Who knew?
My immediate family is pretty much estranged from the other Silks, but the power of Facebook has connected me to my oldest aunt, Barbara, who is the only Silk that we really talk to. She is a lesbian minister and I knew that made her cool/different, but she saw I studied public health and the conversation below was sparked. I seriously had NO CLUE that anyone I'm related to did anything like this and maybe the Silk genes are more dominant than I thought:
B: What area of Public Health are you pursuing? I
worked for the Mass. Dept. of Public Health Childhood
Lead Poisoning Prevention Program in the 70s. I
had to do community education and awareness,
building inspections, prosecution of landlords if they
didn't follow the legal requirements after the inspec-
tion and I also took blood samples mostly from kids
under 6. Sometimes I worked in the lab processing
the blood samples if they were short-handed. That
job was anything but a boring office gig!!
Me: I didn't know that you worked in public health before! That sounds really awesome. I've read about a lot of interesting community organizing that they did in NYC around lead poisoning. Maybe the field is in our genes ;)
I'm getting my degree in community health education and I've been doing work around reproductive health and teen access to sexual and reproductive health information/services.
B: Hi Again Jess!
Boy do we ever need more workers in the areas you are concentrating in. I am still amazed
that so many girls have unwanted or unexpected pregnancies in the 21st century. It was
different in the days when contraception information for just about anyone was illegal, but most of all for single women. I can remember Bill Baird going to jail because of his advocacy for female
reproductive rights/control. Today, all kinds of options are around but it is as if when an unmarried teen couple uses birth control it's more wrong than not using it. I kind of reminds me
of the "I didn't know it was loaded" cop out when someone shoots a person with a gun. Unless
the couple uses something, the "gun" is "loaded" and usually it's the female that pays the
highest price. I also used to volunteer for Planned Parenthood and helped to get information out
to people, especially non-English speaking persons...
When I lived in Woburn I started a grass-roots organization to call attention to the dangers of
lead poisoning. My volunteering led to my being offered the job with the Public Health Dept.
Me: Barbara, it's great to hear this and it further motivates my own work. I also volunteer at Planned Parenthood and it's inspiring to hear that you were doing your own grassroots organization. Sometime we'll have to discuss your previous (and current) work in person. I'd love to hear more about it! I love this.
B: What area of Public Health are you pursuing? I
worked for the Mass. Dept. of Public Health Childhood
Lead Poisoning Prevention Program in the 70s. I
had to do community education and awareness,
building inspections, prosecution of landlords if they
didn't follow the legal requirements after the inspec-
tion and I also took blood samples mostly from kids
under 6. Sometimes I worked in the lab processing
the blood samples if they were short-handed. That
job was anything but a boring office gig!!
Me: I didn't know that you worked in public health before! That sounds really awesome. I've read about a lot of interesting community organizing that they did in NYC around lead poisoning. Maybe the field is in our genes ;)
I'm getting my degree in community health education and I've been doing work around reproductive health and teen access to sexual and reproductive health information/services.
B: Hi Again Jess!
Boy do we ever need more workers in the areas you are concentrating in. I am still amazed
that so many girls have unwanted or unexpected pregnancies in the 21st century. It was
different in the days when contraception information for just about anyone was illegal, but most of all for single women. I can remember Bill Baird going to jail because of his advocacy for female
reproductive rights/control. Today, all kinds of options are around but it is as if when an unmarried teen couple uses birth control it's more wrong than not using it. I kind of reminds me
of the "I didn't know it was loaded" cop out when someone shoots a person with a gun. Unless
the couple uses something, the "gun" is "loaded" and usually it's the female that pays the
highest price. I also used to volunteer for Planned Parenthood and helped to get information out
to people, especially non-English speaking persons...
When I lived in Woburn I started a grass-roots organization to call attention to the dangers of
lead poisoning. My volunteering led to my being offered the job with the Public Health Dept.
Me: Barbara, it's great to hear this and it further motivates my own work. I also volunteer at Planned Parenthood and it's inspiring to hear that you were doing your own grassroots organization. Sometime we'll have to discuss your previous (and current) work in person. I'd love to hear more about it! I love this.