Nashville Nurse-In Wrap Up.

Here in Nashville we co-created a beautiful and empowering action this morning!!

The babies & children were fantastic and adorable, the dads were supportive and invaluable in their presence, and the mamas rocked the house!! Together we assembled a delightfully warm, peaceful, articulate and personable group – we shone light on a lifestyle, family and health issue in just the right way to illuminate the natural, normal beauty of the nursing relationship in its many facets. I am proud to have been among the folks who participated.

Present were: 9 nursing mamas, 1 grandmother, 3 fathers of nurslings and 12 babies & children. 25 total participants.

We stayed for close to two hours at BNA and our action was covered by the three major networks (no Fox) & an AP reporter & photographer for the Tennessean. Most of us were interviewed AT LEAST once. Dads, too. I was so proud of my son and of my husband. Both were fully engaged and fabulous.

With the exception of perhaps two or three quizzical glances, we nursing families were met with great welcome, kindness and support. Two older women who’d nursed their babies years ago stopped to congratulate us and cheer us onward. One even was interviewed by the news. Another older couple stopped to speak with some mamas; the gentleman worked for Delta and wanted to express his support of us. An airport employee gave stickers to all the kids and an American Airlines flight attendant stopped to tell us that not all in her profession were offended by breastfeeding, that she herself was so glad to see us.

We left feeling good and strong and hopeful.

Link to the story that ran this morning here.

More by and by.

Nurse In TOMORROW at Airport.

Please come join me / us tomorrow!! Your peaceful presence is needed!! With recent passing of legislation in our state and more like items current nation wide, your pro-nursing selves are needed. You do not have to nurse in public. You can choose instead to simply show up and support the rights of nursing pairs. Please wear lactivist / pro BFing wear if possible. Be peaceful! Bring signage to both commend Delta for taking initial right action and to call for further action (see below) and to support BFing in general. Commending Delta is a critical piece of the pie here. They HAVE moved in the right direction; we want to encourage their moving further along the path of protection and advocacy for nursing families everywhere.

Here's the scoop!:

What: National Nurse-In

When: tomorrow, Tues 11/22/06 -- 10 AM local (plan to stay for an hour, as mamas and children often run late... come early if you can)

Where: near / in front of Delta check in and ticketing counter Nashville International Airport

Why: See below.

Please call / write to let me know you'll be participating. I need a head count. Can you bring signage? Can you bring children and friends? Husbands? Partners?

Are you a media person? Do you want me to send you a really nice media kit? Holler at me. This nurse in is NOT affiliated with any particular group, though there may be members of groups present a the nurse in. This in a grassroots volunteer effort.

Quote:


Breastfeeding Rally To Take Place At Airports Nationwide

Nursing mothers and their supporters will be gathering on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 10 AM, local time, at Delta airport counters across the country.

Emily Gillette was flying with her husband and 22 month-old daughter, on
October 13, 2006 out of Burlington, Vermont on a Delta/Freedom Air flight
when a flight attendant asked her to cover up with a blanket. Ms. Gillette
declined and informed the flight attendant of her legal right to nurse her
daughter. The flight attendant then told Ms. Gillette that Ms. Gillette was
offending her and subsequently a gate agent removed the family from the
flight. Ms. Gillette and her family complied. They were rescheduled on a
different flight the following day.

Ms. Gillette has filed a complaint with the Vermont Human Rights Commission regarding the incident. A woman's right to breastfeed wherever she is legally allowed to be is protected in Vermont under the Public Accommodations Act. Although Delta has issued a public apology, the Gillette family has still not received any personal apology.

The goals of this action are:

- Insist that Delta/Freedom both apologize to the Gillette family and
offer written proof that policy and training procedures have been changed.
- Call for all airlines to revisit their breastfeeding and transport of
pumped breastmilk policies to support traveling families.
- Call for immediate passage of pending Federal legislation that offers
civil rights protection for breastfeeding women in the workplace; and new
legislation to protect, on the Federal level, a nursing mother and child's
right to do so whenever and wherever they are legally allowed to be.
- Introduce a new breastfeeding accessibility icon and call on American
businesses to adopt and use it. Participants will be wearing the logo on
t-shirts, stickers and buttons.

The issue of breastfeeding goes far beyond just a woman's right to nurse; it also encompasses a basic human right for children, the right to eat and to receive comfort and nurturing at the breast.

The Nurse-Ins have been coordinated completely by volunteers.





Please contact Paige La Grone Babcock in Nashville for more info.
paigelabab@comcast.net

Tonight!! Salon & Social.

