BOLD Locations

Boston, Massachusetts

Everyone was in a great mood on the Friday morning prior to the first performance! I think they were all very excited! Meghan and I arrived at the theatre in the morning as well, unloaded all the gear from our cars, and set up the chairs in the theatre, arranged the tables for the Birth Fair, put up signs for tickets, unloaded the playbills, met with the video guy and other things for set-up.

At 5pm all the exibitors began to arrive to set-up their tables for our BOLD Birth Fair. We had ALACE, BACE (Boston Association of Childbirth Educators), author Elizabeth Noble, author/counselor Lois Freedman, MMA (Mass Midwives Alliance), Mothers & Company (a local doula/cbe group), and more! The theatre was beginning to look so fantastic and I loved the buzz and energy there once more people began to arrive!

Much of the rest of the night was a blur! We had "sold" about 200 seats for Friday and 200 seats for Saturday night.

The Saturday matinee performance happened at the same time our BOLD Red Tent was taking place (in a different room of the same building). The performance crowd was much lighter for the matinee. But I think the audience truly enjoyed the performances!

The BOLD Talkback panels I wasn't able to stay for most of the Friday night panel, but I caught the beginning where one of our panelists suggested that every high school or college student should have to take a semester long course on pregnancy & birth!

Jennifer Block made a lot of excellent points in the Saturday matinee panel, such as writing letters to the editor as a very visable form of activism.

Talkback panel members included authors (like Tina Cassidy and Jennifer Block!), a labor and delivery nurse, doulas, childbirth educators, birth-related counselors, a hospital-based certified nurse midwife, homebirth midwife, and an obstetrician.

One highlight was speaking to people in the audience and finding out what they thought about birth and "interviewing" them about their thoughts on birth and what their peers think about it. I spoke to a handful of college students and some of the women said that they did not talk about birth and were learned a great deal. The young men I spoke to were surprised to hear that birth was so meaningful to women, they had thought of birth as a medical procedure and had not thought much about the emotional componate. I asked them what they would tell their wives (in future years) and they said that they would tell them to get educated and find out more information. It made me think, we always talk about educating the women but if men were behind the cause it might change faster. Men have a great deal of power in this country. Maybe we should focus on teaching the men more intently and at a young age?

A professor from Boston University asked a very interesting question at the BOLD Talkback. She had brought a bunch of her students to watch the play and she said that the topic of "birth" is not part of her women’s studies curriculum. She said that it is quite telling that if birth is not considered a women’s studies issue that we have a great deal of education to cover. The Talkbacks also covered the issues of malpractice insurance costing so much, which puts pressure for c-sections, What can people do to make changes to improve maternity care? Write letters and tell their stories!

BOLD Boston also had a BOLD Red Tent. Here are some comments from the organizers.

I thought the way our space felt was terrific--everyone had enough room but it was cozy and intimate, too. I think a yoga studio was a good choice. The belly dance troupe was a phenomenal kickoff, and the dance was so beautiful I found myself tearing up a bit. It really created an amazing energy and feeling. As for the stories...I thought it was wonderful to have such equality among stories--the positive, the negative, the well-prepared, and the ones that just kind of came out extemporaneously. In fact, a couple of the women who spoke said they hadn't planned on it and they were among the most compelling and moving speakers! But by far, my most favorite thing about the event was that there was a maternity nurse with grown children who had a more "hospital" way of seeing things sitting right next to a young mom who had just had an unassisted homebirth. The diversity of their stories and the fact that they--and the rest of us--were all sitting together, respecting what others had to say was great.

There were many highlights. Being a witness to every woman sharing her birth story was so wonderful. Letting women be with their feelings about their births and allowing them to not have to hide their strong emotions was incredible. The group setting for women being together, telling their stories and knowing they were being listened to and not judged was very powerful/ healing, I think. Another highlight was at the end of the sharing time, a pregnant woman, about to give birth to her first baby, shared how special and helpful it was to be present at this event. She said she learned so much about birth and felt so much more prepared now that she had been

I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I got the feeling that most people didn't have any idea about what to expect, and they all seemed really open to the sharing stories part as well as the other activities. I saw many of the participants at the play that evening, so it was nice that the events went so well together. The mom who was just about due with her baby, the one mentioned above, brought her husband and a friend to the play and spoke with me for a while about what a great experience BOLD Red Tent was for her and how it got her thinking about being even more committed to"going natural" with her birth. Her husband seemed really intrigued by the conversation--I was glad they were both going in to see the play! She has certainly had her baby by now and I hope she had a wondeful experience.

Everyone at the BOLD Red Tent seemed really glad they came and felt it was a powerful, healing afternoon.

Cathleen Barstow and Meghan Warner Denenberg were co-BOLD Organizers in Boston. Lois Freedman and Jennifer Smith were the co-facilitators for Boston’s BOLD Red Tent. BOLD Boston’s events raised money for the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services and the International Cesarean Awareness Network.