Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn: INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN ON THE AIRPLANE
June 11, 2005 INTERVIEW WITH THE WOMAN ON THE AIRPLANE
The following is my exclusive interview with R., the woman on the airplane. She just sent her responses to my questions a few minutes ago. (Friday, June 10th 2005, 11:05 a.m.)
OTBKB: I'd love to ask you a few questions - if you have a moment.
--When did this happen?
I believe that it was May 11th.
--What was Barbara Walter’s mood when she asked not to be seated near a baby?
It was on the NY Shuttle to DC which was completely packed. I think that everyone on the plane was stressed. We just barely made it and got on at 9:25 for the 9:30 shuttle. It is open seating and every seat was taken in the front.. my husband and I went to the back in hope of two seats together. We had our baby, two bags, my computer bag, and our "boppy" with us. Of course, everyone looked down so that we would not choose that middle seat. When we got to the back, there were not any seats together so I started to move into a middle seat -- that would be next to BW. I did not know it was her. That is when she said - I don't want to have to sit next to a baby to her companion so he moved and I took the middle seat. My husband had taken another middle seat so we gave my aisle to his seat companion and then we had two seats together with our son in my lap.
--Did she actually say anything to you?
No, she did not talk to me.
--Did you get the sense that, for BW, it was about not wanting to be near a baby (who might cry or something) or because it had something to do with the breastfeeding?
Since I was not breastfeeding, I believe that she did not want to sit next to a baby .. in case, he cried, etc.
--How is it where you live. Are people accepting/unaccepting of breastfeeding.
In Johannesburg, we have heard that breastfeeding in public is not that acceptable, but I have not encountered that. I breastfeed in restaurants, basically everywhere, and the non-white community is very pro-breast feeding. For them, it is completely natural and the most important thing. At my office, no one minds that I have to pump and that I feed my son at lunch - my husband brings him to me.
--Is it well known that you are the person who was sitting next to BW?
ONLY among my friends and that listserve ...
--Were you aware that this story was becoming a big deal in New York. Possibly elsewhere...
No, not until it made it onto the Washington listserve. I would have never known.
--Why do you think the you and the baby should have been covered with a blanket. Was that discussed on the plane?
No one said a word to me on the plane -- I was wearing a big shirt that typically hangs down in front of me so I did not think about it. Most people on the plane were too busy with the blackberry, computer, etc. to notice me, I think.
--Is there anything you'd like to say to BW about this.
I just think that if she had known that we were over 18 hours in our journey, she would have felt differently ... and that actually if she had talked to me, she would have found an interesting, competent young woman.
--Is there anything you'd like to say to the hundreds of women who joined the protest and all the others who support the Lactivists but couldn't make it to the rally?
GO FOR IT!!!! and THANK YOU!!!
--Do you think this is a "movement" whose time has come?
Definitely -- it is crazy that people have a problem with it ..
-- Tell me more about yourself ONLY if you want to.
You can say that I work for the World Bank in Johannesburg, South Africa. I moved here in September but previously I had been living in Central Asia and Russia.
OTBKB NOTE: For those of you who are just tuning in: Barbara Walters made a comment on the ABC morning talk show, "The View" about feeling uncomfortable sitting near a breastfeeding mother on an airplane. It caused a brouhaha and inspired a movement ofLactivists who demonstrated in front of ABC earlier this week.
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