Wanderlust

I swear I must have been a gypsy in a previous life. My mom refers to it as a bad case of "ants in the pants". Apparently it is genetic because my dad has it too. The long, boring Nebraska winters are particularly hard for me. I thought I was going to go crazy yesterday. First I spent an hour searching the classifieds for my husband trying to find a job for him in another state, or better yet, in a Mexican resort town. I didn't have any luck with that so I decided to pack my three kids up and pile them into the van for one of my searches for adventure within a two hour radius of Omaha.

I have been searching for five years now and as of yesterday, everything within a two hour radius pretty much looks the same. I used to live in New Jersey and the variety of the northeast was the perfect prescription for my ants. Within 45 minutes to two hours I could be hiking in a forest, swimming at the beach, skiing in the mountains or shopping in the Big Apple. Another area I have recently become enchanted with is the mountains of northern New Mexico. My parents just built a cabin there and we spent a fabulous Christmas visiting my parents in their new digs. The culture of New Mexico is a fascinating blend of Native American, Mexican and Anglo Saxon. The landscape is unbelievable, most deserving of the state's slogan "The Land of Enchantment". The other draw of New Mexico for me is their acceptance of alternative medicine and midwifery. You can open the yellow pages and find an ad for a naturopathic physician or a lay midwife. Over a fourth of all births in Taos County take place in a birth center or a home, an enviable statistic in my mind!

This morning, however, I was reminded of some of the things I do love about Nebraska. Every other Saturday is my "day off". My husband takes care of the kids and I can go wander around town. This morning I sat and had a cup of coffee at my favorite coffee shop, Caffeine Dreams, and then took in a breath taking exhibit at our first class art museum. I really do enjoy the city of Omaha. I find Omaha to be a culturally enlightened city with great music, great artists, interesting museums and tasty restaurants. I dream of moving to New Mexico, but after an enjoyable day in our city and after thinking about the truly amazing things that have happened to me here I wonder if when moving becomes a viable financial option for us, will I really want to leave?

My two youngest babies were born here. My youngest baby was born in the big, comfy king sized bed that feels so good to crash in at the end of a long day. This house is truly filled with memories. We live in an old house, which when I think of all the repairs that need to be done, I want to sell and be done with. But then when I think of the fun projects we have planned for our huge, tree filled yard, like planting an herb garden or a strawberry patch, I am sure that I never want to leave.

I don't know if we will ever leave. My husband has asked me if I will really want to stay put in a new place if we leave here. Maybe not. Maybe I just need to learn about contentment and remind myself that the grass is not always greener on the other side (the New Mexican desert is definitely not greener!). Maybe I just need to learn to be thankful for the blessings I have. Because I most certainly am blessed. Its just that I, like most people, can forget about those everyday blessings that are most certainly there, but just take a conscious decision to focus upon.

I think the only thing that will chase me out of Nebraska is becoming pregnant again and not being able to find a midwife to attend my homebirth. I know that may sound trivial to many people, but my homebirth was one of my most life changing experiences. I am thoroughly convinced of the fact that home is the ideal setting to bring a new life into this world, ideal for the baby, ideal for the mother, and ideal for the family. The state I live in is enlightened in many ways but the political and economic grip that the allopathic medical community has in our state is at best unfortunate and unproductive and at worst harmful to the health of families. A look around the world and around the country at birth practices, studies of homebirth and midwifery, infant mortality and morbidity statistics, and maternal mortality and morbidity statistics will show any open minded and thinking individual that midwifery care in a setting of the mother's choosing is most certainly a rational option that should be open to the citizens of our state.

One City, One School, One World?

I was just reading "Saint Anothony and the Chicken Poop", a great essay about the lost art of storytelling in the sciences. I came across this essay while tripping through the internet, researching some questions I have about the Charlotte Mason Method of education, which I use in homeschooling my children. Finding the essay was a pleasant surprise because, though the author probably doesn't know the obscure 19th century English educator, his beliefs about using storytelling in the sciences fits in perfectly with Miss Mason's beliefs and underscored for me the importance of what I am doing. It is a shame that I had to refer to Miss Mason as an "obscure" educator, because really she shouldn't be. Her methods are experiencing a renaissance in the homeschool community, but I think if you mentioned her name to your average public school teacher, you would be met with a blank stare.

OK, public school. And now here is what I really want to talk about, Omaha's "One City One School" fight. My take on it is this: we have a large, mediocre school district that wants to take over a smaller, better school district in the name of social equity (and a higher tax base). That's all well and good but I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how the kids in the poor, underperforming OPS schools will be better off after the take over. I guess it will be better because everyone will have an equally bad education and equality is what it is all about, right? Money is not the answer for improving education. Our per capita spending on education has continued to increase exponentially over the past few generations and educational outcomes have continued to decrease.

