I love the Carrboro Citizen, but not as much as I love midwives. And yet CC's recent article about a midwife practicing in Carrboro struck me as vapid puff piece, the likes of which I expect to see in the News or Herald's business or feature sections. For example, while touching on why women might choose a midwife instead of a hospital for childbirth, it failed to even mention the many other midwives practicing in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area, including the pioneers who founded the Women's Birth and Wellness Center something like 20 years ago (originally in Siler City).
In what way was this "news article" not just a press release for this new business? Where is the reporting? What is this kind of thing doing on the front page of the Citizen?
Issues:
Comments
The Business of Being Born
My husband taught a Protest & Propaganda course last semester I believe, it was on the important and signficant roles they play in our society, the positive and the negative, and where the lines blur, and thought pretty highly of a movie called The Business of Being Born that deals with that as it relates to hospital vs midwife birth. http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/
well
It was a story about a new business opening in Carrboro and not
intended to be a history of midwifery in our area. We run a lot of new
business opening stories. We usually don't go through the local history
of that industry or vocation when we do, but thanks for the suggestion.And sorry to disappoint you.
Good story
I really appreciated this article. Homebirth is not discussed very much, but it is a very safe and satisfying alternative. Homebirth midwives are few and far between due to the stranglehold that the medical industry has over birth. The Citizen provides a community service by reporting on a local homebirth option.
It's exciting to know about
It's exciting to know about the new businesses opening in our town and was a delight to see Deb's practice highlighted in the Citizen. Thank you for running this story. It is an important way to support local business. My now 24 year old daughter was birthed by Maureen Darcy when she practiced in Siler City.
"In what way was this "news
"In what way was this "news article" not just a press release for this new business?" Good question. Please allow me to explain it to you. Carrboro Midwifery is the first legal midwifery run homebirth center in NC. (If we momentarily discount Lisa Goldstein's legal work in Celo, which we really don't want to discount at all.) This is enormously newsworthy. And your facts are not quite right when you refer to Maureen and the good midwives who opened Piedmont Women's Health. They did not start in Siler City. They started as homebirth midwives. Lay midwives. I would say Real Midwives. Because their status was not legal, they were forced into Nurse Midwifery. And they delivered my children and I thank God for them and the excellent job they have done. But the bravery and fortitude and general badassedness Carrboro Midwifery shows by hanging out their shingle and openly proclaiming homebirth is an inspiration. We haven't begun to celebrate them enough, in my opinion.