July 26, 2017 1:00 PM by Julia Felsenthal

"I think it"s incredibly progressive to talk about race in relationships,” says the actress, comedian, podcast host, and former Daily Show correspondent Jessica Williams. "And I also think it"s really progressive not to address it at all.”

I"m sitting with the actress—in person, she"s arrestingly tall and pretty—in a midtown New York hotel room, discussing her latest project, Jim Strouse"s The Incredible Jessica James , available to stream on Friday via Netflix. Strouse wrote the film as a star vehicle for Williams (she also gets credit as an executive producer), after casting her in his 2015 comedy People Places Things . In the new film, she plays the titular character, a 25-year-old theater geek who runs a drama program for New York City public school kids and aspires to playwriting glory. When we meet her, she is smarting from a string of professional and personal disappointments (when she"s not fantasizing about outlandish ways her recent ex-boyfriend might drop dead, she"s papering the walls of her deep-outer-borough apartment with rejection letters from every major theater company in the Western world).

Then Jessica"s friend Tasha (Noël Wells) sets her up with Boone (Chris O"Dowd), a slightly older app developer who is himself reeling from a divorce. They go on a terrible first date that turns into a tentative, maybe-not-so-terrible romance. From this premise springs a quiet, goofy rom-com about learning to recognize the good things that are right in front of your nose.

The Incredible Jessica James distinguishes itself from your average rom-com in myriad ways. There"s a deliberate effort to flip the script on gender dynamics. There"s an appealing hyper-realism to Strouse"s depiction of Boone and Jessica"s awkward, ambivalent courtship. There"s Jessica herself: passionate, slightly clueless, unflappable in the face of rejection, so much so that her abundance of self-esteem can seem at times like millennial self-delusion or even clinical narcissism. (At other times it just seems really, really healthy —and the fact that it"s off-putting may reflect more poorly on the viewer than on the character.)

And then there"s what goes unspoken. Jessica and Boone are opposites: He"s as self-deprecating and gibbering as she is self-assured and unnervingly direct. But their most visible difference—she"s black, he"s white—is never even mentioned in passing. Race certainly crops up: "Look at me,” Jessica says at one point. "I"m tall. I"m pretty. I"m smart. I am a cocoa queen. Obviously I will have a lot of great loves in my life.” It just never crops up between these two characters. "What I loved about Jessica,” says Williams, "is that she"s a black woman, and that is part of her identity. But in this story, it"s relevant and also irrelevant .”

Jessica James premiered at Sundance, so the film was long in the can by the time its star made headlines at the festival, first for delivering a rousing speech at the Park City Women"s March ("Williams is my last name, but it is not my real name. It is my slave name. I am my ancestors" dream. They fought for me to be able to stand up here in the cold-ass snow in front of a bunch of white people wearing Uggs”); then for publicly tussling with Salma Hayek over matters of intersectional feminism at a lunch for women in Hollywood (Hayek"s position: reject victimhood; Williams"s position: for certain women—black and trans women in particular—"it"s not so simple”).

"Race affects everything that I do, and everything that I create speaks to intersectionality,” Williams explains when I ask whether the film"s handling of interracial dating connects to the point she was trying to make at Sundance. "It"s not a hat I can take on and off. It is a fact and it just exists. It"s interesting, because that means, in a way, even if you"re not trying to be political, you kind of are.”

Later, she adds: "In a way, that"s kind of what it can mean to be black.”

We spoke more about her feelings on that incident, about making The Incredible Jessica James , and about why Williams, who left The Daily Show just before the 2016 presidential election went into overdrive, felt it was high time to move on from the satirical news business.

I"m really tall , so I loved that this movie is about an unusually tall woman. You"re 6 feet tall in real life. Has your height shaped your comedy?

Definitely. Height has been very, very central to the development of my personality. I think when you"re a tall girl, you feel a little bit like an outcast. You have to go to the back of the photo. You"re taller than all the boys. I know I felt more like an outsider. And then as I got older I just got used to it. I got like: I don"t date under 6 feet. That"s my policy.

I"m a lot more comfortable with it. The thing that annoys me as a tall woman: Sometimes I"ll be out somewhere and guys who are just around 6 feet are like, "How tall are you? Let"s stand back to back!” It"s like: Why? It"s always some 5-[foot]-10-ass dude, trying to stand butt to butt with you, trying to see who"s taller. It"s like, okay, alright, I"m the physical incarnation of your failures.

Your character operates with this intense self-confidence. It raises the question: Is she some prototypically self-absorbed millennial? Or is she just a person with a really healthy sense of self that we"re not used to seeing onscreen? How did you read her?

I read her as all of those things, actually. I think there"s something to the millennial sentiment of being, like, I"m great. But I think there"s also something really amazing and powerful about being, like, Oh, hey, I"m awesome. It"s a fine line. But I think it"s possible to be both, to not be the most annoying person in the world, to still be very intriguing and fun to watch. I see Jessica James as very layered and dynamic. I feel complicated. My friends feel complicated. All the women in my life feel complicated. So I was really excited to play her for that specific reason.

In anticipation of meeting you, I was re-reading the story that came out about the Sundance lunch where you got into it with Salma Hayek. Did that experience teach you any lessons about Hollywood that you didn"t already know?

