I grew up always trying to lose ten pounds.  Now, when I look back on old photos of myself from high school, I have that sickening and sad feeling, knowing how anxious I felt about my size, at my pesky weight of 120 lbs.  Wow, if she could only see me now.

If she could, she’d probably be astounded to see that even though I didn’t develop the flat stomach or carve out the thigh-gap, I still had graduated from high school and college, gotten a job, had relationships, made new friends, bought new clothes, went to parties, moved to New York City, and essentially didn’t live out her greatest fear that not losing the weight would mean the end of the world and an unfulfilling life.  And yet, as I type those words, there’s a small demon voice in my head that says, “But if you were smaller, it would be better.”

That voice belongs to Diet Culture.  It comes out in the form of every weight loss pill commercial, every Weight Watchers knock-off brand (I’m looking at you, Noom), and every mother who ever pinched your love handle as you walked by (thankfully not mine).  Diet Culture is the ever present, loud and yet also soft and unsuspecting, voice that tells you that nothing you do matters unless you are thin while you’re doing it.  And it’s a lie.

In a simple Google search for “diet culture,” the following commonly searched questions were suggested to me.  As I read them, I felt like I was reading my own search history from 2008.

What time should I stop eating to lose weight?

Which fruits burn calories?

What is the best breakfast for weight loss?

What should I each for lunch on a diet?

What sweets can I eat on a diet?

Is it OK to have dessert on a diet?

And my personal favorite: Can I eat pudding on a diet?

To the last two questions, the answer is YES.

The Netflix mini-series Explained best summarized the difficulty with losing weight: the diet industry is pushing you to eat less, while the food industry is pushing you to eat more.  Why is either industry in charge of how we feed ourselves?

The diet and weight-loss industry, according to businesswire.com, is currently worth $72 Million.  That’s made up of weight loss cookbooks, fitness apps, “detox” teas, “meal replacement” shakes, snack packages labeled “guilt-free,” gym memberships, Spanx, juice cleanses, appetite suppressants, and bathroom scales.  The list could fill the rest of this article.  Basically, anything you’ve ever paid money for with a vision of yourself in your head at some future date, where you look thinner and happier.  There are two questions that invalidate the entire industry: Have you ever successfully become the person in that vision?  And what would happen to the industry, if in one moment, we all became okay with how we looked right now?

I’m willing to bet the answer to the first question is no, and the answer to the second is that it would all come to a crashing halt.  That’s the point.  The diet industry, and subsequently diet culture as a whole, isn’t here to see you become your best, “healthiest” self.  It’s here for you to constantly be chasing an image of yourself that is unrealistic, fail to reach it, and then continue to pour money right back into all the same products to try again.

Lately, I’ve seen a new wave of diet culture infiltrate us as we all stay home to wait out the coronavirus as best as we can: the weight gain that could happen while in quarantine.  Author and Body Positivity activist Meghan Crabbe published an Instagram post recently that read, “It’s okay to gain weight while social distancing. It’s okay if your body changes because your routine has. You do not need to use this time to lose weight. You do not need to make up for your isolation snacks.”

There are people dying, losing their loved ones, or who are on the front lines of the virus just trying to get it under control.  I have never been given perspective about my body image faster, than realizing how lucky I am to have a strong immune system and lungs that continue to give me the air I need every day.  There may be companies gearing up to sell us products to lose the “quarantine weight gain.”  Let’s not give them the power this time.  Let’s be thankful for what our bodies give us, no matter the size, shape, or numeric relationship with gravity.

Particularly during quarantine, when all other distractions of life are stripped away and you are left sitting at home with only yourself, the TV, and all the emotional baggage you have yet to work through, you might need, more than ever, to say yes to the pudding.

Sami Roberts is a graduate student in  NYU’s Magazine and Digital Storytelling program.

The post Say Yes to the Pudding – Especially During Quarantine appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Outside of those stadiums, community colleges, and sports halls, where events took place, in a small pub in the center of Manchester, there was one additional candidate making his argument: Vermin Supreme.