Please share this with friends and family members!! All kinds of families are
welcome!!
===================================================================


I hope to see some of y'all here!!

Need incentive? In addition to door prizes,  it'll be my first real outing since
our whole family has been sick all month. You can be among the first to see me
with hair whacked off. AND you can meet my in laws. And see my walking talking
wonder boy in hot pursuit of MAU potluck goodies and crayons (in equal measure).


Tonight: We're writing letters of congratulation and promise to our newly
elected officials, telling them we'll be holding them to the promise of a better
day for all our children and we'll be visiting them in person soon. (Field trips
are in the planning stages.)

All children are asked to come and draw pictures and / or make their own letters
for inclusion.

Please bring to share: crayons, stationary, envelopes, paper, potluck dish,
stamps or change for the pot. Some of all of the above will be provided!!


Nashville Mothers Acting Up BRING THE FAMILY POTLUCK SOCIAL & SALON


Host:
Nashville MAU

Location:
Friends' Meeting House
530 26th Avenue North, Nashville, TN View Map

When:
Friday, November 17, 5:45pm

Series Schedule:
Occurs the third Friday of every 1 month(s).

Final Date of the Series:
Friday, August 17, 2007

This month's Bring The Family Potluck Salon is a post-election /
pre-Thanksgiving gathering.


Please come join in the fun for food, fellowship and education!!!

Bring a dish to share. Some drinks will be provided.

There will be door prizes!

Bring the family!! There will be child wranglers in a beautiful shared space;
all are welcome. Our gatherings are always nursing friendly and open to ALL
kinds of families. Likewise, mamas OR daddies are welcome to come without their
little ones, if that suits you better.


Mothers Acting Up is a mother-fed, mother-led movement of mothers (and others)
passionately and publicly advocating for the world's children.

http://www.mothersactingup.org

Give Your Values Voice: Vote!!

(Cross posted to / from Mothers Acting Up and Ms. Booty Homemaker Explains It All To You.)

If you haven't yet done so, please exercise your civic responsibility and give your values a voice by voting.

If your traveling sideshow of children and others isn't being hosted or supervised by volunteer mamas, school or another caregiver, consider taking your child(ren) with you to vote.

Yes, the lines may be long, but there's so much to take in, from neighbors you don't see often enough to ingraining the process and the importance of same early on.

Both my Mister and I hit the polls this morning here in East Nashville-- our thirteen month old came along for the experience and I am so glad he did, even though we waited for over an hour to mark our ballots.

One of our most powerful parenting responsibilities is instilling in our children the spirit of acting on values and following one's moral compass. As Mothers (and Others) Acting Up, we're in for the long haul. Leading the next wave onward by example and immersion in community is critical to the growth of the world we want our smallest citizens to inherit and inhabit.

MAU National Blog is UP.

Check it out.

Confirmed for Friday's Social & Salon.

This Friday, October 20 is our second Bring the Family Potluck Social & Salon.

With elections just around the corner, this gathering will focus on candidates & issues. Thus far, congressional candidate Ginny Welsch and senatorial candidate Chris Lugo have confirmed. Someone will be present from Congressman and senatorial hopeful Harold Ford Junior's camp. More additions as they come in.

Also, we will have someone present from the Vote No on 1 campaign, to express how important it is to get out the vote in the name of marriage equality and stopping a constitutional amendment to discriminate and abolish human rights.

Stand for All Families Picnic this evening.

In response to James Dobson and his hate speak and intolerent rhetoric, Stand for All Families will take place this evening at Glendale Baptist from 6-8 PM.

The picnic is still on; they've gotten a big tent to keep the rains out.

Details are here.


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Bring the Family Potluck & Salon: FRIDAY 10/20.

Doctors Without Borders Refugee Camp in Centennial Park.

Tomorrow's Mobilize the Mamas Playgroup meets at Centennial Park Playground, 9:30-11:30 AM. All mothers and others (on stilts and off) who exercise protective care over someone smaller are welcome, with or without children. Expectant parents, same sex parents and empty nesters welcome. Nursing friendly environment. In the event of nasty weather, meet at Borders Books & Music across the street from the Park on West End.

Also in Centennial Park tomorrow is what sounds to be a very moving exhibit, details below from the Middle Tennessee Progressive calendar. Perhaps those gathered in the morning will wander over....