I think I took away a lot about me, actually. I was in a really vulnerable position in that room, and I really felt the need to express myself at this massive table. So I think after I felt sad about it, it was like, oh at the end of the day, it was a little bit brave of me to be able to say that. And what I loved most was the response that it got. I really felt like no matter what happened in that room, there were so many women and men who understood what I was talking about and were really supportive. So I did feel a little alone in that situation, but as soon as I was out of it, there was a lot of love.

You left The Daily Show at the beginning of last summer, arguably when things really started to go haywire with the 2016 election. Have there been moments since then when you"ve felt pangs of: I wish I could get back into the satirical news game?

I only think of that when I come across people I used to work with, because I miss them. I worked in the best office ever. But for the most part: hell no. I really like where I"m at right now. I left The Daily Show to go shoot this movie. I really loved the process of making the movie. I don"t have any regrets about the way I left, and when I left, and what I"m choosing to do. Because, f*ck this. I mean that in the most eloquent way possible: F*ck. This.

You mean politics?

Yeah. Yeah.

In the film there"s this scene where Jessica James meets the Tony-winning playwright Sarah Jones and asks her: How do you know when you"ve made it? I"ll ask you the same question: How do you know when you"ve made it? Is it when a director writes a movie for you?

I guess so! I think my answer"s more like Sarah"s, where it"s like: Oh sh*t? I"ve made it? There is no official making it. You"re just in the process of it. But yeah, I guess so. I think you kind of just reminded me. Damn, wow, thank you for the life class. It"s just sort of this process: sitting in this hotel, talking to f*cking Vogue about a movie I shot. It"s more about the process and not about the destin— ashe .

I hate to bring up a sore subject, but it was just announced that Comedy Central isn"t moving forward with the pilot you were developing with comedian Naomi Ekperigin. In this film you play a character who manages, no matter what, to put a happy face on disappointment. Do you deal as well as Jessica James does?

That"s not a sore subject and it was not a disappointment. But I have, however, had a lot of rejection in this industry. I feel like I just need to lick my wounds. I need to acknowledge it. Before, I would have compartmentalized everything in a box, just pushed it away, not thought about it, then have it fester for a long time until it finally breaks out of me in a nonhealthy way. I think now I"m trying to acknowledge whatever my disappointments are, why I"m sad, either go talk to my therapist or go work out or something, try to figure out why it didn"t work. And then pull myself up, dust my f*cking outfit off, and get out there. Just keep moving.

Here"s a really basic question: Did the existence of the Netflix show Jessica Jones ever make you think, Maybe we should rename this movie?

I think originally the character"s name was Jessica Jones. We were like, eh, it"s fine, let"s just go with it. When I do press, people are still like: "So, I love The Incredible Jessica Jones .” I"m like: "That"s our b! We did that!”

Spoiler alert: You appear in a pretty dirty sex scene with Chris O"Dowd. How"d you psych yourself up for that?

Oh my god, I was so freaked out. I"m not somebody who even likes to hold hands in public. I"m mortified. Just the idea of doing a scene like that in front of a bunch of crew. … It"s really hot. There"s cameras and a man holding a boom mike who"s ready to go home. It"s so intense. But at the end of the day it"s like, I"m working. I really was like, deep breath.

Was it toward the end of the shoot?

Nope. It wasn"t like the end of the month, or the end of the year, where I could be like: Good night! Never going to see you guys again. I had to see everyone bright and early the next morning, look "em dead in the face at [craft services].

This interview has been condensed and edited.

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Julie Newmar, 5'11"

Julie emailed me in 2012: "Dear Joerg, Love your website, congratulations. In appreciation, a picture and quote from my new book:

“Tall girls, don’t slump.
Think of how many short guys out there
Would love to have your offspring.
Stand up for them.” 

Julie Newmar

About Julie

As an eleventh generation American and a Mayflower descendant, Julie Newmar has beauty, brains and a charming sense of humor. Born Julia Chalene Newmeyer in Los Angeles, her father, Donald, was an engineering professor, head of the Phys Ed. Department, and head football coach at LACC. He was on the L. A. Buccaneers Wonder Team. Her mother, Helen Jesmer, was a Ziegfeld Follies girl, said by Eddie Cantor to have the most beautiful legs in the Follies. From an early age, Julie studied classical piano, ballet, and every form of dance her mother would drive her to lessons for, graduating high school at 15, then spending a year in Europe with her mother and brother John. On her UCLA entrance exam, she scored a 99, staying only six weeks, switching to Universal Studios as choreographer, teacher, and dance double. Not yet 18, she was the original "Golden Girl," a statue-come-to-life dancing in "Serpent of the Nile," often times seen on MySpace, YouTube, and was one of the brides in the classic MGM musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

"Silk Stockings" was her first role on Broadway at 19. Then the very "Stupefyin’ Jones" in "Li’l Abner." She won a Tony for her first speaking role in the hit comedy "Marriage-Go-Round" (Claudette Colbert and Charles Boyer). A contract with 20th Century Fox provided Marilyn Monroe/Jayne Mansfield-type roles in "The Rookie," "The Maltese Bippy,"… In London, she played the ubiquitous love interest of Zero Mostel in the unfinished film "Monsieur Le Coq." She also toured in the National Company, opposite Joel Gray, in "Stop the World, I Want to Get Off." Her legs were insured for $10 million (except in the event of theft).

