plus 4, BYU Women's Volleyball Blog - BYUCougars.com |
- BYU Women's Volleyball Blog - BYUCougars.com
- Stigma part of breast cancer's grip on poor - Seattle Times
- The Arc of Justice is Progressive - DAILY KOS
- DiMarco reaches out with Tee Up for Life event - PGA Tour
- WTF! Who Died and Made You Kos? - DAILY KOS
| BYU Women's Volleyball Blog - BYUCougars.com Posted: 02 Nov 2009 11:09 AM PST
Nebraska Tournament Tuesday 9/22/2009 10:21:00 AM Posted by Junior Christina Measom, Middle Blocker The tournament in Nebraska was a great learning experience for us and a definite benefit to our preseason. We learned a lot about ourselves and our teammates and about how good we really can be. In the Ameritas Tournament, we played some tough teams, No. 8 UCLA, No. 5 Nebraska and Virginia. Against UCLA, we played well against a very good team, but not as well as we would have liked. In losing to the Bruins, we learned from that match that we had more to give than we had the night before and that we could play at a higher level. The next evening we played Nebraska. Playing Nebraska in their stadium was an awesome experience. We are talking about 3,000+ people, 98-percent season ticket holders. They were the nicest, most courteous large crowd that I have ever played in front of and it was such a fun atmosphere to be in. Yes, they wanted Nebraska to win, but they also just wanted to see good volleyball. These fans would cheer for any great play made whether it was by the Huskers or us. There was no heckling or demeaning comments, but rather just a whole lot of people who enjoy watching this beautiful sport. That night we came out with all we had, playing confident, collected and tough. We ended up taking the first set from Nebraska, something that no team has done on their home court since 2005. Although the next three games didn't end in our favor, we learned that we can play at a top level. I think in that match – the first game especially – we saw what we had in ourselves and what our teammates had in them. We played better than I think we knew we could and that taught us a lot about ourselves. I think that it showed us that we really are a good team and need to have confidence in our coaches, in our systems, in our teammates and in ourselves. The next evening we played Virginia. Although Virginia is not ranked near as high as Nebraska or UCLA, we lost the match to them in four sets. I think that this match, although heartbreaking, was very good for us. It taught us that we need to bring our A game every time that we step on the floor. It taught us that we need to show every team the respect whether they are ranked in the top five or the bottom five. Good teams deserve to play against us at our best, to have good competition and maybe be humbled when we beat them. :) Not so good teams deserve our best as well, to teach them that they have some work to do, because when you play the Cougars you better expect the best. Bring it on MWC, because you better believe that we will! WE'RE IN IT TO WIN IT! This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Stigma part of breast cancer's grip on poor - Seattle Times Posted: 02 Nov 2009 11:16 AM PST
WASHINGTON — Nurses were training women in rural Mexico to examine their breasts for cancer when one raised her hand to object. If she lost her breast, Harvard public health specialist Felicia Knaul recalls the woman saying, "My man would leave me" - and with him, the family's income. International cancer specialists meet this week to plan an assault on a troubling increase of breast cancer in developing countries, where nearly two-thirds of women aren't diagnosed until it has spread through their bodies. Adding to the problem, some worrisome data suggests that breast cancer seems to strike women, on average, about 10 years younger in poor countries than it does in the U.S. No one knows why. "Today in most developing countries you see a huge bulge of young, premenopausal women with breast cancer," says Knaul, who heads Harvard's Global Equity Initiative and was herself diagnosed at age 41 while living in Mexico. "We should help them to know what they have and to fight for their treatment." But from Mexico to Malawi, stigma like Knaul witnessed a few weeks ago may prove as big a barrier as poverty. "One of the trainers said, 'If he'd leave you for that, he's not worth having,'" says Knaul. But she acknowledged that will be a hard message for some women's economic realities. "It's not a trivial consideration," agrees Dr. Lawrence Shulman of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, who is part of a team working to begin cancer care in parts of Africa where "the women are often seen as really either vessels for producing children or as sex slaves." But some success in treating HIV and tuberculosis in those areas has him "hopeful we can make a difference. I don't think it's a pipe dream." Tuesday, Knaul and Shulman bring together international task force of health specialists and prominent charities to begin planning a two-pronged approach. First, train midwives and other rural health providers to perform regular breast exams, using the power of touch in places where mammography machines simply are too expensive. That won't catch the very smallest tumors, but specialists agree it could improve diagnosis dramatically in some areas. Second, the task force will start negotiating lower prices for generic chemotherapy for poor countries, following the same model that has helped transform AIDS care in parts of Africa.
