I got my moniker from a state official who called me a zealot in public for
using his words, unchanged, in a paper.  His deputy said "you haven't
convinced me that breastmilk is that much better than formula."  I replied,
"Then why are we promoting it?"  Another staffer told me that some people
were offended that I was spending all my time on breastfeeding, until I
reminded her that my contract required me to put 40 hours a week into my job
as breastfeeding coordinator. I think they wanted to have 75% breastfeed and
let the other 75% continue bottlefeeding, not questioning the impossibility
of those numbers.  The worst flak came from my pointing out that "increasing
breastfeeding to 75%" meant exactly the same as "reducing artificial feeding
to 25%" and that the  flip side of "advantages of breastfeeding" is the
"drawbacks of artificial feeding."  My granddaughter was born near the close
of the contract, and I figured "you want zealot?  I'll GIVE YOU zealot! I
threw out my high heels and shoulder purse for a beltpack and comfy shoes,
and decided grannies had an inherent right to be opinionated.  So there.
Linda Smith