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February 24, 2008
40th Birthday Party
Last night I celebrated my 40th birthday with seven friends.
I was able to procure a copy of The Business of Being Born for the party and we watched it together. It was a joyful experience to celebrate my birthday with these friends as we shared the beauty and empowerment of that movie.
I received wonderful gifts of flowers, books, and candles from my friends, but mostly the party was blessed with the spirit of the Lord as we talked of true things and how to heal mothers and babes and the family overall from the overmedicalization of birth.
After everyone left the party Laura and I watched some of the extra footage from the DVD. I pulled out my camera and had my daughter take a couple pictures. I had forgotten to take pictures of the actual party, but this little montage shares our reaction to the movie. I have now watched it four times and I still believe it is the biggest leap forward for birth activism of the past thirty years.
I would highly encourage anyone reading this to purchase the movie when it comes out on DVD and have a party to share it with all of your friends.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:41 AM
February 22, 2008
Whose your Daddy?
I was just over at the Home Birth Conclusion....I mean, Debate Blog and read this post by Dr. Amy about Evolutionary biology.
For me, this is the crux of the debate and it is why I will never come to a meeting of the minds with people who believe what she believes.
She Said:
"A basic principle of homebirth advocacy is that women are "designed to give birth". A variety of further claims flow from this: birth shoulded be "trusted" because it is designed to work; the incidence of death in childbirth must be low or "we wouldn't be here"; complications are caused by intervening with the natural process instead of respecting it. These claims are spectacularly wrong because the basic principle is spectacularly wrong.
Women are not "designed". Their bodies are the result of evolution. Evolution does not create perfection. It produces a wide variation in many traits and then selects for those that improve survival in the existing environment. The scientific discipline of evolutionary biology seeks to apply our knowledge of evolution to understanding the basis of human health and health problems. It has important implications for our understanding of childbirth and it reveals why claims that women are "designed" to give birth vaginally are both unscientific and foolish."
Why would I as a Christian Woman who believes that my husband and I are divinely created in the very image of our Heavenly Parents ever in a million years go to someone like her for help with our births?
It's one thing to use a doctor who has a foundation of Judeo/Christian or Muslim faith who believes in God and that he is our Heavenly Father. It is quite another to go to a doctor who has believed every scientific lie taught to him in medical school about evolutionary biology.
If that evolutionary doctor was delivering my child, his basic premises and beliefs, you know, that I evolved from slime and my genetic and biological mutations have made my pelvis WAY too small to deliver a large child, or any child without his help, would most certainly impact his attitudes and beliefs about childbirth, my childs birth. Why would I as a faithful woman pay him thousands of dollars to practice on my divinely created body?
See, I don't just believe that I am created in the image of my Heavenly Parents, I KNOW IT. It is one of the foundations of my life.
Ironically the evolutionary doctor who would take issue with me birthing without his help would have me transfer all of my Faith in God to Faith in Him and his drugs and surgical interventions to birth my child.
Not going to happen.
I KNOW who my Daddy is. And I know that he designed birth perfectly, I know that the various ebbs and flows of hormonal connectedness and interactions were designed by a loving Heavenly Parent who is only a prayer away while I am in labor.
I KNOW that my body has the ability to birth alone, safely, happily and perfectly at home.
The scriptures have counseled me to put all of my Faith in God. Not in the fleshy realm where doctors live, breath, and function. I love the quote that says "what if something went wrong during my birth and all I had to trust in was GOD?"
Carol Balizet
In Proverbs 3:5 it says
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding."
In 2 Nephi 4:34 this advice is repeated again:
"O Lord, I have trusted in thee, and I will trust in thee forever. I will not put my trust in the arm of flesh; for I know that cursed is he that putteth his trust in the arm of flesh. Yea, cursed is he that putteth his trust in man or maketh flesh his arm."
I don't particularly Trust Birth, I trust the Lord, whose daughter I am, who is sending these little children down to our home to live and be taught and loved and cherished. I have found that by trusting the Lord to help me while I birth, I have developed a greater Love and Faith in Him. And I defy the Godless Professional who would step in between my relationship with my Father in Heaven and start dictating to me what I should or should not do as a mother.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:05 PM
A freebirthin' Family
As a family we have traveled down a path from medical birth to family centered birth and natural family living.
This montage shares some photos of our family during the various pregnancies of our five children. Starting with our hospital birth with oldest daughter Michelle, A C-section for Breech Presentation with Second Daughter Allison, an Empowering Hospital VBAC with Jeffrey, and finally a home birth with 11 pound Andy.
Our Journey to Unassisted Childbirth has brought amazing amounts of Joy into our family life.
Our fifth child Ben was born Lotus Style at home attended only by his Father.
We believe freebirth is the most gentle way to welcome a child into the world, and promote it as a wonderful addition to Family Life.
My Share Page at One True Media
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:54 PM
A cute slide show of every day life at Five Flowers
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:48 PM
Flu at Mommy Guide
Here is a replay of an article I wrote years ago on the Flu.
My kids have told me that everyone at school is hacking and coughing.
Here is a link to my flu catagory, and this entry has pictures of my Flu Soup.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:42 PM
Many Blacks worry about Obama's Safety
So do many whites, I pray for Senator Obama every day. Especially because his opponent has a known history of snuffing political adversaries.
NEW YORK (AP) - For many black Americans, it's a conversation they find hard to avoid, revisiting old fears in the light of bright new hopes.
They watch with wonder as Barack Obama moves ever closer to becoming America's first black president. And they ask themselves, their family, their friends: Is he at risk? Will he be safe?
There is, of course, no sure answer. But interviews with blacks across the country, prominent and otherwise, suggest that lingering worries are outweighed by enthusiasm and determination.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:05 PM
Sunday School Lesson Six: Adversity can help us grow
This lesson on adversity was the one I taught last sunday. The teens behaved better and we had a spirit filled discussion about trials.
What struck me the most as I prepared the lesson was the title. Adversity CAN help us grow. It did not say Adversity WILL help us grow. Just because we have trials does not mean that we will learn from those experiences. It was an interesting observation.
Here is the lesson:
Note to the teacher
When adversity comes, a young person may sometimes feel that he or she is the only one who has ever had a problem. But all of us chose to come to the earth to be tested and tried, and the adversities we face give us the opportunity to grow and progress. Help class members see that understanding why we experience adversity can help us learn from our trials and disappointments.
Suggested Lesson Development
How Do You React to Adversity?
Story and discussion
Tell or read the following story:
Diane Ellingson loved gymnastics. She worked hard to develop her talent, and she won national (United States) championships while she was in high school and college. She was planning to participate in a national gymnastics tour with several famous gymnasts, but during practice for that tour she came off a vault and landed wrong, breaking her neck. The injury paralyzed her. She would never participate in gymnastics again; she would never even be able to walk again.
• How would you react if something like this happened to you?
Give class members a few moments to respond, then finish the story:
Diane spent five months in the hospital after her accident. During the first few months, she felt despair and frustration. She received a priesthood blessing, which did not promise her that she would be healed but did bring her great peace. Finally she realized, “I can either give up or get on with my life.” She learned to use a wheelchair and take care of herself again. After she got out of the hospital, she went back to college, graduated, and became an elementary school teacher. She also gives talks to young people to help them overcome discouragement and adversity. Diane says, “People always think, ‘You’re so amazing, you’re so incredible,’ but I’m not. … You have to take whatever life gives you and deal with it, even if you might not want to. … You just learn and that’s what’s so great about time and the healing process. You don’t have to be miraculous.” (See Kendra Kasl Phair, “A Champion Again,” New Era, Nov. 1988, 21–25; see also Renon Klossner Hulet, “Matters of Balance,” Ensign, Dec. 1992, 63.)
Why Do We Experience Adversity?
Discussion
Remind class members that a few weeks ago they learned about Adam and Eve (see lesson 3).
• What was life like for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? (They did not experience sorrow, pain, sickness, or death; food grew without their effort.)
• What was life like for Adam and Eve after they were cast out of the Garden of Eden? (They had to work hard to grow food and get other things they needed; they became subject to sorrow, pain, sickness, and death.)
Explain that like Adam and Eve after the Fall, we too must work hard, and we will experience sorrow, pain, sickness, and death. When we chose to receive a body and come to earth, we also chose to face adversity. Although our trials are different, every person on the earth faces some kind of adversity.
• Why must we experience adversity?
Quotation
Read or have a class member read the following statement by Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles:
“Trials, disappointments, sadness, and heartache come to us from two basically different sources. Those who transgress the laws of God will always have those challenges. The other reason for adversity is to accomplish the Lord’s own purposes in our life that we may receive the refinement that comes from testing. … [Some trials] are evidence that the Lord feels you are prepared to grow more” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1995, 18; or Ensign, Nov. 1995, 16).
Chalkboard discussion
Point out that we can avoid the adversity that comes from the first source, disobedience to the commandments of God. We do this by making righteous choices.
• What kinds of adversity can we choose to avoid?
List class members’ responses in a column on the chalkboard. Responses may include bad health or addiction because of breaking the Word of Wisdom, family quarrels because of selfishness and greed, guilt or punishment because of breaking the law of the land, or any other adversity brought on by our own poor choices.
Explain that if we are facing adversity that comes from sin, we should work toward repenting of that sin. Repenting of the sin will help remove or reduce the adversity. (You may need to point out that sometimes we face adversity brought on by other people’s sins. Because each person is free to choose his or her own actions, this kind of adversity comes under the second category, below.)
• What kinds of adversity might come to us regardless of our own choices?
List class members’ responses in a second column on the chalkboard. Responses may include many kinds of disease or disability, injuries or financial losses caused by accidents or weather, and disappointment from not receiving a hoped-for opportunity or blessing.
Explain that while we cannot choose to avoid these kinds of trials, we can determine how we will react to them. If we regard our trials as opportunities to learn and grow, they can become blessings for us.
We Can Learn and Grow through Adversity
Scripture discussion
Explain that Lehi’s son Jacob suffered trials and sorrow because of his older brothers (see 2 Nephi 2:1). Lehi explained to Jacob why we need affliction and adversity to learn.
