Being Weighed in Gym Class

And other character-building humiliations

Image by Sabine van Erp from Pixabay

The line creeps forward, one girl at a time. Jenny and Nancy are in front of me. They are both small, slim girls, good at cartwheels and the bent-arm hang. Though the women running this cattle call try to be discreet, I can clearly hear Jenny’s weight as one women says it to another who scribbles it in some sort of elementary school ledger of triumphs and shortcomings.