What better way to spend our time in Phoenix than with a little good old social activism?
See, a week or so ago, a woman on my car seat message board was kicked out of a Phoenix McDonald's for nursing her baby. The owner of the restaurant issued a lame, generic apology to the media, but when she talked to the woman herself, instead of offering an apology the owner begged her not to sue and downplayed the whole thing.
Since I was going to be in Arizona anyway, a few of us decided to have a nurse-in at the McDonald's to encourage them to issue a real, sincere apology and to commit to better training for their employees. We spread the word about the nurse-in via the interwebs, and we got a huge turn-out. There were probably close to 100 moms, babies, kids, and supporters.
The owners of the McDonald's were there, but didn't talk to any of the moms. One of them was laughing on his cell phone most of the time, probably thrilled that he was getting so much extra business. They kept the media in the parking lot, far from the entrance, but all of the Phoenix news networks covered the story, and all were sympathetic to the cause.
Two or three stations ran interviews with me, and Steve was interviewed by two, also. This is a link to the Channel 12 coverage. I'll try to find more as time permits. That one has an interview with Steve, Clarissa (the woman who was initially kicked out) and me. Anna's there, too! (The channel 3 guy said that I drove in from Southern California just for the nurse-in, which isn't entirely accurate, though I might have anyway.)
No one got an apology, but one of the owner/manager-type-people eventually gave out cards for free smoothies. I guess that's supposed to make up for it.
As a quick update on our trip, we're currently in El Paso, headed toward Houston tomorrow. I'll update more later on other goings-on. We have to go get dinner now and try to get the kids in bed at some point.