Have class members read and mark (in their own scriptures) 2 Nephi 2:11, 22–23.
• Why must we know misery in order to know joy?
• What are some other opposites we learn about through adversity? (Answers may include sickness and health or sinfulness and righteousness.)
• How have your trials helped you appreciate your blessings?
Chalkboard discussion
Write two headings on the chalkboard: Trial and Lessons to Be Learned.
Ask class members to suggest some trials people their age might suffer. List these on the chalkboard under the first heading. The list could include doing poorly on a school assignment, breaking an arm or a leg, losing a game, moving away from friends, facing the death of a loved one, or having a long or debilitating disease.
Then discuss with class members lessons that can be learned through each trial. For example, losing a game may teach us humility or give us greater empathy for others who experience disappointment. The death of a loved one may increase our testimony of the plan of salvation. List these lessons on the chalkboard under the second heading, and discuss how each lesson can help us become more like our Father in Heaven and our Savior.
We Can Prepare for Adversity
Quotation and discussion
Have a class member read the following statement by Elder Scott:
“Life never was intended to be easy. Rather, it is a period of proving and growth. It is interwoven with difficulties, challenges, and burdens. … Yet these very forces, if squarely faced, provide opportunity for tremendous personal growth and development. The conquering of adversity produces strength of character, forges self-confidence, engenders self-respect, and assures success in righteous endeavor” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1981, 13; or Ensign, Nov. 1981, 11).
• How can we conquer adversity? (Use the discussion in the rest of this section to help class members answer this question.)
Scripture discussion
Have class members read and mark Matthew 7:24–27.
• How did the man who built his house upon the rock differ from the man who built his house upon sand?
Point out that both houses had to endure the same storms. The difference was the foundation: the house built on the rock was able to weather the storm, while the house built on sand was not.
• What does the rock represent in this parable? (See Matthew 7:24; the teachings of Jesus Christ.) How can faith in Jesus Christ help us in times of adversity?
Discussion
• Although we do not know what specific kinds of adversity we may experience in the future, what can we do to prepare and strengthen ourselves to face adversity?
List class members’ responses on the chalkboard. Make sure the following general principles are brought out in the discussion:
1. Everyone will face adversity. When we chose to come to earth, we knew we would be tried and tested here. Realizing that we were willing to endure adversity can help us prepare for and deal with adversity.
2. The best way to prepare for adversity is to build a house upon the rock—to keep the commandments and live according to the doctrines and principles of the gospel.
3. Sincere prayer helps us endure adversity. Sometimes when we are faced with a trial we don’t feel like praying, but if we are in the habit of praying sincerely, it will be easier to pray for strength to overcome the trial.
4. In times of adversity we can obtain help from others, such as our parents and other family members, home teachers, and Church leaders. Establishing good relationships with these people before times of adversity will make it easier to turn to them when we need help.
Testimony
Remind class members that everyone faces adversity. Have a class member read aloud Doctrine and Covenants 122:7 to find out what the Lord told Joseph Smith in Liberty Jail about the adversity and afflictions he was facing.
Testify that the adversity we face can help us learn and grow and can be for our good. You may want to tell about some kind of adversity you have faced and how you grew from the experience.
Encourage class members to treat their trials as opportunities to learn and grow.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 2:37 PM
ACOG on Homebirth!
Click on the image to get to a second Hawthor response to the ACOG home birth statement.
Funny funny funny!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 10:53 AM
I can't really say that I blame her....Aguilera chooses C-section for her son Max
"She was accused of being too posh to push, like many a celebrity mother before her.
But Christina Aguilera has revealed the real reason why she had her son by Max by Caesarean section.
The singer admitted that she was terrified of giving birth naturally.
Miss Aguilera told Hello! magazine: "I'd heard horror stories about tearing. I really wanted a calm and peaceful environment. I didn't want any surprises."
I believe what our society is truly suffering from is an unclear set of definitions around birth. Go to this thread at Mothering to read some amazing stories about vaginal birth trauma and what the various mothers did to heal it.
"Naturally" as defined by Christina has come to mean anything not related to a C-section.
This would include multiple layers of Birth Rape and Vaginal Cesarean, plus the "managed" directing of second stage (pushing).
I have known plenty of women who have experienced both c-section and birth rape and all of them agreed they far preferred recovering from the belly wound. For that reason I don't blame Ms. Aguilera or any woman who chooses a section over a medically managed vaginal birth.
Frankly it is why I chose to have my section. After twenty hours of labor I went in to the hospital and upon confirmation that she was breech (my doc had suspected she was, but I would not let her do an ultrasound before labor started), I was given the option to have a section or an attempted version, which meant they would give me drugs to stop my labor and relax my uterus, attempt the version, and then give me more drugs to start my labor again and then push my 8 pound daughter out.
If the version wasn't possible, I would still probably have a section, and if I insisted on birthing her breech vaginally, (Not giving consent to the section) there was a strong possibility that I would get a four way episiotomy and have tons of vaginal damage. I spent three hours praying, weighing everything, and decided to have the section. I was exhausted and the surgery felt like the right answer in the moment.
I believe every woman should educate herself about the various ways she can protect her bottom from knives, pusing on her back, forceps, vacuum extraction etc. The first step would be to not have those tools anywhere around your body while you are giving birth.
Allison did not have any lasting effects from the surgery, I was able to breastfeed her on demand for 4 and 1/2 years, and today she is a beautiful and talented 16 year old.
Allison in kindergarten.
In this day and time it is a miracle that I have given birth five times and except for one c-section scar, have not had an episiotomy or any life altering damage to my body. Carefully choosing health care providers who supported my choices, no epidural so I could move around freely, and for my two hospital births, being able to push at the squat bar for hours while pushing on the birthing bed was the key to protecting my cervix and perineum from permanent damage.
Allison with her little brother Ben and our dog Sammy
It was so silly after my first UC, when we transfered to the hospital for help after the birth, the ER doctor was so convinced that my cervix had torn while I pushed out that eleven pound child, it was all he could think about, checking to see if my butt was all tore up. He and the rest of the staff were shocked to see that not only was my body fully in tact, but I had no hemorrhoids, and did not even have a skid mark on my birth canal. I have read about women who have had fourth degree episiotomies, tearing through to the rectum, and after birth fistulas only birthing five to seven pounders.
Jenny with 11 pound Andrew three weeks after the birth - I had NO Perineal pain after the birth...did not even take an asperin. Four efficient squatting pushes, a well nourished mother, and LISTENING to my body got that kid out of my womb. If the doctors had tried to cut him out, either through my belly or my vagina, it would have been a travesty of nature. Granted, I did almost die from after birth bleeding (My liver and gall bladder were very toxic) and I spent six years intensively cleansing my liver before we conceived our next child, who I birthed alone at home without any excessive bleeding.
Just the same, I am grateful to have made it through Andys birth with a healthy child, an alive me, and JUST AS IMPORTANTLY my body in tact.
Some women may think the first two things are all that count, and its for darn certain the medical profession thinks mom and baby alive after partuition are the only thing that matters.
But I enjoy my intimate life with my husband, and think it is ridiculous that mothers have to choose either or. You either have a surgical wound somewhere on your body, or you don't have children and keep your body "honeymoon fresh". Nutsy! Weird! Wrong! and STUPID!!!
It is NOT the size of the child that is the problem for mothers, it is the way in which the birth is managed, especially second stage, that causes women to experience the terror that Christina expressed as her reason for using surgery for her birth.
To tell a woman who manages to make it through a Birth Rape alive and with an intact baby how fortunate she is to have been in the hospital where everything is safe and clean....yet she comes away from that birth never wanting her husband to touch her again, and she cannot enjoy sex again, and she does not want any more children, to tell her that she is LUCKY to have experienced the birth rape that saved her from the "pain of childbirth" is such a huge betrayal of trust and reason.
Reasonable people can understand why woman would say, "no thanks, I'll take my chances at home" when the alternative is a belly scar or a permanent vaginal wound.
I give Christina Aguilera credit for breastfeeding her child and support her making whatever choice feels best for her life and her marriage.
Go to this thread at Mothering to read some amazing stories about vaginal birth trauma and what the various mothers did to heal it.
And for the record, no I do not feel comfortable writing about this topic on my blog. However, the FACT that many young moms are choosing c-sections out of ignorance for what causes post partum pelvic floor damage compels me to write about it.
Jenny Hatch
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:35 AM
President Bush gets DOWN in Africa
Yeeeee Haaaawwwww!!!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:31 AM
Low Birth Weight Babes
Here is a link to some great information on nutrition, to help prevent low birthweight in babes.
The following is reprinted from What Every Pregnant Woman Should Know, a book on the Brewer Diet, by Gail Sforza Brewer and Tom Brewer, MD, first published in 1977.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:27 AM
Henci Goer: Are you really in Labor?
7 questions to help you know for sure.
"For those of you with visions of either giving birth in your car or making repeated "false alarm" trips to the hospital or birth center, this checklist is for you.
To begin with, forget about TV portrayals of labor, where pregnant women suddenly look startled, clutch their bellies, and gasp, "This is it!"
You'll have time to figure things out. The average labor lasts nine hours in first-time mothers and six-and-a-half in women laboring again -- and that's from the onset of regular, painful contractions, occurring five to three minutes apart. Most women have several, if not many, additional hours from the time the first vague twinges begin and this pattern setting in."
My first labor resulted in four trips to the hospital before the birth. Two in the days before Shelly was born, and two on the day she was actually born. Fourth time was the charm and we stayed for the birth. Although I wish after the third trip I had just stayed home and given birth in my bath tub, as I instinctively wanted to do at that point in my labor.
Live and Learn.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:13 AM
The Third International Husband/Wife Homebirth Conference
Just thought I'd share an update on our 2009 Birth Conference.
The update is that we are working on it, and there is not much to update.
However, if you are in the mood to attend a really great birth conference, head on out to California to the TRUST BIRTH conference which will be in two weeks!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 9:05 AM
Daring Young Mom: Hillarious Pictures- sometimes he cries
I love this blog written by a young LDS Mommy. Her writing style is really fun.
