Old Heroes = New Heroes

Recently, while rifling through some old show flyers from my high school & college years I stumbled upon the above.  It was the second to last page of a Zine put out in '93 by an acquaintance named Annie La Ganga.  I had a moment of, "Wow ... this person helped me SO much on my path to self acceptance & love without even knowing" & decided to see if I could track her down.  Thanks to the internet & social networking sites it wasn't difficult & I ignored the voices telling me to "leave her alone, I'm sure she's all grown up now & has no need of your gratitude" & sent her a message...

Pardon me for interrupting you with a stranger's nonsense, but I was sorting through some old concert flyers tonight & came across the back page of this zine. I believe it was the back page, one side has a photo of you looking empowered & the other has the "I am not cute I don't want to be pretty" rant on it. That page hung on my wall for years, pinned next to the mirror where I applied my makeup. I read it so often in my late teen/early adult years that I could probably still recite it from memory.

There was a sticker that came with the zine, "I don't want to be pretty" ... I stuck it to said mirror. I made it my mantra. I silently thanked you for creating it every time I saw it because somehow it made life more bearable for me. It made me believe that being smart and creative was just as good as being thin and "perfect" like my older sister, even if my mother tried her hardest to convince me otherwise. It was my first taste of "you're good enough just being you" & helped pave the road to fat acceptance long before I knew fat acceptance existed & I wanted to thank you for that.

I remember meeting you a few times in Chico, I believe we had various mutual friends & acquaintances. I promise I am not a stalker, but I looked you up online & wanted you to know that I still appreciate your genius. Stumbling across my old mantra in that stack of Juanita's flyers was just what I needed to stamp out the flames of my self-loathing once again.

I hope you are well;
thank you for your time.
Poppy

To my surprise she responded almost immediately with this...

Oh Poppy! God Bless You for writing (and I mean that in the most heartfelt and non-fundamentalist Christian way). Great Spirit Bless You! Laws of Thermodynamics Bless You! Your note made my day! Thank you.
Isn't fat acceptance the most sane and gorgeous movement ever? I really love and appreciate the blog called, The Fat Nutritionist. My own self-worth struggle has been long and tiring but I'm happy to share that I know (not wonder, suspect, want to believe) KNOW that diets are bullshit. How nice to have all that time, energy, money back to use on living my life and creating my work. I'm sure you must know what I mean.
So! let me say again, Thank You for writing! I am working on a monologue show for a fringe festival here in Austin (where I live now) --- my first full length solo show--- and the boost your message has given me is "just what I needed to stamp out the flames of my self-loathing once again". Last night I was feeling some "what the hell do I think I'm doing, who am I to make people listen to me for an hour, my ideas are not gonna fly" crap. Thank you! Thank you for the wonderful message.
And one last thing! I wrote a book! That got published! Yay! I would love to send you a copy. If you feel comfortable sending me your mailing address, I'll put that little fucker in the mail.
Lots and lots of love to you,
Annie 

I received her book, Stoners & Self-Appointed Saints about three days later & it is as smart & witty as I'd expected.  She gave me permission to share this with everyone & you can find your way to Annie, her book & her blog by clicking the links above.