christopher Nealon, and Nguyen Tan Hoang. “Theorizing Queer Temporalities: A Roundtable Discussion,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. Duke University Press, 2007. 13(2-3): 177-196.McCann, Hannah, and Whitney Monaghan. Queer Theory Now: From Foundations to Futures. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.Rylan, Jules. “Heterotemporality and ‘Queer Time.’” Medium, 16 Oct. 2020,radiantbutch.medium.com/heterotemporality-and-queer-time-b91cce4f538e.Stockton, Kathryn Bond. The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century. Duke University Press, 2009.Stockton, Kathryn Bond. “The Queer Child Now and Its Paradoxical Global Effects,” GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies. Duke University Press, 2016. 22(4): 505 - 539. Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyWatch someone play Beavis and Butt-Head: Bunghole in One on YouTube. Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe

Produced and Engineered by Lisa WeaklimWritten by Kelly RaffertyMusic by Mutt Get full access to Fancy Meeting You Here at kellyrafferty.substack.com/subscribe