Go check out her blog.
Jenny Hatch
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:50 AM
February 21, 2008
Joprah Blog says - Wonder Pets not that bad
This stay at home Father has a scale of the annoyance factor for kids television.
It was a fun read, simply because his tastes exactly mirrored my own. I have been struggling with my health these past two years and unfortunately have turned to daytime programming more than at any time previously for keeping my pre schooler occupied. Many times we have watched these shows together, and I confess a real love for Little Bear, the music alone makes it fun to watch. (However any episode featuring Duck or a drum parade is about as annoying as the worst kid programming).
So, we have gotten aquainted with all the Noggin and Nick Jr Shows the past year or two.
Paul said early this year we should get rid of satellite and I told him I would be OK with that choice if Ben had a little brother or sister to play with. But since he is alone most days while our four older children are at school and work, a show here and there helps keep him happy. Don't get me wrong, we still spend hours every day baking, doing school, music, and he loves to help me with chores and walking the dog. I think of the television as a tool.
Ben simply loves Little Bear, Franklin, Wonder Pets, and recently Max and Ruby is the fav at our house.
It is nice to have this excellent programming instead of just the politically correct pap on PBS Kids.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:20 PM
Permission to Mother now available
Yet another holistically minded doctor has added her voice to the chorus of Mommy Knows Best!
Go Check out her blog and read her book.
Denise Punger MD FAAFP IBCLC & her husband John Coquelet DO are in private practice in St. Lucie County, Florida. They have three unschooled, drum-banging, karate-kicking sons. (Their hair is long, again.) Her perspective as a board certified family physician with expertise in breastfeeding is truly unique. Permission to Mother is her first book. Much of it has been worked on at home with the three boys active in the background.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 8:20 AM
Meridian Mag: Secretive Mormonism?
A good article investigating just how secretive mormons really are.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:08 AM
Intuition?
Chris at House of Harris Blog had a great post recently about Mothers Intuition.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:06 AM
Mama Raisin had a Freebirth!
Here is a link to the birth montage of Mama Raisin
She also had a great blog post about Lotus Birth: Go Here
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:02 AM
Gold Star Mother Spanks the Berkeley City Council
Round up of all of the recent controversy swirling around Berkeley California and the Marine Corp Recruitment Office found here at Move America Forward.
Berkeley Report - Protest of the City Council
PATRIOTS IN BERKELEY: AFTER-ACTION REPORT
We had someone holding up our silenced marine sign all day
MONDAY – February 11th
For Move America Forward staff, our pro-troop demonstration against the Berkeley City Council actually started the day before when we sent off MAF Director of Operations Ryan Gill in a 10-foot moving truck. His mission was to secure supplies, and pick up MAF spokesperson and Gold-star mom Debbie Lee who flew in from Arizona to the Oakland airport.
The remaining staff spent the day in Sacramento faxing and emailing out last minute press releases and media advisories. Most of us went home around 11 pm, with plans to leave Sacramento by two in the morning to get there before five. I slept for about an hour and a half, woke up at 1 in the morning and was in the office by about 2:15. Some of our staff bypassed sleep altogether, as there was much prep work to be done in the final hours before we stood our ground in support of our troops. We weren’t packed up and on the road until about 3:00 AM and we stopped for a quick breakfast at Denny’s before hitting the road again and arriving in Berkeley at almost 5:00 AM.
Other supporters were traveling via car and caravan from Oregon, Nevada, Colorado and Southern California. People went to great efforts to make it to this important event.
TUESDAY – February 12th
By 4:30 AM Ryan Gill arrived at the rally location along with Debbie Lee. Blue Star Mom,Deborah Johns – whose son is a Recon Marine who served in Iraq for three tours of duty, arrived moments later.
By 5:00 AM I arrived in Berkeley along with MAF Deputy Executive Director, Mary Pearson, and MAF Grassroots Coordinator, Joe Wierzbicki. We were joined by about two-dozen pro-troop supporters, including Gold Star Father Scott Conover and his wife, Julie. The enemy was also present with about two-dozen or so anti-military protestors and already it looked like the scene was turning ugly.
As we approached Martin Luther King, Jr. Way I got a call from Ryan on the phone, saying, “It’s hot already, already some people have been knocked down and everyone’s getting in each others faces.”
The mood may have been hot, but the morning air was freezing cold.
When we turned the corner of MLK Way, I saw why Ryan had said that the situation was boiling over at critical mass. There was an angry mob on the street, about to tear itself apart as anti-war and pro-troop supporters were clashing in close quarters! Cameras were already everywhere, lighting up the area of the park, despite the fact that it was still dark as midnight and only the pale, dull yellow light of some streetlamps bathed the streets of Berkeley.
As soon as we parked I jogged down to the corner where the mob was self-imploding upon itself. I squeezed between some cameras just in time to jump between Scott Conover and some anti war protester who was jabbing his finger in Scott’s face and yelling angrily while holding a sign depicting images from Abu Ghraib prison.
“This is the reality of War” he said, “The US Military is a bunch of war criminals!”
“My son was not a war criminal!” responded Scott, who seemed ready to tear the man apart, and from the looks of it, sizing up the difference in size between Scott and the anti-war guy, it looked as if he could. “#$% you! You are a traitor you piece of #@$%!”
EMOTIONS RUN HIGH
A nice scene of our patriots facing the City Council building
The sign on the top of that pole the guy in tan pants is holding said ‘Independents’ were unhappy with the city’s decision...not just far-right republicans here, as some members of the city council claimed!
But Scott pulled himself back, cooled off and thanked me for stepping in, I know that Scott is familiar with MAF, but we had never met before so it was a good way to get introduced.
I looked across the street and saw several police vehicles parked. Across the park there was another one parked at the opposite end of the street. Yet I could see no police officers, and the throngs of angry protesters were boiling with rage.
When I looked across the street again I saw that there were now some police congregating around the crosswalk. I walked over and picked one to introduce myself to, I told him I was the communications director for MAF and he didn’t seem very interested. Okay, fine, well I asked what we were going to do about getting a handle on the situation over there across the street. I was told I would have to make a phone call and talk to his Lieutenant.
POLICE FINALLY STEP IN
Around 5:30 or 6:00, as the crowd got bigger, more pandemonium ensued. At one high point of craziness, one of our supporters, a really big guy in a red sweater, was literally pushing back a whole line of anti-war people, wading into several at a time and slowly forcing them back. The effort only served to enrage others to push back and soon the whole crowd was tussling. I still had no clue what the police were doing, so several people jumped in, myself and this anti-war guy holding a sign that said ‘dialogue corner’ were jumping in between people and holding our hands out to try and keep the crowd away from each other. It was only sort-of working, but finally the police formed a single column and marched through the middle, putting a line in between. I was caught on the anti-war side of the line, and while for a moment the crowd was separated, we were still all yelling at each other.
I got a phone call from the police dispatch telling me to come across the street and speak with Lieutenant Hart of the Berkeley PD. Hart told me that Code Pink had voluntarily decided to bring their people across to the other side of the street at 7:00 am. I was pretty sure that our permit said they weren’t supposed to be on our side anyways, but Hart told me her understanding was that despite the permits, neither side was prohibited or guaranteed to be in either location, the park or the city council.
One of the Code Pink ladies, Rae, kept trying to talk to me, saying things like, “oh, you look like someone who’s trying to keep order and control your people. You have a cool head.” She kept trying to tell me to control my people and saying we were being aggressive. it was obvious to me that the Code Pinkos were the ones provoking and egging people on, and had deliberately marched across the street from their permitted area into our area to show the families of dead soldiers pictures of bloody mutilated bodies of innocent Iraqis blown up by insurgents or pictures of dead soldiers. She was pissing me off, trying to get me to admit that our people were being overly aggressive by being nice to me or whatever. Finally she went away.
I couldn’t wait till 7 am, which did eventually come around, and much of their crowd did establish itself on the other side. We had our space, for the most part – though there remained a couple of leftist agitators straggling on our side—when MAF Chairman Melanie Morgan arrived on the scene shortly after 6:00AM.
Scott Conover, a Gold-Star dad, talks with this one guy who stayed on our side of the street most of the day...
I talked to the guy for a while too, he was willing to listen, but made ridiculous assertions...what a kook
Melanie had heard about the melee and even though she was in the middle of her radio program, she left it and rushed down to Berkeley so she could rally her troops! We all got into a circle and around the megaphone held a little impromptu press conference, with our Blue and Gold-Star parents taking turns speaking to the crowd about their stories of the service and sacrifices of their children and their disgust, contempt and frustration with the Berkeley City Council.
This scene from early in the morning, Melanie Morgan took off -DURING HER RADIO SHOW- to support us when open war seemed imminent
Mark Crowley, Gold-Star dad, talks about his son Kyle’s story
Debbie Lee, Gold-Star mother of Marc Allen Lee, who was the the first US Navy S.E.A.L killed in Iraq
Deborah Johns, Blue-star mother of Will Johns who has served three tours in Iraq
THE INTRUSION
World Can’t Wait and Code Pink crowds mix and mingle in front of the city council chambers
It was not long after most of the Code Pink people had gone across the street that they were already back on our side, encroaching on our territory. Several Code Pink people, and some members of World Can’t Wait came over and got into a confrontation with Scott Conover. This one young man, he looked like he could have been Arabic (but I don’t want to assume anything) was wearing a keffiyah around his neck and was screaming something about millions of Iraqis dead and millions more displaced.
At first I was just trying to keep him safe from ole’ Scott Conover, but when he started yelling about American barbarity and economic sanctions and millions of dead Iraqis, I had to yell at him. How dare these people say that we’re somehow responsible for Saddam Hussein’s rape and domination of his own countrymen because we didn’t want to do business with an aggressive nation!
Soon enough he slinked back behind Code Pink’s reps, Zanne Joi and Rea, who were back again. I asked them what their people were doing over on our side and they tried to tell me it was because the portable bathrooms were on our side of the street and we needed to let them use it. I looked around and noted that we were probably about 50 yards away from the porta-potty and there was actually a small crowd of anti-war people over here and they didn’t look like they were waiting to use the john.
