The Stark-Rogers Initiative

“Miles, you’re late!” - (2020)

Did you know that in post-mortem examinations there is zero correlation between weight and levels of arteriosclerosis and related diseases found?

Did you know that people with an overweight BMI have the longest life expectancy, that those with an “ideal” and an “obese” have about the same life expectancy, and that being “underweight” raises mortality rates more than being “morbidly obese”?

Did you know that losing weight and then gaining it back is worse for your heart than remaining at the weight you started consistently?

Did you know that 95% of people who lose weight do gain it back, and there has never been a single documented weight loss program that has been demonstrated to keep the weight off for five years or more in the majority or even a significant minority of people? Like, telling people to lose weight isn’t much use if we don’t know HOW to make that happen.

Like I have read The Obesity Myth by Paul Campos and Rethinking Thin by Gina Kolata and Big Fat Lies by Glenn A Gaesser (Ph.D!) And Fat!So? and several other books that I don’t own and so don’t remember all of their names I spent like four years reading every single study coming out and looking at the methodology and noting which ones had huge holes or terrible methods and which didn’t (the holes were almost always in the pro-weight-loss studies) and like

Big Fat Lies has 27 pages of bibliography. 27 pages worth of scientific citation. The book content itself is only 197 pages. That’s a page of references for every 7 pages of book. Reading the book is just reference after reference and study after study. Most of these doctors (like Linda Bacon, author of Health at Every Size) started out the same way. They wanted to use the scientific method to find a real weight loss program or health solution that worked and could be proven to work, and so studied everything they could about weight and fitness only to find out that we didn’t need weight loss in the first place. That all the studies calling for it were lacking or nonexistent. That weight and underlying metabolic health have very little relation. That the history of our relationship with health and obesity has little basis in fact and a LOT of basis in capitalism, politics, and fashion. No, really, the association between weight and health was first proposed by insurance companies looking for ways to charge people more by claiming risk. They also charged tall and short people more. And people with different skin colors. When they got in trouble for charging people for things they had no control over and had no bearing on their health, they set out to prove that weight was controllable and that fat was unhealthy to make money. 

These are also a lot of the same people who went on to invent the President’s fitness program, so if you went to public school you probably already hate them. 

✨Things To Do When in Oita by JapanLover.me ✨

Oita prefecture is located at the Eastern part of Kyushu Island in Japan. 🇯🇵

It is also known as one of the prefectures that has a lot of commercial spa towns and hotsprings (onsen) that could really refresh your mind, body and soul. It is also surrounded by nature from seas, mountains and such that can surely make you appreciate what Japan is made of. Below are that things that you can do or visit in Oita that you won’t forget in your entire lives. 😁

1.) Hiking at Mt. Yufudake 🍃 Looking for a more adventurous trip with your friends and loved ones? Well hiking at Mt. Yufudake is the place to be! A mountain, filled with abundant trees that nature lovers can hike for 4 hours just to reach the peak. There are two trails to choose from and both are okay for every level of your performance.

2.) Visit Usa Jingu / Shrine 🍃 Love studying history? Then this shrine is the perfect place for you to know more about Oita’s past. Located at the base of the Kunisaki peninsula, this shrine is built to praise the god of archery and war, Hachiman.

3.) Shopping at JR Oita city station 🍃 Are you a shopaholic? Well this new station is more than just a place to ride trains from Oita. With a spa houses from floors 19 to 21, this station is also the center for relaxation as you also have 224 shops, and a lot of entertainment centers, hotels and playgrounds to choose from

4.) See the monkeys of Mt. Takasaki 🍃 Animal lovers will surely love this place especially if they love monkeys because there are 1368 wild monkeys who live in a forest on a steep slope of Mt. Takasaki. Other animals can be seen in this zoo as well but monkeys do have a special place in this zoo. Antics from those monkeys can also be watched in the designated feeding area.

5.) Have a relaxing sand bath at Shoningahama Beach 🍃 This beach is one of the best places that you have sand baths. The sands are naturally heated by hot spring waters making it more relaxing and refreshing to take the service. So what are you waiting for? Book a ticket to Oita as soon as possible!

6.) Inazumi underwater stalactite cave 🍃 Looking for a new adventurous place to visit? Located at Bungo-ono Shi, this rare cave with underwater stalactites can be found is a must-see place in Oita. It is 16 degrees even if its summer making it rare for the cave to be appreciated but what it has to offer to its tourists is the most important thing to look on. 7.) Relax at Kirin Lake 🍃 This lake has a relaxing view Yufudake mountain that can give you serenity in every aspect. You can also have a boat ride together with your loved ones and make your trip more memorable.

8.) Visit & admire the Harajiri Falls 🍃 One of Japan’s top 100 waterfalls, the waterfalls formed after the eruption of Mt. Aso 90,000 years ago. This also has a beautiful nature scenery and you can through the walking paths that lead to the riverbank and circles back over the top of the falls. 9.) Ride the Beppu Ropeway 🍃 Wanna experience to be on top of the world? Well, this ropeway is 503 meters to the top of Tsurumi mountain and from there you can see the spectacular view of trees overfilled with pure green leaves in Summer, cherry blossoms in Spring and momiji in Fall season.

