mo pie

The founder and showrunner of BFD, Monique “mo pie” van den Berg has been writing online since the dark ages of the internet, mostly at mopie.com. She has a book blog, a diet and fitness blog, 1/2 of an American Idol blog, and 1/5 of a podcast.

She is an advertising minion and an English professor with an MFA in poetry; her (as yet unpublished) thesis manuscript is called Curves. She also contributed to a book called Tales from the Scale. She lives in Berkeley, California, with her husband, her parakeets, her stepdog, and a bunch of hippies. She enjoys pie.

All questions, comments, tips, compliments, and free stuff can be directed to piegirl(at)gmail(dotcom).

25 Responses to “mo pie”

  1. Lisa, on April 11th, 2007 at 6:30 am Said:

    Hey mo pie,

    I received a catalog a few weeks ago that I wanted to let you know about. It’s for a company called Athleta - they make fitness wear for women. Usually I just toss these magazines in the recycling pile, but I ended up flipping through this one and I’m glad I did. They have a decent selection for plus-sized clothing. I almost did a happy dance when I saw this because I hardly ever see plus-sizes in women’s fitness clothing catalogs (because fat women don’t exercise or hike or take a yoga class or anything).

    Anyway, the selection isn’t huge and the sizes don’t go up very high, but it is a step in the right direction.

    Here’s the site: http://www.athleta.com/jump.jsp?itemID=0&itemType=HOME_PAGE

    They also have a selection of clothing for Tall women too.

    I just thought the readers of your blog might be interested.

    Thanks,

    Lisa

  2. Lex, on April 30th, 2007 at 1:07 am Said:

    You should check out Bellies are Beautiful.com, it’s a body positive website. I think your readers would really enjoy it, I do! ;)

  3. Colin Irvine, on July 5th, 2007 at 12:59 pm Said:

    I’m trying to reach Monique. Have I found her?

  4. Bran, on July 5th, 2007 at 10:45 pm Said:

    Sarah Jessica Parker’s new clothing line, Bitten, goes up to size 22! http://www.bittensjp.com

  5. Latoya, on July 11th, 2007 at 9:07 pm Said:

    Check this out:

    Mo’Nique’s fabulous show promo and another blog’s commentary:

    http://www.stereohyped.com/monique/fat-chance-youll-ever-see-me-in-body-paint-20070711/

  6. Sarah, on August 9th, 2007 at 12:41 pm Said:

    Hey mo pie,

    I’ve been reading BFD for a few weeks now and thought you might like to see this (or not):
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/north_east/6935127.stm
    I’d be interested in your take on this in light of other posts you’ve written.

    Thanks!

    -Sarah

  7. akaellen, on September 12th, 2007 at 2:37 pm Said:

    Congrats on your NUPTIALS! Update your profile you MARRIED woman YOU!

    Any thoughts on Biggest Loser? I personally hate how they promote “fat” stereotypes …i.e. you are fat therefore you MUST eat LOTS of junk food and fast food. Also, I wanted to kick Kim the trainer in the teeth when at the 1st weigh-in she commented “I hate how they have let themselves go”. And don’t even get me started on the product placement — chew “Extra” gum instead of snacking — its the answer to all your URGES to chew. But, the show’s not all bad as it does motivate the contestants to lose weight….I guess.

  8. Kari, on October 5th, 2007 at 4:13 pm Said:

    Hey there — just wanted to thank you for the Booze Cruise shout-out. Your generosity and kind words are much appreciated, and I’m glad to have found your blog, as well. Cheers to you both!

  9. Foolish school, on October 21st, 2007 at 1:58 pm Said:

    I’m not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers We are the president — Hillary Clinton

  10. *raven*, on October 22nd, 2007 at 7:03 pm Said:

    MO PIE, HERE IN AUSTRALIA DOVE IS RUNNING THE “CAMPAIGN FOR REAL BEAUTY, DO U GUYS HAVE IT THERE, AND WHAT R UR THOUGHTS, IT’S GROWING HERE AND THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE A GOOD TOPIC 4 UR BLOG, CHEERS, RAVEN XX PS STILL HAVEN’T GOTTEN ROUND TO THE FULL BODY SHOT, BUSY WERKING ON CRAZY LADY PAPER MACHE MOVIE AT THE MOMENT, WILL TRY TO FIT IT IN ON THE WEEKEND, CIAOS AND I LOVE READING YA XX

  11. Lynette, on November 2nd, 2007 at 9:43 am Said:

    Hi Mo,

    I was flipping around the Internet yesterday and ran across this posting on Diet Blog:

    http://www.diet-blog.com/archives/2007/11/01/what_if_art_imitated_life.php

    In the comments, people are slamming the figurines but I think they are pretty cool and I’ll be looking for them. Thought you might like to comment???!?!! :)

    Lynette

  12. Big Fat Deal » “Ruinous” Art?, on November 3rd, 2007 at 11:08 am Said:

    [...] the comments, reader Lynette pointed me to this post from Diet Blog, about Florence Studios’ [...]