Marine Corps Motorcycle Club!! woo!
Our side of the street: lined with patriots armed to the hilt with flags and patriotic slogans!
This only got worse and worse, more anti-war people kept coming over onto our side. It didn’t look like the permit we had worked so hard to get meant much of anything at all. It was close to, but not quite 8:00 AM now, and there were a bunch of kids trying to skateboard on the cement structures over on our side. They were skating around at high speeds very close to our supporters, many of which are seniors and who were startled and alarmed by the aggressive actions of these kids jumping around them. Code Pink leader, Medea Benjamin, stood in the middle of them, egging them on. It was disgusting to see her provoking hostile actions by young people to advance her leftist, hate-America agenda.
Her antics worked and these kids had no respect for our wishes, in fact we were amazed, every other word out of these kids mouths was “F$%K” or “F$%KING.”
World Can’t Wait passed out huge stacks of orange bandanas to young kids who skipped school and encouraged them to approach and provoke pro-military supporters
Many of our supporters were getting very irritated so we decided to try giving some ground to the anti-war crowd, hoping they would settle down. Unfortunately there were still a growing number of anti-war people, especially young kids, coming over and invading our permitted side of the street. I saw several older men across the street, dressed in all black, handing out orange scarves by the handful to eagerly awaiting mobs of youngsters, many of whom were also in black. In typical World Can’t Wait fashion, they tied the scarves to obscure their faces. Soon our side of the street was inundated with very rude, very confrontational World Cant Wait-ers and some Code Pinkos to boot.
Another anti-war protester (left) who argued a bit with veterans on our side
I left the situation to go post a couple pictures to the Move America Forward website and by the time I came back the police had cordoned off a section of about a third of the space up front and blocked it with a line of bicycles. You could still go around the small line, which many did do, but it helped a little to keep the crowds to themselves. I was a little peeved that we had just lost about a third of our real estate, but I was more satisfied that there was less confrontation and thus less a lesser chance someone was going to get hurt.
The police, when the situation was getting desperate, did step in and seperate the crowds, which we do appreciate, thank you Berkeley PD!
MEDEA BENJAMIN: FOUNDER & LEADER OF CODE PINK
Medea Benjamin was walking all along through our area. I marvel at this woman, she is SUCH an opportunist. One of her favorite tactics is to spot a TV camera that’s either filming a crowd or scene, or doing an interview, and she will go up and stand in the background of it, making sure that she is visible and attempt to either soak up some of another person’s screen-time or try to make a scene and attract an interview.
So I decided to try and beat her at her own game, just a little. I spotted Medea, she was standing behind one of our supporters who was interviewing with a reporter and cameraman. So I found a “Support our Troops and Their Mission” sign leaning up against a nearby tree, grabbed it, and stood right next to Medea, holding the sign right behind her head. She didn’t seem to notice that, or she ignored it, knowing that she didn’t want to get nasty in front of TV.
Someone asked her something or she might have been trying to tell the camera something about “the Iraqis don’t want us there, they hate the US military” and I tried to tell her “That’s not true.”
I have just returned from spending Christmas with our troops and was not about to let Medea Benjamin make false statements to the media about America’s brave warriors. We argued about what the troops were doing: she gave me the same old tired lines…we target civilians, we bomb whole cities indiscriminately, we torture and terrorize civilian populations.
I responded by saying that “No, the troops over there know and love the Iraqis and the Iraqis know the troops, they know each others names, each other stories, and care about each others safety.” Medea literally laughed at my assertion until I told her that I only knew this because I had been to Iraq and had seen it for myself. She went stone faced pretty much immediately.
Her response? “Well, how many times have you been to Iraq?”
”Only once,” I told her, “two weeks in Baghdad, with the US Army.”
“Well, I’ve been to Iraq five times.” She seemed like she almost stuck her tongue out and went ‘nyah’ and stormed off back to her own side.
THE FLAG
A while later I just happened to be standing over somewhat near the bikes, across from the World Can’t Wait crowd and I heard several people, in a somewhat alarmed tone of voice, saying “They’re burning flags! They are burning flags!”
I look over and here is this girl:
A young lady with the Wold Can’t Wait crowd burned TWO smaller flags, which she STOLE from our side...they obviously didn’t bring their own flags to burn so they burned ours!
I stood there and watched her, just staring at her as the flags burned up, I almost felt like crying, my heart was breaking for how stupid and hopeless these kids are, and she looked back and smirked at me, like she knew what she was making people feel by her actions
So somehow she got a hold of one of our flags we had available at our Move America Forward table, and burned it right in my face, with a clear intention of agitating us. Fortunately, for her and her friends, this did not cause the pro-military forces to storm their way through the police to teach those kids a lesson, although I think they were just about incensed enough to do so.
THE INVASION
The day wore on, in the morning the size of the pro-troop crowd was strong and the participants were vibrant and energetic, then as the first few hours passed both the size of the crowd and its enthusiasm seemed to wane – on both sides. seemed to But as the sun rose higher in the sky and warmed this area of the East Bay it seemed like people were again just appearing out of nowhere and the numbers of our supporters steadily grew towards the 12:00 noon hour. Code Pink was also finding more supporters, but as both crowds grew, ours was taking the lead.
As the day wore on our numbers swelled, peaking at over a thousand strong
Maybe they were just bored, maybe they just did not want the TV cameras to see our side with more than theirs again, but whatever the motivation, Code Pink and World Can’t Wait decided to push further into our side. This angered a number of our people as there is a road with four lanes (two lanes in each direction) separating our groups, which should have meant that both sides stayed in their permitted areas. But the City of Berkeley told the cops to not interfere with Code Pink’s efforts to form phalanxes of agitators who would come over in waves with the intention of pushing through our supporters, screaming in their faces, and denouncing our great nation.
The forces of Code Pink and World Cant Wait weren’t satisfied with their own side of the street, so they frequently came over to our side to try and provoke our people, interfere with our media interviews, and generally act stupid
Father and son who came down to Berkeley to support the Marines
With the crowds both growing and more and more people congregating on the pro-troop side of the street, the police line separating us had disintegrated. People from both sides were pouring into the grassy field and there was a huge mass of people gathered around our table and in the surrounding area.
The police were hard at work...gaurding each other (well, they did help us out a few times)
With the police still doing nothing to keep the crowds separated I noticed a huge crowd of police huddled over in one corner, far away from the mob of pro-troop and anti-war activists who were thus free to either rip each others heads off or engage in healthy discussion. Many chose the former, a few chose the latter. But as disturbed as I was by the number of confrontations that turned violent during this time, I was also encouraged to see some peaceful debate going on as well.
Young vet argues with a teen whose knowledge of terrorism is most likely limited to video games
We on the other hand, had to plug our noses while the anti-war crowd walked among us trying to cause as many problems as possible
It got really creepy when a huge number of the World Can’t Wait crowd started organizing themselves into columns and marching in step, making a wide encirclement of our patriots. They did not outnumber us, but having people CIRCLE around you feels unnerving.
Nancy, who is Medea Benjamin’s personal assistant, actually LIKES our Code Pink shirts with the communist hammer-and-sickle calling their group traitors. She said she was coming back to make a donation to MAF for one
ALTERCATIONS
One of our supporters was assaulted by a teen who actually used his skateboard to hit her.
Joe was tackled by a group of about 20 World Can’t Wait kids intent on burning a flag they had stolen from us. What happened was, Joe was standing around the table we put in the middle of the rally, it had our t-shirts and a box full of flags to hand out. Joe saw that three of the girls from WCW snatched one of our larger hanging flags mounted on a wooden dowel and were walking off with it. Joe followed them, at a distance, and observed them meeting up with some other kids, one of which brandished a lighter.
Joe says the kids were debating whether to take the flag back across the street to the other side or to just burn it right there. The boy with the lighter insisted they burn the flag immediately, and lit his lighter. Well Joe then swooped in and grabbed our flag from the girl holding it, but he couldn’t get it completely away. She and her two friends still had a hold on one corner of the flag and started screaming wildly, as several kids tugged at the flag and Joe on the other side had the rest of the flag in a death grip.
Then about 15 more kids started jumping on Joe, trying to get him to release the flag that was being held by 4 or 5 other kids who intended to light it up. Joe tried to march the flag back to safety, but the kids were all over him, punching, hitting, slapping…hell, they even PINCHED him all over…everywhere! But Joe was still holding a death grip on the flag, he did not want to see it get burned. The dowel it was mounted on was broken into six pieces, the flag stretched and possibly ripped by now. Anti-military protestors were shouting at Joe as if he was the aggressor saying, “Does it make you feel like a big man to pick on little kids?”
Then a small tender lady came up to Joe, rubbed his left hand and said, “I’m on your side, come with me, I don’t want to see anything bad happen to you. Come on, the deck is stacked against you and these kids will just try to get something bad to happen to you or get your arrested.” Her calming logic convinced him to let go and walk back to the MAF booth., We don’t know what happened to the flag that Joe relinquished, we pray it was not burned disgracefully by these punk kids.
Unfortunately, I would be willing to bet that poor flag no longer proudly flies the stars and stripes. We later asked if flag-burning is legal in Berkeley. Apparently is it illegal to burn an American flag in Berkeley, but you wouldn’t know it by watching how this protest was handled by law enforcement.
Also at this time there were mobs of other kids trying to mess with our sound system. We had a sound permit for only four hours, and we were just playing some music with it before our principle spokesperson (Melanie!) returned. But the WCW kids were actually trying to cut the wires leading to the speakers with a knife! The Lafayette Flag Brigade pushed the kids away and before the wires had been cut through. They appealed to the cops to step in and so something and were told that they were on their own.
Another confrontation occurred when some of the WCW teens assaulted a member of the College Republicans who were agitating the Code Pink side of the street. When the police arrested two WCW people in relation to this assault, and took them into the police station, the WCW crowd rallied and marched over to the police station under the leadership of Medea Benjamin and began chanting and laying down in front of the Berkeley Police Station screaming “Let them go! Let them go!”
