Despite hooping’s growing popularity, the dominant style and culture of the hoop community still seems to be fairly counterculture. That’s why I was so surprised to see us mentioned in Ryan Murphy’s new sitcom, “A New Normal.” (I have a bit of a gay crush on the star, Andrew Rannells. I’m not gay but he I think he is, or at least he plays a gay man on TV. I saw him in Book of Mormon last year and he is just Clark Kent, just-fell-off-the-turnip-truck, pinch-his-cheeks-and-put-him-in-your-pocket adorable.)
In the scene, a gay soon-to-be father frets over his ability to care for his unborn son. The priest replies:
“Of course [your son] too will bring you pain. Come see me when he’s a teenager and knocks up some professional hula hooper he just met at Burning Man.” – The New Normal, “Dog Children”http://www.hulu.com/watch/458354#i0,p12,d0 (go to 18:47)
Now that hooping has made it to popular consciousness, maybe we won’t have to explain anymore what we’re doing with these big hoops. Maybe hoops will become as ubiquitous as yoga mats. (When’s the last time you heard someone asking: “What do you do with them mats?”) We’ve made it into a Ryan Murphy show. You can’t get any more mainstream than that. Except of course if one day Baxter ends up on “Dancing With The Stars.” Now that I would pay to see.