  13. “Ruinous” Art? · New York Articles, on November 11th, 2007 at 3:30 pm Said:

    [...] the comments, reader Lynette pointed me to this post from Diet Blog, about Florence Studios’ [...]

  14. Sarah, on December 10th, 2007 at 11:37 am Said:

    I’d like to bring this to your attention.

    http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-skinny30nov30,1,6918449.story

    I watched the documentary over the weekend (available on BBC-America On Demand), and it’s very interesting.

  15. Mary, on December 29th, 2007 at 11:59 am Said:

    Thanks for the great blog- I’ve been reading weetabix for years now already :) I also read medical blogs - and stumbled on this:

    http://docsontheweb.blogspot.com/2007/12/naked-fat-and-dead.html

    Comments?

  16. carla, on February 13th, 2008 at 5:02 pm Said:

    ok Im panicking a bit that this is the wrong place :) but couldnt find an email and didnt wanna comment this as it would appear I was pimping MY site.

    just wanted to say how amazingfantastic you are.

    truly.

    Linking to you this friday as you trigger the most interesting insightful and lively conversations.

    Carla Birnberg
    http://www.MizFitOnline.com

  17. withoutscene, on February 27th, 2008 at 9:55 am Said:

    Mo, couldn’t figure out how to e-mail you, but I thought you should know that Paul Campos mentioned this blog in his latest piece in the Rocky Mountain News.

    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/feb/27/campos-the-weight-of-a-cruel-culture/

  18. Brain Pickings » Blog Archive » Context vs. Controversy, on March 14th, 2008 at 10:37 am Said:

    [...] of weight and “hottyness.” But the blog, written by the mysterious duo of Weetabix and mo pie, has enjoyed a recent spike in popularity. It’s even got a Facebook [...]

  19. Rhonwyyn, on April 21st, 2008 at 9:03 pm Said:

    Hey, just came across this article on Xanga and knew I should share it with you: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/visual_arts/article3728149.ece

    Not only does it show a fat naked woman, but it also contains a brief history of obesity in art.

    I’m slightly disturbed, though, by this quote from the article:
    At 20 stone she seemed an unlikely choice of muse for an artist, but Freud has spoken of his “predilection towards people of unusual or strange proportions”. Referring to the woman he affectionately calls “Big Sue”, he said that he was “very aware of all kinds of spectacular things to do with her size, like amazing craters and things one’s never seen before”.

    Women of the size in Freud’s painting are more common than he’d like to think. And “amazing craters”? Uh, what?

  20. Rhonwyyn, on April 21st, 2008 at 9:48 pm Said:

    And here’s another one: http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23527630-5007190,00.html

    It’s about a 17-year-old girl who slimmed down from a size 18 to a 14 and as a result has been signed as a plus-size model. The comments after the article are surprisingly positive as far as body size goes.

  21. Brittany E., on April 29th, 2008 at 11:58 pm Said:

    btw, I’m totally tired and didn’t look over that comment I just submitted. And now I look like I have no grammar or spelling skills. Oh well.

  22. Weight loss: A matter of choice? « spacedcowgirl, on May 12th, 2008 at 2:36 am Said:

    [...] 12, 2008 Weight loss: A matter of choice? Posted by spacedcowgirl under Fat   Mo Pie at Big Fat Deal has received a large number of comments on a recent interview she posted with [...]

  23. wriggles, on May 12th, 2008 at 5:58 am Said:

    OK mopie, I’ve got the message.

  24. Molly, on May 16th, 2008 at 9:25 am Said:

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7404268.stm

    This just in: Obese people are the cause of rising fuel prices, rising food prices, and starving children.

  25. Natalie "nati" Ferraro, on August 15th, 2008 at 8:30 pm Said:

    Mo…
    i think you guys are magical creatures that I want to encrust with rhinestones and stick to the cover of a glittery golden trapper keeper where I keep all my secret dreams and fantasies!

    I’m a plus model turned musician…I used to be in the Glamazons and left to start my own original fat pop music revolution called +plushus!!! come over and say hi! grace me with your ‘unique visitor hit’…I’ll be linking to your blog a lot…I hope we meet someday and dance in unison…some dance we learned in our sleep to a song we never heard before but know all the words to!

    love
    nati

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