“I’m doing the same thing as I have every campaign season for the past 30 years I suppose,” Supreme said. “Running for President.”

With multiple ties around his neck and a long gray beard, Supreme, 58, strolled into a local pub with a man dressed in a Lemur onesie, playing an acoustic guitar in his wake.

Supreme, from Baltimore, Maryland, typically campaigns with a large toothbrush and a black boot on his head.  The toothbrush was missing, but the boot was there tall and proud.  “It stands for all that is good in America,” Supreme said. “The ability to wear a rubber boot on your head if you want to.”

His platform is for mandatory dental hygiene across America, time-travel research, and free ponies for every American, (a Pony-Based Economy).  Oh, and preparing for the zombie apocalypse.  He’s the winner of the 2020 New Hampshire Libertarian primary, held Jan 11, with 26 votes out of 110.

Supreme’s website more clearly outlines the idea behind the man in the boot: “Through satire and humor, I present real issues with fantastical context, in-depth analysis, and a dose of much-needed humor in the political sphere,” it declares. “With thought provoking activism, I stand against the tyrannical duopoly, the violent police state, and all forms of overreaching government.”

Supreme’s political parties have varied from Democrat to Republican to Libertarian.  Supreme has successfully drawn attention to his activism and political satire, starring in the documentary Who Is Vermin Supreme? An Outsider Odyssey, directed by Steve Onderick in 2014. In 2011, he participated in Occupy Boston protests, and in 2018 he ran for attorney general of Kansas, against Derek Schmidt.  He did not become the new Kansas attorney general.

During primary season, he can be found wandering the streets of Manchester.

“He comes around every four years. He’s more of a performance artist,” said a local New Hampshire resident, who requested to be called Becky. “He wants to put things out there that you might not necessarily think about. He’s just there to shake it up a little, I think.”

Between election years, Supreme resumes his unique role as a political activist, participating in protests, getting hired for parties or events to entertain, inform, and meet his supporters: “A Night Out in Boston with Vermin Supreme,” “An Evening with Vermin Supreme” in Ohio, “Vermin Supreme Does Nashville Cinema Spectacular,” and “North Texas Anarchist Book Fair,” to name a few.

Though the New Hampshire locals greeted Supreme with the same bemusement they might greet the neighbor’s friendly cat, some were not opposed to his promises as a presidential candidate, particularly the free ponies.

“You can use it for transportation, you can use the manure for your garden,” Becky said, “It’s very eco-friendly.”

On a more serious note, the most important issues for Becky are health care and income equality.  “Vermin doesn’t talk about those things,” she said. “Not that I’ve heard.”

Rob Potylo, from Pasadena, CA, campaigns in Manchester, NH for Vermin Supreme, who is running for president and won the Libertarian nomination this year. He calls himself Supreme’s “musical secretary.” Photo by Sami Roberts.

The Lemur playing the guitar—who calls himself Supreme’s “musical secretary” but whose actual name is Rob Potylo—a musician and comedian.  He is originally from Massachusetts, but lives in Pasadena, California and comes to New Hampshire every four years to campaign for Supreme.

“We’re trying to get some last-minute votes,” Potylo said. “He’s already won the New Hampshire Primary for the Libertarian vote, but we want to make sure that Tuesday we can win everything else—the Republican Primary, the Democratic Primary…”  He broke into song, the chorus of which was “hotdogs and applesauce.”  Potylo has done this for many elections in the past, and his vote remains the same: Vermin Supreme for President.

But what does the lemur onesie have to do with promoting Supreme’s candidacy?

“It’s insulated,” Potylo said. “It’s like ten degrees out here.”

Sami Roberts is a graduate student in the Magazine and Digital Storytelling concentration.

The post A Libertarian and His Lemur: Vermin Supreme Campaigns in New Hampshire appeared first on Pavement Pieces.