I still have not received information about whether that kid was released or charged with something.
This woman tries to show a Marine how helicopters fly. On her platter is a scene of broken up bodies of toy soldiers with fake blood all around...disguisting
TAKING BACK THE FIELD
If nothing else, this commotion served one purpose: it gave our side the opportunity to reorganize on our side while all the WCW and Code Pink crowd were crowding the police station. This time, we did NOT let the WCE or Code Pink back on our side. And police or no police, we KEPT THOSE ANTI-TROOP PUNKS OUT of our area – including the kids - as Melanie decided it was time to rally our supporters together and focus everyone on the work that we needed to do as the Berkeley City Council meeting start time approached.
Our people made a strong showing, we had that sidewalk packed from corner to corner!
Army Rangers “Lead the Way” Hummer!
Taking the microphone into hand she quickly whipped the pro-troop crowd of patriots up into a joyous frenzy! I was in a meeting with MAF Executive Director Cat Moy and some people from the city, discussing the plan for the council meeting later, but I could hear Melanie working the crowd from up on the second floor of the building.
After the rally and the speeches, I was back in the park again, trying with Cat to spread the word among our members about our plans for getting into the City Council meeting.
This young lady’s boyfriend just deployed to Iraq, GOOD LUCK SOLDIERS (don’t they make a sweet couple?)
Also, the back of her sign was irresistably clever
Many people noticed this “Semper Fidelis” banner flying overhead for several hours during the day. The sight of it flying over Berkeley brought many cheers and lifted the spirits of many patriots!
THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING
We had to find members to go into the council chambers LONG before the council was scheduled to hear the item regarding the Marines – as in FOUR to FIVE HOURS ahead of time. Despite the complete lack of logic behind this demand, the city INSISTED that we send in our supporters at 4:30 PM where they would be forced to sit through another City Council meeting, THEN sit through all the preliminary items on the regular City Council meeting, until the city finally brought up the Marine Corps item. Only then would our people would be allowed to speak, after which they would be allowed to leave the meeting and be replaced by more pro-troop supporters until every single last person had the chance to speak, both from the pro-troop side and the anti-war side.
Medea Benjamin (the Osama of Code Pink herself) admires the shiny reflective polish of the handrail as she steps up the stairs into the City Council chambers
If we did not have 30 people agree to this demand then they would give the seats to the Code Pink, International ANSWER, and the anarchist World Can’t Wait crowd.
Fair? Vaguely
Smart? Yes, if you want to obstruct the ability of those with an opposing viewpoint to express themselves at your little city council meeting.
We found some supporters who were basically willing to ‘jump on the grenade’ and sit through 5 grueling hours of the bizarre left-wing City Council hearing, so that we could have some seats saved. We sent in our bravest and resigned ourselves to waiting and watching.
STREET PROTESTS
By now the police had aligned themselves in the middle of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Way, the WCW and Code Pink crowds had been expelled from our side, the American flag-waving, pro-troop supporters were standing hundreds upon hundreds of people strong and the police took the opportunity to create a line straight through the middle, closing down the street and taking up positions between.
I talked to the young lady pictured here in the reflective sunglasses and some of her friends who came by from Berkeley High School. It was awesome to see people their age with their heads screwed on straight. They told me that they catch a lot of flack from fellow students and their teachers for their beliefs. Hows that for tolerance!
Both sides were still active, and the streets were filled with camera crews rushing from one point to another, covering the chants of protestors at each other from across the street and yelling on their bullhorns in impromptu policy debates! I saw Leigh Wolf from the College Republicans debating WCW through megaphones and he was absolutely STUMPING all the anti-war people!
“Why did you people come here, give me one good reason why the Marines should have to go” he said.
They answered back… “We don’t want them here. They are preying on children.”
Leigh pounces on them, “Are you aware that is an OFFICER RECRUITING STATION? It’s also MY recruiting station, that’s where I SIGNED UP!” He retorted. “Do you know there is only one way to be recruited in an officer recruiting station, that’s if you have a four-year degree, do you think that people who have gone to college for four years can’t make a decision about the military?”
They were practically speechless. “Let someone else talk!” one of them shouted. Classic.
This young man, also from Berkeley High, was proudly waving this ‘don’t tread on me’ flag
ANOTHER FLAG BURNING
The scene turned very ugly when another flag was burned by the anti-war protesters. The night-sky was illuminated by a pillar of flames. One minute I was standing around, the next I heard a LOUD pop and a crowd of people running towards something. I looked and saw what appeared to be a street sign ON FIRE raining down flames onto a bicycle chained to the street sign.
At first I thought it was a Molotov cocktail someone had thrown because I could see chunks of flaming debris laying around the street and literally oozing from the top of the street sign and onto the bikes below.
What happened was, the anti-war people set another flag on fire, but it was a large flag and the flames got out of control so they threw it up on the street sign on the corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Way and a sign directing people to the “Peace Wall.” Pieces of the flag had fallen on the bikes below and caught them on fire. The loud pop I heard was from the bike’s tires and the “burning rubble” all around was pieces of flaming rubber from the tire.
There was a huge crowd around the bike, I was yelling at people to back up and let the police take care of the situation. I thought for sure that with a fire clearly burning that any second now police were going to rush in and surround the area, so we should back up. But nobody backed up, and no police came. I went up to one of the officers standing guard in the street.
For the third time that day, anti-war protesters burned an American flag. In this incident, they threw the flaming banner up onto a street sign, where pieces of it fell on a couple bicycles chained below.
The tires of the bike caught fire, popped loudly, and the burning rubber melted all over the bikes ruining them. I was standing nearby and a father and his very young son came over to see that thier bikes were ruined.
Some of the World Can’t Wait people started screaming, saying we did it, and saying “Get the (f-word) Out of Our Town!”
“Hey guys, I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but there’s something on fire over there, I don’t know for sure but I thought, you know it might be dangerous or something, did you have any plans to check it out?” I asked some random officer. He muttered something I could not hear, so I left him alone. The fire went out and the owner of the bikes came over to inspect the damage.
Police did absolutely nothing...appalling
Little kid got his bike burned by the same angry mob his dad brought him to protest with…pretty sad.
ENDGAME
We waited and waited until the city council finally took up the resolution on the Marines. My voice was gone by then. When the floor became open for discussion the City Council began hearing our voices, five from Code Pink, five from Move America Forward, and back again and again over and over. We sent in our supporters five at a time, as five came out.
It was awesome for me to see that there were a lot of young people on our side, but I wonder if she knows that the City Council IS the commie occupation of Berkeley!
29 Languages, 29 ways to say I Am (a proud) American!
Old Glory was, as it always is, well represented at MAF events!
With the star spangled banner flying everywhere on our side, the anti-war crowd kept mocking us, asking why we would ‘love a stupid flag’ or ‘worship a piece of cloth’ they don’t realize that true Americans LOVE AND WORSHIP what our flag represents, real freedom and liberty, something they don’t understand!
Ryan delivered the fat stack of over 18,000 petitions, plus hundreds more we collected hand-signed at the rally, and more still that we had not printed out, totaling well in excess of over 20,000.
All of our spokespeople gave their stories, from Deborah Johns and Debbie Lee to Gold Star Fathers Kevin Graves and Mark Crowley.
We had residents of Berkeley who were ashamed at the actions of the city, people from Berkeley High School, Cal Berkeley, even a high school teacher.
One Berkeley resident who supported our efforts had been on the phone during the day with Dr. Alvita King, the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr. who gave her advice on how to communicate her views in a manner that was peaceful yet forceful.
We had veterans who had come from all across the country, some Vietnam vets who had actually BEEN to Berkeley after Vietnam and had been treated SO incredibly poorly, had been SPAT on by it’s residents back then.
We had comments from Iraq war vets a few wounded even who were proud of the work they had done and that their fellow soldiers were still doing over there.
And so it went for hour after hour. After it was all over, the council made comments and discussed their options amongst each other. Many in the council expressed, in comment, a seemingly sincere recognition that the Marines were being discriminated against and were owed an apology.
Some wanted to apologize to the city for bringing such shame and disgrace upon the city and its residents. One councilmember even thought an apology was in order for giving preferential speech rights to Code Pink over those on the pro-troop side.
It actually sounded like there was a majority on the council who wanted to take meaningful action to rectify their transgressions.
But when it came time to vote on the resolution that offered the biggest retreat from their previous anti-military actions the “swing votes” on the council – despite having issued statements of apology in their comments – deliberately abstained so that the move to undo the most egregious misdeeds fell one vote short. They wouldn’t vote “NO” but they would also not vote “YES” – obviously fearful of the fury that would have been directed upon them by their base: Code Pink, International ANSWER and the anarchists who comprise the radical Left in Berkeley. . Thus the motion to send a letter of apology was defeated. Code Pink retained their special permits, the city will still try to kick the Marines out by having the city attorney attempt to exploit the “don’t ask don’t tell” policy. And their statement endorsing Code Pink and encouraging Berkeley residents to “impede” the work of any military recruiters in Berkeley still stands..
I was seeing red. Code Pink rejoiced. All of our supporters were deeply disappointed. For the veterans most of all, it was another slap in the face to them, another cutting-off-at-the-knees.
Are you proud of yourself Berkeley? You’ve done it again (disgraced yourselves and your town).
But there was a realization that gradually spread over our contingent of staff at Move America Forward: the City Council had not only made a partial retreat, but a majority of council members had verbally acknowledged the wrongful nature of their actions. They didn’t have the guts to vote this way on the record – for the political reasons mentioned above – but we nonetheless heard them say the impossible: THEY KNEW THEIR ACTIONS WERE INDEFENSIBLE.
The portable restrooms provided for the people at the protest were vandalized by the anti-war people, inside, phrases like “NO WAR”, “(F-word) Bush” and Anarchy symbols were spraypainted on the walls
THIS IS WAR
We vow to continue the fight, to carry on the struggle again, in Berkeley if we have to, or in any other city across this nation, wherever the fight takes Move America Forward.
