#Jamie Lopez

[undead-moth]

I have just discovered the existence of Jamie Lopez, a body-positive activist, because at the age of 37 she has died of heart complications.

Here are some of the results you’ll find if you Google her death:

Unsurprisingly, fatphobes are taking the tragic death of a young woman as an opportunity to shame fat people and spread hate. They lack both empathy and compassion for her. They find her death vindicating, and even comedic. She is not even a human being to them. 

But most importantly, they are using it as an opportunity to insist, as many fatphobes do, that this is the inevitable future all fat people face. They are once again arguing that all fat people are unhealthy and all fat people will die young because of this. In doing so, they are also accusing the fat acceptance movement of claiming that all fat people are healthy and all fat people will live long lives.

This completely ignores a few things:

1) If Jamie Lopez had been thin and died of the same health complications at the same age - which is the case for some thin people (remember, there is not a single health condition that exclusively fat people get or die of) - this would not therefore be indicative that their weight caused their death. Everyone would agree that it was the heart complications, not the weight that killed that person. Heart complications have been “linked” to fatness but never indisputably proven to be caused by it, and so it does not make sense to say that her weight, rather than heart complications killed her. And if someone wants to argue that it’s still her weight that killed her, because her weight put her at risk for heart problems, remember that being tall, being old, and/or being a man are risk factors for heart complications yet when a tall person, old person, or a man dies from heart complications we don’t insist they actually died of being tall or being old or being a man.

2) Had Jamie Lopez lived to be 100 this would have never proven to fatphobes that you can be fat and healthy. This is evident when other fat people live long healthy lives, even really fat people who live really long lives, and no one ever holds them up as “proof” that it’s possible to be fat and healthy. Even if millions of fat people, even very fat people, live to be very old - which millions do - it means nothing to these people. Statistically, “morbidly obese” people and underweight thin people have the same mortality rates, and people in the overweight and obese categories actually live the longest, longer even than their “healthy weight” counterparts. This has never changed the minds of fatphobes. But one single fat person dying young confirms their preconceived bias that all fat people are unhealthy and die young.

3) Neither the fat acceptance movement nor HAES advocates claim that all fat people are healthy. In fact, HAES advocates only argue that it’s possible to be healthy or unhealthy at any size, meaning that it’s possible to be fat and healthy, just as it’s possible to be thin and unhealthy, or vice versa. They are not insisting on a black-and-white dichotomy that puts one group in Always Unhealthy or Always Healthy. That’s what fatphobes are doing. They’re the ones making blanket statements about the combined health of entire communities, placing one in “Always unhealthy” (fat people) and one in “Always healthy” (thin people).

And the fat acceptance movement is not even about health. Fat acceptance advocates for the acceptance of fat people REGARDLESS OF health, meaning that fat people have the right to baseline human respect even if every single one of them is horribly unhealthy. Yet Fatphobes continue to debate fat acceptance activists by attempting to prove that all fat people are unhealthy. This is because they think that this gives them the right to hate and ridicule fat people. That is why it is so important that fat people be unhealthy to them, and why they never acknowledge that fat acceptance isn’t about health anyway. They need their excuse.

But it isn’t an excuse. It doesn’t matter if every single fat person is fat because they eat too much and exercise too little. It doesn’t matter if every single one of them could lose weight and maintain that weight loss if they simply worked hard enough. And it doesn’t matter if every single fat person is unhealthy and going to die at the age of 37 of a heart attack.

Fat people are people and people deserve to be treated with dignity and respect. That is what fat acceptance is about.

Jamie Lopez died young which is already unfortunate. And now she will be mocked for who knows how long by people who despise her for, essentially, being imperfect in a way they personally don’t like. Whether it be because she was fat, or because she was unhealthy, that’s the reason people will use to justify the inhumane ridicule of a human being who never harmed them, never wronged them, never even spoke to them - and now, isn’t even alive to defend herself against them. 

I can’t describe the grief I feel for this person who, until a couple of hours ago, I didn’t even know existed, who was dead before I’d ever even heard her name.

I hope she rests in peace while the people who shame her rot in hell.

[waterdeepp]

Jamie Lopez, owner of the BabyDoll Salon has passed away and you fucking freaks making videos and memes about her death are atrocious. She seemed like a genuinely kind and compassionate person and all you bullies can see is her weight. She had heart problems for many years and people act like she wasn’t aware of her size. Her size isn’t your business, her health, happiness, isn’t your business. And trying to make a GOTCHA grab DAYS after her death is beyond cruel. We don’t know her story and it quite frankly means nothing. Do better :,)

[wordsfail]

[starkidsdaily]

If she has no fans I'm dead

[ebadoodles]

It’s Time for VHSmas! 🎁🔥🎄

[hipsternumbertwo]

VHS Christmas Carols (Nov 21-24, 2024)

[shhhhimwatchingthis]

STARKID JUST UPLOADED THE FULL HOUR AND HALF CUT OF VHS CHRISTMAS CAROLS FOR FREE ON YOUTUBE

Thats the interconnected trilogy of Gift Of The Magi, The Little Match Girl, and of course A Christmas Carol

and if you haven't seen it live or ever bought the digital ticket...ITS SO GOOD

This is a temporary upload, a gift from Starkid in these tough times. WATCH IT NOW WHILE YOU CAN

can not stress how good and fun and heartwarming this show is!

