“Fat and Happy,” a sign posted in the SURC reads, but I’m not looking at the sign. Like everyone else, I’m looking at the five regular people standing behind it.

They’re stripped to their underwear, faceless behind masks and blindfolds. People shuffle through as usual.

A clothed passer-by stops. She carefully places a hand on one of the exposed shoulders, writing with colored marker. The girl being written on nervously squeezes her fists.

“You are beautiful.”

Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” plays joyfully and loudly. This wants to be a celebration.

Some of us believe that to deserve love, even from ourselves, we have to look, laugh and act in certain ways that are largely impossible.

We know that these standards are untainable, yet we still desire them. The world is full of ironies.

The “fat and happy” young woman behind the sign shifts her exposed weight, favoring one hip and then the other. She can’t see the dumb smirks and raised eyebrows that pass by her.

It occurs to me this exhibition is lurid, and I feel icky seeing it.

Walking away, it occurs to me that America’s heaviest people are also often the poorest.

It’s less expensive and more profitable to produce food that is merely calorie dense, as opposed to nutrient dense. The poorest of us tend to have to eat the cheapest foods, which are fatty, sugary and processed.

If two people interview for the same job, completely equal in all other areas, the thinner of those two will likely get the job and the money that comes with it.

Poverty begets obesity; obesity begets poverty.

In our finer moments, we want to be inclusive and kind, which is good. But the fact is we are a nation of fat people, and where it counts, we discriminate like holy hell against fat people.

However you slice it, this does not add up to “fat and happy,” let alone fat and healthy.  

This isn’t about about shaming anyone, but addressing a problem.

When we call the symptom of our problem beautiful—with whatever intentions—we turn away from facing down the problem itself.

We become the problem’s ideological supplement. The rich get richer, and we get fatter and sicker until we die.