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The Feed: July 6- 10

This week: Caesarean births, a new hope for a Star Wars fan and alternative childcare. Oh and Channing Tatum.

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This week on The Feed Marc Fennell meets a man that has an inoperable tumour in his head and yearns to fulfil a life-long Star Wars dream; producer Una Butorac reports on the pressure for women to have caesarean births over natural births and Jeannette Francis investigates alternative options to expensive childcare.

Oh and did we mention Channing Tatum? They have Channing Tatum.

Remission of the Jedi
What would you do if you discovered that you had an inoperable tumour in the back of your head? Fly halfway across the world to meet Luke Skywalker? 36 year old Queenslander Adam Harris is a dad, a husband, a filmmaker but above all he’s a Star Wars fan. He also has an inoperable growth in his head that doctors found days after the birth of his 2nd child. It was a discovery that changed everything in Adam’s life.

He made a decision to fulfil a life-long dream. He took his 6 year old son (and mad-keen Star Wars fan) Jack Anakin Harris (yes, his middle name is Anakin) on the ultimate Star Wars pilgrimage to Lucasfilm and the biggest Star Wars event in the world. He raised an enormous amount of money on Kickstarter (with the backing of Tara Reid and David Arquette) and brought along a documentary crew as well. He meets everyone from the special effects designers who forever changed the way we see blockbusters right through to Luke Skywalker himself.

But this is more than just a feel-good piece about a hard core Star Wars fandom. This is a story about the power of fantasy & modern mythology to help people power through very real and very dark experiences. It’s about how Star Wars’ legacy of fathers and sons helped break a cycle of abuse in Adam’s family. And above all it’s a story about – dare we say it – a new hope for a man who has been through a lot and has come out Lightsabers swinging.

Caesarean pressures
Although caesareans are a lifesaving procedure in emergency births, a growing number of Australian women are electing to have scheduled caesareans which are not for medical reasons. The rate of caesarean births in Australia has doubled in the past ten years to 32 per cent, making it one of the highest in the world.

As the natural birth movement gathers momentum online, we take a look at the whole spectrum of the debate – are obstetricians driving the increase for their own benefit or are rising caesarean rates a consequence of women birthing later in life? Should the focus be on enabling women to birth naturally at all cost, or is it dangerous to focus on driving down caesarean rates?

Channing Tatum goes one-on-one with Marc Fennell
Channing Tatum’s career has gone full circle. He started off as a stripper out of high school and now he’s back in his semi-autobiographical stripper sequel Magic Mike XXL. He opens up about; why dancing with Ricky Martin doesn’t pay, taking charge of his own destiny and he’ll probably flex some group of muscles you didn’t even know existed. BYO Baby Oil.

Alternative childcare Jeannette Francis
Childcare in Australia is expensive. To have a child in care costs about the same as sending them to an expensive private school. Couple it with the cost of living pressures and housing prices and for many, it’s impossible to afford. Now some families are trying alternative ways to get their young kids off their hands during the day so they can get back to work. Jeannette Francis explores these alternative ways of having the little ones cared for, while loosening the pressure on your wallet.

Weeknights at 7:30pm on SBS 2.

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