On the Nature of Being a Doula

Minnesota Women’s Press publisher and editor Mikki Morrissette. Photo Sarah Whiting

A reader called to suggest I remind people of a column I wrote two years ago for a community newspaper. The first paragraph: “With non-white family separations and mass shootings and escalated police violence in the news — does it even matter which week you read this? — the sanctity of life is not one of our country’s strengths.”

Another woman, in our current reader survey, asked us to consider offering more light stories, to balance out the suffering she sees in her healthcare work.

Somewhere between our desire to be attendant to deep pain, and our need to practice self-care, is where we live — seeking a sweet spot that enables us to do what we need to do.

We need to take a breath while also being starkly reminded — by video footage, a pandemic, and the nature of our climate crisis — that being able to take a breath is not something everyone can take for granted.

Doulas to Equity and Justice

Our law enforcement system was never set up to serve justice. That is why four police officers arrived to a call about a $20 bill and gave George Floyd an eight-minute knee to the neck that killed him.

We see people as commodities, skin color as a marker of worth, and economic growth as the purpose of life. This cancerous propensity places too many people in a perpetual state of destabilizing stress and agitation. It also leads to an erosion of natural resources that unleashes wildfires, food instability, and degraded habitats that lead to a global health crisis.

The centralization of wealth in the hands of a few, acquired from both the land and the labor of others, leaves everyone vulnerable.

At womenspress.com, we are creating a series of stories about “Transforming Justice” — deeper looks at police reform, criminal justice inadequacies, and policy needs, in the words of women of color who are making change happen.

With this issue, we also commit to ongoing coverage about “doulas to the next economy,” as Winona LaDuke puts it — women who are giving birth to a more sustainable system that values people and planet.

These stories will appear under the heading of “Ecolution,” a term we have created to describe a simultaneous revolution in both economy and ecosystems.

To learn more about both series, use the Comments field below to send me a note (it won’t be made public).

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Minnesota Women’s Press is about framing new possibilities. In this issue we hear from an environmental lobbyist, a generation of youth, a leader in the green revolution, a consortium of women taking land into their own hands, and individuals who are making change in their backyards.

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Editor Letter — On the Nature of Being a Doula

Tapestry — An Evolution in Our Ecosystem

Politics & Policy — Kristel Porter: Lobbying for Justice

Ecolution — Winona LaDuke: Leader of Green Revolution

Perspectives — Climate Generation: Youth Take Action

Money & Business — Gaea Dill-D’Ascoli: My Movement to Solar

Ecosystem — How Minnesota Women Are Restoring Earth

BookShelf — Meredith Cornett: Climate Consciousness

GoSeeDo — Mixed Blood Responds, St. Paul Book Club

In the News — Protests, Green New Deal, Women to Congress

Art of Living — Christine Baeumler: Shifting Mindsets

Health — Climate Grief