YouTube Censored ME and other news

But someone had to report it as "offensive". What is up with that!!?? I take great care to blur and to be conservative. I did show breasts in the entry to the Better Birth Virginia Contest. I want to engage people who would not have heard this info ... people who are no so free as to birth so freely as women at home do. What was offensive? The breasts? Or the message -- that the medical establishment has been cutting human babies off from their vital placental blood that would give them the better chance for GOOD LIFETIME HEALTH!? And, in doing so, they also cut the mother and baby's relationship short so that we will have a myriad of psycho-social issues all rooted in disempowered women and maternal guilt and shame. Am I mad? YEAH.

My son is in Afghanistan again .. where he has been most of this last three years. I can bear it only when I keep focused on his passion for protecting this country and our freedom. I justify that he is preserving my freedom of speech, my freedom to speak on behalf of babies and men ... and this really pisses me off!!

I had to redo and reload the trailer and my entry to the Better Birth Virginia Contest. I hope you'll vote for my short, "We Can Be Much Kinder".

The music is original composed and performed FOR me by Michael Stillwater, www.InnerHarmony.com at an Honoring Ceremony in Scottsdale, AZ in March 2009. In a group of eight other people, my intention/need was to have focus in my project and as I was feeling overwhelmed by my family's wounding (the hospital birth family), my own birth, and my babies births, I asked to be able to forgive and to have compassion for all involved. A few moments later Michael "channeled" this brand new song for me. He is also doing original music for Part One/Two. Check out his website and the Honor Ceremony.

In early June I will be meeting with an editor in MO to polish up Part One. It's really happening. Meanwhile, I am fundraising big time to pay for it and the upgraded professional production package. See previous posting for details. Please check out the donation plan I have outlined here.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND YOUR WORK IN OUR EFFORT TO HEAL BIRTH!!

Yeah, I am shouting that ... so grateful for you all.

Film and Donation Update

I am leaving CA tomorrow and heading east to Missouri first and later to Illinois, and in June to Georgia, NY, and wherever else the story (part 3 and 4) leads me. I am still the one-woman production team -- traveling, filming/interviewing, and editing, and I anticipate doing so through June. It is very challenging but I do know the light at the end of the tunnel is not a freight train. I have a colleague/editor who will be available in mid July and I hope we are working on Part 3 by then!

I have changed my production plans regarding Part One ... which is good because the quality will be better but not so good as it means a delay. The company I am using to create the end product has two options. One allows me to get 1-300 burned copies and requires that I do the DVD label and cover design on their online graphics program, which I did in January/February. The other option is an industry quality glass mastered product and requires a HUGE minimum order and requires that they do in-house label and cover design at a big cost -- even if using my design. I have decided to go for the second option. I have decided to go for my first-run/printing/mastering as the real deal, the whole shebang .... and not end up with two versions, the original being a lessor quality. But I have to raise more funds and that delays the whole process until I do ... while completing the thing, of course.

I have updated the information to the right here regarding donating to the project and being the first to receive Part One:

This is the best opportunity to get your copy of Part One at a decent price. When the film is released the price will go up and shipping will be added.

Because the film's audience is also Doulas, midwives, and childbirth educators -- and to show my gratitude for your support -- people who have donated to receive Part One will also be eligible for special discount prices on future bulk orders (of all four parts as they will come out separately) to sell to their clients. Donors over $40 will also be eligible for an additional discount and to have their business/website listed in the closing credits.

Donors over $100 will also be eligible for all future deals related to the film, such as the discounts and special benefits (tbd) for screenings and/to raise funds for local birth groups.

All donors will be listed in the "thank you" in the credits.

Part 1: From the Womb to the World is "due any minute." I am laboring intensely. Please be patient: I am still one-woman production crew and still traveling (with teenager, dog, and a cat) to film and editing along the way.

Part 2: His Moment of Awe is due out hopefully by Father's Day ... yeah, that could be 2010, but let's all hope for 2009!!

Part 1 will expand upon the information presented in the trailer. Looking at Andrew's birth, part one will provide the basic information men and women need to make birth safer -- wherever they give birth. The series is designed for women and men to present to their caregiver -- midwife, nurse, or doctor; and for childbirth educators, midwives and doctors to show to expectant men and women.

Part One Update

Just wanted to let you know that I am still working on Part One of the film. I had really hoped to have Part One ready by the first of May ... and here it is May 6th already. I know, I know ... I've been saying that for every month for six months. Since November I've been in Phoenix one month and CA one month, back to Phoenix, and then to California again. I am still interviewing and editing which is all very time consuming. There is so much to do and as the one-woman crew I am always up to my eyeballs and way behind.

I had a tragic family emergency a week ago and then the next day I also found out that my younger son has returned to Afghanistan -- again. I was out-of-commission last week and I am now standing again. A whole lot of life has happened in the past three-4 years to get me prepared for doing this film and to get me on the road, and big time while I've been "on the road" for the past sixteen months. It's been a truly exciting, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Living one's dream always is. I have met and interviewed the most wonderful people and I am most grateful for the loving and generous support of people around the world.

Being "on the road" is so exciting, but it makes editing very challenging. It takes time to set up and get back into the groove. I am looking forward to settling back into home and hearth in the fall to finish editing Parts 2, 3, and 4 ... "where" is yet to be revealed to me. Any ideas?

I am very aware of how important it is that Part One be done well and the closer I get the more aware I am of how challenging it is "to be done" (on many levels.) I am reminded of when I painted and how hard it was to be done. It is more like how doing a huge 1000 piece zigsaw puzzle appears to me -- only twice as many pieces and they have multiple places they "fit". You only use half the pieces and they could fit together anywhere. It's hard to know when it is completed. The story is amazing though ... and I am very much looking forward to information being available.

I want to thank everyone who has donated to my film and who awaits the arrival of their copy. I appreciate your patience, and your enthusiastic, passionate, and generous support. I couldn't do it without you ... and without the work that you are doing in the field. I am grateful for your support. I really feel the love for Andrew and his mother and father ... as this film is for them ... my loved ones who experienced the violations in their births and in their baby's births, and whose story will help many, many others.

Part One will be worth the wait .... I promise.