Just shy of her third birthday, a little girl named Dolly Shivani Cherukuri has broken archery records in her country for firing 36 arrows at a target five metres away, and then again at a distance of seven metres. The feat has made her the youngest Indian to "score more than 200 points at a trial event."
“My daughter achieved the feat we have been dreaming… I can’t express in words how happy my family is,” said Dolly's father, Cherukuri Satyanarayana about his daughter's success.
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Yet the plot thickens (and gets a tad worrisome) when you learn she was trained in the sport "from birth" following the death of her brother, who was an archery superstar in his own right. From here, it smells like a vicarious victory for dad.
Though some have disputed Dolly's actual age, there is no denying that her accomplishment is staggering. Yet it begs the question: how young is too young to groom a child in a given activity?
In this country, many kids are fitted with skates and skis from the moment they can walk. While many parents may not have their sights set on the NHL draft, there does seems to be this push to give kids a head start on certain sports.
You tell me: Is it exploitative to engage a toddler or preschooler in a given activity or sport?
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Haters gonna hate. To some degree, that's par for the course for any media personality. Still, hating on a pregnant woman who tells you the weather forecast? That's hitting a record low, as Global News meteorologist Kristi Gordon found out.
Even though she pleaded with viewers early on in her second pregnancy to "be nice" about her maternity wardrobe, that didn't stop several viewers from sending her hate mail.
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"Nowhere on North America TV have we seen a weather reader so gross as you," read Gordon. "Your front end looks like the Hindenburg, and your rear end looks like a brick (fill in the blank) house. We now turn off Globel [sic]."
"Buy some decent clothes and have some respect for your unborn child," read another letter. "You're not the first pregnant woman. OMG." Others commented that Gordon should wear "looser tops."
Notwithstanding the fact that one of the haters couldn't even spell Global, making their own ignorance the laughingstock of the network, Gordon admitted that on some level the words still hurt.
The fact that Gordon received not one but several hateful missives illustrates that this is not the work of one random crazy, but a collective, ingrained disgust with the pregnant form.
Anyone who has carried a baby to term knows there is no disguising a substantial bump in those final weeks. And why should they? After all, pregnancy is beautiful. Have some respect for the unborn child, indeed.
How is what a meteorologist is wearing anyone's business, anyway? Since when did telling the weather become a fashion parade? The blue screen is not a catwalk. Do male meteorologists face the same criticism for wearing an ugly tie on air? I should hope not.
Of course TV hosts should make valiant efforts to look presentable, but what's up with this expectation for female meteorologists to look and dress like supermodels?
Gordon is a skilled professional, after all, with two science degrees. She can wear a paper bag for all I care. She's reporting on the weather, not Fashion Week.
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