Friday, October 6, 2006

MDs w/o Borders Refugee Camp

July 22 to October 7. the Parthenon (in Centennial Park) is hosting a exhibit titled 'Doctors Without Borders: Photographs from Afghanistan 1984-2004', in the East Gallery. The exhibit documents the work of the relief organization Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, or MSF) carried out in Afghanistan before it closed its programs in that country.

During the last weekend of the exhibition, Oct. 4th-8th, aid workers present an A REFUGEE CAMP IN THE HEART OF THE CITY (an outdoor, educational exhibit) in Centennial Park. The exhibit is made up of materials used by MSF in its medical work around the world, including emergency refugee housing, a food distribution tent, water pump, primary health clinic, vaccination tent, nutrition tent, and a cholera treatment center. MSF aid workers guide visitors through the exhibit, which takes examples from MSF's work in conflict areas such as Sudan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chechnya, while each tour will be informed by the guide's particular field experience.

A closing reception is at the Parthenon Fri., Oct. 6th, 6-8:30pm, and features a talk by Nicolas de Torrent�, Executive Director of Doctors Without Borders, on the organization's past work in Afghanistan and its current work in crises around the world.

MAU Mother Leadership / 2007 Calendar Available NOW.

Go and get it here.

Ms. Booty Homemaker Explains It All To You.: Register to Vote!!

Ms. Booty Homemaker Explains It All To You.: Register to Vote!!

Looks like rain....?

If thunderstorms marr this AM's Nashville MAU outdoor playdate, we'll be at Borders Books & Music on West End instead.

Look in the Cafe, or in the Children's section upstairs.

Garage parking is available.

IF, however, the storms and rains blow over, we'll be at Centennial Park Playground, as per usual.

Bring a snack to share, if you are able.

Social & Salon Tonight!!

Our inaugural Bring the Family Social & Salon is tonight from six to eight at the Friends Meeting House. All pertinent details are two posts below.

Come be part of this emerging and exciting local community of mothers (and families) advocating for our children, and children everywhere.

MAU is a movement of mothers* publicly and passionately advocating for the
world’s children. 

MAU and Friends Chalk for Peace 9/16.

M  E   D  I  A     A  D  V  I  S  O  R  Y
========================

Nashville MAU and Friends Join One Million Global Citizens & Artists to Create
Peace Themed Sidewalk Chalk Paintings.


Who: Nashville Mothers Acting Up and Friends, Familiars & Families

What: Global Chalk for Peace 2006

When: Saturday, September 16, 2006; 9:30 AM

Where: The sidewalk on 21st Ave; Hillsboro Village -- meet in front of Fido.

Why: Because Chalking for Peace with friends, familiars and families is a simple
non-threatening double positive message & art-full action in which we can all
engage together for the greater good of our families, our communities and this
great big blue-green planet called earth. The goal is for one million young
artists of all ages to create sidewalk chalk paintings around the world at the
same time focusing upon peace as the theme. People ALL OVER THE WORLD will be
Chalking for Peace this weekend at various times, including a big national event
at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library, & the Washington, DC Public
Library System.

You can read more about it (and see pictures!) here: http://chalk4peace.org

And here: http://www.infinitepossibility.org/chalk2006/


Please:
*Pass this along to friends, familiars & families. Bring the kids!!
*Wear brightly / fun colored clothing, hats, boas, scarves, bandanas and / or
the Nashville MAU signature aprons.
*Bring chalk!!
*If you have MAU buttons / stickers, wear 'em.
*This is an event for ALL kinds of families. 

BRING THE FAMILY POTLUCK SOCIAL & SALON.

Nashville Mothers Acting Up BRING THE FAMILY POTLUCK SOCIAL & SALON


Host: Nashville MAU

Location: Friends' Meeting House
530 26th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37209

When: Friday, September 15, 6:00pm

Series Schedule: Occurs the third Friday of every 1 month(s).

Final Date of the Series: Friday, August 17, 2007

Calling all joy warriors, apron string revolutionaries, reluctant communitarians and others:

Please come join in the fun for food, fellowship and a gently facilitated town meeting discussion about what Mothers Acting Up is, why it matters and how it might fit into YOUR family's life by bettering your community and the world at large. MAU is an international organization; the Mothership is in Boulder, CO and Nashville has an active MAU community as of this year.

Bring a dish to share. Drinks will be provided.

Bring the family!! There will be child wranglers in a beautiful shared space; all are welcome. Our gatherings are always nursing friendly and open to ALL kinds of families, including new and expectant families.

Door prize(s) will be awarded!!


