I am not insensitive about the money issues.  Believe me, I will have 3 kids
in college next Fall, and my husband is an insurance adjustor.  There are
years when I could have made more money as a waitress than I have done as an
LC.  I'm a FOOL for staying in this work.  But so long as I'm in it, by God,
I'm going to do it best as I can.  That means I forgo, what?  Going out for
a few nice dinners each year in order to pay for my professional membership?
I can do that.  For what value?  Mostly for being able to hold up my head
and being able to say that I care about the advancement of the profession.

Further, the JHL is a wonderful journal. It now attracts world class
researchers.  In point of fact, the US members complain all the time that
the journal is slanted towards non-US research. So I suspect that it will
take a tally card to tote it all up to see if all is perfectly equal.  What
a waste of time.  I personally like the balance of the articles in the JHL.
The point of pure research is often to inspire clinicians to find a clinical
application. Close reading of that journal gives me so many clinical
insights and I am a MUCH smarter LC for reading and contributing to that
journal.

 Any dissatisfied member of ILCA can become active and help change things.
I'm awfully impatient with 'learned powerlessness'.  We started this
profession from nothing and if it's stalled, then it's no one's fault but
all of ours.  I've said it before:  don't complain, get organized!  I serve
on only one committee at present (the Education Comm) but there are a bunch
of impt. issues that we should be tackling with a lot more energy.  When was
the last time you volunteered to serve. You can't just stand on the
side-lines and snipe. If people have the energy and time to spend writing
letters to Lactnet, then they have some skills their professional
organization could use. And don't expect miracles if the organization has no
money.  If you want regional conf. that cost less, volunteer to organize
one.  Form a strong affiliate and do things locally.

We want to be recognized by the whole world as a profession except we don't
want to pony up for the education, don't want to join a professional
organization, and aren't willing to contribute to the effort to improve the
profession if it doesn't immediately benefit us personally.  Give me a
break. If we were  teachers, lawyers, or whatever, I bet we'd have joined
our professional organization because not to is, dare I say it?
un-professional.


Barbara Wilson-Clay, BS, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates
LactNews Press
www.lactnews.com

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