10.) Onsen at Hells of Beppu 🍃 Oh onsen, onsen, onsen. Your trip in Beppu won’t be complete without onsen. This is one of the most unique culture in Japan that you could actually experience when you are all in Japan living your lives as exchange student or working force. There are many kinds of hells of Beppu, just like water hell, mountain hell and more! But they are all the same because the temperature in their water is around 98C and almost boiling. It may be sizzling hot, just like hell but these onsen have skin and health benefits that could help you be healthy and fit thus making it one of the most prioritized tourists spots by tourists in Beppu. ‘

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List compiled by JLM Intern John Roman Aquino Edited by Marielle Villar Infographic by Little Miss Paintbrush / @chichilittle More lists of things to do here: www.japanlover.me/lists

If you’re out here saying shit like “everyone who liked Harry Potter is probs a cop now”, or “Harry Potter was always trash anyway” that’s.... not it. It was popular for a reason. Millions of people, trans, queer, POC, Black, Jewish, etc. knew and loved it for years. If you’re only now saying it’s trash because it’s confirmed that the author is a bigot, that’s kinda fucked.

Firstly, you should be looking critically at all media you consume regardless of if you’re aware of the author’s viewpoints, secondly, you’re implying that everything made by bigoted, racist, homophobic people is automatically bad writing. Unfortunately, that’s not true.

You cannot only read stuff from “unproblematic” authors. It’s literally impossible. For one, authors aren’t always stupid enough to share their bigoted opinions on twitter for the world to see. And if you’ve read anything by a white person from the 19th (hell, 20th) century, they’re almost definitely a huge fucking racist at the very least. You can, and should, make an effort to consume media made by people of a variety of sexual orientations, gender identities, racial identities, etc. But this doesn’t ensure that all of those people will be perfect unproblematic angels either.

The fact is, bad people make good things. Bad people will make stuff you like. You cannot tie your sense of worth or your personal morals to whether or not you watch or read the “right” stuff made by the “right” people. And if you struggle with this, you’re not alone.

If you’ve ever heard of cognitive dissonance, it basically means that there’s a distressing situation that is creating inconsistency/conflict, so your brain makes an effort to try and restore balance. For example, you know that Harry Potter is a good book series and that JK Rowling is a bad person. But those opposing thoughts occurring simultaneously make your brain feel Bad so in order to get rid of that distress, you either start thinking “well Harry Potter wasn’t good actually” or “well JK can’t really be a bad person”. You’ll see this kind of thing happen all the time with fans of musicians who turn out to be shitheads. And it’s ultimately very harmful.

Make an effort to reconcile the conflicting thoughts in your head. And try not to hold yourself up as the pinnacle of unproblematicness, like in general. We all have stuff we need to work towards, and no one is completely free of biases and prejudice.

And if you’re a Harry Potter fan feeling guilty or uncomfortable because of JKR, here’s my advice to you:

It is definitely important to look closely at problematic aspects of Harry Potter that we, as children, may have overlooked. Initially I hadn’t considered that Cho Chang’s name was racist. I never thought about how the goblins running the bank could be seen as antisemitic. You’ve seen the posts/threads; there’s a laundry list of stuff wrong with these books that deserves to be pointed out. But not recognizing this stuff when you were literally in elementary school doesn’t make you a bad person.

The beauty of reading things while being socially aware means that we can look at something critically and still enjoy its content. No, this does not mean the author is totally dead and no you can’t keep saying “Hatsune Miku wrote Harry Potter”. You cannot ignore where the content came from and pretend that Rowling’s bigoted ideologies didn’t seep into her writing. Acknowledge that JK wrote Harry Potter, that you enjoy(ed) Harry Potter, and that JK is also a huge transphobe amongst other things. All of these things can be true simultaneously.

As for what you can do moving forward, 1. if you must, buy HP merch from indie creators and buy used copies/pirate the books, and 2. make an effort to read different fantasy books written by trans/nb authors. You cannot erase the fact that your childhood was shaped by these books, but you can ensure that your future is shaped by something different, and better.

Harry Potter is a culturally important work and JK Rowling wrote it.

So many culturally important works of literature were written by people with bad views by today’s and even their time’s standards. Shakespeare? Racist, sexist, islamophobic, xenophobic, anti-Semitic. But we don’t erase his name from those plays. Because if we try and claim that those plays were authorless it gives us an awfully convenient excuse to ignore all of the flaws within them and how we may or may not agree with those flaws on a subconscious level.

In the world of literary analysis these days the author is no longer dead. We don’t do that anymore. The author is a ghost hanging over your shoulder. You can interpret their work any way you want and they can have no say in it. But you as a reader must also acknowledge that their original intentions are there. Their personal history and the times they lived in are there.

savewithstories “I Love You to the Moon and Back” - read by @imsebastianstan

“I Love You to the Moon and Back” by Amelia Hepworth, illustrated by Tim Warnes (published by @tigertalesbooks) - read by @imsebastianstan

THIRTY MILLION CHILDREN rely on school for food. Responding to the needs of kids during these school closures, @savethechildren and @nokidhungry have a new fund @SAVEWITHSTORIES to support food banks, and mobile meal trucks, and community feeding programs with funds to do what they do best—and also—with educational toys, books, and worksheets to make sure brains are full, as well as bellies.

If you can manage a one time gift of $10, please text SAVE to 20222. If another amount would work better for you, please visit our website—link in bio. There is no maximum and there is no minimum—together we will rise and together we can help.