"Mothers Acting Up (MAU) is an invitation to publicly & passionately advocate for the world’s children. Government leaders, corporations and the media already see mothers* as a political force to be reckoned with; it's time we flex a bit of our political power to ensure the health, education and safety of every child—wherever they live on earth."
* mothers and others, on stilts and off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller --mothersactingup.org

Nashville MAU here: www.nashvillemau.blogspot.com

Playgroup TODAY.

MAU playgroup is today at 9:30 at the Centennial Park playground.

Hope to see some of you there!!

"Mothers Acting Up (MAU) is an invitation to publicly & passionately advocate for the world’s children. Government leaders, corporations and the media already see mothers* as a political force to be reckoned with; it's time we flex a bit of our political power to ensure the health, education and safety of every child—wherever they live on earth." "
* mothers and others, on stilts and off, who exercise protective care over someone smaller" -- http://www.mothersactingup.org

Happy Birthday, Kate!

Today, we celebrate YOU. Keep on keepin' on, Little Mama.

mobilize the mamas: grow community.

tomorrow. friday august 11.

9:30-11:30 am centennial park playground.

family playdate / gathering.


we will:

*read the MAU mission statement

*talk about the monthly MAU national action

*talk about local action & field trip possibilities

*carry onward w/ postcard campaign to bring awareness to the MDGs


bring: water, sunscreen, snacks to share. also: questions, answers, points of discussion, crafting projects, outdoor toys / games / activities.

get ready to arm your desire, mamas. we are JOY WARRIORS for the apron-string revolution.

FRIDAYS: mobilize the mamas playgroup!!

Please note the change of day in the week!! Nashville MAU playgroups will now and in the future be on FRIDAY mornings!!

The first one was wonderful last week, despite the 99 degree heat and humidity. We had a buncha mamas, one very acting-uppity and cool daddy, and a passel of creative and delightful children, from under a year to age 5 or so....

The more the merrier! This is a y'all come event. Bring snacks to share, water, suncreen, blanket, outdoor toys / chalk, a craft to work on.... The playground at Centennial thankfully provides some good shade cover.


Feel free to share this with friends, colleagues, etc.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Starting in July, Nashville MAU (Mothers Acting Up) and cohorts will
be meeting up for a regularly scheduled weekly playdate.

When: FRIDAYS, 9:30-11:30 AM (beginning July 20)

Where: *Centennial Park Playground

What: Parent / Child playdates-- an effort to socialize, enjoy play & mobilize the mamas (and daddies) by creating some valuable community building time for families.


Mamas (and daddies) grab a cuppa and the little ones' hands and come on, come on.... Bring questions, interesting newspaper articles, copies of "An Inconvenient Truth" to lend or share, and any other information to shed light on in the realm of raising our children, our consciousness and our collective voices for a better world. From these informal gatherings, we hope to get to know one another, create collective actions where appropriate, engage in community service as folks see fit and arrange some slightly more formalized family field trips (visits to our representatives, the state capitol, local schools, family farms, etc.) Bring your ideas!! Bring your friends. Bring lawn games and outdoor toys to share. Bring snacks or picnic lunch if you care to. (Both good play and community building are best fueled by snacks!)

Children of all ages are welcome. Nursing friendly environment.

*In the event of inclement weather, we will gather at Borders Books & Music on West End, just across the street from the park.

Nashville Mothers Acting Up: http://www.nashvillemau.blogspot.com

Nashville MAU Playdates.

Starting on Thursday July 20, Nashville MAU and cohorts will be meeting up for a regularly scheduled weekly playdate.

When: Thursdays, 9:30-11:30 AM (beginning July 20)

Where: *Centennial Park Playground

What: Parent / Child playdates-- an effort to socialize, enjoy play & mobilize the mamas (and daddies) by creating some valuable community building time for families.


Mamas (and daddies) grab a cuppa and the little ones' hands and come on, come on.... Bring questions, interesting newspaper articles, copies of "An Inconvenient Truth" to lend or share, and any other information to shed light on in the realm of raising our children, our consciousness and our collective voices for a better world. From these informal gatherings, we hope to get to know one another, create collective actions where appropriate, engage in community service as folks see fit and arrange some slightly more formalized family field trips (visits to our representatives, the state capitol, local schools, family farms, etc.) Bring your ideas!! Bring your friends. Bring lawn games and outdoor toys to share. Bring snacks or picnic lunch if you care to. (Both good play and community building are best fueled by snacks!)

Children of all ages are welcome. Nursing friendly environment.

*In the event of inclement weather, we will gather at Borders Books & Music on West End, just across the street from the park.