I was on a panel last night at a screening of Strong, Julie Wyman’s new documentary for PBS Independent Lens.  The movie chronicles the life and career of female Olympic medal-winning weight lifter Cheryl Haworth.  In the movie, we learn a lot about the work that Cheryl does to get her body physically ready to compete in the Beijing Olympics.  The movie also shares a great deal about the work Cheryl does mentally and emotionally not only to compete at the international level, but also to accept a body that in some ways, falls outside the societal ideal.

There are so many ways that Cheryl has to be strong.  She has to put a great deal of energy into the process of building a body that is capable of lifting hundreds of pounds over her head and holding it there until the buzzer sounds.  As she mentions early in the film, to compete at her level she depends on her body’s size because, “mass moves mass”.  She points out that when you’re hoisting a few hundred pounds over your head, a big butt gives you a distinct advantage.  Cheryl’s big body has truly taken her places.  She’s competed throughout the world, she’s appeared on national television, and she’s been revered as an American Hero from the Olympics podium.

But the in the same country that applauds Cheryl for her strength and dedication and power, it can be a real challenge finding a cute pair of pants that fit properly.  And Cheryl has to live in a world where those who see her walking down the street and don’t recognize her as an Olympic athlete are likely to assume she sits on the sofa and eats bon-bons all day.  All while coping with the rigorous training, disappointing injuries and wear and tear that comes with being a top competitor on the international stage in a truly demanding sport.  Strong?  Indeed!  And Cheryl handles it all with powerful determination, humor and brutal honesty.  In many ways, I’m not sure she recognizes her own strength.

So my little chicklettes, do you know how strong you are?  Do you have powerful muscles that allow you to bend and stretch and dance and lift?  Do you stride purposefully and powerfully through life?  Do  you hold your head up and get on with it in a body that in some ways fails to meet our society’s arbitrary standards of beauty?  In short, do you know your own strength?  I invite you to take some time today to both recognize and celebrate the myriad ways you are strong.  Record your feelings.  Write about them in a journal, draw them with crayons, or even immortalize them in Play-doh.  But take time to appreciate and know your own strength.  Because my dear chicklettes, you are probably far stronger than you think.

Love,

The Fat Chick

The Iridium satellite at the Challenger Space Museum Cafeteria...

I ran into this bad boy in the cafeteria of the Challenger Space Museum in Peoria, AZ.  This shiny thing is a model of the Iridium Satellite created by Intel to service satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over the entire earth’s surface.  Were it not busy keeping watch over the vending machines and bad sandwiches at the museum, this satellite might be managing up to 1100 concurrent phone calls.  Some of these bad boys have tumbled to earth and in one case, collided with a defunct Russian satellite the Kosmos 2251.  The debris from the spectacular explosion could apparently be seen from several US cities.  In any case, this thing is BIG. Here’s the stats:

OPERATING location: Low earth orbit–approximate height 485 mi and inclination of 86.4

CURRENT location: Nondescript museum eatery

Weight: Over 1500 lbs.

Conclusion: An Iridium communications satellite weighs more than me.

Kitteh Yoga!

This kitteh has purrfected the art of relaxation.  How about you?  You can join us for a relaxing day at the upcoming NAAFA-LA Pamper Party in honor of International No Diet Day on May 6.  If you’re in the Southern California Area, send me an email at jeanette@thefatchick.com and I’ll give you details to visit us in person.  If you’re not in CA do not despair!  You can still join us for a relaxing stretch, fashion tips, makeup demonstrations, progressive relaxation meditation, super fun art projects and more via our live stream which will be hosted at http://www.thefatchick.com.  Whatever you do my little chicklettes, don’t miss an opportunity to take a little time to take care of you!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Sometimes ya gotta throw the bums out!

Call me old-fashioned, but like Ms. Franklin said, “A little R-E-S-P-E-C-T” is what is needed here.  I find that relationships can manage to recover from many problems.  Anger is bound to happen from time to time.  Miscommunication is par for the course.  Sometimes feelings will be hurt.  Part of the price of being in a relationship is understanding that you will feel hurt and angry and misunderstood from time to time.  But lack of respect is a non-starter for me.  I’m willing to accept (though not always gracefully) friends and lovers who disagree with me.  I’m willing to accept friends and lovers who have somewhat different values than me.  But I aim to respect those folks as human beings and I aim to have them respect me as a human being too.