Making the transition to TV, Julie had many memorable song and dance routines (a Jonathan Winters Special, The Danny Kaye Show, Mike Douglas Show) but is best known for her comedic as well as supernatural roles. She was the complex and alluring motorcycle babe in two episodes of "Route 66" (a role created for her by Stirling Silliphant) and starred in a "Twilight Zone" episode as The Devil. She was claimed again by Jim Aubrey, President of CBS for the lead in "My Living Doll" as Rhoda the robot, still a cult sitcom favorite.

In 1966, urged by her brother at Harvard, she created the role of Catwoman in "Batman." Her sense of humor and physicality made her this show’s most popular villain. Similarly popular was her appearance as April the Laundress in "The Monkees Get Out More Dirt". On "Wide, Wide World of Sports," she made three parachute jumps. She was killed off in "Columbo" but slayed audiences as Lola in "Damn Yankees." She was given a chapter in the book "Mothers of Invention" for having created "Nudemar," a new design in pantyhose, appearing in People Magazine.

In the 1980s, Julie appeared in nine films of "presumptive" value while raising her son. A mother at 49 and divorced, she attended UCLA and took courses so she could more effectively run her own real estate business. In 1991, Julie took on the Rosalind Russel role in "The Women," then astonished Broadway in a revival of "Li’l Abner," 42 years after performing in the original production as Stupefyin’ Jones in the same costume. In her 60s, she became a modeling sensation in Paris for Thierry Mugler and appeared among the fashion world’s most gorgeous divas in George Michael’s music video "Too Funky."

Few women have had a movie named after them. Julie’s name literally became box office via "To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar," a film from Stephen Spielberg’s company. Literary types from John D. MacDonald to Harlan Coben have written characters based on Julie or alluding to Julie’s "special… beautiful and animated… incomparable feminine" personality. She was persuaded by Adam West to re-make Catwoman in his "Return to the Batcave." She also appeared in her own "A&E Biography."

A feud over "quality of life" issues with neighbor Jim Belushi ended amicably in a historic and hysteric guest spot on his show, "According to Jim," which once again proved she’s as active and attractive as ever. Batman’s formidable feline, Belushi’s archly attractive enemy.

From the ‘60s into the 21st century, Julie is still fascinating. "Beauty is her business" as well as her passion for art and design and gardening, which have led to a rose, day lily, and an orchid named in her honor. Her magnificent gardens are first choice for L.A.’s top charity events. "Why not? I live in Paradise."

A book on the oft asked questions "How do you look the way you do?" The answers are few when it comes to makeup and exercise. "It’s the inner life that’s all important". Check it out on JulieNewmar.com – her 2011 book, "The Conscious Catwoman Explains Life on Earth". She is currently writing short stories, magazine pieces, as well as a bi-monthly memoir on the beatitudes of yes, consummate bliss.

Visit Julie Newmar's website

Dr. Kathlyn (Kara) Cooney is a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA. Specializing in craft production, coffin studies, and economies in the ancient world, Cooney received her PhD in Egyptology from Johns Hopkins University. In 2005, she was co-curator of Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Cooney produced a comparative archaeology television series with her husband, Neil Crawford, entitled Out of Egypt, which aired in 2009 on the Discovery Channel and is available online via Netflix and Amazon.

The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt is Cooney's first trade book, and it benefits from her immense knowledge of Egypt's ancient history to craft an illuminating biography of its least well-known female king. As an archaeologist who spent years at various excavations in Egypt, Cooney draws from the latest field research to fill in the gaps in the physical record of Hatshepsut. Published by Crown Publishing Group, the book releases on October 14, 2014.

Cooney's current research in coffin reuse, primarily focusing on the 20th Dynasty, is ongoing. Her research investigates the socioeconomic and political turmoil that have plagued the period, ultimately affecting funerary and burial practices in ancient Egypt. This project has taken her around the world over the span of five to six years to study and document more than 300 coffins in collections, including those in Cairo, London, Paris, Berlin, and Vatican City.

She currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and son.

Visit her website

Karlie Kloss is one of the top supermodels in the world

• She has been talking about fashion for women her height
• Karlie has given some of her top tips for tall girls

It is fair to say that most of the women in the world love shoes and some women have shoes with ridiculously big heels on them. However, there are plenty of tall women in the world who struggle with big heels on their shoes, as they all tower above many guys in the world and can sometimes feel awkward.

Well, the gorgeous Karlie Kloss is one of the top supermodels on the planet and she has had to deal with being a tall woman for many years now. Karlie has admitted that she prefers not to wear heels as she is very tall already, so she has given some of her top tips to the taller women in the world.

Kloss explained, "I feel like I can conquer the world in a pair of flats. I think I would look like a crazy woman walking around N.Y.C. in heels since I'm 6'1″ and 6'4″ in heels. Plus, I take the subway, so I'd stand out even more! I love being super-tall because I can wear flats on the red carpet. I'm also always running around in sneakers. I probably have at least 50 pairs. Like I love wearing high-waisted trousers to make my legs look even longer."

She added, "And I get to wear amazing gowns at a runway show that nobody else could pull off because it's so long. I definitely do not look good in something that's too short. Everything gets shorter on me! There are definitely upsides to it. If you're really tall, I think you should own it. I think it's great to find what makes you different and accentuate it, and use them to stand out even more."

So, there you have it. If you are a taller woman and are keen to try some things a bit different, then why not take these great tips from Karlie Kloss and adapt them for your own lifestyle.

