Push!
Ricki Lake’s valentine to the home-birth movement.
By Dana Stevens; Movie Critic, Ignoramous, and all around BOOBIE from SLATE
A Response from Birth Activist, Jenny Hatch (My response comments are in ITALICS)
Author Jenny Marie Hatch
Anna Stewart: Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
I met Anna at a Birth Lodge when I was expecting my son Andrew in 1995. We became fast friends and she has always had a place in my heart. Her passion for healing birth and helping women connected us, and the fact that we both love to write and document this thing called life layers the depths of our friendship.
I attended her workshop, Motherhands when I was expecting my son Benjamin five years ago, and it was a wonderful way to set aside a few hours from my busy life to focus on the baby and my intentions around his birth.
I saw her at a park a few years ago and she told me that she was working on a book about Mother Blessings. Here is the Amazon Link.
Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers
Motherhands Web Site
It is always challenging to plan your own party around birth and the sacred milestones of life, (at least for me it was), but because of my friendship with Anna and her understanding of how important these celebrations are, I planned my own Blessing Way before Ben was born in 2002. We held this party on Labor Day, and Paul and I were very blessed to have Rico and Jeaninne Parvati Baker join us for this wonderful Ceremony.
I documented My Blessing Way on my web site here.
Having Jeannine with us was such a blessing, even more so now that she is no longer here. She died in 2005 and is greatly missed by all of us in the Birth Activist world. I sometimes feel her spirit around me, encouraging me, as I write and share insights around motherhood.
I praise Anna Stewart for taking the time to document The various Blessings that can be ours as women when we take the time to honor, love, and appreciate each other. I attended a Blessing Way for my friend Susanna back in 1998, and it was the first time I had ever felt the spirit of the Lord at a baby shower. Up to that point I had been to dozens of showers and had been the recipient of several showers around the births of my first four children. These parties were wonderful, and I was grateful for the time, money, and effort that various friends and family put into them.
But as we sang to Susanas baby, prayed together, and then shared our hearts and hopes for our wonderful friend and her new child, I realized that the materialism of the American Baby Shower had stolen from women our sacred and holy potential to truly honor and bless each other. The Blessing Way takes womanly connections and puts them into the spiritual stratosphere, rather than keeping those relationships tied down to materialism and silly jokes and games around birth and mothering.
Here are a few more links, mostly articles written by Anna about her work, but also some blog entrys by women who loved what she had to say:
Blessing Ways for all Women
Mother Blessing
Mother Blessings Intro to the book (PDF)
Gifts from a blessing way
And here is the text from my own Blessing Way article:
(Click on the link to see the pictures.)
Continue reading “Anna Stewart: Mother Blessings: Honoring Women Becoming Mothers”
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
Hana Peace Works Newsletter
The First Ever Film Festival About Birth
Motherbaby International Film Festival premiered in Portland Oregon, hosted by the first annual Gentle Birth Conference, and was a huge success. Twenty six films were shown over the 3 day conference, grouped and scheduled thematically and followed by panel discussions led by filmmakers, educators, and local community leaders. For more information please see the article in the Jan/Feb 2008 issue of Mothering Magazine. www.mothering.com
David Chamberlain was a featured presenter at the MotherBaby International Film Festival, an event hosted by the Gentle Birth Congress and organized by Hanna Peace Works’ Debby Takikawa and Sage Femme’s Diana Paul. Just before the lights dimmed on Saturday evening for the West Coast premiere of The Business of Being Born, David was honored by the Global Maternal/Child Health Association for his unparalleled work on behalf of mothers and babies. The award, presented to him by actress/producer Ricki Lake and GM/CHA’s executive director Barbara Harper, reads, “The fathers of the world respect you / The mothers of the world adore you / The babies of the world love you… For letting them speak.”
Debby Takikawa is putting on another film festival about birth in Santa Barbara, Ca. on May 23rd and 24th, 2008. Please go to www.babyff.com for more information.
Continue reading “Hana Peace Works Newsletter”
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
Vets For Freedom
Pete Hegseth Debates the cause of the Iraq War on the BBC
Pod Cast of the Whole Debate
On December 11, 2007, in London’s grand Westminster Hall, Vets for Freedom Executive Director Pete Hegseth, and his esteemed debating partner William Shawcross, achieved an unexpected, and dramatic, upset. The sold-out audience of over 2,200 was swayed—overwhelmingly—by their defense of the motion, “The surge is working, let’s win before we leave.”
Of the 455 “undecided” voters who arrived in the hall, over half (234) later voted to support Hegseth and Shawcross. By contract, the “leave Iraq now” position gained only 67 votes and the “negotiated settlement” position gained just 64 votes. Overwhelmingly, previously undecided voters left the hall convinced that we must win in Iraq.
“There is nothing we can do about the pre-conceived notions people held when they entered the hall,” said Hegseth “but I’m ecstatic that we were able to convince so many people about the merits of the ‘surge’ and the need to win in Iraq. I was told it would be a hostile audience; but these results proves that anyone, anywhere can be convinced, provided they hear the facts on the ground.”
Overall, the “negotiated settlement” position received the most final votes, however it had overwhelming support before the debate began. But in a dramatic turn, the Hegseth/Shawcross position overtook the “leave Iraq now” position in the final tally, overcoming a 129-vote deficit from the initial vote. See complete results below.
The debate will be shown in its entirety on BBC World during the weekend of January 5/6, and Vets for Freedom will send out a notice when it appears.
David Bellavias Book House to House is a must read.
I completely endorse and support and work of Vets for Freedom!
Jenny Hatch
Death Blow to Defeatists
Continue reading “Vets For Freedom”
Healthy Families Make A Healthy World!
The Business of Being Born Opened this week in New York!
Birth: “
It’s a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?”
If you live in New York, take the time to get a group of friends together and go see the movie, which recently premiered at the IFC Center and helped the New Space for Womens Health in Manhattan.
Here are the three main reviews from the New York Premiere:
New York Times
Hollywood Reporter
Time Out New York
More Here:
People Magazine
Access Hollywood Video: Go Here
Please, get together anyone who is pregnant, thinking of having a baby, or is interested in birth and go see this movie. It may be the most important thing you do all year! I watched the movie a few weeks ago, and it was one of the best documentaries I have ever watched!
Free Republic Thread
Jenny Hatch
