Not sure if anyone cares at this point, but I was a cheerleader at Miramonte from 1999-2002. I was aware of the murder, but no one really spoke about it. Since the murder the popularity of the cheerleading squads declined and nowadays, the school has become far less 'cliquey'. Atleast, it was four years ago :).
Cheerleading is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO passe'. Girls can play real sports now. They no longer have to stand on the sidelines in short skirts jumping up and down like a bunch of idiots. One day students will read about cheerleading in history class and laugh as they ponder why females would subject themselves to such humiliation.
shareYeah, I played 'real' sports too.
shareWhat is so huliliating about cheerleading? These girls practice hard. Do you thik the gymnastics that they do as part of their routines are easy?
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I notice that most of the people that look down on it and refuse to see the physical demands of it are the people that could never be cheerleaders. (Too fat, etc.)
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"White-trashy"?!?!?!?!?!? Gee, I thought I remembered seeing cheerleading squads that were mostly black girls performing...and in one town I lived in, they appeared to be mostly Spanish girls. When I see them on TV, they appear to be all rces, some squads mixed, some are more of one race than another, I guess it depends on where you live.
And people have killed for other reasons equally as stupid as that mother.
And again, I noticed that most people I know that call ir "superficial" are too fat or ugly to have ever been on a squad. When i try to talk to them about all the work that gets put into it, they just make faces, remarks, you can tell it's jealousy. How can a person think all those flips, pyramids, etc are easyand take no practice?
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It's good that they think that of themselvs. However, if you truly are "sophisticated" you really don't need to put others down to bring yourselves up.
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No, I was never a cheerleader (I never really learned to do the gymnastics that well) but I still did not look down on them. But in my high school, the only people that really looked down on them were, as I said, those too fat to even try out. Others just didn't care. I do not live in the south (actually, north-east, if that makes any difference) and I have always seen squads with non-white cheerleaders.
shareI went to Miramonte, graduated in 2004, and played on the varsity football team in 2002 and 2003. I believe cheerleading can be very rigorous, especially when it comes to practices, however it does appear its popularity, at least at Miramonte, has declined tremendously over the ages. I can't say if it is a byproduct of this incident, but I know when I was out there on the fields playing the cheerleaders really didn't show that much enthusiasm during the games. In addition, they would usually leave the game around the third quarter, leaving us with no one to cheer us on for the rest of the game besides our fans. Many of the cheerleaders were in excellent shape, however there were also some that were in mediocre shape. It just sucks that one person's personal issues have to be taken out on someone who had so much going for them and even cost them their life. Is this movie actually good though?
shareWell I liked this movie. Tori Spelling & Kellie Martin did a good job as well as everybody else. Tori does a good job of making you dislike her & Kellie does a good job of making you feel sorry for her, but at the same time think that she's kind of pathedic wanting to be friends with somebody that is so cruel. If you get a chance to check it out, you should.
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What do you have against plus-sized girls, anyway?
Wow, StormAngel, for someone who seems to dislike the ugly stereotypical remarks ("anorexic" & "bulemic") that the "fat girls" would make, you present only ugly stereotypes in return ("they seemed completely unable to believe that some of us did not feel the need to eat entire pints of ice cream in one sitting.")
shareWell, why else would they accuse someone of being bulemic if they didn't think the person ate like a glutton then threw it up? Believe it ornot, some people are just satisfied with one or two scoops ofice cream.
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Your being majorly hypocritical. Your assumptions that overweight people can't control their eating is no different then the assumptions that people who are very thin are bulimic or anorexia.
StormAngel,
Did you ever consider that maybe some of these fat girls make comments like that in retaliation for being called names themselves?
I, personally had never made any remarks to these particular fat girls. Or anyone else for that matter. At least not until they said something nasty to me first. But for some reason, one in particular felt the need to repeatedly make nasty comments to me and other girls. So, if they can dish it, they can take it.
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.
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That goes both ways if you can make assumptions/sterotypes about overweight people, then you can take it when when it comes to the assumptions/sterotype about thin people and cheerleaders.
Your no different then the fat girls your talking about.
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I believe in the "if you can't take it, don't dish it" way of thinking. So if the fat girls decided to make remarks about weight, they should have been ready and expecting to take it too.
And I should add, it carries into adulthood also. I was sitting in the lunchroom where I work recently, and a fat girl walked in and said to me "I didn't think you ate." I just ignored her and went back to checking Facebook. Now, keep in mind that this girl and me work in different departments, different areas of the office, and the most we usually say to each other is a "good morning" and "good night" passing by. So it's not like we were ever even "friendly" or in any type of situation where we would "joke" with each other. And I am sure that if I said, "Well, I never doubted that you eat" she would not have liked it at all.