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Katherine Webb, wife of former Alabama quarterback A.J. McCarron, is set to appear on Good Morning America to talk about cyberbullying. Webb has experience when it comes to cyberbullying, after being targeted by "skinny-shamers" on the social-media site Instagram. Katherine Webb has been updating her Instagram account with pictures of herself, and the she is shocked by the negative responses she’s been getting that criticize her for being "too skinny."

After posting a picture of herself in a bikini, several of her followers left rude comments such as "someone please give her a sandwich" and "too skinny." As a response to her critics, Katherine Webb posted a screencap of the negative comments on her Instagram account and wrote, "To all of you who think I need to gain weight or eat more, I eat just fine. I am 5'11 so I have a lot more places to put my calories."

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Kayte Lauren Christensen (born November 16, 1980 in Lakeview, Oregon) is an American color commentator and former professional basketball player who has competed internationally and for the Phoenix Mercury, Houston Comets and Chicago Sky in the WNBA.

Christensen has served as a color commentator for ESPNU and was alongside play-by-play announcer Doug Sherman on the call of the 2011 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championship game.

Kayte Lauren Christensen was born in Lakeview, Oregon to Randy and Cathy Christensen. She grew up on her family's ranch in the Modoc County ranching community of Likely, California, with two sisters and a younger brother.

Source: Wikipedia

Kayte herself writes: "From a 700 acre cattle ranch in the Northeastern corner of California to the Big Apple!! I've lived and worked all over the world and I have landed back in the Valley of the Sun in a dream job working for the Phoenix Suns. Follow me on my new adventure in my personal and professional life. Get a closer glimpse than ever at who I really am through my own words and experiences!! Who knows what I will do or say next!"

Visit her website

My 6'2 1/2" friend Kim Glass (who is also listed in the Famous Tall Ladies section) has just created a new website which includes a blog. Kim won an Olympic silver medal with the US ladies volleyball team in Beijing and is a great role model.

This was taken off her website because she can tell you about herself better than I ever could:

At the age of 17, Kim was the number 2 recruit in the country, and was named the 2001 Pennsylvania State Gatorade Player of the year. Kim attended the University of Arizona, where she became the 2002 National Freshman of the year, and became the first Wildcat to record 2,000 kills. She still holds the records for aces and kills, as well as many other records in categories amongst the now, Pac-12, (formerly the pac-10). In 2010, she was inducted into the University of Arizona Hall of Fame. In 2015 Kim was inducted into the Pac-12 All Century Team.

After leaving college, Kim played professionally for nine years, & lived in eight different countries, including Italy, Puerto Rico, Turkey, Russia, Czech Republic, Azerbaijan, China, & Brasil. Amidst her professional career, she competed in the 2008 Beijing Games as the youngest player on the team, and became a U.S. women’s Indoor Volleyball Olympic Silver Medalist.

Combating disc herniations and a desire to move on, she retired from volleyball in 2014. Intrigued with the body and her love for health & wellness, in addition to wanting to learn and educate people on how to prevent injuries, she made the transition into the fitness industry in 2015. Jump starting her personal training career w/ her Nasm certification at Equinox and being the “female in-house” trainer at Easton Gym Co. in Manhattan Beach, she relocated to Unbreakable Performance Center where she’s coached a wide range of clients from professional athletes to Hollywood elite. She often went on the road with her clients to ensure their fitness needs were being handled and to keep consistency in training.

In 2011, Kim was featured in the famed Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, as well as ESPN’s The Body Issue. She continues to work as a model within the fitness and fashion world.

In 2016, she joined the cast of MTV’s The Challenge: Champs vs. Stars, to help raise funds for Covenant House, a non-profit homeless youth shelter, in Los Angeles.

Kim is a trainer, model, television personality, motivational speaker, philanthropist, and entrepreneur. She strives to improve the lives of everyone she meets through her knowledge, experience, and her highly energetic approach to training and coaching.

Visit Kim's website, her Instagram page and read this excellent FHM piece

Der KLM ist ein in München eingetragener Verein mit Bezirksgruppen in 22 Städten Deutschlands, der sich gemäß den Vorgaben seiner Satzung für die "großen" Belange der langen Menschen einsetzt.

Mitglied im KLM können Menschen mit einer über dem Bevölkerungsdurchschnitt liegenden Körpergröße (Frauen mindestens 1,80m, Männer mindestens 1,90m) werden. Dabei besteht keine Altersbegrenzung. Der KLM bietet für Lange die Möglichkeit, sich bei angebotenen Veranstaltungen der unterschiedlichsten Art mit anderen grossgewachsenen Menschen zusammenzutreffen, deren einziges gemeinsames Merkmal die überdurchschnittliche Körpergröße der Mitglieder ist. Somit finden sich beim KLM Menschen aus allen Bevölkerungsschichten und Bildungsgraden.

Website

Wir haben ein einziges gemeinsames Merkmal das uns zusammenführt: unsere Körperlänge. Die unterschiedlichsten Interessen und individuellen Fähigkeiten unserer Mitglieder jedoch, tragen zu einer gelungen, gemischten Gemeinschaft bei, in der wir uns gerne und regelmässig auf Augenhöhe treffen. Wir sind ein fröhliches Volk, es sind alle Interessierten Langen eingeladen an unseren Anlässen teilzunehmen, auch wenn sie noch nicht Mitglied sind.

