Beatrice and I saw a girl in a video doing gymnastics.
"Why is she doing gymnastics?" asked Bea.
"She likes doing it," said I. "A lot of people have something they really love doing. When they do it, they feel very happy. I love playing piano. When I play piano, I feel very happy. What do you like doing, Honey? What makes you feel happy?"
She was very quiet for a few beats, chin tucked into her chest as she thought. Then very seriously and gravely, she said,
"Being naughty."
Friday, May 31, 2013
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Going to Visit the Doctor
OK, so my kids don't go to the doctor. Sure if something is definitely, totally wrong they do. But not well checks. They are healthy. I read about childhood health and development and I practice homeopathic remedies as needed. And since we are not vaccinating, they don't really need to go in all the time.
But at first they did. I took Bea to her first few check ups, but around the two month mark, they wheeled in the vaccines on a little cart like it was a matter of course, no discussion. I hated the way I was pressured and talked down to and made to feel like an ignorant, neglectful, bad mother for not wanting that for my child. (Nothing against those parents who choose to vaccinate, but my research has led me down a different path than yours and that's ok.)
Anyway, we didn't go back after that.
With Ambrose, it was pretty much the same because the doctors around here who actually see Medicaid patients are not open to parents' decisions for their own children. They just get so rude! I wonder if they really care that deeply about us poor folks or if they miss out on a fat check for each patient that walks out without a shot? I don't want to make this a discussion about vaccines, but I must say there is something wrong with a for-profit pharmaceutical-medical system effecting our babies and I believe 100% that the current vaccine schedule is too much too soon, while acknowledging the possibility that vaccines have been a great help in fighting the likes of polio in previous generations as well as now in far-off places.
What am I leading up to here?
Bea is going to see a doctor. Her first well-check in almost 4 years. We have found a more open-minded doctor and I am interested in meeting him and I'm slightly curious about how Bea fits into percentiles. Also, maybe it would be nice to have a regular doctor to call? We have the 24 hour nurse hotline, but I never call them. For the kinds of emergencies we have, I call poison control. :P
But at first they did. I took Bea to her first few check ups, but around the two month mark, they wheeled in the vaccines on a little cart like it was a matter of course, no discussion. I hated the way I was pressured and talked down to and made to feel like an ignorant, neglectful, bad mother for not wanting that for my child. (Nothing against those parents who choose to vaccinate, but my research has led me down a different path than yours and that's ok.)
Anyway, we didn't go back after that.
With Ambrose, it was pretty much the same because the doctors around here who actually see Medicaid patients are not open to parents' decisions for their own children. They just get so rude! I wonder if they really care that deeply about us poor folks or if they miss out on a fat check for each patient that walks out without a shot? I don't want to make this a discussion about vaccines, but I must say there is something wrong with a for-profit pharmaceutical-medical system effecting our babies and I believe 100% that the current vaccine schedule is too much too soon, while acknowledging the possibility that vaccines have been a great help in fighting the likes of polio in previous generations as well as now in far-off places.
What am I leading up to here?
Bea is going to see a doctor. Her first well-check in almost 4 years. We have found a more open-minded doctor and I am interested in meeting him and I'm slightly curious about how Bea fits into percentiles. Also, maybe it would be nice to have a regular doctor to call? We have the 24 hour nurse hotline, but I never call them. For the kinds of emergencies we have, I call poison control. :P
Monday, May 27, 2013
MAM Greenville
Beatrice had a stomach bug on Saturday. She and James stayed home while Ambrose and I went to the March Against Monsanto in Downtown Greenville. We pretty much stayed with our friends, one of whom carried the best sign ever.
There was an amazing turn out. Probably over 300 people. That may not seem like much if you are from a bigger or more liberal place. But here in SC, it's huge and unexpected. The local organizers had planned a route for the expected under 100 people and an alternate route in case there with over 100. This is really a non-partisan issue. There were all kinds of viewpoints present united by a common issue. It was beautiful.
Here is Amby at his first march:
Friday, May 24, 2013
Another Project Update
I got some really helpful feedback from a classmate and made the following changes. There are still a couple things I need to work on, but here's my progress.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
March Against Monsanto
/// So I'm re-blogging this post from James Wesley Nichols. I hope that all of you readers are participating in this march in your own city! ///
This Saturday there is a March Against Monsanto planned in the city of Greenville, SC.