I guess you should have just said you didn't doubt that she ate. One of my friends is getting constant crap about the same subject, and being bigger myself, I told her:'Well just tell those people who ask you if you're anorexic: no, I just don't eat McDonalds that often. Looking at you, I suggest YOU give it a try.' She's just too sweet to actually do it lol. Girls/women who give eachother stupid remarks about weight are just so mean. Women should stick together, not be mean to eachother. However, when thin women automatically assume I'm jealous of them because I'm bigger, I get so angry as I was starved to the point of almost death, and I wasn't happy when I was skinny. Also, almost everyone I talk to assumes that my current fiancee wants me to lose weight which he doesn't. He's not attracted to thin women, he likes my body! Today I mentioned I had gained some weight again and it all went to my boobs, he just had a smile from ear to ear and said:'You have bigger boobs? Again? Wow! Now I can tell all my colleagues my fiancee has cup F!' No mean remarks about the weight gain whatsoever, just happiness that my curves increased.
I'm sorry to hear about your ex-husband's behavior though, I guess it has more to do with being controlling and making you feel less attractive so you would stay with him. It's the same with my ex now. He's trying to get me back because he realizes now that he misses me and told one of our Mutual friends that he regrets everything that happened and finds me more attractive now than when we were still together. Needless to say, never again. But especially if you're already thin, it's more hurtful because there's absolutely nothing wrong with your body in the first place, not even taking the current beauty ideal in regard (as you fit the ideal). Good riddance to him if he didn't appreciate and celebrate the beautiful, strong and incredible woman you probably are. And about all those other people giving you rude remarks about your body: those people are usually just jealous/insecure, trying to make themselves feel better by making you miserable. As you're older than me, I guess you already know not to let it hurt you, as it says so much more about them than about you. Stay strong.
The funny thing about my ex...he gained fifty pounds and about five jeans sizes while we were together. He then blamed me. Because I would buy each of us a pint of ice cream. He ate his in one sitting. I ate a scoop of mine then put it in the freezer. He would then eat the rest of mine. Same with any treats. I'd eat one or two of the cookies. He'd eat them all. And somehow, that was my fault
shareAmen sister! Not all big girls want to be skinny, I was naturally skinny 5'9 and 120 lbs for much of my life and I HATED it. I am now 175 lbs and I've never been happier with my body. I have an amazing hourglass figure and I am still modeling professionally.
Let Polly do the printing
Look, I know it's a long time ago but I still felt the need to reply anyway. English is not my first language, so I apologize in advance if I make any spelling mistakes. Now, I've been on both ends- once I weighed over 190 lbs, and once I've weighed 95 lbs. I have always had a bigger bone structure than most girls, despite being only 5'6" (I'm Dutch, average height for Dutch women is 5'9" or so). Due to stress, I ballooned to 190 lbs from a steady 150 lbs when I was seventeen. I didn't hate on thin, skinny or fit girls. When I was 18, I started to eat a little healthier and started working out and lost 45 lbs in a year. I met a nice guy, or so I thought. He turned out to be a controlling bastard who seemed to think everything above 110 lbs was 'fat'. So, I started to starve myself in order to be sexy and attractive in his eyes. And at 145 lbs, I have to starve myself to lose a pound. I have been able to work out 2-3 hours everyday and eat as little as 300 calories a day for a year. How I ate so little? One apple in the morning, 2 carrots for lunch and 200 grams of dry lettuce and one bite of chicken or fish in the evening. I lost a lot of weight and in the end, I weighed 105 lbs. For him, it still wasn't enough. He wanted me to lose 10-15 pounds more. I started to faint. I started to get tired. To be able to lose all that, I picked up the nasty habit of smoking, I started to eat only the apple and have two cups of broth a day (one for lunch and one for dinner, 38 calories each). I had found a way to bring my intake under 300 calories. And I got to 95 lbs. My body was horrific, but in my delusion I thought I was sexy. 'Cause guess what? My boyfriend started to pay more attention to me. He started to cuddle me when we were in bed. He started to actually make love to me! But my health was terrible. One day, I fainted and remained unconscious for over an hour. I shivered, but it was clearly not epilepsy. My mother got me to the hospital. Turns out, I was completely malnourished.
I have not been with that boyfriend for over a year now. I told him goodbye after he said I was 'still kinda chubby' (I still only weighed 105 lbs, my stomach was rock hard and my bones were sticking out everywhere) and that if I ever got pregnant, he would want me to 'get rid of it'. I immediately moved out, wondering why I ever let him treat me like that. Now, I'm back to 145 lbs. The diagnose by a psychologist was that I did not have an eating disorder. I just didn't eat out of fear of losing my boyfriend.
I no longer aspire to look like a cheerleader. It's beautiful, but it just doesn't fit me. I'm back to 145 lbs, and I love the way I look. I have breasts, hips, a butt and a lovely waist again. I'm proud of myself because I can enjoy food, because I don't deny myself the joy of life. I do it in moderation, as I still work out to be healthy. But on weekends I eat chocolate, good Italian food, good Mexican food- anything good really. When I eat healthy meals during the week, I make those a party for myself. Good doesn't automatically mean greasy and unhealthy. I do have a tendency to eat the foods highest in calories though. I just can't help but love a good lasagne, a good pizza, or some nice French cheese on a toast. Am I less disciplined because I enjoy those? Maybe I am less disciplined but I have learned that life is too short to not enjoy every beautiful thing life has to offer. I feel beautiful enough, and whoever doesn't love me for ME...well screw them and let them find someone who does fit their ideal.
