Hey, Hey, Hey, It's...

I keep putting things here that I didn't think I'd put here, but this caught my eye today, and it really hit me hard.  Michelle Obama is starting a campaign to fight childhood obesity:

Childhood Schmobesity

These are all laudable goals in and of themselves, but it’s a terrible mistake to pursue them  in the name of getting rid of fat kids. First, numerous studies indicate that, just as with adults, improving children’s nutrition and activity levels is beneficial to their health, but usually produces little or no weight loss (which is all the more reason to focus on health rather than weight). Nor are thin children in any less need of good food and healthy activities than fat ones. Indeed, over the past 20 years, extensive research has demonstrated that, when studies control for factors such as physical activity levels, weight simply ceases to have any meaningful correlation with health. 

Second, a rich literature on stigmatization shows that the health costs of social stigma are high. I don’t believe Michelle Obama wants to stigmatize fat kids, but a campaign dedicated to eliminating them is guaranteed to do so in a profound way.

I'm not a skinny girl.  The last time I was thin, I think I was six.  There are a lot of reasons for it, and a lot of the blame can (and should) be placed on me.  But I was made uncomfortable by news of this latest crusade against fat kids, and this article pinpointed the reason why.

Sure, I'm all for getting kids moving, teaching them nutrition, getting them healthy.  Type 2 Diabetes is up in kids, heart disease still kills more people in this country than we can count, and obesity has been tangentially linked (correlation, not causation) to many health issues.  But healthy may or may not equal thin.  Thin is dangerous, both for the kids who strive to be thin so badly they end up with eating disorders, and for the kids who are healthy kids who might even play soccer on the side and enjoy their veggies, but for whom (for any number of reasons) they will always tip a little heavier on the BMI scale.

Maybe I am carrying years of metaphoric weight from a culture based around looking thinner and thinner, or from school years where I felt marginalized for my size, but seeing the first lady telling chubby kids it's not okay to be what they are makes me sad in a deep, kind of profound way.

Girls day out!

It's sometimes scary to remember that I have a friend who has known me since I was EIGHT and that she will always know me better than most people, no matter what I do to my hair, or how cool I try to pretend to be.  But mostly it's amazing.

Today, she is finally coming to visit me, and she is bringing her amazing, brilliant, hilarious little girl who is now... EIGHT.  This is a weird year for us!

I've never explored NYC with an eight-year-old, but luckily this one comes with plenty of opinions on what she wants to do, and I come with free admission to most museums in town.  Next time, we'll do a show, but this time, we'll just soak it all in.

Maybe we'll catch a movie...

She keeps a light on

Sometimes, music is the cure to what ails you.

I've been sick this week - sicker than I've been in years - but here I sit at my desk, ready to head off to sing (croak?) some beautiful choral music with my group, listening to Matt Morris sing in my headphones.  I am certainly not going to use this blog to post about most of the music and movies I enjoy (though I will say I had a kickass time at the Motion City Soundtrack show last night).  But Matt's music actually makes me feel better, so I thought I'd share this with you all. 

It's a song about staying strong and staying true to who you are and pushing through when the world is against you.  It's gorgeous, and if you ever have a chance to hear him sing it live, I encourage you to do so.  It will give you chills.



I have a backpack full of school books, an inbox full of work, a head full of notes to memorize and heart full of this song.   It's going to be an okay day!