Tag Archives: Dickinson college

Love Your Body Week TRAVEL Edition (sigh…)

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funny-elephantBaby elephant metaphor day 2.  Yup, last night and this morning’s travel kicked my butt.  Not gonna lie to you.  Started out in Harrisburg, PA at around 6PM EST last night and finally got to my home in my bed at 4:00 AM PST (That’s 7AM EST) this morning.  Wanted to get up early but was feeling like that little elephant guy in the picture up there, with my head under the pillows, saying, “I don’t wanna get up and you can’t make me!”  That, my dear friends is why you are getting The Fat Chick Sings After Dark Edition.

I was really pleased and proud of the way I got through things last night though.  I got through the first leg of my trip okay and landed at Washington Dulles right on time.  Our flight for LA boarded on time and we just got settled into our seats when we heard an announcement.

The pilot told us there was an issue on the plane but they thought they could get a deferment.  He said that the deferment would probably take about 30 to 60 minutes.  I was bummed but determined to just stay calm and make the best of it.  Ten minutes later the pilot made another announcement.  He said that he was told the deferment, if we could get it at all, would take much longer.  So they found another plane we could take to LAX.  Unfortunately it was a long way away in another terminal.  A lot of people groaned and complained, but again, I resolved to make the best of it.

We hiked the 15 minutes to the other plane, and as we went a lot of people were still angry and complaining.  But I KNOW it could have been so much worse.  A lot of people in the last 3 or 4 days have faced delays of 10, 12 or even 24 hours.  In the past, people have been trapped in their plane on the runway for 2, 3 or even over 4 hours while repairs or mechanical adjustments were made.  So  I decided to see this as a minor setback and a chance to stretch my legs.  After about a 40 minute wait, we all boarded the new plane (in exactly the same seat configuration) and soon got underway.  All in all, we arrived about 50 minutes late into LAX.  It was pushing 2AM by time I got my bags.  But I got back to my husband safe and sound, and all was good with the world.

So many times I have faced situations like this with anger and frustration.  So many times in the past I have cursed and muttered and fretted. But this time I made a special effort to be calm and to make the best of it.  And you know what? It really did make things better.  There were plenty of people around me who were plenty angry.  But they didn’t arrive in LA even one minute sooner than I did.  In fact, the trip probably seemed a lot longer to those folks who were really mad.

So I took that as my karmic lesson for yesterday.  I decided to take a deeeeeeep breath and just roll with it.  This is one of my real-life resolutions for this year, and I think it’s a good one.  So what do you think? How do you cope with life’s copious pain-in-the-butt moments? I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or stories.

By the way, The Fat Chick’s internal clock is infernally messed up right now.  Expect schedule changes from my usual posting times for blogs, videos, The Right Now Show and hours of consciousness. There are will be no meal vouchers or refunds available.  Thank you for your patience.  That is all.

Love,

The Fat Chick

P.S. Speaking of travel, the Fit Fatties are aiming for Vegas baby!  Help us gather those few hundred miles needed to get us to Sin City by Friday.  Click here to learn more!

Why I Love “Love Your Body Week”

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joyful_elephant

I’m having such a great time presenting at Love Your Body week at Dickinson college this week!  I feel just like that joyful little baby elephant up there.  The students are enthusiastic and I too am learning a lot!

I was invited to speak for the college’s “Love Your Body Week” and I’m just one part of an amazing number of fun and meaningful activities.  I”ve been impressed with the “Love Your Body Week” theme and it’s a great tool for the college campus for a number of reasons.  Here are a few:

1.  I think it’s inclusive.  It’s not love fat people week or love think people week.  It’s not just for boys or girls.  It’s not just for athletes or artists.  It’s love your body week.  Everybody with a body is included.

2.  It’s positive.  Rather than telling us what not to do, it’s telling us what TO do.   This is the Health At Every Size (R) way, which tends to focus on positive, definitive, loving and nurturing things that you can do for yourself.  It’s hard to think of something more positive and nurturing than loving your body.

3.  It brings attention to eating disorders on college campuses.  There is a LOT of disordered eating on college campuses.  This is a serious and dangerous problem for both men and women.  Love Your Body Week brings attention to eating disorders in a very gentle way, which does not call people out or shame them for disordered eating, but rather allows everybody access to this important information.

4.  It’s joyful.  See?  Look at the baby elephant.  That’s how I feel!  We’ve talked about some very serious subjects this week.  But we also chatted, laughed, sang, played and danced together this week at Dickinson College.  An awful lot of this was fun.  And I’m hoping that fun will bring young men and women back for more year after year.

5.  It’s planting an important seed.  I am not naive or egotistical enough to believe that I can change anybody’s mind about body love, self acceptance, size acceptance or Health At Every Size with one speech.  But I can say I wish somebody told me about it back when I was a college kid.  I had to wait until age 30 to even be exposed to this idea.  Love Your Body Week allows us to plant the seed of why it’s so important to love your body at every size among young people.  Nobody knows when or if that seed will bloom.  But at least the seed has been planted.

That, my dears, is why I love “Love Your Body Week”.  Are you having a “Love Your Body Week” at your college campus or workplace?  If not, why not institute one of your own.  Let’s work together to make every week “Love Your Body Week!”

Love,

The Fat Chick

Stuff That Weighs More Than Me: Big Ben at Dickinson College

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benjaminRush

In honor of my upcoming appearance at Dickinson College, I thought I’d find something on campus that weighs more than me.  And it didn’t take me long to settle on Big Ben.  I’m not talking about the big clock in London here.  Nope, by Big Ben, I mean the large bronze statue of Benjamin Rush that was unveiled at the college on June 11, 2004.  The sculpture is actually a replica of one accepted precisely 100 years earlier by President Theodore Roosevelt as a gift from the medical profession to the nation.

Benjamin Rush is an important person to both American history and the history of Dickinson college.  He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and was an important figure in psychology and medicine.  He fought against slavery, and for universal education (for both boys and girls) and for universal health.  He also fought for women’s rights and better treatment of patients with mental illness.  Benjamin Rush was one of the first to envision Dickinson College and served as an important trustee from the founding of the College until his death.

Let’s look at the statue stats:

First statue to grace Dickinson Colllege

Material: Bronze

Artist: Recast from statue originally created by Roland Hinton Perry

Height: 7 ft.

Weight: 568 pounds

Conclusion: Big Ben weighs more than me.