Hello fellow Lactnetters,

I am a new subscriber (thanks to Kathy Dettwyler) and am thrilled to be on-line.
My breastfeeding claim to fame (aside from lactating for the past 6+ years) is
that I am co-author, with Naomi Baumslag, MD, of "Milk, Money & Madness: the
culture and politics of breastfeeding," a book that will be available week after
next from Bergin & Garvey.  I started working on Milk, Money & Madness right
after my first child was born.  The more I learned about breastfeeding (and all
the energy that goes toward undermining it), the more powerful my breastfeeding
experience became.  Milk, Money & Madness covers the history, culture, biology,
and politics of breastfeeding.  We call it a "Why To" book, because all
wonderful the "How To" books won't be of any use to women if they've chosen to
forgo nursing in the first place.

In an effort to make breastfeeding seem interesting to publishers, and not just
some dry subject, I created a "Test Your Breastfeeding IQ Quiz."  The quiz asks
(and anwers) questions like, "Is breastmilk 'green'?"   "Do you need breasts to
breastfeed?"  and "Whatever happened to wet-nurses anyway?" and ends with charts
on the benefits of breastfeeding -- to the child, the mother, and the community.
I'm hoping that the Quiz will be the ticket that gets Naomi and me on some talk
shows to get breastfeeding conversation on the airwaves.  So far, I'm cautiously
optomistic since our first radio interview just got scheduled yesterday.

On other fronts, I have also written for a number of newspapers as well as
Mothering and Parenting magazines.  I'm currently working on some nonfiction
books for children, including one which covers alot of reproduction trivia as a
way of making the point that breastfeeding is the most natural thing in the
world.

My email address is:  [log in to unmask] if anyone wants to contact me
directly.  Thanks for allowing me to be a part of Lactnet.

- Dia Michels