[justa-sadjellyfish]

I didn’t have enough options to do all the actors sorry chat

[fictionalheroine]

VHS CHRISTMAS CAROL: LIVE!

[yourmoodboards-areonfiirree]

Sheilinda moodboard with Vampire and Red Gemstone inspo!

✰ self indulgent! ✰

(All images found on pinterest exept the centre image, which I made myself)

[poisonsophiaa]

i cant wait for starkid’s cinderellas castle im convulsing

[misagenda]

Listen Up Starkids

if you continue taking advantage of Team Starkid’s tireless generosity and loyalty

they will no longer work as hard to provide accessible theatre and FREE content to fans

but more importantly, it’s fucking disrespectful

just look at the many faces of disappointment ⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️⬇️

feel shame & do better

[pinazee]

Being a fan of starkid is probably the closest ill get to rooting for a sports team

[hatchetfield]

GIF request: @scottigyn

What If Tomorrow Comes (Black Friday)

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

VHSCC OH MY GOD

(no spoilers)

Starkid nation, you aren't ready.

So let's start with the obvious. Look, I spent thirteen years growing up with Starkid. That initial Michigan gang are deeply special to me and I will always miss Dylan, Brian R., and Corey in any show they aren't in. And this one's no different. But just as Janaya came in and took over Belle from Britney so flawlessly, Curt, Brian, and AJ were all WONDERFUL in their new roles. The gentle-but-high-energy, truly decent, romantic himbo charm Curt brought to our Springsteen boy Jim (you all are going to LOVE Jim, I promise) perfectly offset the defiant, sneering anger of Young Scrooge in "That Scrooge." Brian's reactions (particularly to the "rather take my own life" line) were so funny and some of my favorite parts of the show. And AJ... this is now my favorite thing AJ has ever done. And that's saying something. The smaller casting shake-up moments (Joey as Fezziwig, other little line re-distributions) were so fun as well!

The new act 1 is PERFECTION. I was actually surprised by how absolutely hysterical it was? Like, I won't tell you what was up with that clip on Instagram of Brian, Lauren, and Joey doing a freak-out dance, but I can tell you that their whole Act 1 deal threatened to steal the show every. Single. Time. I already mentioned Curt as Jim, but you will also love Della, who is so funny and real and truly carries us through the start of the show (Janaya is a STAR and she Curt have brilliant chemistry). Ali did a terrific job of balancing the sadness and hope that are both at the center of the devastating little Match Girl. And Jamie's Grandma... well, honestly I have no idea how to talk about Jamie's song without giving stuff away.

But the real star of the show in Act 1, as he should be, was our man Clark. I can't emphasize enough how much he nailed the writing of this whole new act. I mentioned that the new stuff is hilarious, but it's also deeply heartfelt, and also sad exactly when it needs to be. Like, the transition after Jamie's song? I can't really talk about it yet, but what that moment does with emotion is unreal. And, as expected, every song is a banger! My one complaint about this show, and it IS a big one, is that there is no cast recording of the Act 1 songs. I want to listen to them all the time.

But the good news is, I CAN listen to Christmas Carol as much as I want! The classic that started it all is back, with so many people reprising the hell out of their truly iconic roles (God I love the VHS Cratchits), and better than ever. I traditionally hate change, and I love the version of VHSCC Live! we already have so much, but I think I somehow loved this version even more? The staging is alive and clever and there are some additions and changes, particularly in "Final Ghost"/"Christmas Day," that frankly blew my mind and somehow managed to elevate the material even further. I can't wait for the digital ticket to come out so that I can talk about them. To put it simply, James Tolbert mastered his Starkid directorial debut like you won't believe. I'm so proud of him and grateful for the larger role he's taken in Starkid since they moved base to LA.

Also, the Ghost of Christmas Past is extra unhinged this year? Jaime pulled out all of the impish stops and it was the BEST.

Basically, everyone more than delivered. I haven't talked about Meredith yet but she rocked it in the band and continued to validate the hell out of my opinion that "3 Spirits" is the dark horse best song in the show.

And a special shout-out to June Saito for continuing to be a costuming GENIUS. I always love her work and this production is no exception. I honestly wanted to give the return of the Bob Cratchit costume its own round of applause.

You know, the world is a mess and everything is pretty much terrible. It's been a hard year in an impossible decade. But every once in a while you come across some art that takes all of that, acknowledges the truth of it, and somehow pulls back the curtains to harness the joy and hope that's still there under the rubble. To me, Starkid in particular has always been about finding and holding onto the hope and the beauty and humanity that allows us to endure an existence that can so often feel bleak. And VHSCC is maybe the most perfect encapsulation of that idea.

So thank you Clark, James, Meredith, Brian, and everyone who worked so hard on this little bit of magic. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Let's make a little light.

[ace-beef]

another Goin’ Back to Hogwarts clip! At the end of this one, Jeff does that opening note for Dumbledore and it was so glorious you can hear me scream “YES JEFF” (apologies for that lmao)