Tired and physically just beat and exhausted, we came home. My bed and my two kitties Tereza and Tomas were waiting for me when I got home at 4:00 am.
“Meow!” They were hungry.
If you attended the rally and have a story to post up about your experiences, pictures, or links to youtube videos, etc, etc, etc, SEND THEM TO me! Also if you have comments or further information that would contribute to the richness or accuracy of this blog post, please email me at mafbloggerdanny@gmail.com and I will include them in the Berkeley Report
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:37 AM
February 20, 2008
Help stop the mothers act (Activist Alert!!!)
Hawthor allerted me to a new campaign to screen all moms for post partum emotional illness.
Read her excellent post and check out the comments below, they provide a compelling conversation for where we are with education and current myths in the minds of many women regarding what causes post partum illness.
My long time readers know that I had a post partum psychosis after the birth of my first baby....
This is a picture of me with my oldest daughter Michelle when she was ten days old. I did not become manic until we moved when she was six weeks old. After a month of mania, little social support, and very little sleep, I dropped over the cliff into psychosis and was hospitalized for six weeks.
Here is a picture of me in suicidal depression over a year later. I had been court ordered to eat Haldol, Lithium, and Stelazine. This picture was taken after Prozac was added to my chemical cocktail and a few days before I was hospitalized again, this time for suicidal depression. I am convinced the Prozac tipped me over into suicidal thinking.
Mothering Magazine published an excellent article on Post Partum Psychosis this past year. My story was featured as a side bar article in the mag, and recently they published the account on their web site.
And the text of the piece:
Pregnancy after Psychosis
By Sarah R. Fields
May/June 2007 - Issue 142
Article: Losing It
Side Bar: Postpartum Mood Disorders Guide
During my months of recovery, when I began reading about perinatal mood disorders, I came across a case study of a woman who had survived postpartum psychosis. As I read entries from the diary kept by Jenny Hatch while she was in the hospital, I finally felt as if someone understood what I had experienced. Jenny's confidence and wisdom empowered me during my healing. Her story gave me the strength and the knowledge to believe I could still have a baby and remain well—I would have entered my third pregnancy with great hesi-tation and fear had I not first spoken with her. When I decided to tell my own story (Losing It), Jenny agreed to let me tell hers, too.1-3
Jenny Hatch suffered postpartum psychosis when she was 21, following the birth of her first child. She spent a month in a psychotic and manic state before being hospitalized for several weeks. Since then, she has given birth to four more children, with no relapse. During each post-partum period, Jenny has effectively employed natural preventive methods to stave off mood disorders.
In the first months following her psychosis, Jenny saw 12 different doctors, all male. About four months after her hospitalization, she met a female psychiatrist, who treated her with natural progesterone. Jenny said the hormone treatment returned her to a state of equilibrium. "I felt it was the first major step in healing."
The closest Jenny has come to another psychotic episode was after the birth of her fourth child, who was taken to the NICU. Jenny missed three nights' sleep and "could feel the tidal wave. I was going to crash into psychosis." Her husband brought her a liquid calcium-magnesium supplement, which she took along with vitamin B complex to nourish her body. The natural minerals and vitamins were enough to allow her to achieve deep sleep. After the birth of each of her babies, Jenny has gone to extremes to protect her sleep. "When I have a new baby, I do nothing. I let my house go nuts so I can nap. I can feel when the mania is building. It has always been connected to sleep deprivation." From that experience, Jenny has come to believe that emergency rooms and mental hospitals should greet psychotic and manic patients with nutritional supplements rather than medications, which bring along with them a host of side effects. To regulate her health over the years, Jenny has employed the wisdom of three homeopaths, an osteopath, and an herbalist. "The mixing of healing modalities is what made my healing complete. Everybody made a contribution." She uses Sunrider Chinese herbs, Nature's Sunshine herbs, and Young Living essential oils.
Jenny views her bout with psychosis as a gift from God. She relates that, in the traditional practice of some Native American cultures, if someone had a break with reality, the village would surround that person to prevent injury, while allowing the psychosis to run its course. Then, that person would be apprenticed to the group's shaman. Surviving psychosis gave Jenny permission to do with her family as she knew best, including unassisted homebirth and attachment parenting. She feels that God was telling her, "You're an adult now," giving her courage to face family and friends who might doubt her choices. Jenny asserts, "I am very good at saying 'no,' and have not felt too much shame or guilt for spending money on myself and taking good care of my physical, emotional, and spiritual self."
Jenny creates a protective space in which she can nurture her body and her family in the postpartum period. She says, "I truly believe quiet living is the key to mental wellness."
NOTES
1. A book-length version of Jenny Hatch's story, A Mother's Journey: My Story of Healing after Postpartum Psychosis, can be downloaded at www.naturalfamilyco.com.
2. This sidebar is based on personal communications with Jenny Hatch via telephone (11 May 2006) and e-mail (17 May 2006).
3. Jenny Hatch's story is also discussed in Kathleen Kendall-Tackett, Depression in New Mothers: Causes, Consequences and Treatment Alternatives (New York: Haworth Press, 2005), 199?214.
—S. R. F.
Sarah Fields sings, writes, and mothers in Hobart, Indiana, where she lives with her husband, Carl, and their children, Anna (4) and John (2).
I really enjoyed working with Sarah on this article and was so grateful to Mothering for taking on the topic. With so many women using antidepressants, the psychosis rates have gone up markedly. When I went psychotic nineteen years ago, it was one out of a thousand women who had a post partum psychosis. And the recurrence rate for those of us who had a mental break was one out of six. Recently I read that the recurrence rate is hitting one out of two. Which means fifty percent of those of us who have had post partum psychosis are having psychotic episodes after subsequent births. I believe the psychiatric meds are causing this alarming increase in psychosis.
Here is a link to an article I wrote for Compleat Mother online four years ago, it makes the case that psychiatric meds are a huge souce or repeat and increased emotional distress.
And the amazing Ann Blake Tracy had this to say about the recent push to SCREEN all mothers:
STOP THE MOTHERS ACT!!
EXTREMELY URGENT NEWS ON MOTHERS ACT!!!! CLICK HERE TO GET THE PRESS RELEASE AND SEND IT TO EVERYONE YOU CAN, ESPECIALLY FAXES TO THE SENATORS (FOR COMPLETE phone / fax CONTACT INFO. FOR SENATORS ON THE COMMITTEE CLICK HERE. A text version is available here.)
Sign the petition here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/stop-the-dangerous-and-invasive-mothers-act
Click here to get a flyer ready to print... (save it, then open it to print correctly) Click here to view the flyer... To get a copy emailed to you for 8.5 x 11 printing, email amy@uniteforlife.org
UPDATE: The HELP Committee meeting on this was postponed. The Senate is in a week-long recess. We want at least a million signatures on our petition so please share it with others.
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Past efforts:
This is the URL to a congressional soapbox alert set up by pro-drugging mental health groups. You can use the form but please make sure you alter the letter before hitting submit!!! (To read Dr. Tracy's letter click here)
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=/ndmda/issues/alert/?alertid=10862256
Please alter the information in the pre-written letter to indicate your disapproval of the proposed law!!!
I am asking all of my friends to go to the website and write against this act. Melanie Blocker Stokes was a pharmaceutical rep who killed herself by jumping off a balcony when she was a new mom. She had been given many medications as well as ECT.
Antidepressants are ineffective and dangerous. See the numerous links and articles on our website and www.ssristories. com - there are links to many many relevant websites here and on SSRI Stories if you feel you need more information.
It's bad enough that all new mothers are already inherently not trusted with their own babies. We don't need to add to the paranoia, and the postpartum stage is a time for support and bonding, not inspection and scrutiny and drugging.
CCHR has had this action alert against the MOTHERS Act on their site for a while but since this is coming up for a vote in the Senate it is time to act now.
There are actually two soapbox alerts from the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance on the Congress.org website.
If you have time you can also create your own soapbox alert and it will appear in sopabox section of Congress.org's website, and you can also check a box on your letter to make it appear in the Letters To Leaders section of the Congress.org website.
The Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance created the soapbox alert form that is linked to at the top of the page. They are asking for support for the MOTHERS Act, which will be voted on within weeks. It has passed the house and is currently in the Senate in committees. Please use this form and then go on the Congress.org website and contact all of the other committee members if you have time. The information about the committees is on the soapbox alert written by the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. They also created a "handy" support program for "bipolar" women who are pregnant or new parents. It's quite disturbing to even think of all the things they are promoting. Your support of truth and safety is urgently needed.
This was written by Dr. Ann Blake Tracy.
My letter to Sen Charles Grassley:
I am writing as a constituent to ask you to NEVER support S.1375, the MOTHERS Act, when it is considered by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
This legislation is named for a young mother who, after suffering postpartum depression, tragically took her own life. She was given four combinations of anti-psychotic, anti-anxiety, and anti-depressant medications. She also underwent electroconvulsive therapy. Her family rallied around her with all their strength, but in the end, Melanie jumped to her death from the twelfth floor of a Chicago hotel. This is sheer torture and it is no wonder that this poor young mother was pushed over he edge by it all rather than being allowed to recover from her pregnancy and delivery.
Post partum psychosis happens in one out of 1000 new moms, but on antidepressant medications alone - without all the rest of the drugs she was given - that percentage of psychosis jumps by 10 times to one in 100 according to most package inserts for these drugs. This is akin to murder!
This legislation will ensure that new mothers and their families are also subjected to such treatment as they are screened for symptoms and provided so called "help" that pushes these new mothers over the edge.
Far too many Americans know little about mental illness in general, let alone about this tragic illness affecting young mothers and their families. Mental illness affects millions of Americans, but just how much of it is medication-induced? Bipolar Disorder has increased by 4000% in a recent 10 year period since the introduction of the newer antidepressans that are notorious for causing this disorder. The cost is beyond description! To get an idea in real life costs go to the database at www.ssristories.com posted by an Iowa native. You can also read last weeks paper on the mother in Ankeny who attempted to kill her son and then killed herself in withdrawal from her antidepressant - a very dangerous period as the FDA warned in 2005.
