Odds & ends from the childless/free community

Lots of things going on lately to share with you!

• (Possibly a little late to be posting this one, but just in case...!) The folks at The Full Stop podcast (Michael, Sarah & Berenice) are getting ready for their next/December/Christmas/holiday season-themed episode (#8 -- already!), and they're inviting all of us to participate!  They're calling it "The Alternative ‘King and Queen’s Speech’" and inviting listeners to record a holiday message to the community THIS SUNDAY, November 24th, via a scheduled session on Zoom, or by sending them a voice recording in MP3 format.  Details on how to do this are available here. The episode will be released on or around December 15th. 
• (If you haven't listened to The Full Stop yet, you should! The hosts are great, and they've had some wonderful guests and discussions about different aspects of childless-not-by-choice living!) 
• Fertility Network UK recently sponsored a "More to Life" webinar for CNBCers on the subject of  "Coping with Holiday Expectations" by Jody Day of Gateway Women. The video is available for viewing on YouTube here. 
• Sarah at Infertility Honesty recently spoke publicly about her CNBC experiences for the camera -- for a PBS Independent Lens video series, no less! (called "Should We Kid or Not?") -- with delightful results. See for yourself! She wrote about her experience in a recent blog post, which also includes the video & some related links. 
• Lesley Pyne has updated her last year's Christmas survival guide in this recent post. She will be updating the post with additional resources as they become available, so check back from time to time, and feel free to let her know in the comments if you find anything helpful! 
• Suzan Muir, an Australian CNBCer, is planning two long weekend retreats for CNBC women in Australia in early 2020:  
• A weekend of nature-based connectiveness for CNBC women over the Australia Day long weekend in January in Grampians National Park, and
• Beyond the Empty Womb, a four-day retreat over the Easter weekend in April.  
• Interesting article in the New York Times last week about "The End of Babies." The title sounds a bit too alarmist (a la "Children of Men/Handmaid's Tale") for my liking, but it's a fairly thoughtful & thorough examination of declining fertility rates in the developed world, and the underlying reasons why a mismatch has developed between the number of children people SAY they want and the number they wind up having. Worth a read!  (But -- beware the comments!)
• "To Kid or Not to Kid," a documentary by award-winning filmmaker Maxine Trump, has already premiered in New York and Los Angeles, and will be premiering later this month in Toronto. It's also going to be shown on CBC television on Nov. 30th, and I am hoping to catch it then!  According to the website, the film "aims to dispel the myth that living childfree is weird, selfish or somehow wrong. In a world where you’re threatened for speaking openly about living childfree, two women, from different decades, search for ways to support each other in making the decision to live without kids."