Der Klub Langer Menschen (KLM) Schweiz ist eine Vereinigung von Menschen mit einer überdurchschnittlichen Körpergrösse und engagiert sich in der Schweiz für die Interessen aller langer Menschen jeden Alters. Der KLM CH ist die Dachorganisation der drei Sektionen in Basel, Bern, und Zürich.

In 15 europäischen Ländern gibt es ähnliche Klubs, welche sich in der European Union of Tall People (EUTP) organsieren. In der EUTP sind wir darum bemüht, uns bei Behörden und Herstellern Gehör für unsere Anliegen zu verschaffen und haben Zugang zur euopäischen Standardisierungskommission. Die gleichgesinnten Klubs in Nordamerika stehen mit dem Tall Club International (TCI) im Verband.

Die Mitglieder jedes Klubs sind in allen anderen Klubs weltweit jederzeit willkommene Gäste.

Website

Devious new weapon in the legroom war prevents the air passenger in front from reclining their seat

The Knee Defender safeguards precious legroom by preventing the seat in front of you from reclining any further. Consisting of two plastic clips which are placed at the top of either arm of the tray table, the miniature device keeps the seat in front of you locked in place.

The pocket-size gadget can also be adjustable according to how much you want to allow the seat in front of you to recline. The closer each clip is placed to the back of the seat, the less the seat will be able to move. The tiny device is about the same size as a house key and is made with "specially shaped grooves" to fit the different seats and tray table found on a variety of planes.

It is the work of Ira Goldman, a 6ft 4in Washington DC resident, who wanted to help other tall travellers fed up with being "bashed in the knees over and over again" while on a flight. It should be noted that the clips are meant to be used with your tray table down; airline typically request that the table must be raised and locked away during taxiing, takeoffs or landings.

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I can give some obvious drawbacks. For instance, flights where you aren't in an exit or bulkhead row are insane, and not just for you, but for the person in front of you. The last time I wasn't able to get a good seat the guy in front ended up switching with me. Sure, he was a nice guy, but quite literally the force of my knees on his seat was tilting him, and any time I adjusted (because I was in pain, for crying out loud) it meant a severe jostling.

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Life as a tall woman: Someone shouted at us on Grafton Street – ‘Yer girlfriend’s bigger than ye’

In my 20s I was often approached by men who were challenged by my height

Mon, Jan 28, 2019, 11:58

Helen Duignan

New research from the Netherlands reports that women who are taller than 5ft 9in are more likely to live into their 90s than women who are shorter than 5ft 3in.

In The Tall Book: A Celebration of Life from on High, Arianne Cohen claims that tall women are perceived to be more dominant, more confident and more intelligent. Tall women also tend to earn more money than their shorter counterparts, she writes.

I wish I'd known all this when I was a tall child growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Height was part of my identity and part of family lore when I was young.

My ancestors were tall, my brothers were tall, my cousins were tall. Everyone was tall. My great-grandfather used to say "my great stature manifests itself sporadically in my descendants."

He was 6ft 7in. I was terrified I would take after him.

Being tall never failed to raise comment everywhere I went. Like a lot of tall children, I felt more was expected of me. I got away with less than my friends. How often did I hear "And you? You should know better." I was always either the leader (good) or the ring leader (bad) of my three best friends.

As a gangly seven-year-old I burned with embarrassment when my ballet teacher shouted "au pointe you clumsy elephant!"

I went to sleep dreaming I was as small as a Fisher Price person with an invisible suit.

From junior school into senior, I embarked on another involuntary growth spurt while my trio of tiny friends stayed tiny. They were all the same. I was different.

They followed me around as if I was their leader. They seemed to have stopped growing while I couldn't stop. I was all legs and arms and my hands seemed huge and stuck out of everything. The teeny trio were still playing hopscotch and skipping while I was getting taller than the teachers and tripping over the rope.

Stricken with self-consciousness, my shoulders fought a daily downward battle against an ever extending spine. I slouched myself smaller. I slouched to school and I slouched into classrooms and I slouched around hockey pitches and netball courts and I slouched back home again.

Well-meaning relatives made me walk across rooms with books on my head – promising that good posture would be rewarded with a career as an air hostess with Aer Lingus!

I walked tall for a while and in private hurled the books against the wall and re-arranged my shoulders.

Old men said "You're lovely when you smile. SMILE!" Older men put their arms around my waist and said "aren't you a fine strapping girl?" A man at a céilí said "There's some breedin' in them hips." I was about 13.

As I grew, my back started to hurt so a sheet of chipboard was found for my bed. A gruelling regime of swimming began. I was given too-short Speedos and told to get on with it.

My tall brothers sat at home on dark winter nights watching Top of the Pops while I slouched through the rain to the pool and slouched through the rain back home again. I was missing MASH. Tall was getting personal.

Despite the lack of sleep (turns out the chipboard should have been under the mattress) and the shame of the skin-tight Speedos, I made it through the awkward years and emerged as a relatively upright six-footer on the other side.

The well-meaning family friends upgraded my prospects from air-hostess to model. A promotion! I grimaced in response – flattered but also insulted. "She'll have to change her attitude," they said.

I went from an all-girls school to a (nearly) all-boys school. The teeny trio were left behind, and I fell in with a new trinity of very tall boys. We fancied ourselves and walked around town and hung out at the Bailey and pretended we were in a band. At 6ft 1in, I was the smallest. I began to un-slouch.

In my 20s I was often approached by men who were challenged by my height. Sometimes that meant they had something to prove. Other times they wanted to know who the hell I thought I was – taking up so much space in the world and acting as if I counted.