The MOTHERS Act is not needed and will only add to the nation’s most serious medical and social problems.
I look forward to your firm stand against this legislation when the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee votes on it.
Thank you for your consideration.
======
Here is the letter sent by Amy Philo (if you also saved a copy of your letter, feel free to send it to us and we will post it here).
I am writing as a constituent to ask you to vote AGAINST S.1375, the MOTHERS Act, when it is considered by the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
When I was a first time new mother, the interference of doctors and nurses led to my being prescribed Zoloft. I had a severe adverse reaction and became homicidal and suicidal. You can see my story at
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa060802_kd_chaada.2698424.html
It is also completely written out in full detail at:
http://chaada.org/smf/index.php?topic=15.0
Also see the recent news about the fact that antidepressants do not work but drug companies have been suppressing the negative trial data:
http://www.uniteforlife.org/suppresseddata.htm
In my opinion this bill is being promoted solely for the profit of pharmaceutical companies. There is nothing more threatening to the fabric of our society and to the future well being of our children and their parents than the invasion of privacy on new moms, especially in a way that threatens the safety of babies and their mothers. If you really want to help moms, we can support them with requirements for longer maternity leave and support for postpartum networks that enable her to find help with household duties and meals, breastfeeding and parenting.
I had a second baby 16 months ago at home with a midwife's support. I had time to bond with him without interference. I had NO drugs in my body and I had NO postpartum depression. The rise in senseless violence is due to the rise in interference with drugs and the lack of social support.
If women can be given social support they will not be subject to confusing advice that causes them to doubt themselves and wind up on mind-altering drugs that cause them to murder and commit suicide.
If this bill is passed, any money spent on screening will be a complete waste of tax dollars. The results will be an INCREASE in the severity and frequency of postpartum depression and an increase in violence and suicide.
Mass mental health screening programs already in place like Teen Screen have shown to be ineffective and dangerous with an 84% plus misdiagnosis rate and the majority of students referred have been put on damaging and dangerous mind-altering drugs. See www.ssristories.com as well, for details on the recent school shootings which have involved psyciatric drugs.
I would like to see a full federal investigation of the FDA and the pharmaceutical industry with an emphasis on examining the effects of antidepressants. These drugs should be banned, and anyone who attempts to push them on a mom should be penalized.
Thank you for your consideration.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 4:56 AM
February 18, 2008
Go Vote for Dr. Amy, I did! Bloggers choice awards
UPDATE: Next Day...
Thankyou dear readers, in the past day or so The Homebirth Debate Blog has reached #2 in the WORST Blog of all time catagory at the Bloggers Choice Awards 2008. With 63 votes as of today, the quack who claims to like debating about home birth has once again proved with this little survey that she has the most pointless BLOG on the net.
I checked WIKI for the antonym of Debate (For those of you who did not attend Medical School, (and are perhaps simply ignorant, not stupid, just not as enlightened as some Bloggers with REAL credentials), An antonym is the opposite of the word being defined.
Synonyms for the word Debate are: discussion, argument, dispute, deliberation, examination, consideration
Antonym: conclusion
IF Dr. Amy is willing to change the name of her blog to Home Birth CONCLUSION, I will stop dissing her.
The funny thing is, I don't know one person in the homebirth community who thinks that all hospital birth is all bad all the time. We ALL agree that Allopathy (Drugs and Surgical Birth) has its place in our world. But to claim as ACOG and Dr. Amy do that no birth should ever, ever, ever take place at home, they have come to the CONCLUSION that NO BIRTH should ever take place at home and those of us who do it for any reason whatsoever are selfish, ignorant, and just not quite as enlightened about the facts of birth as they are.
My reasons for choosing to birth my last two sons at home are tied up in the Colorado Rules of Engagement for Midwives and Birth. I am the daughter of two families who have been notoriously "late" gestating babies. My Dad was a 44 weeks babe and My Mother gave birth to a 44 weeks son. One of my sons was a 45 weeks gestator, and my fifth child was born exactly 42 weeks and three days after the first day of my last period. If I had chosen to hire a midwife for a homebirth she would have been compelled by Colorado Law to transfer care to an OB THREE DAYS before my son was ready to be born.
I TRUST my childrens ability to decide when they are ready to be born. This flies in the face of current medical dogma around gestation.
In looking at all of the factors involved, and knowing several women in my community who were induced with CYTOTEC with horrifying results to them and their children, I decided that I was far safer waiting at home for my own labor to kick in than in being induced.
As a mother with a C-section scar from my second birth, I weighed all of the factors and decided that a natural birth would serve me and my children best rather than being induced with artificial hormones days or weeks before they were ready to be born.
This choice was not made ignorantly. When Ben did in fact go a few days past the 42 week marker, I was very grateful that I did not hire a midwife to help me with the birth.
When and if Colorado decides to factor me and my children into their laws for birth, I may have a change of heart around assisted birth. But I recently heard from a woman who is a labor nurse at a midwest hostpital with an 80% C-section rate where every mother is induced at 37 weeks and the only women to give birth naturally with no augmentation are those lucky souls who happen to go into labor early and give birth as soon as they get to the hospital.
Let's just say the trends are not lookin too good for natural, spontaneous delivery at the local hospital and various places around the country.
I guess the point is that every mother has to decide for herself what type of birth will best help her achieve her goals for a healthy baby, and I support every woman having the ability to choose whatever scenario feels right for her for any given birth.
Jenny Hatch
Ducktor Amy, Quack Quack...
The WORST blog of all time. Har har...
The Homebirth Debate Blog is a joke.
Dr. Amy is steadily climbing in the online contest to be the WORST blog of all time.
She did a blog post on the award. And her little circle of paid harpies who sit around all day in her comment section, mocking and pointing the finger of scorn at mothers who want to give birth holistically really should get a life. Yet I really can't fault them. If someone was PAYING me a hefty sum to dump on homebirth ALL OVER THE WEB, I might be tempted...no what am I saying....Dr. Amy, you just keep on, keepin on. YOU are the gift that keeps on giving.
I voted for her yesterday, she is currently number 4!!!
This is what I wrote on the comment section of the bloggers choice awards:
I LOVE Dr. Amy!!! During the many Freebirth debates that happened on the internet this past year, she provided perfect extreme wacky "debate" points to the many arguments in favor of Freebirth.
We had so much fun at Dr. Crippens blog
Or my personal favorite? The Washington Post:
What rockin good times we had....and her blog, well, yes, I did vote it the worst blog on the internet, but when I need a really good chuckle, I go give it a look. Really funny stuff. She is a busy beaver.
Jenny Hatch
WWW.NaturalFamilyBLOG.com
SHHHHHhhhhhhh, don't let Dr. Amys employers know that her blog is so unpopular, she may not get her check this month from her Big Pharma Backers.....
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:46 AM
A New Unassisted Birth Story over at Path 31
Go read this awesome birth story (with pictures of the gorgeous baby boy here)
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:32 AM
Vaginal Birth after multiple C-sections
ICAN has a new web site, and they put this video on the home page. Really Inspiring!
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:23 AM
Fox news gets it right, most of the time.....
I'm still a little PO'd at Fox news for the way they have been treating Ron Paul, and the fact that they seem to think he recently fell off the planet (but so does the rest of the media),
but they did get this story right, or at least Douglas Kennedy got it right....
Only question is....which one? Prozac? Paxil? Zoloft? Celexa? Seraquil? Lexapro? Effexor? Esipram? Cymbalta? Risperdal?
UPDATE: It was Prozac!!!
QUOTE:
"Baty said he saw a psychiatrist monthly but stopped taking Prozac a few weeks ago. She said the medicine "made him feel like a zombie."
But Baty said that recently he was "a little quicker to get annoyed."
This story they did NOT get right, because, well, it was killed by Monsanto....really interesting testimonial from two Fox News Whistleblowers.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:10 AM
Response to ACOG's epistle on Home Birth
A new bit of Holy Writ was recently penned by the enlightened ones at The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Rixa has a nice round up of the various responses in the sphere to this little epistle.
My response?
YAWN.......ZZZZZZzzzzzzz........
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:58 AM
A Poem By Tyson Manning
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 5:55 AM
February 17, 2008
O Divine Redeemer
I sang O Divine Redeemer in sacrament meeting today. Here is the final practice we had before the meeting started.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 7:43 PM
February 16, 2008
Death in our family
I did not get a chance to blog this week, Pauls mother died last saturday.
We took a five day trip to Utah to be with our family, and shared many wonderful moments together as we celebrated the life of our amazing Mother.
Here is the link to her Obituary on the Deseret News Web Site.
And the text of the Obituary:
Elva Oldroyd Hatch 1923 ~ 2008 Our beloved eternal companion, mother, grandmother, sister and friend returned home peacefully to her Heavenly Father on February 9, 2008 surrounded by her family. She lived an exemplary life and leaves behind a large posterity.Elva was born Sept. 25, 1923 in Venice, Utah to Harold Peter and Ruby Huetta Oldroyd. She married Conrad Valoi Hatch Feb. 25, 1949 in the Manti Temple. They are the parents of seven children. After graduating from BAC and Utah State University, she was secretary to the director of BAC and a part time English and Communications teacher at SUSC. She served her church in many capacities including Relief Society President, Gospel Doctrine Teacher and Matron of the St. George Temple.
Elva was devoted to her husband and family, had a tender heart and was a great source of comfort. She instilled in her family a love of our Savior, education and great books, especially the scriptures. A keen sense of humor endeared her to family and friends. She is survived by her husband and children, Dale (Danielle), Elaine, Lynn (Kris), Larry (Cheryl), Paul (Jenny), Anne (Stephen) Hunter, Linda (Lee) Wood. She is also survived by 37 grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and sisters Arda Turner and NaDean (Harold) Beckstrand.
Elva was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Hal, and her granddaughter Sharlyn. The family would like to thank Maree, Brenda and her other health care providers for their loving care. Funeral services will be held on Wed., February 13, at 11 a.m. in the Cedar City 8th Ward Chapel, 212 W. 200 S.
