Hello Flo

Hello Flo

YA/adult
If you're a girl or woman, do you remember first hearing about
menstruation? I sure do! I was eleven. One evening at summer camp
(think rustic cabins, crickets and wind song, fireflies coming out,
giggling girls) for some strange reason the counselors seemed to need
a break from me and my peers. If we'd just be quiet and self
sufficient they'd let us listen to an illicit radio.
News flashes punctuated popular music. In one we learned that
the Pope had died from hemhorraging which we knew meant heavy
bleeding. The next day one of my cabin mates woke up bleeding.
Convinced that she was going to die like the Pope, we campers were in
hysterics. (I'm guessing that's one day the counselor remembers to
this day.)
From my younger years I recall literature about periods being
pretty much limited to tracts put out by manufacturers of pads and
tampons, more focussed on selling product than explaining much of
anything. Pickings were still pretty slim when my daughters
approached puberty.
Although we still live in a menstrual taboo society where blue
water is used to show the absorption power of period products, today's
parents and daughters are in luck. Naama Bloom's Hello Flo is the
book I wish had been published before I began learning about my
changing body or helping my daughters understand theirs. Bloom tells
readers,
"As founder of HelloFlo.com I've been in the unique position to
hear from thousands of girls and women about how they relate to their
own bodies, and I've come to realize that the way we talk about
physical changes is, well lacking. I'm writing this book because you
deserve honesty and real information. You deserve to know what's
going on--both in your body and in the world around you."
Chapters about the different changes that take place are
organized in the order in which they usually happen. Language is
reader friendly. The voice is that of an older friend or relative
willing to give girls the real scoop. There's a good balance between
practical (how to insert a tampon) and more abstract (how hormones
dictate periods) information. There are even fun facts about past
practices.
Throughout the book there is a reassuring emphasis on the wide
range of normal when it comes to everything from age of first period
to breast size. There are many questions and anecdotes written by real
girls. Content is all congruent with the mission Bloom states in her
introduction:
"As corny as it sounds, it's my dream that every girl enter
puberty with enough knowledge of what's going on in her body and mind
to keep her confident throughout. I've spoken to countless doctors,
parents, and girls while writing this book, and I've tried to put
everything that's useful in these pages. I'm not a doctor, I'm not
even an expert. What I am is a woman who once was a confused girl who
made it her mission to remove some of the confusion for the girls that
came after me."
The world needs a lot more women like Naama Bloom.
On a personal note, today at work I was wiping down tables at lunch.
We had adorable camp kids in the crowd. Two boys (about 6-year-olds)
showed me there was a dead beetle under a chair. When I picked it up
and said I'd throw it away they were visibly relieved. When they were
about to leave one of the boys thanked me. Working dining room gives
me so many ways to touch people's lives while keeping the space
clean. That's one of the reasons I love the job so much.
A great big shout out goes out to the people I encounter on the job:
the supervisors, my coworkers, and the people for whom we create a
quality dining experience.
jules hathaway


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