Whos Ugly?

I saw on the news that someone did a study and they wanted to put the results  in a nationally published psychology magazine. The magazine was declining. Why? Because the study said that black women were considered ugly! Wow, not only is that unbelievably racists, but sounds like a huge waste of research time! After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  The commentator on the news, coincidentally a Black man said, "these are my sisters, my cousins and my mother!" No one thinks their own family is ugly. When a baby is born the parents know immediately that this is the most beautiful child that ever lived.
    Of course we are not blind, most of the time. We see our families for who they are, looks aside. They are who we love. Why would a study be done to see who is "ugly?' Is it so that someone can sell the results? What would they do with these results?  Everyone already knows beautiful girls sell cars, toothpaste, cereal and cosmetics. But have you noticed lately the people in the ads seem to be more "regular"? Not all one color, not even all women. Men are selling more products now, not just power tools. Yogurt, pet food, gourmet fast foods and cars are sold with men and even whole families in the ads.
   I look for people of color in the ads. Try this little test. One night while watching TV, don't turn off the commercials. Watch and make note, any Black women or men? Any Asian or Hispanic peoples in these ads? What are the products that use peoples of color? If there are five children in an ad, I have seen the ratio be 3 White, one Black and one Asian or Hispanic. The boy and girl ratio is mixed among all the kids. When there are 2 adult people exchanging information in an ad and one is Black and one is White, the White person usually has the information and is sharing it with the Black person.  Maybe this is just the commercials I see. Are you seeing something different?
    So what am I talking about ,you want to know!? Not sure just noticing what is being fed to us as far as race goes. Why were they doing that study?

Hero Etiquette

Heroes come in all sizes, colors, job descriptions and sexes. I do not like the word heroines, oh yes very french sounding. But the first thought that comes to my mind is the drug that we hope to never need or become addicted to. I think hero is strong, clear and obvious. So women can be heroes too. Folk legends are hero stuff. Real life people can also be heroes. The Freedom Riders were heros, males and females alike. When segregation was at its worst and most violent  down south, they stood up to it at lunch counters, bus stops and rest rooms. They saw injustice and sacrificed their safety to show others this injustice. A hero stands up for what is right, acts to protect those weaker or less advantaged than herself and does the "right thing".  That is what midwives are, heroes. We midwives have stood against the injustices of the  medical establishment for decades in our pursuit of good and safe birth for women and their babies. We have made our own way, like Spiderman figuring out his own strengths and gifts by jumping from building to building, he got his rhythm. We CPMs have figured out what a midwife actually needs to know. Made a path to get that knowledge and had it stamped with the governments approval. Sometimes people make mistakes, so do heroes. But another hero should never come along and trash them! Batman does not step on Spiderman! Not only does it hurt hero Spidey, it also makes Batman look bad and mean.  We midwife heroes need to be above this. A personal hero of mine is Mahatma Gandhi. Today I thought of his non violent approach, which the Freedom Riders used, to not explode at the ACNM who tried to trash CPM heroes. Gold star for me! Hey, did you ever notice that a lot of heroes have capes? Even Gandhi was wrapped in cloth. Maybe a midwife cape is in order.

New kid on the blog

I decided that I have enough to say to the world at large that I should have a blog. I hope to bring some of the obvious social injustice that is rampant in our country, to the eyes and hopefully hearts, of the mostly younger and technically savvy. Meanwhile I hope to use myself as a health "lesson".  I WILL loose weight before the MANA conference this coming November.  This group that supports good births through midwives, has pledged to learn about being more socially just.  More about that later. For now WELCOME to the Midwife for Justice blog! Follow along for adventures in a sugar addicts quest towards healthy eating while spouting how to be socially aware. Sounds nuts, but could be FUN! Thanks, Linda