In Part II of the Lessons Learned Series: Defining Support, I shared a snapshot of a collection of conversations from Young Families Connect participants and recent conversations with willing participants (signed consent) who shared how they would like to be supported as new moms by their medical providers. I wrapped up the last blog by […]
Lessons Learned Series: Defining Support (Part 2)
Women of childbearing age in local community based programs* are unapologetically sharing their stories with their peers and community influencers (i.e. doulas, care management team and volunteers). These women represent the Young Families Connect program and a collection of other programs housed at the YWCA Greensboro. For the last two years, I have been the […]
Lessons Learned Series: Strategies to Care for Young Families in the Rural South (Part 1)
Local community organizations across the Southeast are opening safe spaces for women of childbearing age to share their stories about preconception and perinatal health care. These are informal storytellers – everyday folks who share common threads, including motherhood and participation in a community infant mortality reduction program. However, these programs aren’t administered as a publicly […]
Food Insecurity in the U.S.
Food Insecurity in the U.S. What is Food Insecurity? Food Insecurity is defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as t he “limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways.” There are four different food security categories one could find […]
Premature Menopause
Premature Menopause September is National Menopause Awareness Month! Because menopause is something that happens to every woman, we figured we would take some time to talk about what happens when it comes earlier than expected. For this, we turn to WebMD, which works closely with health experts across a broad range of specialties to provide credible […]
Tattoos and Body Art
Tattoos & Body Art Body art has been a common cultural practice for thousands of years and includes body piercings, transdermal and subdermal implants, tattoos, scarification, body stretching and sculpting, dental grills, and even nail art. This month we focus on these various forms of body art, highlighting their history, risks, and benefits. An article recently published […]
When Addiction Has a White Face
When Addiction Has a White Face By EKOW N. YANKAHFEB. 9, 2016 WHEN crack hit America in the mid-1980s, for African-Americans, to borrow from Ta-Nehisi Coates, civilization fell. Crack embodied instant and fatal addiction; we saw endless images of thin, ravaged bodies, always black, as though from a famined land. And always those desperate, cracked […]
Artists as Activists: Pursuing Social Justice
Artists as Activists: Pursuing Social Justice By Amy Pleasant Flight by Marie Hoeber. Image courtesy of the artist and Gutfreund Cornett Art. We must never forget art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth. John F. Kennedy Some might say that the world is a mess right now. Others point […]
Identity and the Inauguration
The transfer of power from President Obama to President Trump today has made me reflect on my different identities. As a cis woman and feminist, my heart is heavy as the biggest glass ceiling in our country remains intact. The promise of a Cabinet with half of the seats filled by females is lost. As a […]
The Privilege of a Snow Day
It is a mix of snow and sleet paired with freezing temperatures…in the South. Our world is shut down. It is lovely. It is Saturday and we suddenly have a weekend without obligations. An excuse to stay in sweats, work on small projects, actually talk to family, stay up late watching movies, even bake […]