Miss Moon Gets Healthy: And Learns to Love Her Skinny Sistren (And Herself!)

I've never considered myself a hater of slim women before. I never even partook in the "skinny women are evil" campaign... even in jest. This is something I'm especially proud of, because in being full figured for most of my adult life, I've had random strangers speak so disrespectfully of me... all because I dared walk into their field of vision being the size I am. I never felt good after those encounters, so I am not about to make anyone feel that way. Ever! But something happened to me last week that really opened my eyes. It's not my finest moment, I admit... but there's a revelation in the story, so I'm inclined to share it.

For my daytime walks, I like to walk up to Lafayette Avenue and circle Von King Park a few times before I make the trek back home. The park is beautiful, and has the only working water fountain in Bed-Stuy, it seems.. so its a good place to go and get hydrated while walking, since I never carry water with me (I know.. major no no!). The first time I tried to lap the park, I thought I was going to die. Now, I can do 5-7 laps, something I am very proud of myself about.

I'm a life long insomniac, and my sleep schedule gets wonky at times. Such has been the case recently, so my "daytime walks" have been happening around 4 or 5 pm. And lately, when I've been circling the park I've encountered this woman jogging. She's... amazing! She glides around the blocks effortlessly in her little running shorts, ponytail swinging to and fro, much like the woman pictured above.

When I first laid eyes on her, to paraphrase comedian Louis C.K. (I know I quote him a lot, but really.. sometimes he puts things  EXACTLY the way I would!!), I had to stop walking, because I needed my whole body to hate her with! LOL

Why did I hate her? Because she made me feel like a major chump for daring to walk my big ass around this park, panting and sweating like a hooker in church while she jogs past me... thin and beautiful and glistening. She actually effin' glistens... she doesn't sweat!!! I felt horrible about myself, and experienced a "Oh, what's the use?!?" moment, so I stopped circling the park around two laps and walked back home, contemplating walking someplace else from now on, until my sleep schedule gets right, and I could get to the park earlier. 

What's funny is that this whole situation was that this was also the day that I took the photo of myself that I shared in my last Get Healthy entry. I went home and told my Mum about this woman, and she said to me, "Don't worry.. this time next year, you'll be jogging along side of her!". She went on to tell me that she can very clearly see that I have lost weight and that my attitude and posture has improved since I've started walking. Which was great to hear, because as I've said.. I don't see it yet. I feel it, definitely, but I still look like the big girl I always was. And she's fine.. she's great in fact. But I wanted to see some evidence that I'm on the right path.

And I had an epiphany. I didn't hate this women because she's perfect and I'm not... I didn't hate her at all, but I envied her because she represented something I thought I couldn't achieve. She was like a carrot dangling over my head that I had no chance in hell of catching... And seeing her pass me by when she jogs felt..... cruel to me. When I reflected on this some more, my attitude changed. Because that carrot?!? It's TOTALLY something I have the capacity to catch. And I will catch it. It might not be next year, as Mizz Lennid predicts, but it will happen. And I took the picture in part as a reminder to myself that I have already made great strides and will continue to do so. Which is a perfect opportunity to say....Thank you, Everyone, for the words of encouragement here, on Twitter, and on The Miss Moon's Musings FaceBook page!! Your excitement about my progress is a big part of what keeps me going!

So when I saw the woman again, instead of hating her (Really, hating myself.. let's be honest!) I sent her a silent "Thank you!", and repeated my thanks each time she lapped me around the park. Because she represents the possible results of the path I have started: A women who is fit, healthy, and effortlessly pacing Von King Park like a mickey ficky BOSS... her ponytail whipping to and fro. Perhaps one day, when I am feeling especially brave I will thank her personally. For now, this post is a start. :)

DOPE: Keith Olbermann's Quick Comment about Haiti

Now I know I said I wouldn't say anything about Pat Robertson... and today I resigned myself not to say anything about Rush Limbaugh and his comments about the earthquake and the devastation in Haiti. And technically I'm not saying anything.

However.... I think Keefus' comments are quite similar to my own (If you add an expletive here and there).



Below is an excerpt of the transcript which can be read in its entirety by clicking here:

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

OLBERMANN:

Back to Haiti in a moment, and reports now that quake victims in Haiti from the United States have been evacuated to, of all places, Guantanamo Bay. The first subject of the quick comment tonight is still the matter of Haiti, but relating to back here.

Even the worst of us in this political mosh pit of the early 21st century can stop, on occasion, in grief and in human sympathy, in mourning, or just in self-preservation. Not Rush Limbaugh and not Pat Robertson. We‘ll explore this at length later.

But Mr. Robertson, it is laughable now to try to call him reverend, explained today that this earthquake was part of a, quote, “deal with the devil,” that he claims the nation made in the 19th century to gain its freedom from France. “True story,” Robertson says.