A viewing will be held in the Southern Utah Mortuary, 190 N. 300 W. Tue from 6-8 p.m. and Wed. from 9:30-10:30 a.m. at the church. Interment in the Cedar City Cemetery. On line condolences can be sent to www.southernutahmortuary.com In lieu of flowers you may contribute to the Elva Hatch Scholarship Fund at SUU.
Published in the Deseret News on 2/12/2008.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 3:03 AM
February 8, 2008
Ron Paul for President 2008
Contrary to conventional conservative wisdom, not every Romney supporter is willing to "gulp" and vote for McCain. I am not going to vote for John McCain. Not even Mitt could bring himself to endorse McCain during his CPAC speech. And it seems folly to me to have a person as commander in chief who feels comfortable fighting on in the middle east, yet has no interest in securing our borders and deporting those who break our laws by living in America illegally.
John McCain has some troubling personality traits. And I cannot in good conscience vote for him.
I LOVE Ron Paul. I have followed his career for years and have been so grateful for his clairty on CODEX and CAFTA and the attempts by pharmacuetical companies to take over the world.
His strict constitutionalist stance is troubling to those of us who have felt comfortable with the Neo Con position on the war in Iraq. Yet in principle, he is completely right that the constitution gives strict rules regarding engagement in wars in foreign lands.
I don't regret that our military has been put to such use these past five years. I believe we have been engaged in a noble endeavor to help free the people of Iraq from a dangerous dictator.
I was proud to watch Sadaam hang, and thrilled with every election in Iraq. I continue to marvel at the wisdom of our military leaders, and I KNOW that the surge has been a complete and utter success.
But with our economy stumbling right now I have to wonder about our ability to continue to nation build in Iraq.
Did our Revolutionary Founders expect the French Soldiers who came to fight alongside the patriots during the war to stay and help them with the many, many issues that were hammered out during our first hundreds years of freedom in America? All we have to do is look at those first few decades of American History to understand that Freedom is a difficult thing to maintain and preserve for the next generation.
What sort of a role do we have to play in the middle east? I agree with Dr. Paul that our role should be primarily to set a good example for the other nations of the world. And I believe strongly that we should set our own house in order and then set a good example of sound constitutional adherence and reverence before we go telling other countries how to preserve their own constitutions and liberties.
I will be voting for Dr. Paul as a delegate in the Boulder Colorado County Election, and I will vote for Dr. Paul in the fall election.
Won't you join me in learning more about Ron Paul and the Freedom Principles he stands for?
Here are a couple of Ron Paul speeches on video to help educate you: (Both were made in the last week)
Ron Paul in Denver on February 1st, 2008
Ron Paul at CPAC
Free Republic Thread on this post
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 6:43 PM | Comments (1)
February 7, 2008
Sunday School Lesson 5: Mortality, A Time to Learn through experience
Last week as I tried to teach my lesson on the Atonement, the teens were really wild. It was challenging to try to teach this amazing topic to a mostly disinterested group of youth. A few were trying to listen, but the rude behavior made it difficult for them to hear.
I'm going to have to try to remedy this situation.
I told Paul after church that the sins of my youth were coming back to haunt me. Karma is a nasty thing. I remember when my Dad was bishop and our sunday school teacher sent my 12 year old tushie out of the class to go "talk to my Dad" because I was being so rude while he tried to teach.
Here is the lesson for this sunday:
Note to the teacher
"With the many pressures of daily life, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the significance of mortality. Earth life is a time to learn. We obtain our bodies, tabernacles for our spirits, and then learn to control them. Help class members understand that “this life is the time … to prepare to meet God”(Alma 34:32).
Suggested Lesson Development
Earth Life Is a School
Chart and poster discussion
Display the chart of the plan of salvation. Also display the poster containing the quotation from President Kimball, but turn it away from class members so they cannot see the quotation. Referring to the chart, ask:
• What stage of the plan of salvation are we in right now?
Have a class member point out mortality, or earth life.
• Why are we here on earth? Why is mortality an important part of the plan of salvation?
After class members have had a few moments to respond, turn over the poster and have a class member read President Kimball’s statement (if you did not make a poster, read the quotation out of the manual). Remind class members that President Kimball was the twelfth President of the Church. Explain that as President Kimball said, two important reasons we have come to earth are to receive a body and to gain experience. As spirits in the pre-earth life we had learned much, but to continue to progress we needed to come to earth and receive bodies.
Quotation
Have a class member read the following statement by President Kimball:
“My brothers and sisters, we’re away from home. We’re off to school. Our lessons will not be easy. The way we react to them, the way we conquer and accomplish and live will determine our rewards, and they will be permanent and eternal. …
“You are sent to this world with a very serious purpose. You are sent to school, for that matter, to begin as a human infant and grow to unbelievable proportions in wisdom, judgment, knowledge, and power”(The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 28, 31).
Chalkboard discussion
• What home is President Kimball referring to when he says “we’re away from home”? (Our home with our Father in Heaven.)
• What is the school President Kimball is referring to? (Mortality.)
• What have you learned already in your years in this school?
Have class members take turns naming things they have learned, and list their answers in a column on the chalkboard. Continue for two or three minutes or until class members cannot think of any more answers.
Refer again to the poster containing President Kimball’s statement. Explain that some of the things we need to learn and some of the experiences we have on earth are directly related to having a body. Our bodies are great blessings to us, but we must learn to control them and use them righteously.
Point out a few physical skills listed on the chalkboard, such as walking and talking.
• How can these skills be used righteously? (We should use our physical abilities in keeping with God’s commandments. For example, we should not use our ability to walk to take us into places where we should not be, and we should not use our ability to talk to lie or take the Lord’s name in vain.)
Explain that learning to control our bodies and use them righteously also includes learning to control our appetites and desires. Commandments such as the Word of Wisdom and the law of chastity help us use our bodies righteously.
We Must Prepare to Meet God
Chalkboard discussion
Explain that we have much to learn in this earthly school before we will be ready to return home to Heavenly Father. Have class members turn to Alma 34:32, and ask a class member to read it aloud.
• What do you think we need to learn to be prepared to meet God?
List class members’ answers on the chalkboard next to the list of what they have already learned. (If class members have difficulty thinking of answers, have them look up 2 Peter 1:5–7 and 2 Nephi 31:16 and use the qualities mentioned in these verses to begin the list.)
Scripture discussion
Explain that the different circumstances and situations we experience in life help us learn different things to prepare us to live with Heavenly Father again. List on the chalkboard the four situations below and the corresponding scripture references. Have class members find and read the scriptures to discover things those situations can teach us. (You may want to divide class members into four groups and have each group look up one scripture.)
For example, being part of a family helps us learn love and unselfishness (note that the answers in parentheses are not the only appropriate answers; class members may think of other things these situations can teach us).
Family: Doctrine and Covenants 88:123 (love and unselfishness)
Church callings: Doctrine and Covenants 4:2 (service)
Friends: Doctrine and Covenants 121:9 (loyalty)
School, Church, and seminary classes: Doctrine and Covenants 130:18–19 (knowledge and understanding)
Have class members look again at the list of things necessary to be prepared to meet God, and have them think of a situation or experience that has helped them learn one of these lessons. (For example, caring for a younger sibling may have helped them learn patience; dealing with a disability may have helped them learn compassion; experiencing disappointment or failure may have helped them learn persistence.) Invite them to tell the other class members about the experience and what they learned.
Whether class members share the experience or not, encourage them to record the experience and what they learned from it in their journals when they get home, if they have not done so already.
Our Vision Is Limited
Story and discussion
Remind class members that our earthly experiences are a part of our eternal life. We have a limited vision of eternity right now, but after we die, we will better understand the importance of mortality as a time to learn.
Ask students to imagine that they are standing inside a lighted room, looking out a window into the night.
• What can you see?
Read or tell the following story told by President Kimball about an experience he had before he became President of the Church:
“While in the city of Honolulu, we stayed in a room which was enclosed in glass on three sides. The light in the room illumined it and we could see the shining glass, the beautiful furniture, ceiling, floor, walls, the vases and other ornaments, everything in the room only. Our vision was limited to the small room and its contents. And then we turned out the lights and went to the window and through that window, which before had been the end of our vision, now we could see clearly over the housetops, over the trees, to the thoroughfares beneath with their many street lights, studded with the lights of automobiles, and beyond that we could see the seashore and the great hotels and Waikiki Beach, the Punchbowl and Old Diamond Head with their craters, and the great ocean with its ships carrying the commerce of the world.
“[This] is like eternity. Here [on earth] we are limited in our visions. With our eyes we can see but a few miles. With our ears we can hear but a few years. We are encased, enclosed, as it were, in a room, but when our light goes out of this life, then we see beyond mortal limitations. …
“The walls go down, time ends and distance fades and vanishes as we go into eternity … and we immediately emerge into a great world in which there are no earthly limitations comparable to ours as to time, distance, or speed” (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 40–41).
• How can the knowledge that we have of eternal life help us use mortality as a time to learn and gain experience?
Remind class members that President Kimball said that “our lessons [in this life] will not be easy,” but point out that the reward we can gain from learning these lessons—exaltation—is worth the effort required.
Testimony
Express your gratitude for the experiences you have had in life and what they have taught you. Testify that Heavenly Father made mortality a time to learn and grow because he loves us.
Encourage class members to look at all their experiences as challenging opportunities to learn and grow.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 11:03 AM
Mitt Romney CPAC Address - Campaign Suspended
Washington, D.C. – Today, addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Governor Romney announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign for the sake of Republican unity and the future of our country. In 2008, Republicans must stand united if we are to prevent Senators Clinton and Obama from taking the White House. As a nation at war and facing uncertain economic times, the American people cannot afford the Democrats and their agenda for retreat and economic slowdown. With today's speech, Governor Romney outlined the significance of this election and the need for the Republican Party to remain strong.
This video was shot in 2006 while the Romney family was trying to decide wether or not Mitt Romney should run for president.
Posted by Jenny Hatch at 11:00 AM