Frontier News

I'm back from Frontier Bound!

I hardly know where to start. The past week was less like an orientation than it was equal parts inspiration and initiation. My head is still spinning from what an inspiring and exhilarating place Frontier is. The faculty are an impressive, accomplished, and impossibly fun and funny bunch of women who can still be quickly moved to tears by simply talking about the art and craft of midwifery. We were also regaled by inspiring and heatwarming tales from great midwives of prior generations, including Kitty Ernst, the current president of the American College of Nurse Midwives (and author of the rebuttal letter to the AMA's proposal to outlaw homebirth, and Frontier alum). My fellow students, while an eclectic bunch to say the least, definitely have several among them who I know will go on to do great things. And my very first night there, I sat down at dinner in between a couple of people who by the end of the week felt like close friends. There's something about forming a bond with somebody that's based on such a consuming shared passion that you know you'll probably know them for life, even if you do live across the country. We all stayed up late almost every night, fueled by the high of finding people who don't think you're fringe or crazy, who get what you're saying without your having to explain it.

The main thing I felt overwhelmingly this week was a new awe and respect for the power of women. The only thing I know of more powerful than women giving birth is the power of women who have devoted their lives to helping those women find that strength. Who believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that the miraculous is possible, in birth and in their own lives. They say "Nobody comes to Frontier by accident," that we are all meant to be there, and I wouldn't believe it if you told me there was a single person who left there feeling like that wasn't true.

I'm sure there are those who feel like glorifying women and their achievements is somehow derogatory to men. But you can go to any city in the country--the world--and see plaques and monuments dedicated to men and what they've done. Washington, D.C. is absolutely full of them. So it was something else entirely to travel to a tiny town perched high in the mountains of Kentucky to revel in the brilliance and humanitarianism of several generations of brave, bright women; and to feel so incredibly proud as we prepare to take our places among them.

Me and Amanda at Wendover, the historic home of Mary Breckinridge (now a bed & breakfast)

Brick from the home of Florence Nightingale

Some of my favorite ladies!

From the drive home; Kentucky is one of the most beautiful states I've ever seen

I also enjoyed the drive to and from. The particular stretch of Virginia and Kentucky that I drove is just breathtaking, full of mountains and forests and spectacular scenery. It was especially nice to leave before dawn on the way home, and see the day slowly break as I wound my way through the mountains. I listened to an unconvincing and unimpressive but tolerable enough recorded book for awhile and then blasted music at top volume the rest of the way--a propensity inherited from my father, and shared by both my siblings. We all seem to like the music to be loud enough to drown out anything else, so loud that we can feel it just as much as we can hear it.

And then, finally, I was back home.