Diane Wiessinger wrote about Lactnet as a place where ideas get tossed out
to land in a sort of "idea-mixer," perhaps emerging quite changed as other
people follow them out to new places and new implications. (I congratulate
Diane for finding the much more elegant metaphor of a pebble-polisher!)

Isn't this perfectly natural for a field like ours, where so many people
have had a role in building a shared understanding of the fundamental
processes that govern lactation and breastfeeding? And aren't we lucky to be
part of this international grinding and polishing collective? 

The guys who figured out the circulation of the blood or how DNA passes
genetic messages were working in relative isolation compared to our dynamic
milieu. Lactnet includes thousands of people who have experienced lactation
and breastfeeding themselves and who work face-to-face with many thousands
more women and babies who are doing it as we speak and write. In addition,
lots of members read and contribute to the formal scientific literature on
the subject. What a great place for the tiny grain of a new idea to make its
debut!

Chris

P.S. Off-topic thoughts about words: When I read the subject line, I assumed
that "personal polishing" was going to refer to the dental discussion again.
How wrong I was.

And thank you, Diane, for using "hone" in its original meaning, "to sharpen"
("to hone our arguments"). Nowadays we so often hear "hone in," which I
assume is a corruption of "home in," as when a homing pigeon follows the
earth's magnetic fields to its own flock's loft, or when a plane is guided
to land by radar. These lovely and evocative images are lost when "home in"
becomes "hone in." "Hone" has its own images: the whetstone, the pencil
sharpener, Socrates in the marketplace asking his students all those
questions.
C 

Chris Mulford, RN, IBCLC
LLL Leader Reserve
Working for WIC in South Jersey (Eastern USA)
Chair, Workplace Bf Support Committee, USBC
Co-coordinator, Women & Work Task Force, WABA
 

             ***********************************************

To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]

The LACTNET email list is powered by LISTSERV (R).
There is only one LISTSERV. To learn more, visit:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html