You don't need in-country cancer specialists to administer that chemo, says Shulman - just a network of oncologists who can provide help or instruction to local health officials by e-mail or phone, as he has advised colleagues in Malawi. Breast cancer long has been considered a cancer mostly of wealthier countries. Indeed, about 192,000 new cases are expected in the U.S. this year, where long-term survival is high thanks in part to good screening. The true prevalence in most developing countries is unknown, because of poor diagnosis and bad record-keeping. But new Harvard research estimates they'll be home to 55 percent of the world's 450,000 expected breast cancer deaths this year. The report predicts the poorest countries will experience a 36 percent jump in breast cancer by 2020. One problem: In wealthy countries, earlier diagnosis can lead to breast-saving surgery instead of breast removal. Even countries like Rwanda and Malawi have clinics that perform mastectomies if patients can travel to the capitals, Shulman says. But few have radiation equipment, making breast-conserving surgery there not an option yet. (He is hunting a radiation unit for Rwanda but says that's in the very earliest stages of planning.) Mexico is a mixed situation, with radiation, other treatments and diagnostic mammography available in some places. That's how Knaul - whose husband is a former health minister of Mexico - was diagnosed, early enough that mastectomy and chemotherapy give her good odds. But she fumes that while Mexico's poor and rural women often get Pap smears to check for cervical cancer, "no one even suggests they check your breasts" at the same visit. She founded an advocacy group - Cancer de Mama - to help, noting that Mexico's insurance program for the poor covers breast cancer care but they must get diagnosed first. --- EDITOR's NOTE - Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| The Arc of Justice is Progressive - DAILY KOS Posted: 02 Nov 2009 12:13 PM PST We fought to achieve that election victory, some of laboring in really, really red states like AZ and others. We did it for various reasons. Mine was so that my grandchildren, when they ask what I did during this time, I could answer and not be ashamed. And for justice. I believe Obama is doing a good job. I will not second-guess how he should fight for health care reform at this time. We are already further than anyone else has come. I keep remembering that this is a process, an arc of health care justice, which will bend toward the justice of health care for all. I do contribute my opinions and belief to the White House. I also do phone banks with my own cell phone for folks to call their congresspersons and senators in favor of health care reform, and for the public option. I even tell them my own experiences. I am one of those people who declared bankruptcy after catastrophic medical bills. I did this at the age of 63, before I was eligible for Medicare. I went without health care coverage for two years. Even though I received social security disability, Medicare did not kick in at age 63. My SSdisability was over the $740/month limit for a single person in AZ - Medicaid was then not an option. I was luckier than many others because I have two loving daughters and sons-in-law who saw me through this time. And my cancer was the easily curable kind, breast cancer, stage 0, intra-ductale, non-invasive. I was lucky. So many,many others in this country are not so lucky, facing catastrophic medical and prescription bills that they cannot pay for. The best health care can be had, but only by those with a ton of money. One of the things I like about the health care bills being discussed is a closure of the donut hole for Medicare recipients. I'm currently in the donut hole, but remember my beautiful daughters who will not let me sink. I know people who have to buy very costly cancer meds on social security. They go without food to buy them. They die because they cannot afford them. Even on Medicare. And this is only us old folks. What about the young who die for lack of money for care? Where is their process toward justice? I don't believe the bills we have seen will be the best to cover all these folks, yet. What are our choices here? I am not going to answer that for you. I am going to tell you a story instead. Back in the 70s I returned to school, finally getting an MA in philosophy. But I was politically active even in school, even with two young children, and working part time. And in those days, women still did all the housework. (Another reason I am a feminist.) I remember one time when we were fighting to get food for children who had no food. One friend at the time argued against this. She believed if the kids were hungry enough the parents would join the revolution toward justice and equality. She was childless, of course, and had never really been responsible for feeding a specific child. My comment, which apparently swayed her and others was that the hungry children didn't know about politics yet, they were just