I have a novel idea, for OPS. Why don't they fire a few administrators (which I think to myself every time I drive by their huge administrative building), drop the NEA's communist manifesto and concentrate on teaching! Nothing makes me hotter under the collar than the NEA. They are categorically opposed to any system of school choice in the form of vouchers, hate homeschooling and want control of my kids from birth, yes birth, through graduation.

If OPS really wants to improve their schools they could chop the district up into smaller pieces, making "neighborhood" districts where the parents and the teachers (non-union preferably) call the shots. I am in the midst of a love affair with nineteenth century education and that is after all, how it was done then. Small communities and churches were in charge of education and they did a lovely job! Yes, I know many children dropped out after grade school to work their parents' land, but let's be honest, a grade school education in the late eighteen hundreds was more than equivalent to our high school education now. Really, take a look at some McGuffy Readers or other textbooks of the day. Before compulsory education and mammoth school districts we had a very high literacy rate.

If you take the time to wade through the NEA's platform and poke around on their website you will find that they are concerned with a lot more than education. Their platform, in fact, sounds like a Miss America contestant on crack... world peace, non-nuclear proliferation, birth control and justice for all. While I'm not gung-ho on nuclear proliferation, I do think that problem is better dealt with in another arena. Carl Marx in his Communist Manifesto advocated a state run, compulsory educational system as necessary for a communist takeover. I do see more than a few shades of socialism (socialism is the necessary step before communism) in the NEA's platform and I don't think it's a far reach to make the connection between the One City, One School and a One World socialist mind set. Wake up parents! Our schools are very broken and we need to throw it out and start again. One City, One School is not the answer.

Milk. Yes, my maiden post to Babies and Bucks is going to be about milk. Those who know me might think I'm about to give a breastfeeding lecture. No such luck. If you'll permit me, I'd like to talk about cow's milk, raw cow's milk to be exact.

Raw milk proponents are trying to get LB 132 scheduled for a hearing this month in the Nebraska Legislature. This law would allow dairy farmers to advertise and deliver raw milk directly to consumers. Current law allows consumers to obtain raw milk from farmers only if they pick it up or own a share of the cow. My skin crawls at the thought that we have to have a new piece of legislation for every move we make, but LB132 makes sense from a libertarian perspective because it takes a prohibitive law and expands freedoms for producers and consumers.

For anyone worried about my ties to special interest groups, no, I am not a producer. But I am a consumer. Yes, my family drinks unpasteurized milk. Before you beat me over the head with a diatribe about Louis Pasteur's (a good Catholic boy) contributions to science, I will remind you that Louis didn't invent the pasteurization of milk, but of wine and beer.

Why on earth do you drink unpasteurized milk, do you ask? Raw milk affecianados like to make many grand health claims, claiming that raw milk cures everything from asthma to arthritis. I do have an asthmatic son who has been much healthier since we switched to raw milk, but I don't believe the improvement can be solely attributed to his consumption of raw milk. We do believe raw milk is healthier than processed milk, in particular organic raw milk. But we believe that most whole foods are healthier than their highly processed counterparts. Raw milk contains vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and good bacteria that ultra-pasteurized, homogenized milk does not. There are times that we have chosen to pasteurize our milk at home, such as when I was pregnant. I still felt that by getting our milk raw and fresh from the farm and then low heat pasteurizing (180 degrees for three minutes) I was getting a nutritionally superior milk. This may also be a better option for those on certain medications that supress the immune system (such as certain asthma medications). See, people are capable of analyzing the situation and making all kinds of decisions without big brother's help!

Can you get sick from raw milk? Most certainly you can. But you can get sick from any food that is improperly handled. One of the usual suspects testifying against the legislation in committee was the politically correct university contingent (raw milk is not a politically correct food.) While they're testifying, maybe they should add to their list of foods that should be outlawed because we are not smart enough to avoid them. Sushi and soft french cheeses come to mind. Actually, the more I think about it, fast food restaurants come to mind. Have you read Fast Food Nation or seen Super Size Me? No, even though fast food has probably single handedly doubled the weight of our children and halved their life expectencies, you'll never catch industry special interest groups letting that one go through. On the other hand, you will find the Nebraska Dairy Industry Review Board,(representing the big guys in the dairy industry) testifying against raw milk legislation to make sure that small family farms can't sell their products directly to consumers looking for a wholesome, local product. Also testifying against the legislation, you will find the Nebraska Veterinary Medical Association, representing those who treat an awful lot of sick cows in huge, unsanitary, unhealthy dairy herds.

Before you misunderstand me, I am not in any way shape or form anti-business. I am as much of a free market enthusiast as you will find. What I am against is big business using government and our government funded universities to take away my freedom to go to my local health food store and purchase a product I'd like to consume. Our family likes to purchase our food as locally as possible and we like to know who we are purchasing from. That is what this legislation is about... local, fresh food and consumer choice.