think about it

october is breast cancer awareness month... as I am sure you all know. I'm sure you've been inundated with pink this and pink that. support the ta-tas and check your breasts. there are pink ribbons on everything from note pads to teddy bears to clothing. even I have (slash am borrowing) a shawl that was purchased in support of breast cancer.

please know that I have family who has fought and beat this disease. I understand the importance of fund raising and increasing awareness and early detection.

but please...

can't other diseases get a little recognition?

I know that I do fund raising for the american heart association. in fact, because of wonderful, generous people, I was able to raise $850 for the AHA. I'm not saying to choose AHA over cancer; it's not about that. I choose them because it is personal for me; you need to do what's best for you. in the grand scheme of things, I imagine that of other diseases (besides breast cancer)... the AHA does pretty well in regards to public recognition. many are aware of the start! program or go red for women. (if not, there are the links)

but really? what about the others?

pancreatic cancer claimed the life of one of my favorite teachers ever. she was full of spunk and vitality and creativity... she made you want to learn. she was so physically active and a loving mother and wife. she was diagnosed... and I believe within a year, she was gone. the chance of surviving pancreatic cancer is about 4%. you have a better chance of surviving a plane crash. breast cancer survival is up to 90%. only $73.3 million of funding from the national cancer institute went to research for pancreatic cancer. breast cancer received $572.4 million from NCI. that's almost 8 times less research funding from NCI for a cancer that has less than a 5% survival rate?!

lung cancer actually killed more americans than breast cancer in the past year. yet it received $226.9 million in fund from the NCI. that's 2.5 times less research funding for the leading cancer killer.

(to be fair... cardiovascular research received $381 million - we're lucky)

what about those other ones that you kind of hear about but don't really know that much about... like prostate cancer (the guys need love too), leukemia, non-hodgkin's lymphoma, or skin cancer? what about diseases that aren't even cancer... do we just not want to donate because they aren't as glamorous? they don't have their colored ribbon the sides of race cars? because it's easier to think about breasts than it is to think about prostates? because it seems pointless to do a marathon for influenza? because we don't want to see billboards asking for funding for urinary incontinence (but it's ok to see two naked people in bathtubs as they discuss their active over-65 love life)? money that goes pink, can't go anywhere else.

before you all think that I'm this awful human being for being anti-pink (which I'm not... really)... all I'm saying is that I have an issue with the blatant commercialization of all things pink which detracts from the importance of other worthy causes. it's not fair that the public, via corporations that are jumping on the pink bandwagon for marketability purposes, are essentially dictating what disease should receive the most attention and funding. do you really think that your yogurt that donates to the komen foundation with every lid you send in has your best interests in mind? that yogurt you're consuming actually is made from milk from cows that have been treated with the synthetic hormone rBGH which can potentially cycle back and cause cancer to begin with. what's even worse is that if you buy products listed as "pink for breast cancer"... sometimes you don't even know how much is going to them, if anything at all. your $50 purchase might actually only contribute $.10... is that really worth it? you are better off just directly donating to the cause itself.

just "think before you pink" and remember that while the "cure" is still out there... we can work harder to raise awareness and fund prevention for ALL diseases... not just breast cancer.

note: this post spawned from this online article from MSN: "The Politics Behind the Pink Ribbon" by Brian Alexander. All of my statistics came from that article so I'm assuming that HE did all his research to begin with, thus no direct links or references.

tidbits

ok first off... I LOVE this new fabric. well, it may not be new, but I'm so far behind on everything quilty and cool these days, it's new to me. :) I do hope that link works... it'd be a shame to miss out. it'd make such a cute bag using the pattern in my new terry atkinson book. that and some cute placemats, too.

so this weekend's been crazy. friday I stayed home while das was at poker night because we *finally* got our clothes dryer's outlet fixed so we can use it now. and we had quite a bit of laundry piled up! we could have gone to a laundromat, but I did that through college, then for a year when we lived in bristol. I wasn't keen on that. so we waited. :) saturday we did more laundry; das mowed the lawn (luckily just before the skies opened up); we played some video games (what? it was raining!); ran a LOT of errands around town (bought blinds and a dehumidifier!); went to our friends' house for dinner and some rock band (NOTE: there is music at that site that you have to shut off in the corner; only click if totally prepared!). that game is phenomenal. I love it and I need to perfect it. it's just fun, really. I can't wait for rock band 2... which das and I decided we would be getting (NOTE: also music at that link - click with caution). the song list is amazing... and I can't wait to bust out with some alanis, nirvana, beastie boys, the who, and, WHAT... ratt?!?! :D anyway, we rocked until about 1am or later. sunday, I went to a bridal shower (an ALL DAY bridal shower/BBQ) and das stayed home b/c they were installing our a/c. he also attempted to put up blinds, but failed miserably as we'd bought all stock blinds... and we needed custom cut blinds. so he had to take most of them back. ultimately we only have blinds in our bedroom now, but that's ok. I don't have to hide behind my bed anymore to get dressed every day. :)

yesterday I had a computer class for work so I was gone all day... which was nice. it was introduction to vba: excel. I learned a lot, which is always great. after work I stopped at target to pick up a few things and I saw a really neat 6-cube organizer that will be perfect for my fabric and such. now that we have the dehumidifier and an outlet in the basement (one's better than none), I'll be able to move my quilting stuff in downstairs!! :) schweet! I am hoping that maybe if my parents come this weekend with the full bed and my desk... I can use their rented trailer to bring back the quilting stuff from the other house. otherwise... I at least want to use my dad's SUV to bring some things back. that plus our other vehicles should do the trick. :)

so I'd like to introduce a new section to my blog. and I totally stole it from family guy. it's "what really grinds my gears". I figure I need a place to sound off every now and again. and now I can keep my rants organized! :D I know I'll be irritated with lots of things with a new house... and I'd like to rant about work, but I don't want to get fired (like the lovely dooce). it's bad enough that I blog at work. :) and, in general, I have a love-hate relationship with "people". most of them really just annoy the snot out of me... but if it weren't for that, life would seem so incessantly boring. don't you think? :D besides, I do believe that if you didn't have the bad, you wouldn't be able to recognize the good. however, that doesn't prevent me from blogging about your stupidity. at this juncture, I have only one rant (that I will share with you right now). and that is about ATM fees. when I was at maine quilts and both my mother and I had exhausted our cash stash, we realized then that we didn't have MY car with the convenient ez pass. we had HER car... which required cash for the tolls. though I'd be lying if I said I didn't pause to wonder if toll booths took debit cards. anyway, I volunteered to stop at the ATM. I have spank of america. I hate them. but that's another rant altogether. anyway, b/c they feel as though they have enough ATMs in the world, SoA charges you to use a "foreign" atm. I took out $20. I got charged $2 by the bank whose ATM I used plus $2 by SoA. I got charged 20% of my withdrawal to use the freaking ATM. how BS is that?! granted, it wouldn't have been so bad if I had taken out more, but I am not a cash carrier. I use my debit card everywhere. I feel safer using that than cash. anyway, ATMs are certainly a convenience for many people from a variety of banks, but what is inconvenient is having to pay to cover your "transfer costs" between banks. don't you make enough money on inflated interest rates and bank overdraft fees to cover the $.022 it probably costs to "transfer fees" between banks without charging me a million dollaridoos? maybe I just need to switch to banknorth or liberty. and that, grinds my gears. :)