It is very difficult to respect yourself as a person if you are surrounded with people who don’t respect you.  So as you get a stronger sense of yourself and start to feel better about yourself, you may find that some of your relationships feel a little differently than they did before.  You may start seeing some of the ways people mistreat you not as something you deserve for being less than perfect and not as simple character flaws to be accepted and worked around.  You might start seeing some of this mistreatment for what it is: harmful.  You may feel compelled to stand up for yourself and say something.  You might find yourself letting people know that it is not okay for people to treat you that way.  And this self-defense can feel EMPOWERING.

But sometimes a friend or a lover just can’t bring themselves to change the way they treat you or even admit there’s anything wrong with it.  And sometimes that means you simply have to let that friend or lover go.  When it comes to spring cleaning, this sort of decision can be tough going.  It can be a lot easier to let a sweater that you never wear go than to discard a hurtful or harmful relationship.  But like cleaning your closet or your drawer of things that aren’t working for you any more, cleaning your life of toxic relationships can help you make room in your life for the RIGHT relationships to come in.  You can’t find the right partner if you are currently with a partner that exhausts and belittles and depletes you.  And it’s pretty hard to find time to spend with awesome friends when you are busy with folks who make you feel ashamed and unworthy.

So I’ve left the hardest, but most powerful spring cleaning for last.  If you find people that are disrespecting you, let them know that it isn’t okay any more.  And if they don’t believe you or don’t want to change, you may need to consider gently letting them go.  Because, my little chicklettes, you deserve better than that.

Love,

The Fat Chick

The Fat Chick (Jeanette DePatie) with Ben Vereen in the S.T.A.N.D. booth at the ADA convention.

Here I am at the American Diabetes Association S.T.A.N.D. booth with actor, dancer, singer and entertainer Ben Vereen.  I agreed to take a STAND against diabetes by teaching people about fitness.  (I’ll sing and dance too, if you think it will help.)

oxoxo

TFC

I have so many friends that have closets positively stuffed with “aspiration clothes”.  You know the ones that fit you once in a distant past?  Or the ones that never ever fit you but just might some day.  And I’m here to tell you, as part of your spring cleaning, you gotta get rid of that stuff.  I mean what is the point?  Why should you have to dig through piles of clothes that DON’T fit to get to stuff that does?  Why should you have to step over a visual index of your body dissatisfaction before you can even get dressed in the morning?  Just get RID of it.  If you can’t bring yourself to throw these clothes away, at least box them up and put them somewhere else.  Then, after you haven’t worn them for six months, then get rid of them.  Dole them out to friends.  Donate them to the Big Fat Flea Market.  Drop them off at Goodwill.  Because it’s time focus less energy on the body you think you might have some day and dedicate closet space to beautiful, gorgeous and colorful clothing to the body you have now.

Love,

The Fat Chick

As many of you know, I’ve suggested that you start small with your exercise routine.  You don’t want to bite off more than you can chew.  Take a look at Ginger’s exercise video for instance.  She seems to have the “start small” thing COMPLETELY figured out.  This is part of a new series I’ll be offering here on Fat Chick Sings called “Exercise Animals”.  Stay tuned for lots of exercise tips gathered from many of the amazing species that walk, fly, slither and swim on this green earth!

Love,

The Fat Chick

Fund raising paired with a nice bottle from Leucadia Red.

I was talking with the amazing and awesome Marilyn Wann the other night and we got to talking about some major box sorting she had coming up.  I said, well you need a nice full bodied cabernet and some jazz to go with that.  She agreed and said, “That sounds like a blog post!”  “Yay,” I said.  So here are some of my special recommendations:

Pre-mother-in-law’s visit: wild house cleaning spree: Merlot and Zydeco music

During mother-in-law’s visit: White Cotes du Rhone and anything by Edith Piaf

Post mother-in-law’s visit: Champagne and French Pop music

Going over the first red lined version of your book manuscript: Zinfandel and Tanya Tucker

Preparing your taxes: Pinot Grigio and Billy Ray Cyrus

After finishing your taxes: MD 20/20 and any Grand Opera Tragedy by Richard Wagner

Mammogram: White Zinfandel and Brittany Spears

Your “artistic” friends come over to redecorate: Mimosas and anything by Cher

Preparing for your first-ever yard sale: Red zinfandel and Dropkick Murphys

During your first-ever yard sale: Pinot Grigio and Eminem

Celebrating the end of your only (and last) yard sale: Fume blanc and Bollywood music

So my little chicklettes, what are YOUR favorite wine and music pairings for life’s little dramas?  Write me a little note in the comments and pass the corkscrew, willya?

Love,

The Fat Chick