I have to give my sister credit, after having four kids she is the grand master of stealthy breastfeeding in your presence; it’s like she’s got some kind of cloaking device.
What I have learned over my 8 years of being an auntie is that when the baby is hungry, the baby’s gotta eat. Some women slip away to another room, others use a blanket to mask the process, and others just whip it right out and let the baby go nuts. Admittedly the latter makes me somewhat uncomfortable for the first 10 seconds, but all in all, it’s a perfectly normal and natural act.
Recently two stories about breastfeeding have made headlines in Canada. The first involves an incident in Windsor, Ontario where a mother started feeding her child while waiting to check out at a local La Senza lingerie store. She was asked to move into a fitting room after being told that breastfeeding was not allowed in the store. [source: Canadian Press]
The second mishap of this nature happened here in Vancouver at our shiny new H&M store in Pacific Centre. Once again a nursing mother was told she had to move to a change room as she could not breastfeed on the store floor. [source: CBC]
At both of these locations, protests have been held in order to express outrage at the stores’ policies and/or the staff’s behaviour. Moreso it was also to show support and solidarity for mothers, as demonstrated in the Nurse-In at the H&M a few days ago that saw crowds of nursing mothers gather inside the store to nurse.
“I don’t want to live a world or city where that’s acceptable to shun women for breastfeeding,” said nursing mum Sonia Tilley-Strobel.
As for H&M, their corporate spokeswoman Laura Shankland flew in from Toronto for what could have been a public relations disaster to openly welcome the nursing moms.
“We apologize. And it seems to be a miscommunication and a misunderstanding. Our policy is to allow breastfeeding nursing mothers to breastfeed or express milk freely in our stores,” said Shankland. [CBC]
I can almost see the Breastfeeding is not a crime tshirts now (complete with easy-access flap of course). I’m curious to see the reaction of everyone else regarding these incidents and their escalation (by the Vancouver mother) to the Human Rights Tribunal [24 Hours]. As such, it’s time for another Miss604 poll and feel free to share any other thoughts in the comments.
[poll=12]
Last week Manga Mania was taking Twitter by storm. A website that allows you to customize an avatar with your personal traits was quickly commandeering everyone’s profile photo and I’d say about 70% of my contacts currently have the out-of-the-box cartoon images of themselves applied. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩
Hopping into the wayback machine let’s explore late 2005. John had just moved to Canada to be with me and decided to add me on his podcast, RadioZoom as co-host/local expert. At the time he was immersing himself in podcasts and connecting with interesting hosts all over the globe. One person that he had been corresponding with was Dave Olson, who did several podcasts and made appearances on Clubside Breakfast Time. I’d often hear stories from John about the ultimately cool Uncleweed and Cosmo G Spacely.
After meeting in 2006, we ventured out into the hockey podcasting realm in October of that year with the great Uncleweed. Since then it’s been a non-stop adventure with The Crazy Canucks along with our co-hosts JJ and Alanah.
Photo credit:
Raul on Flickr
On top of being a mentor in podcasting, Dave is also an inspiration to bloggers having coined the now internet-famous “F*ck Stats Make Art” motto at this year’s Northern Voice conference.
Here is a small sample of Dave’s Podcast and Blog Portfolio (not including his Raincity and happyfrog works): Choogle on with Uncleweed Podcast hi-jinks / Blog, Canucks Outsider Hockey Podcast / Blog, Out n’ About with Uncle Weed Travelin’ man vidcast, Postcards from Gravelly Beach Literature Podcast / Blog, Olympic Outsider Winter Sports-Culture / Blog, Mountain Highway Writer’s Notebook / Blog, Ephemeral Feasthouse Miscellania & Notes
Personally, Dave has always been a great friend to both John and me. He gives straight up advice, helps us cross promote our projects like crazy, and is always there to offer an inspirational word when I feel like the blogging world has got me down. I think what makes Dave even more cool in my books is that he went to high school in Surrey, just like I did. Even though there are a few years between us (I won’t say how many since this is supposed to be a very sweet tribute) we can still reminisce about the old days, the old hood, the things Whalley has seen and where it’s going. We know this place; we’ve formed ourselves through our experiences in Metro Vancouver and I hold his opinion of my site, and its integrity as a local blog, in the highest regard.
Even though we couldn’t get away to camp with Dave this weekend we’ve enjoyed many good times like watching the Canucks, talking Whalley Little League, promoting green living, playing golf, and most recently hiking in Lynn Valley.
It’s today that I raise a pint of tasty fermented beverage in honor of my bro Dave’s birthday. Here’s to many more years of grassroots media making and good times on and off the grid.
One of the first things I do when I find me seat on an airplane is open up the seat pocket in front of me and check out the the safety cards. Since I’ve flown so much over the last 15 years it’s not so much to brush up on my safety procedures as it is for entertainment value. For example, the back of the card that reads, “this page is intentionally blank”, gives me a little giggle (yes, I am that easily amused) but most of all, it’s the airtoons that are priceless.
I first discovered Airtoons.com about ten years ago, it’s a airline safety card cartoon parody site that adds in often-amusing captions. Although some of the captions on the site are just plaid crude, here’s a sampling of a few of my favourites for a little Saturday morning fun.
Safety on an airplane is no laughing matter however, perusing crudely coloured images from the mid 70s with characters in all sorts of positions is far more entertaining on a 2 hour flight than the SkyMall magazine… at least for the first 10 minutes.
Unfortunately the fitness room advertised by our hotel in Kansas City was invisible or at least it must have been tucked away in a dungeon somewhere because I couldn’t find it. After a week of BBQ meats, enchiladas, tortillas, and whatever breakfast sandwiches we could find at 11am, I thought I was going to have a rough time at the gym this morning. Luckily, I found my stride pretty quickly and I think I’m almost back on track.
I think some of my momentum came from my new workout gear that I got at Target. A super cute tennis-style skirt (with mini shorts built-in underneath), a new bright blue sports bra and a great Champion top. Before I was pretty much just piecing together an outfit and although that seems like one of the least important things when it comes to physical health – believe it or not it has boosted my confidence a little.
I have found that my heart rate is no longer skyrocketing as soon as I start any cardio program, I’m pushing myself more, and I’m more willing to get out of bed at 5:45 am with minimal nudges and shoves from John.
We’re only about a month in so far but I’m looking forward to further detoxing myself from the culinary events of last week (although they were spectacularly delicious) and continuing on with my training.
Disclosure: In an effort to lead a more healthy lifestyle, John and I have teamed up with Fitness World who will be sponsoring our workouts and nutritional plans for the next 12 months.