But with age and experience came a fragile confidence and eventually the ability to give as good as I got. But as the years passed, the family friends and relatives fretted on the side-lines when there was no husband in the offing.

They'd heard that the most recent boyfriend had dumped me after someone shouted after us on Grafton Street – "Yer girlfriend's bigger than ye!"

"She'll have to go abroad to find a husband!" cried the friends. Their tall sons were offered for dates. I declined. Their lips turned into tight lines. "She'll have to change her attitude," they said.

And as I edged into my late 20s, my modelling prospects were downgraded: "Have you thought about becoming a guard?"

My daughter is tall and getting taller (my great grandfather's stature manifesting itself sporadically in his descendants), and I'll probably have to witness the shoulder-slouch phase with her very soon.

My heart will go out to her but then I'll remind myself I was lucky then and I'm lucky now, and then I will remind her that she is lucky too.

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Lindsay Kay Hayward had one specific person in mind during her ambulance ride to the hospital after a health scare... fellow giant Shaquille O'Neal!

We got the "My Giant Life" star and 6'9" pro wrestler Friday in Vegas after she was hospitalized last week -- for what she thought was a blood clot in her lung -- and she's got a funny way of remembering her time on the stretcher.

Good to see Shaq helped Lindsay stay positive in what could have been a serious problem. Big folks gotta stick together... in sickness and in health.

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Liz Mikel

Liz has been performing since an early age. A Texas native, she has had the opportunity to grace stages locally, nationally, and abroad. Her love of dance, music and theater has endeared Ms. Mikel to audience members of all ages.

An all-around entertainer, she was trained from age 6 in dance by Ann Williams, founder of The Dallas Black Dance Theater. And she also studied under the illustrious Curtis King, founder and Director of The Black Academy of Arts and Letters.

She has toured nationally and has performed at Regional theaters across the country, including most recently, The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Mass.

Liz is known to Dallas Metroplex audiences having performed at;The Dallas Theater Center, Theatre Three, The Dallas Children's Theater, WaterTower Theater, Casa Manana, The Majestic Theater, Jubilee Theater as well as other venues.

In October 2005, Liz played the part of Mabel –The First Lady, thrilling audiences in the musical "CROWNS" written and directed by award winning actress, Regina Taylor, at The Dallas Theater Center.

She has appeared in over 20 productions at DTC since 1990. And in December, she completed her 14th year in its annual production of A Christmas Carol, where she portrayed several characters, including The Ghost of Christmas Present.

She was a company member of Vivid Theater Ensemble, a professional African American acting company founded by her mentor, Akin Babatunde'. And in 2004, she accompanied Mr. Babatunde' and Co-playwright and producer, Alan Govenar to Geneva, Switzerland; Paris, France and New York to perform the musical Blind Lemon Blues.

As well as stage, Liz has appeared in films and commercials and she has done numerous voice-overs. She's also performed locally on Good Morning Texas, Insights, Metro, and Good Day Dallas.

Liz has opened for nationally renowned recording artists Erykah Badu, Branford Marsalis and Isaac Hayes. And was featured vocalist for the Dallas Museum of Art's presentation of Duke Ellington's "Sacred Concert".

She has received the Dallas Theatre League's Leon Rabin Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Musical 1998; The Sankofa Award, for her dedication to the Arts in the Community;The Dallas Theater Critics Forum Award 2004 for Ain't Misbehavin. Liz was named Best Actress 2004 by D Magazine in their annual Best of Big D issue. And recently, she was featured as Queen of the Arts-The Face of Black Theater in Dallas byThe Dallas Weekly, March, 2006.

Ms. Liz's dream of being a performer would not have been possible without the love and support of her family. Mother, Dr. Versia Lindsay Lacy; daughters, Lindsay, Corienne, and Vershea; and siblings, Brenda McKinney & Keith Lacy. "Thanks for your constant love, support and encouragement...I Love you all!"

Visit her website

LORNA SHERIDAN
INDEX-TRIBUNE MANAGING EDITOR
September 30, 2019, 6:26PMUpdated 7 hours ago

Sonoma Valley Rotarian Greg Brennan’s daughter, Jenna, has launched a lifestyle and clothing blog for tall girls and women. She’s nearly 6 feet 4 inches, herself.

"My family and my wife’s are tall, so we knew Jenna would be, too," said Greg Brennan. "Height was normal as Jenna grew up." Her brothers (6-foot-5 each) and cousins (nearing 6-feet-10 in one case) are tall, as are uncles and aunts – and even grandparents.

"Tall is beautiful’ was a mantra around our house as the kids grew," said Greg.

Not surprisingly, Jenna was a natural at sports. She wound up at U.C. Berkeley (’15) on a soccer scholarship and walked onto the track team to throw the discus.

Today, she works as a digital marketing manager at one of the world’s largest clothing retailers. But her passion project on the side is a blog called "Tall Girl Takeover."

Recently, a woman reached out to Jenna via the blog. The woman has two tall daughters who are really struggling, and she asked Jenna for her advice to get through such a tough phase of life.

Last week, Jenna posted a letter to her 16-year-old self (and all the tall young girls who are struggling to love their height) because she thought it would be helpful to many other tall girls. It’s her advice about growing up six inches taller than other girls. "Life is short. I’m not," says Jenna on her blog. "So let’s have some fun while I navigate life being a foot taller than the average woman."

