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Politics Everywhere: Cupcakes in School

- June 17, 2009

bq. MeMe Roth, a publicist and an Upper West Side mother of two, is getting really, really mad — “and I do not mean angry,” she clarified. “I mean mad, like crazy.” Ms. Roth is being driven mad by Public School 9, where her children are in second and fourth grades, and it seems that P.S. 9, in turn, is being driven mad by Ms. Roth.

bq. Ms. Roth, who runs a group called National Action Against Obesity, has no problem with the school lunches provided at the highly regarded elementary school on Columbus Avenue and 84th Street. What sets her off is the junk food served on special occasions: the cupcakes that come out for every birthday, the doughnuts her children were once given in gym, the sugary “Fun-Dip” packets that some parent provided the whole class on Valentine’s Day.

Doughnuts in gym! I never had that. Can anything be more potent than combining the politics of food with the politics of education? The article is here. (See also this.) More on MeMe Roth is here and here. Here is some political science research on obesity, courtesy of Eric Oliver.

And, of course, see Lee’s posts on cake (there are several!), cupcakes, cookies, and bagels — all targets of Ms. Roth. I just hope she doesn’t see this.

[Inaugural post in this ongoing series.]