Sleeping rough

September 15, 2008

Dear Sir

This is really a letter for Mayor Suthy.

Suthy, my man, we have a new record in, shall we say, the City Sleeping Quarters category. Usually we have a fair representation of our finest vagrants, do-nothings and Sleepless in Seattle advocates in doorways all along Front Street, Reid Street, in Par la Ville Park, and even at City Hall but Albouys Point is now the new bedroom of choice.

Today I counted (and, Mr Mayor, this is at 7:45a.m. ...) five of the finest – three on the benches (one had two benches...is that a Double Long?) and two palm tree sleepers...they sleep under the palm trees, not in them. The guy with two benches had all his stuff on one bench and himself very nicely padded and blanketed on the other. And the best deal was that he had his radio plugged in to the electrics which presumably YOU are paying for...It's a Wonderful Life.

In fact, all of these guys have great blankets and padding. Mr. Mayor, you need to consider turndown services.

Now, Mr Mayor, I know this is not an easy problem to solve nor even if anyone wants to solve it bearing in mind the rights of individuals these days. But, at the very least, and especially when you get your cruise ships back, you have the makings of another tourist attraction. If you walk by those benches every morning, Mr Mayor, you will note the fact that the men's room is closed but as they say about men...the World is their Bathroom !!

I say Albouys Point is the best place to see (and smell) the new Stench on the Bench...

TOM'S AUNT POLLY

Southampton

Paternity leave sensible

September 12, 2008

Dear Sir,

I would like to add my endorsement to the call for Government to consider increased maternity and paternity leave made by Liz Boden and Suzanne Roberts-Holshouser (September 5) and John Barritt (September 8). All point out the excellent benefits for mother/father and baby, in terms of bonding, having time to 'understand their children and get involved in their development'. I would like to make reference to an additional benefit to a longer maternity leave: a delay in a baby having to be put into full-time nursery day-care.

There is a growing body of evidence that suggests that full-time day-care is a less than ideal place for small children and even less so for babies.

Common sense tells us that the busy, noisy and functional environment of a day nursery, no matter how caring and nurturing the staff are, cannot match up to the one-to-one, loving, responsive care of a mother or father that is needed for a baby to develop properly, particularly emotionally.

Later on in life this has been shown to have implications for potential behavioural problems including: disobedience at school, being defiant, talking back to staff, getting into many fights, showing cruelty, bullying or meanness to others and unpredictable behaviour.

For all those who are interested in more information on this topic, I would suggest they read: Raising Babies by psychologist Steve Biddulph. This is, of course, only one aspect of 'cracking down on crime and anti-social behaviour' also alluded to by Mr. Barritt, as a benefit of longer parental leave but in view of the present troubles we are witnessing on our beautiful island, it is certainly food for thought.

FIONA DILL

Pembroke

Festival was great

September 15, 2008

Dear Sir,

It was such a pleasure to meet and work with so many community minded, mother-baby loving, spirited Bermudians. Thank you to The Royal Gazette for their thorough and immediate coverage, and the many sponsors, panelists, advocates, activists and audiences who helped birth the first ever Motherbaby International Film Festival in Bermuda. A special thanks to Sophia Cannonier-Watson for her thoughtful work in connecting the dots between issues facing Bermuda and films addressing those issues.

This Festival enjoyed no less than seven World Premieres:

'A Cow Trough' (A working class mom uses what she has to create a spa-like experience in order to give birth in her kitchen)

'Birth of a family' (This gorgeous film was actually a love story)

'Evidence based childbirth' (The 'star' of this film, Dr. Robbie Davis-Floyd, gave an extremely informative talk afterwards about the three paradigms of birth. In this Science vs. Culture talk she included information about Bermuda's statistics as well).

'Labouring under an illusion; portrayal of birth in the mass media' (This film was an example of good media chasing bad)

'Luna' (From Costa Rica – a delightful short film, narration free, set to a blusey version of Silent Night)

'Miss Margaret' (Preceding this film we got to hear from Bermuda's own Millicent Washington about giving birth 60 plus years ago on the island. Women birthed at home and in the hospital. Oddly enough, women had more choices about giving birth during segregation than they do now)

'Vaccine nation' (After this screening, producer Gary Null spoke passionately about the issues around vaccination to a very interested and concerned audience. The conversation was lovingly moderated by Bermuda's very skilled and articulate Eugene Dean.)

Bermudians showed their flexibility, generosity of spirit and understanding when a much anticipated film 'Pregnant in America' was replaced by 'Who are the DeBolts and why do they have so many children? The distributor sent an unfinished copy of 'Pregnant in America' by mistake and it was only discovered at the last minute. 'Who are the DeBolts' is an Academy Award winning documentary from the 1970's about a California family with four children who end up adopting 16 more children – most of them with severe physical handicaps. The adopted children were from different nationalities, different ethnic backgrounds and had different degrees of handicap.

It clearly shows the power of Mother Love to heal and begs the question, who are the real handicapped ones: those with physical disabilities or those who are unable to love, unable to give?

'Orgasmic birth' included a talk with filmmaker Debra Pascali-Bonaro afterwards. It was a very moving experience for the audience to see this film and it won the Audience Choice Award. One woman said: "I feel like I need an apology. I've given birth to four children and I never realised that I could have such a beautiful, moving, transforming experience." Sophia Cannonier-Watson suggested to those women present who "might be orgasmicallly inclined" to contact her for information about safe birth.

The Motherbaby Festival modified its programme to embrace the issue of youth violence in Bermuda and opened the programme with 'The drugging of our children' and 'Vaccine nation', both films produced by Gary Null.

Opinions, truth, fears and facts, sometimes emotionally presented, gave everyone plenty to ponder. Even if you didn't get a chance to see these films, you can contact Sophia about future screenings.

This Festival enriched everyone with a very informative La Leche League panel including Melonie Kendall and Candice Wiekenkamp. The panel followed screenings of 'The First Hour' and 'Baby-led breastfeeding'. It is good news that Bermudians have such an active and alert team of women to help their sisters have a successful breastfeeding experience.

BUEI was a gorgeous space for this event. Director Wendy Wilson was not only an amiable projectionist, she helped transform the lobby where an enormous red tent blended with a giant squid and provided a perfect welcome to the Festival.

DIANA PAUL

Executive Director

MotherBaby International Film Festival

and SageFemme Inc.