Follow her blog at www.tgtakeover.com or @TallGirlTakeover_Jenna on Instagram.

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I'm 5'8 with a 33 inch inseam, and wouldn't mind an extra inch or two. So, I've never been one to offer a crying shoulder to the tall girl's lament: "I can't find anything to wear off the rack. The pants never fit, the sleeves are too short. I can't wear heels"

Hey all my Long-Limbed Sisters: cry me a river.

You get picked first for Varsity Basketball, you don't need a Bed Bath and Beyond stool to reach the high shelf in the kitchen and you can pass yourself off as a Rockette at Christmas.

But it wasn't until I bff'ed (i.e. made a best friend of) a 6 foot self-proclaimed Amazon that I truly understood the obstacles the "short-impaired" go through when it comes to something as simple as buying a pair of pants.

My Amazon buddy Tanya is a glorious 6 feet tall. She complains that her 35" inseam makes it almost impossible to find everyday clothes without paying... wait for it... an arm and a leg... for customized tailoring.

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Dear customer,

I’m delighted to let you know that a future has been secured for Long Tall Sally, under the new ownership of AK Retail Holdings Ltd. AK Retail Holdings’ portfolio includes specialist global womenswear brand Yours Clothing, a fast-growing curve retailer, BadRhino, its menswear counterpart along with Bump It Up Maternity and Yours London.

When we announced our closure back in June, we were heartbroken that Long Tall Sally would no longer exist but after weeks of negotiation, we're thrilled that the brand can now live on and our loyal customers can continue to enjoy the unique fit that’s so important to us all.

Please shop our website with confidence until Thursday 27th August. AK Retail Holdings will take over ownership of the Long Tall Sally brand on 1st September. Andrew Killingsworth, owner and CEO of AK Retail Holdings, commented:

"We are thrilled to be able to bring Long Tall Sally into our family of retailers. The brand is one we are proud to own and we look forward to engaging in meaningful dialogue with LTS customers, developing the offer and taking the brand to the next stage."

If you have queries about an existing order or return, our Customer Support Team is on hand to help throughout.

I hope you’re as excited as I am about the future of Long Tall Sally.

With my best wishes,

Alison Doherty
Chief Operating Officer

Low Heels

Large size women's shoes in up to UK size 12

Being tall with big feet should never have us feeling low, but that’s often how it can be. Is finding a pair of shoes which fit and look great with your outfit really so much to ask?

It shouldn’t be. That’s where Low Heels steps in. Specialising in large size women’s shoes in sizes 7-12UK, and offering a totally free made-to-measure service, Low Heels will end your search for that illusive ‘perfect pair’. 

Joanna Scott, the owner, says:

I’m Joanna and, at 6ft tall with Size 9 feet, I have always struggled to find the right pair of shoes – especially for evenings out. I am forever seeking a pair of low, two-inch heels, and have spent a small fortune on the right pair. I know first-hand how difficult it is to find something big enough which is still chic, well-made and doesn’t ruin your outfit.

Although many retailers do offer up to a UK Size 10, the market is still lacking larger sizes women’s shoes. I believe we should all be able to find beautiful, feminine and cute (despite the size) shoes on low heels. Something that is going to finish off your gorgeous outfit – not spoil it.

Visit the Low Heels website

It’s 6.10am. My leg is touching his. I look at his thigh as it presses against mine. Who would have thought our relationship was going to get this physical this soon? Our shoulders brush. I can feel his warmth when our flesh mingles. And it mingles a lot. I hadn’t planned this. Neither of us had. It was as much of a surprise for me as it was for him.

But here we are snuggled up side by side in our cabin. The atmosphere is heavy. He’s sound asleep and I can’t help sneaking a look at him. He’s quite beautiful. I don’t even know his name. I know it’s wrong. I’m married. I’m twice his age. But here we are, sleeping together.

He’s not the first stranger I’ve slept with. There have been many. There’s no guilt. My husband and I sleep with strangers all the time. We don’t get jealous. We don’t ask questions. We just accept that with the kind of lives that we live it’s going to happen more often than not.

I have another look at my stranger. He’s really very lovely. Often they’re not. We often sleep with fat people. Old people. Stinky people. But this morning his face is soft and dreamy. I think about licking him. Then I don’t. I drift off for a moment and when I wake feel his arm against my breast.

In the ideal world I wouldn’t be sleeping with him. I didn’t mean this to happen. But it’s not my fault. I couldn’t stop it. We were thrown into this together. By Jetstar. I’m 22b and he’s 22c. I’m smashed in beside some handsome young bloke and we can’t stop touching each other. Not on purpose. It’s the ridiculous contortion and subsequent flesh pressing required to fit anyone who isn’t five foot two into a seat these days.

I am certain that in those changeover tidy-ups between every flight the good people at Jetstar move the seats closer by one millimetre. I used to fit. I remember there being at least an inch between myself and the seat in front. I remember being able to actually use the arm rest. Even put my arm on it. These days a 6-foot-tall woman does not fit in that seat without a decent man spread. And by man spread I don’t mean some sort of sandwich filling made with processed man meat; I am referring to the body position where one must sit with one’s legs open rather than closed.

Terribly unladylike, but I can’t keep my legs together on a flight any more. If I do, my knees push into the person in front. I’m particularly long from hip bone to knee.