Sir, because of your tone deafness, and your delight in human misery, and your dripping, self-satisfied, holier than thou, senile crap, I am now likelier to believe that you are the devil.

Limbaugh, meantime, did not know just when to shut up. Today he blamed communism for the poverty of Haiti, blamed President Obama for holding a news conference the day after this cataclysm, when he did not hold one after the failed, half assed attempt in Detroit, and said that Obama would, quote, “use Haiti to,” quote, “burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community in the both light-skinned and dark-skinned black community in this country.”

Mr. Robertson, Mr. Limbaugh, your lives are not worth those of the lowest, meanest, poorest of those victims still lying under that rubble in Haiti tonight. You serve no good. You serve no God. You inspire only stupidity and hatred. And I would wish you to hell. But knowing how empty your souls must be for you to be able to say such things in a time of such pain, I suspect the vacant, purposeless lives you both live now are hell enough already.

Reading the Pictures: Malia, Peace Signs and Bottom Feeders (Political as Well as Journalistic)

The below is a comment I posted to the above titled article in The Huffington Post (the link is below):

It's frustrating when people bring up David Letterman's comments about Willow Palin (a joke intended for Bristol) as if a misguided attempt at humor is an excuse to heap racist epithets on a child. I found David lame as hell for making a joke at the expense of her children, and I am NOT in any way a fan of Sarah Palin's.

But I think that we, in the attempt to scramble over to our "sides", forget to look at the intent in these statements and where they are coming from. Again, David Letterman was trying to make a joke and it was a big ole swing and miss.

But calling a child "ghetto street trash"? I fail to see the humor in that and I don't believe that the original poster was intending to be funny or ironic. It seems like every bit of news concerning the Obamas brings out the ugliest part of the Conservative Right. Like this comment from: http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/07/13/hate-speech-finds-a-home-on-the-web/3#comments --

"Its time for all REAL AMERICANS to stand up and be counted as in LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!! THAT is the ONLY WAY for the USA to get out of this black man's mess. Obama has done so much damage in just a short amount of time. SO I SAY, LET US TAKE BACK THE USA, LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!!"

Hate like this is dangerous for all Americans.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear." MLK

This has been a tough week for me, emotionally. The news has on two occasions, made me break down crying. First, news of the Philadelphia children being denied access to a club swimming pool, and the subsequent scrambling to justify their actions.

Now, I read this article from The Vancouver Sun. I was so heartsickened by this undercurrent of hatred becoming more and more apparent in this country.

Conservative Free Republic blog in free speech flap after racial slurs directed at Obama children

BY CHRIS PARRY, VANCOUVER SUN JULY 11, 2009


Photograph by: Remo Casilli , Reuters

This photo of U.S. President Barrack Obama's daughter Malia, wearing a peace-symbol t-shirt touched off a storm of epithet-laced comments on the conservative 'Free Republic' blog

"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion."

These are a small selection of some of the racially-charged comments posted to the conservative 'Free Republic' blog Thursday, aimed at U.S. President Barack Obama's 11-year-old daughter Malia after she was photographed wearing a t-shirt with a peace sign on the front.

The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."

Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing - and for a short time, the comments seemed to have the okay of site administrators.

Moderators of the blog left the comments - and commenters - in place until a complaint was lodged by a writer doing research on the conservative movement, almost a full day later.

"Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.

"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another.

Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.

A note on the front of the blog reads, "Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government," but one comment on the thread read, "This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution," while another read, "I never actually wnated [sic] to be a pistol before but..."

After attention from other blogs, the thread was suppressed and placed under review, but before long it was returned to the site intact, and attracted a new series of racial slurs when the original complaint email was posted publicly to the site, with the sender's email address intact.

"The writer has a point," wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. "We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig."

"I agree Jim," wrote commenter, by the nickname NoobRep. "The kids didn't pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight. But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife."

"Poor kids. I hope they're not 'punished with a baby'," wrote another. "Hopefully they won't deal cocaine like the Kenyan."

"DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our [White House] is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over."

Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.

In the wake of the controversy, some Free Republic posters complained about the vitriol.

One poster by the name of "fullchroma" wrote, "To Jim Thompson: The recent uptick here in racist vitriol, aimed at Barrack, Michelle and their children has made me wonder if I belong. My objection to Obama has nothing to do with skin tone. Is the ugly stereotype of Conservative racism true?"

Another, going by the name of TChris, wrote, "Free Republic is a political discussion forum. It SHOULD be beneath us as a group to stoop to such juvenile tactics as I see increasing here lately. Do we REALLY have to insult Mrs. Obama's appearance like a clique of nasty 14-year-old girls?"

But such opinions were not shared by all. Said Roses of Sharon, "Poor libs .... Too late, the battle has been joined."

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