I am a member of the editorial review board of the JHL and have written
several articles which have been in the Journal, so I feel capable of
commenting on the enormous amount of time it takes to get even one article
ready for publication.  It is so critical that a peer reviewed journal be
carefully edited.  That is where the credibility of our whole profession is
reflected.  Perhaps there is a potential JHL editor floating around
somewhere with the luxury of not having to earn a living,  with 6 hours a
day of time  on their hands, superior expertise in lactation, and the
ability to coax articles out of other over-worked, under-paid souls.  I'm
not holding my breathe on finding such a person.

I have no problem with ILCA funds being spent on having a first class
journal. That includes paying our editor in chief (whoever she may be.) In
fact, I don't understand why we can't just hire other positions from amongst
ourselves (ie staff previously unpaid being paid for their work.)  I don't
have, never have had and am not seeking a job with ILCA, so no
self-interest.  I just like the idea of people who know and have committment
to our work taking care of the organizational stuff.  Make em apply and have
standard reporting and accounting.  But this business of treating one
another as if we
re not worthy of being paid for our work is the reason why most of us will
burn out and have to leave this business angry and with the sense of being
ripped off. This is a loss and stupid.

I am not interested in "medicalizing" breastfeeding.  Bfg is a robust
activity and normal mothers and babies don't need an LC.  However, the
babies we see as LCs have complicated problems -- as is evidenced daily by
the sharing on Lactnet.  We need to have some people who are EXPERTS on
breastfeeding PROBLEMS.  Show me an expert in another field who acts as if
its a crime to earn a living while practicing that expertise. I love LLL and
all the other volunteer organizations and their work, but sometimes I think
that our orientation as former volunteers has made us ashamed to treat our
work as a profession.  Our accountants and lawyers and physicians are
allowed to charge a very decent fee and still get to be good-guys.  Explain
to me why LCs (in practice, in academia, or editor-LCs) don't deserve the same?

 I don't know about you all, but I'm expected  to mentor for free, give away
free information and advice to anyone who calls, serve on a zillion
coalitions and do volunteer work for organizations with paid staff.  When I
try to set boundries, I get to be a bitch. I have many days when I am
convinced there is no way to succeed.  All that keeps me going is the work
itself, and the mothers and babies I know would not be helped if it weren't
for the effort I invest in continuing to develop my expertise.  I am
INSULTED that we are even DISCUSSING not paying our editor. As you can tell,
it represents exactly what I think is wrong with our collective mind-set.

Pardon me for raving.  I don't do it often, and hope I can be permitted a
brief moment on the soap-box.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Private Practice, Austin, Texas
Owner, Lactnews On-Line Conference Page
http://moontower.com/bwc/lactnews.html