It's part of an international movement that calls into question Monsanto's use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food products they sell all over the world, a movement to hold corporations accountable for their placement of short-term profits ahead of the long-term good of the people.
Greenville is a quintessential conservative community, with a power structure favoring religion and capitalism. To conduct any protest to the status quo here is to open ourselves to ridicule, retaliation, infiltration, subterfuge, arrest, violence. Our march will be small. But movements begin this way, and only solidarity and fearless dedication to fighting injustice will make it grow. If nothing more, marching through Greenville will build awareness about what Monsanto and other corporations are doing. And raising consciousness must be the first step in building movements.
There is some debate about whether or not using GMOs for food is safe. In my opinion, this is actually a secondary issue. A deeper concern is "who is deciding our fate?" When it comes to what we eat, we have some choice, but with the trend in market economies to consolidation, and the fact that buying non-corporate food is increasingly expensive and difficult, the answer is "an increasingly small number of rich people." When you think of Chef Boyardee, Hunts, Orville Redenbacher's, La Choy, Libby's, Van Camp's or Peter Pan peanut butter, you think of individual brands. But the fact remains that all are under the umbrella of ConAgra foods, one of Monsanto's prime competitors in the global food market, another conglomerate that cares less about public health than their own profits.
Corporations are, by law, required to place the profits of their shareholders above all other considerations. Real issues that affect entire populations (environmental degradation, working conditions and so on and so forth) are "externalities" or secondary considerations. If GMOs (and growth hormones and antibiotics and preservatives and pesticides and high fructose corn syrup) serve to sicken millions of people and contribute to an overall decline in health, it doesn't matter from the corporate perspective.
So let's make our voices heard. Let's march against Monsanto (and every other corporation we depend on that places their cash flows ahead of our interests) and hold them accountable for their greed.
This Saturday there is a March Against Monsanto planned in the city of Greenville, SC.
It's part of an international movement that calls into question Monsanto's use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the food products they sell all over the world, a movement to hold corporations accountable for their placement of short-term profits ahead of the long-term good of the people.
Greenville is a quintessential conservative community, with a power structure favoring religion and capitalism. To conduct any protest to the status quo here is to open ourselves to ridicule, retaliation, infiltration, subterfuge, arrest, violence. Our march will be small. But movements begin this way, and only solidarity and fearless dedication to fighting injustice will make it grow. If nothing more, marching through Greenville will build awareness about what Monsanto and other corporations are doing. And raising consciousness must be the first step in building movements.
There is some debate about whether or not using GMOs for food is safe. In my opinion, this is actually a secondary issue. A deeper concern is "who is deciding our fate?" When it comes to what we eat, we have some choice, but with the trend in market economies to consolidation, and the fact that buying non-corporate food is increasingly expensive and difficult, the answer is "an increasingly small number of rich people." When you think of Chef Boyardee, Hunts, Orville Redenbacher's, La Choy, Libby's, Van Camp's or Peter Pan peanut butter, you think of individual brands. But the fact remains that all are under the umbrella of ConAgra foods, one of Monsanto's prime competitors in the global food market, another conglomerate that cares less about public health than their own profits.
Corporations are, by law, required to place the profits of their shareholders above all other considerations. Real issues that affect entire populations (environmental degradation, working conditions and so on and so forth) are "externalities" or secondary considerations. If GMOs (and growth hormones and antibiotics and preservatives and pesticides and high fructose corn syrup) serve to sicken millions of people and contribute to an overall decline in health, it doesn't matter from the corporate perspective.
So let's make our voices heard. Let's march against Monsanto (and every other corporation we depend on that places their cash flows ahead of our interests) and hold them accountable for their greed.
Coo-Coo Bananas
So I heard that in Venezuela stay-at-home moms are supposed to get a salary now or something. Like you can put a price tag on this. I mean, this is like the most demanding, frustrating, hair-pulling-out-est job of my experience! I love my kids, but they drive me totally crazy and being without a car makes me feel hemmed in.
At least there are some sweet photo-ops.
At least there are some sweet photo-ops.
Yesterday we went out for groceries and had a cooperation disconnect as I'll call it. It happened in the cereal isle. When will I learn not to even go down that road with my kids? The compromise was Ramen with lunch. Not bad, right? Not terrible?
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Project Update
What do you think? Want one?
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