Becoming a parent has given me many opportunities to reflect on my own childhood. As I interact with my baby, I imagine my own parents caring for me. I understand better than ever the sacrifices they made and the joys and worries they felt. So today, my first Mother’s Day as a mom, I pay homage to my own mom.
“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”
— Flannery O’Connor
A few days ago, I came across a word I hadn’t heard before: healthism. I was curious, so I looked it up. The word describes a kind of philosophy I’ve noticed in recent years. It’s ubiquitous on social media, and it most often rears its head in the form of fat shaming. Healthism refers to several related ideas: