April 24, 2011

Hooking With Purpose

April 24, 2011/ Katie Taylor

Lately life has been pretty much all about me. At least, my life has been. I've been adjusting to my new job and settling into what seems like a long-overdue venture into adulthood. I'm 30 and feel like I have my first real job, which isn't entirely true but also isn't entirely inaccurate. I spend a lot of time thinking about what I want my life to look like, what I want to aspire to, what my dreams are. I worry about waking up one day and realizing that I have allowed my life to happen rather than caused my life to happen.

There's nothing inherently wrong with all of this worrying and daydreaming, but it can be exhausting. And I can very easily forget two things: 1 - I'm incredibly blessed, and 2 - there are a lot of people out there in the world who don't get to luxuriate in planning their "perfect" life.

Several months ago, I wrote about a book that my sister had given me for Christmas, and I wrote about how I was going to make a blanket to send to a program in Africa that provides medical services and support for women with fistulas, a debilitating condition (if left untreated) that is often the result of obstructed childbirth and sometimes rape. Well, in the new job happenings and navel gazing, it moved to the back burner. But recently, after some days of feeling particularly self-focused, I put my foot down - both of them really, one after the other, as I headed to my local yarn shop and picked out some colors that I hoped would bring cheer and comfort to whoever wrapped themselves in them.

It may take me a year, but I look forward to one day sending a package off to another woman who may, with the help of some truly amazing people, be able to sit with a blanket around her shoulders and spend at least a moment thinking about what might make her happy.

Katie

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Learning.
#Repost @ijeomaoluo with @make_repost
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I spoke with @voxdotcom about the racial justice moment we're in right now. “Be wary of anything that allows you to do something that isn’t actually felt by people of color,” Oluo

Learning. #Repost @ijeomaoluo with @make_repost ・・・ I spoke with @voxdotcom about the racial justice moment we're in right now. “Be wary of anything that allows you to do something that isn’t actually felt by people of color,” Oluo said. “I always ask myself when I’m trying to do solidarity work, can the people I’m in solidarity with actually feel this? Can they spend this? Can they eat this? Does this actually help them in any way? And if it doesn’t, let it go.” https://www.vox.com/2020/6/9/21285062/ijeoma-oluo-interview-talk-race-book-george-floyd-protests

Beautiful image and important reminder #Repost @mamaglow with @make_repost
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Mama Glow - Black breastfeeding is a revolutionary act. There are so many barriers to breastfeeding success including: lack of peer support, lack of familial encouragement

Beautiful image and important reminder #Repost @mamaglow with @make_repost ・・・ Mama Glow - Black breastfeeding is a revolutionary act. There are so many barriers to breastfeeding success including: lack of peer support, lack of familial encouragement, lack of education and instruction, aggressive marketing from formula companies and health care providers, less accessibility to lactation consultants, lack of intra-community support, policy gaps like lack of federal paid family leave, etc. Systemic racism plays a huge role in breastfeeding and the trauma endured by enslaved black women who were forced to nurse the children of their masters is directly correlated with black breastfeeding rates today. _ The CDC found that of infants born in 2012, 66% of Black women chose to breastfeed. While 75% of White women and 80% of Latinex women choose to breastfeed. Who really has a choice is the question. _ Not all black mothers are set up to be home with their infants for a great length of time them and able to nurse their babies on-demand. 1 in 4 women in the US head back to work 10 days after giving birth. This includes people like our essential workers. All mothers should have access to quality and culturally competent care regardless of ethnicity, skin tone, partner status, income, location or insurance. They should have access to education and support groups during the perinatal period to help encourage breastfeeding success. Modeling breastfeeding in the community is an act of community care. It preserves a natural biological process that is no longer instinctive. If we don’t see breastfeeding in our community then our chances for breastfeeding success decline. _ Salute to orgs like The Black Mothers Breastfeeding Association @bmbfa, who have a national impact on the reduction of racial disparities in breastfeeding success for black families. They provide education, valuable resources and ongoing support to black families and public/private agencies that service these families. _ Who are some of your favorite care providers and organizations serving the community and preserving breastfeeding? _ 📷 @rebornfromwi