I got more pictures back from Amanda, who so kindly gave me permission to post them here. She got some great ones! There are tons more at Flickr. I also created a group for all breastfeeding protest pictures, past and present. If you have some to share, I would love for you to add them. Here is the group.
I sent out a revised press release with a couple pictures attached to all the media outlets last night. I sent it to about 30 different email addresses, so I’m hoping we have a chance of at least one picking it up. Although I feel stupid because I accidentally Cc’d them instead of Bcc, so they’ll be able to see everyone I sent it to. Oops.
Thanks to my wonderfully amazing husband, I was able to snatch the news-quality version from their website and I now have that on Youtube! It’s posted in the entry below.
My pictures were also featured on Breastfeeding 1-2-3. Thanks so much for the plug, Angela! Congratulations to all the participants nationwide for making this such a huge success.
I will get back to my regularly scheduled programming of spit-up and dirty diapers soon. For now though, I’m basking in the glory of taking a step to change history today.
Well, not quite. But this is my first time ever EVER on the news so forgive me for being a little overzealous.
The segment was short and sweet, only about 30 seconds. It’s currently the top video on their website at wthr.com. No article yet, but maybe they will still post one. We need to send out revised press releases with pictures to all the media again, and maybe we’ll still get more stories in print.
Do I look nervous? I was nervous. Very nervous. The reporter pulled up and I kept saying “Oh my gosh” over and over. I probably sounded like a loon. I did bomb one question — I started to answer and then just said “uhhhhh, that’s all I have for that one!” I wish they had shown some of my other comments. But oh well, I’m happy that we even got coverage at all!
I am back! I am tired, but so, so proud. We had 23 total attendees and I was SHOCKED when a Channel 13 reporter pulled up. I did an interview and it should be on the 6 o’clock news tonight. I’ll post a link when I have it. He came shortly after we got there so he didn’t get a shot of the full crowd, which is kind of a bummer. But I wasn’t expecting any coverage at all, so I’ll take what we can get!
We had a few people stop to voice their support, and also some asking why we were there. We were able to give them our hand-outs and they seemed supportive. After the event we took a paper that we had all signed in to the manager, to thank them for being supportive of our cause. So all in all, a huge success!
Thank you so much to all of you who came out. It really meant so much to me to have you all there to back this cause!
Here are a few pictures. The rest are on my Flickr, and another mama also got some with her camera so I’m waiting on those.
I was getting increasingly nervous tonight about how things would go down tomorrow, worrying about how Applebee’s respond to us and whether or not I would lose my mind and start talking in circles. So I decided to just go up there and talk to a manager tonight to get it over with. I should make it known that I absolutely LOATHE public speaking, giving speeches, and just speaking to new people in general. I avoided speech class in high school like a frog avoids a truck tire. So I was NOT looking forward to talking to this dude.
I sat in car and practiced a few times out loud, and almost put the car in gear and drove away. But I made myself get out of the car, go inside and ask for a manager. A big, burly guy, maybe early thirties, came over. I introduced myself and like I had hoped and prayed, the words just flowed out and I knew exactly what to say. I gave him our press kit and confirmed a location for us to assemble. He was very positive and seemed to support what we are doing. I was so excited when the conversation was over that I totally forgot I had wanted to order dinner.
On the way out to the car, I actually squealed. Yes, complete with a little leap into the air and some fist-pumping action.
The signs are made and everything else is ready to go. Time to get hippy-fied.
