An Ode to the Humans of Philly Fat Con 2025

The energy was palpable as soon as we walked into the entrance of the con. Yes, it was excitement, yes, it was anticipation—but there was something more. There was a familiarity, the feeling that you were coming to meet old friends. And yes, there were actual old friends there, or really people you already knew, but the feeling was about everyone who was there. It was like all the people you were going to see this weekend were already friends. They already liked you. They already thought that you were cool. There weren’t any pretenses you had to keep up. You didn’t have to make yourself smaller. In actuality, when you got there, you exhaled and let your belly go—be soft, be round, be its full size. Your shoulders released, and your jaw relaxed.

There were smiles that said, “I know you, and what you’ve been through, because I’ve been through something similar—and now we’re here together, and it’s all going to be okay.”
“You’re okay.”
“I’m okay.”
“There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me—and actually, we are fucking awesome.”

A look that says, all at once: You are an incredible human. You sparkle. You shine in your fullness and beam with the energy that is all of you. You don’t have to hide a single part—the energy that most people and most spaces don’t get to experience or witness…ever.

This is a space where we remembered that we were enough, not learned that we were enough. We felt that empowered knowing. That our bodies are not separate from us. That we do not need to change or hide them. That we are not our bodies—but also, we are our bodies—and those bodies, those vessels that allow us to experience this gathering, are exquisite works of art.

We were walking through a living museum this weekend, with beautiful pieces adorned as they wanted to be. A living, breathing museum… not in that it must be viewed or looked at, or that it was for others’ entertainment, but that it was. It happened. It was important. And all those in it were—and are—precious. Just like pieces in a museum.The stories in those vessels must be remembered.
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These stories, these experiences, this energy will live in the portrait of Philly Fat Con 2025 (what I’m dubbing the fatosphere). May we all remember that we are, and were, and will continue to be divine—body, soul, and mind.

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