So...you still think that someone you might consider 'fat' can't be happy with themselves? That they're always jealous of skinny, thin or fit girls and can't walk past them without saying something mean? Guess again. Proof right here.
Well that boyfriend sounds like a real jerk. Actually, he sounds a lot like my ex-husband. If I put on a pound or two (sometimes not even then, he might have just seen me eating a scoop of ice cream) he would remind me how he "hated fat". The funny thing was, while we were together, he gained about 50 pounds and went up 4 - 5 jeans sizes (his butt even ripped through a pair). When I turned it around and gave it back to him, he got really offended and said I was "supposed to love him anyway".
I never said all fat people were that way. I work with some who are definitely the definition of "obese" and they are very nice people. (Unless they are saying something I do not know about, but with how people there talk, by now I would know.) I was talking about the one I dealt with who did feel the need to make nasty remarks when I had never done or said anything mean or nasty to them first. If you are TRULY happy with who you are, you do not need to make nasty remarks to others.
As I said, I do not say anything mean or nasty just to say it. But if someone is going to dish it out to me, they had better be sure that they can take it in return.
My friend tried out for cheerleading at her school and she's in very good shape and she works really hard to make her routines perfect. Her sister is very close to her but she isn't in good shape and every time anyone mentions how hard my friend works in cheerleading, she walks off angrily or calls it superficial and stupid and says that anyone could do it. Happens a lot these days but why don't they just work at it? It must be funner than watching all these beautiful, energetic girls being admired for their hard work by others. I'm quite chubby but I'm in pretty good shape and I'm not complaining. My friend's cousin is head cheerleader on their team and is absoloutely brilliant at gymnastics but she isn't a super model. She certainly isn't fat but she's a little chunky. It doesn't depend on how fat or thin or pretty or ugly you are, it's how good you are! There is a girl on their team and she's not very pretty but she's an amazing gymnast. Looks don't matter, what matters is if you can actually do it!
shareThere's a major point being missed here: the issue is, at heart, what it was like at Miramonte THEN-- not subsequent experiences at this high school. I've seen, through some idle 'net research, that the relentless pressure to excel at MSHS has toned down considerably.
Too bad it hasn't elsewhere. With the VA Tech atrocity this week, and the Columbine anniversary, I revisted the Columbine HS website (yes, I'm morbid like that).Sadly, Columbine HS seems little changed from the toxic environment that spawned Eric Harris' and Dylan Klebold's violent outburst against humanity, turned them cold and unfeeling to anyone else's pain but their own.
Kirsten Costas' murder has never been termed a 'school shooting", yet nevertheless, it was every bit as much a one as Columbine, Santee, Jonesboro, Dawson... or VTech.
Easy to blame videogames, violent movies/telly (though what could be more violent than our nightly news, dispassionately bringingus daily death), easy access to guns... we want a quick, pat answer to a complex question, and within popular culture, therein scapegoats lie.
Blame EVERYTHING and EVERYONE but ourselves.. for creating an environment in which non-conformity is anathema, and excellence and school spirit are all that matter.
If that truly was ALL that mattered, I doubt that I'd be here, ranting on. Bill Gates didn't buy into it.
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Well the squad at my old school was horrible as far as the gymnastics part is concerned. Most of the girls couldn't do a cartwheel or a split if their lives depended on it, and the cheers really sucked. Cheerleading wasn't that popular at my school. The dance team, that goes on at halftime, was much better and that's the team all the girls wanted to join.
"I'm tri-sexual I'll try anything once"
-Samantha from Sex and the City
I didn't care about cheerleading. I actually wanted to be on polo or chess team.
shareCheerleading is not as easy as it looks. Practice is rigorous and challenging. It's more than pom-poms and rah-rahing. Your judgemental attitude is probably steeped in jealousy.
But, seriously. Don't knock it until you try it. There is a lot of athleticism involved and a lot of cheerleaders are involved in many other things. I love volleyball and football. Stop being judgemental. That "cheerleaders are the devil" attitude is as old as this 1980's murder.
I appreciate anyone from Miramonte posting. I just wish we could get a genuine post from someone who was in the same class as Kirsten and Bernadette.
Ya i know what you mean. My english teacher is good friends with the teacher that had Bernadette in her class during the time she was convicted...but that's all the connection i have.
share--Storm, honey, do you think maybe those people just notice YOUR superficial, snobby attitude??
The facts speak for themselves. As I said, when I try to point out all the work that gets put into cheerleading, all I get is ignorant responses. And when I challenge these same people to do the gymanstics they think are "so easy", I never get any takers on it.
I agree..I'm a current Miramonte Student and cheerleading is still the same as it seems to be in 1999. Nobody speaks of it, but we did have a lady come into my spanish class who talk to us about it.
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