On Fat-Shaming and Being Fat

Thank you to Roxane Gay for tackling two big problems: child sexual abuse and feelings about being overweight.

I'm ordering her new book, Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body.

Here's the Washington Post review of it by Caitlin Gibson.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/roxane-gay-decided-to-write-about-fat--her-own-it-took-her-to-some-painful-places/2017/06/10/d773fea4-4169-11e7-adba-394ee67a7582_story.html?utm_term=.d36abe9cacbb&wpisrc=nl_evening&wpmm=1

I want to compare it to Shrill by Lindy West.  She defends people's right to be fat and their right not to have people putting them down or giving advice on how to lose weight.

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2016/05/lindy_west_s_shrill_reviewed.html

It's hard to be PC on this issue when two and more fat people disagree.

Claire McCaskill speaks out

Senator Claire McCaskill

"Will there be a hearing?" Senator Claire McCaskill asks Hatch, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, in regard to the health care bill currently being crafted in backrooms of the Senate.

"You say 'We'd love your support.'  For what?" she asks, noting that the content of the bill has not been revealed though Republicans are hoping to pass the bill soon.

"We're not even going to have a hearing," she charges.

"You are just going to pass it with 50 votes and the Vice-President.... You know the value of the hearing process and the amendment process.... Give me an opportunity to work with you.  That's what's so discouraging about this process."

https://twitter.com/SenateDems/status/873001941521108992/video/1

Thank you to John Arthur for finding and forwarding this tweet to me.

Thank you to Sen. McCaskill for her skill and hard work to become a senator and member of the Finance Committee.

I feel represented in the Senate though there are only 21 women out of 100 senators--wish I were not so used to having few women in government and no woman president.

http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/women-us-senate-2017

In the rest of the world...

The whirlwind in Washington, D.C., has made us unable to see important events in the rest of the world.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/farmers-ire-not-about-loans-alone/articleshow/59078066.cms

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iwUFvDdk-M

Why would a young farmer in India take his own life?  

Most of us will never know why Maharashtra died, mainly because we are so focused on Trump and his news.

Nancy Pelosi names it...

Today's newspapers: more banner headlines.

Thank you to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi for her analysis and comments about dt this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

“He [dt] operates this way: First he tries to charm you. … If that doesn’t work, he tries to bully you. If that doesn’t work, he walks away from the deal. And if that doesn’t work, he sues you,” she said. 

Exactly.

This is 45 in action.

Try to charm.
If that doesn't work, try to bully.
If that doesn't work, walk away from the deal.
If that doesn't work, sue.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/06/09/nancy-pelosi-trump-needs-sleep-and-shes-worried-his-fitness/102673648/

Thank God I was already retired when the dt firestorm hit the nation.  It's a full-time job keeping track of the stumbles and downfall of this man--and then to protest against him.  

I marched on January 21, and I will be taking to the streets on Sunday to walk with the #ResistTrump people, who revised their annual LGBT march to a demonstration against dt.

#resist

New national holiday: Comey testimony

Today, June 8, 2017, the front page of the Los Angeles Times looked like this:

I was in San Diego, however, attending the graduation of my niece Millie from her year of internship as a doctor in the US Naval Medical Center near Balboa Park.  

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., ex-director of the FBI James Comey was testifying to the Senate Intelligence Committee about dt pressuring him to drop the FBI investigation into contacts between Michael Flynn and key Russian figures.  

I couldn't listen to the full testimony from 7 to 10 am Pacific time because the graduation was at 9:30 am, but before joining my brother and sister-in-law to attend this event, I heard the first half hour. 

I heard these words:

"And although the law required no reason at all to fire an FBI director, the administration then chose to defame me and, more importantly, the FBI by saying that the organization was in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader.

Those were lies, plain and simple, and I am so sorry that the FBI workforce had to hear them and I’m so sorry that the American people were told them."

As Comey said "Those were lies," I heard the break in his voice on the word lies.  

I realized that this moment was deeply emotional for him.  Being defamed and having the FBI described as "in disarray" were distressing events for him.

Here's the full transcript and video:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/08/us/politics/senate-hearing-transcript.html?_r=0

In San Diego, the open air graduation was festive and patriotic, strictly regulated according to protocol, rank, and respect.  

"Color guards, parade the colors."  There was much saluting.  The national anthem was played by the Navy Band Southwest as a Navy soloist sang. "Retire the colors."

All this earnest patriotism formed a contrast in my mind with the dirty drama playing out simultaneously in the Capitol.  

In response to questions about his private meetings and phone calls with the president, Comey was saying that Trump had never once asked about how to stop Russian undermining of our elections.

The words  our flag was still there struck me deeply in this context.  Some Russians would like our flag to be pulled down, our democracy to fail. 

Then came the words  long may it wave 
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! 

I choked up and had to stop singing.  These young sailors and medical officers had made a commitment to protect the flag and the nation.  Uprightness, discipline, and courage were all around me.

But in Washington, our president didn't sound much interested in protecting the flag or our sovereignty.  Comey's attitude and demeanor seemed much like the scene before me, but dt's disrespectful behavior and flippant tweets loomed as a dark cloud over the day.

I thought about the chain of command: dt is the commander in chief of all these young graduates.  If he starts a war, these young medical officers will be sent to the conflict to save lives.

They respectfully salute officers of a higher rank.

He disrespects everyone around him.  

Though this drama had us laughing when it began, it is not a comedy.  It's a tragedy and dt is the character demonstrating hubris.

Hubris is extreme pride and arrogance shown by a character that ultimately brings about his downfall.

Hubris is a typical flaw in the personality of a character who enjoys a powerful position; as a result of which, he overestimates his capabilities to such an extent that he loses contact with reality. A character suffering from Hubris tries to cross normal human limits and violates moral codes. Examples of Hubris are found in major characters of tragic plays.

https://literarydevices.net/hubris/

Breaking the silence...

Watching The Keepers on Netflix...

Grateful for websites like Our Stories UnTold, which exposes predators and support survivors, especially those in the Mennonite Church in the USA.

http://www.ourstoriesuntold.com/category/free/our-stories-untold-blog/

Thank you, Barbra and Hilary, for your courage and hard work.

See also this article on rape culture in 2014.