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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
Luckily, that's starting to change.
On December 7, 2018, Netflix released Dumplin', an adorable, heartfelt teen movie based on Julie Murphy's YA novel about a plus-size girl who decides to enter a local pageant as a protest and instead inspires other outsiders to also enter the competition. I absolutely adore the book, it means a lot to me, so I was pretty nervous and excited about this film.
I didn't expect to sob through the entire film.
In my 24 years of life, I've never seen a girl in a movie or on television express the exact same fears and anxieties I've experienced because of my body. Willowdean is a confident girl who is generally comfortable with herself and her body, but she is aware of how other people view fat bodies and worries about that. For the first time, it seemed like a character on my television actually understood me - something that Netflix owed fat girls after the cruel dumpster fires that Insatiable and Sierra Burgess is a Loser were.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about this is that it's not ending with Dumplin'. Next year, Hulu is adapting the Lindy West memoir Shrill into an Aidy Bryant - driven comedy. Isn't It Romantic?, a romcom starring Rebel WIlson is set to release next year as well! And YA has recently been FULL of fat protagonists - Dumplin', The Upside of Unrequited, and Puddin' are just a few! The Summer of Jordi Perez (And the Best Burger in Los Angeles) not only features a fat protagonist, but Amy Spalding's book gives us a fat, gay, fashionable girl who has pink hair and isn't afraid to eat in Abby Ives!!
As body positivity inches closer to being the norm, pop culture seems to be evolving to attempt to accommodate this change a bit. They don't always get it right - like with Insatiable or Sierra Burgess - but when they DO, it's life changing for the girls who need it. Willowdean Dickson is the heroine I needed when I was a teenager. Hell, Abby Ives is a character I needed at the beginning of this year!
The thing is, people are sick of fatphobia. The average woman is a size 16! Stores like Torrid and Lane Bryant make it relatively easy for women of all sizes - not just straight sizes - to be fashionable and trendy! Like always, Hollywood is slow to catch up - I mean, we did have to suffer through Insatiable before we were blessed with Dumplin' - but at least now things are getting better. "Fat Monica" in Friends wouldn't cut it now, and creators and executives in the media industry finally seem to be catching onto that.
At the beginning of the year, Amy Schumer released a movie where her character was constantly called fat and ugly (two things Schumer definitely isn't), and she had to have a brain injury to realize she was actually beautiful. Now, we have Willowdean's brilliant confidence and organic journey towards self-acceptance in Dumplin'. The inclusion of bodies that are outside the usual idea of what is beautiful is a slow process, but it's ultimately a beautiful thing to witness.
quotefancy.com
His first rule was that the ball can be thrown in any direction with one or both hands. The second one was that the ball can be batted in any direction with one or both hands, but never with the fist. The third rule is that the player can’t run with the ball and must throw it from the spot where he catches it. The ball must be held in or between the hands and the arms or body must not be used for holding it. He also said no shouldering, holding, pushing, striking, or tripping an opponent.
Naismith defined a foul as striking the ball with the fist. And if one of the teams made three consecutive fouls, it’s a goal for the opponents. The eighth rule is that a goal shall be made when the ball is thrown or batted from the ground into the basket and stays there. When the ball goes out of bounds, it can be thrown into the field and played by the first person touching it. The umpire worked with the referee and his job was to judge and note fouls, so he could tell the referee when three consecutive fouls have been made. Another role the referee had was to judge the ball and decide when the play was in bounds, which side it belongs to, and keep time. Naismith decided that the game should have two 15-minute halves, with a five-minute rest between. And the last rule was that the side scoring the most goals in the time limit would be declared the winner.
The game caught on quickly because graduates of YMCA traveled widely and it was a simple game to play indoors during the cold winter. Naismith trained the first great college basketball coach, Forrest “Phog” Allen, who played for him at the University of Kansas and won 771 games as a coach himself. One of Allen’s star players was Wilt Chamberlain, who became one of professional basketball’s first superstars. At one game, he scored 100 points himself.
In 1898, the first professional basketball league was formed. Players earned $2.50 for home games and $1.25 for games on the road. Starting in 1994, Juwan Howard, a star player for the Washington Bullets (Wizards now), had competing offers of more than $100 million over seven seasons. Several of the National Basketball Association teams have foreign players, who return home to represent their native countries in the Olympic Games. The team of top American professional basketball players is called the Dream Team, representing the United States in recent Olympic Games. Becoming more popular internationally, Argentina won gold in basketball in 2004, the first time a Latin American country won the basketball honor.
I think it is really cool that the game started with KU basically, because that is where I’m from and I grew up in Kansas City. My dad is actually an alumni of KU, but he never played basketball with them. He loves playing pick-up games with me, and since he didn’t have any sons, I was the one he taught. I grew up playing basketball on club teams, but never at school.
Me playing basketball in 3rd grade, 2003
Playing basketball in 6th grade, 2007
And I actually always hated going to watch basketball games because I just wanted to be on the court myself playing. I remember going to a lot of Midamerica Nazarene University home games because many of the alumni went and brought their kids. It’s kind of funny that my history kind of started out in the same place that basketball’s did too.
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