I remember in my youth, when I was being measured by my modelling agency, their remarking that I seemed to be normal sized everywhere except there. I have freaky femurs. So to sit with any degree of dignity I have to open my pelvis and press my knee against the person beside me. When travelling with family this is just annoying. But man spreading with strangers can be uncomfortable, embarrassing and erotic all at the same time. Especially when I’ve forgotten to wear pants. You can’t man spread in a frock. Well, you can, but you might be thrown off the flight.

It’s a strange sensation being forced to touch someone you’ve never met. It’s even more bizarre when you have to utter the seven words every man wants to hear from a woman: ‘I have to go to the toilet’. There are two choices. Get up and let me out or experience an impromptu mid air and wildly clumsy lap dance as I try to squeeze over the top. If we hit turbulence your face is going to get wedged between my air bags. And please, fellow travellers, just because you can put your seat back doesn’t mean you should.

It’s a bondage situation. If I’ve got my tray out, that two degrees of comfort you are now enjoying in the possible arc of 360 sentences me to the stocks. I ain’t going nowhere. If I have to go to the toilet it’s going to happen right there in the seat.

The thing about the Jetstar ‘getting to know you program’ is that you don’t always get seated next to someone you actually want to know. Let alone touch. It’s usually gross. So if they’re vaguely pleasant it’s mildly tolerable. I can handle it when I’m awake as I maintain a kind of ninja body awareness but it’s when I am sleeping that I come undone. It’s too close. It confuses me.

I’m a very sensual, tactile person. I like to touch. If you sleep with me I will molest you. Just ask my friend Julie. She’s still recovering from my bed-sharing with me a few months back. In future if we share a bed I’ve asked her to use a ‘safe’ word.

So this morning on my flight from Melbourne I fall asleep pressed thigh to thigh against my handsome young stranger. I’m dreaming. It’s a very very nice dream. I feel the warmth of his body beside me. I roll over, reach out and when I wake up I’m licking the side of his face. How was I to know he was the pilot? It’s amazing how much room I got after that.

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Most of my adult life I have endured being stared at. It’s unnerving. People really have a good look at me in public. I am so used to it now I barely notice, but when I was a teenager it was a constant source of anxiety. It made me feel like a freak.

When travelling with Ellen doing our show Women Like Us, she observed the phenomenon with some shock: ‘Are you aware how much people stare at you?’ It was freaking her out a bit, but I guess I am kind of used to it. Worn down by years of people having a good look. I try to not notice people noticing me. It’s the tall thing. It still shocks people if you are a tall woman. They like to get an extra long look because I don’t blend in very well. I pretend people look at me because I’m gorgeous, but I know it’s because they think I’m a bit freaky. Or I look a lot like Elle McPherson. Which I do inside my mind photographs that I keep of myself to boost my self-esteem. I sometimes wonder if these pervy strangers think I’m a super model who’s let herself go and they’re staring hard to work out which one. ‘Claudia?’ ‘Definitely not Twiggy’. It happened again the other day. I was queuing at the airport waiting to get through my gate when a businessman walked past. I saw him have a good hard look at me. I don’t make eye contact because that will just invite him in. I put up the wall. I know he’s looking because he does that thing people do when they forget to hide that they are looking: he stops right in front of me and actually looks me up and down, raises his eyebrows, nods his head and then walks past me. Fucking Weirdo. And it’s a really bad suit. Like something he’s been wearing since the 80s.

Then he comes back. I think Oh No he’s going to talk to me. Bad-for-business suit parks himself bang in front of me and asks ‘How Tall are you?’ Nice opener, mate. Does he also go up to fat people and ask how much they weigh? Ask cripples how disabled they are? It’s a really stupid question. It’s not worth talking about.

Especially to a strange man in a bad suit. I want to say 5 foot 2 but that might mean he talks to me for longer. So I say ‘6 foot’. He’s impressed. It’s like I’m a fish. A really really big fish. Then he says, ‘I know this Chinese girl who is 6 foot 3’. What am I supposed to do with that random bit of information? I say ‘Oh. That’s tall’. Does he think I might know her? That tall girls meet up at a secret club once a month and measure each other? That we drink champagne and tell tall stories? (Mainly about stupid short men who ask dumb questions.) I see nothing interesting whatsoever in a person’s height.

Especially about what a freak I am in comparison to ‘normally’ sized women. They would say they don’t mean that, but it happens so much, people are so shocked, so interested, so obliged to stop and remark a fact I have known since I was 13 that I can only come to the conclusion that they find my height aberrant and not in line with what women are supposed to be. I am tall. It’s just one very small detail about who I am. I didn’t go on a diet to get tall. I didn’t decide. It’s my DNA. It just happened. It is not a conversation. I still don’t understand why so much unsolicited chat has to revolve around something so inconsequential and so absolutely out of my control.

My being tall is about as interesting as my going up to someone and saying ‘you have brown eyes’. I have secretly marvelled at the size of a person’s rotund arse but never for a minute considered going up and sparking up a conversation with ‘how big is your arse exactly?’ ‘Hmm, wow, I know someone with an arse twice as big as yours!’ Why do they always want to tell you they have a tall friend? Is that like a homophobe saying they have a gay friend or a white supremacist saying they have a black one? Does it make their height-based transgression permissible?

Then dickhead asks: ‘How tall is your husband?’ Now he’s assuming I’m married and a heterosexual. I say ‘Three foot five – she’s a dwarf. But she’s got a massive intellect.’

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