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Stirring the Pot: The Power of the Womb

Published

11 years ago

March 10, 2014

I was sitting in church Sunday, listening to the reverend talk about how she had learned of a woman in San Mateo who was teaching pregnant women how to play the piano.

The learning of this new skill was for much more than to pick up a new talent; the theory behind her classes was that her students would then deliver babies who would begin life with an affinity to music.

The idea that fetuses can hear and learn certain sounds has proven to be true. Nursery rhymes, certain vowel sounds and most importantly, a mother’s voice, do indeed influence a baby once it is born.

And if nurtured properly, the can produce young, bright children who have the capability of leading healthy, successful and happy lives.

In August, a new study was published in he “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” showing that “a fetus can detect and remember discrete words.”

“The fetal learning capabilities are much more specific than we thought,” said study co-author Eino Partanen, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Helsinki. “Once we learn a sound, if it’s repeated to us often enough, we form a memory of it, which is activated when we hear the sound again.”

Hmmm … this got me thinking … maybe one way to deal with youth truancy, incarceration and recidivism is to create what I’m going to call “Womb Cultivation.”

Now, I’m not saying that if we “teach” our kids how to say “yes ma’am,” “no sir” and about the finer things in life while in utero, we will raise kids who are polite, respectful and straight ‘A’ students. But if we begin certain positive practices and phrases while the mother is pregnant, and she continues this process during the child’s development, who says those who otherwise may have strayed won’t stay closer to the nest?

More importantly, why can’t Womb Cultivation extend – or maybe the theory of it begin – when a young boy or girl reaches adolescence?

According to the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 1.6 million juveniles were arrested across the country in 2010. Of those, an estimated 170,600 were juvenile arrests for drug abuse violations. With further investigation of these groups, experts often times find a person’s upbringing plays a big part in his or her outcome.

Now, I realize there aren’t a lot of hardworking and loving parents out there who are confused as to why their once-adorable child now is a juvenile delinquent. The problem may be found in today’s uncertain economic society where “hardworking” takes priority over the “loving” – the loving and emotional support that is needed for ALL children to grow up happy and healthy.

There are many great programs out there, but most look to males to “fix the problem.” I suggest the men take a backseat for a minute and allow the Moms to do what they do best – nurture and provide unconditional love beginning BEFORE birth and continue it through adolescence.

And to target our youth who have fallen: Let’s start placing women, not just men, in these programs … to give our children and young adults something that is all about new beginnings – a womb.

Michelle Fitzhugh-Craig is an award-winning, professional journalist who resides in Oakland. If you have an individual, organization, issue or other topic that may be of interest to our readers, contact her at talk2mfc@yahoo.com. Need more stirring? Visit stpminute.blogspot.com.

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Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

Published

14 hours ago

May 4, 2025

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Gov. Newsom Approves $170 Million to Fast Track Wildfire Resilience

AB 100 approves major investments in regional conservancies across the state, including over $30 million each for the Sierra Nevada, Santa Monica Mountains, State Coastal, and San Gabriel/Lower LA Rivers and Mountains conservancies. An additional $10 million will support wildfire response and resilience efforts.

Published

1 week ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Courtesy of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Facebook page.

By Bo Tefu
California Black Media

With wildfire season approaching, last week Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 100, unlocking $170 million to fast-track wildfire prevention and forest management projects — many of which directly protect communities of color, who are often hardest hit by climate-driven disasters.

“With this latest round of funding, we’re continuing to increase the speed and size of forest and vegetation management essential to protecting communities,” said Newsom when he announced the funding on April 14.

“We are leaving no stone unturned — including cutting red tape — in our mission to ensure our neighborhoods are protected from destructive wildfires,” he said.

Newsom also signed an executive order suspending certain regulations to allow urgent work to move forward faster.

This funding builds on California’s broader Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, a $2.7 billion effort to reduce fuel loads, increase prescribed burning, and harden communities. The state has also launched new dashboards to keep the public informed and hold agencies accountable.

California has also committed to continue investing $200 million annually through 2028 to expand this effort, ensuring long-term resilience, particularly in vulnerable communities.

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California Rideshare Drivers and Supporters Step Up Push to Unionize

Today in California, over 600,000 rideshare drivers want the ability to form or join unions for the sole purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection. It’s a right, and recently at the State Capitol, a large number of people, including some rideshare drivers and others working in the gig economy, reaffirmed that they want to exercise it.

Published

1 week ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

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By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌
California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

On July 5, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into federal law the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Also known as the “Wagner Act,” the law paved the way for employees to have “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,” and “to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, according to the legislation’s language.

On April 8, the rideshare drivers held a rally with lawmakers to garner support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1340, the “Transportation Network Company Drivers (TNC) Labor Relations Act.”

Authored by Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), AB 1340 would allow drivers to create a union and negotiate contracts with industry leaders like Uber and Lyft.

“All work has dignity, and every worker deserves a voice — especially in these uncertain times,” Wicks said at the rally. “AB 1340 empowers drivers with the choice to join a union and negotiate for better wages, benefits, and protections. When workers stand together, they are one of the most powerful forces for justice in California.”

Wicks and Berman were joined by three members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC): Assemblymembers Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), and Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights).

Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Tia Orr, Executive Director of SEIU; and a host of others participated in the demonstration on the grounds of the state capitol.

“This is not a gig. This is your life. This is your job,” Bryan said at the rally. “When we organize and fight for our collective needs, it pulls from the people who have so much that they don’t know what to do with it and puts it in the hands of people who are struggling every single day.”

Existing law, the “Protect App-Based Drivers and Services Act,” created by Proposition (Prop) 22, a ballot initiative, categorizes app-based drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft as independent contractors.

Prop 22 was approved by voters in the November 2020 statewide general election. Since then, Prop 22 has been in court facing challenges from groups trying to overturn it.

However, last July, Prop 22 was upheld by the California Supreme Court last July.

In a 2024, statement after the ruling, Lyft stated that 80% of the rideshare drivers they surveyed acknowledged that Prop 22 “was good for them” and “median hourly earnings of drivers on the Lyft platform in California were 22% higher in 2023 than in 2019.”

Wicks and Berman crafted AB 1340 to circumvent Prop 22.

“With AB 1340, we are putting power in the hands of hundreds of thousands of workers to raise the bar in their industry and create a model for an equitable and innovative partnership in the tech sector,” Berman said.