The BIG Bounce

Nightclubs for the Plus Size Weigh In
By JOHN ROGERS, AP

LONG BEACH, Calif. (Oct. 26) - Move over, it's Saturday night at Club Bounce and people are bouncing onto the dance floor in a big, big way.

These are big, big people, all dressed to the nines and many tipping the scales at 250, maybe 300 pounds.

That's because this expansive nightclub a couple blocks from the Pacific Ocean, with its flashing lights, friendly atmosphere and wall-rattling hip-hop sounds, caters specifically to fat people.

That's right, fat people. Not just any fat people, either, but fat people who are proud to call themselves fat people. People who joke that they are part of the new Fat is Phat movement.

"Self-conscious? No! Not at all," laughs Monique Lopez, a curvaceous woman of 23 as she arrives in a tight, black dress and heels. "I was like, 'I'm going to Club Bounce tonight. I'm going to wear my shortest skirt.'" (Which she did.)

The movement for equal rights for plus-sized people is nothing new of course. The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, with chapters around the country, was founded 40 years ago. A nonprofit group, it advocates that everyone be treated equally regardless of size, arguing that we don't live in a one-size-fits-all world.



I haven't had a whole lot of luck in the lady department since I arrived back in Odessa so I think I might need to make a trip out to Club Bounce in Long Beach. It's like my good pal Matt Muench used to say "you've got to lower your standards to raise your average" and lately I've been batting .000. Better yet maybe I should open a 'Club Bounce' in Odessa. That way I wouldn't have the travel cost and I'd have home field advantage. I'd be like the fat version of that creepy guy from Studio 54.