hungry, all the time, hungry. The revolution can take care of itself - feed the kids first. (When I was growing up, there were periods of hunger - I know how it feels.) I am in favor of single payer. Incidentally I am in favor of Medicare for all, at senior rates. I pay $98/month for 80% of my health care, and at present $104/month supplemental insurance for the remaining 20%. Plus $32.40/month for a prescription plan. I pay that last figure even though I am in the donut hole. I pay for them not to cover me, apparently. Will we get single payer this time out? No, I don't believe we will. But we will eventually, if we keep on fighting. The arc of justice will bend toward that as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow. We need to "feed" the hungry that we can reach now. If the fight needs to continue next year for single payer, so be it. I've been around long enough to understand the process, I guess. I've also been around long enough to know that each generation has to enter the fight. I'm a little old white lady who wept when we won the election. I can only imagine how my AA friends felt as they wept. I am amazed that electing an AA president happended in my lifetime. It seems only yesterday that I marched for things like open housing in Evanston. We can be certain of two things in the health care debate - we will feed some of the hungry for healthcare this year, and that we will see more progress toward a single payer system that feeds everyone fairly soon after that. This will not take another 40 years. So keep on fighting, even if it takes a few years. Keep your eyes on the prize and work for it. And don't give up hope. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| DiMarco reaches out with Tee Up for Life event - PGA Tour Posted: 02 Nov 2009 09:50 AM PST Chris DiMarco had just enjoyed a breakthrough season as a professional. He had finished ninth on the 1993 Nike Tour money list, earning just under $100,000, enough to secure his 1994 PGA TOUR playing privileges. Life was good for DiMarco, the New York transplant who called Orlando, Fla., home. Then he learned the breast cancer his grandmother -- his dad's mother -- had been suffering from had spread. "She fought it for two years," DiMarco said. "She had a lumpectomy, but it eventually was too much and she passed away." Two years later, DiMarco, already aware his paternal grandfather had kidney cancer, took a phone call while playing the TOUR event near Hartford, Conn., informing him that his grandfather had died. "That cancer just spread," DiMarco said. "They opened him up, and the cancer was everywhere. It was hard for my dad to watch both parents just wilt away." It's no wonder, then, that DiMarco is so passionate about cancer, running the annual Norma DiMarco Tee Up for Life Golf Tournament, a charity golf event that supports Reaching Out to Cancer Kids as well as providing funds for cancer research. The two-day event finishes Monday in Heathrow, Fla. Proceeds from DiMarco's golf tournament, named in honor of his mother who died in 2006, goes to send children and teenagers suffering from cancer to Camp Boggy Creek in Orlando. It's a year-round camp for seriously ill children, a place for them to go to have fun. The Norma DiMarco Tee Up for Life Golf Tournament typically sends about 175 kids to camp each year. Camp Boggy Creek doesn't charge families, instead using proceeds from charitable contributions. The camp was started by a group that included the late actor Paul Newman and retired U.S. Army General H. Norman Schwarzkopf. "I loved my grandparents, and they were in their 70s when they died. They had lived full lives," DiMarco said. "What I hate to see is the young kids who get this terrible disease. We pay for them to go to Boggy Creek, and maybe it helps them just a little." "I'm 71 years old, and I've seen way too many of my friends and family eaten up by this terrible disease," said Rich DiMarco, Chris' father, the Tee Up for Life tournament director and also a cancer survivor. He had prostate cancer and has been clean for five years. Rich DiMarco thinks about all the children with cancer he's met during the last nine years of the golf tournament. He gets quiet when he thinks about one in particular, a boy who benefited from funds generated by the tournament. "This young man was 13, almost 14, and he'd struggled with cancer for a while," the elder DiMarco said. "[His parents] thought they had it under control. He came to our tournament, he chatted to 300 people in the ballroom and told all of us how much this tournament helped him. A couple of years later, that boy died, and when I found out, it was earth-shaking to me. We all felt, though, that we contributed to giving him happiness and peace for the time he had on this earth. Maybe that wouldn't have happened without our little tournament." This year's festivities at Heathrow Country Club, just outside Orlando, include what people have come to expect: dinner for all the patrons, with a silent and live auction featuring plenty of golf memorabilia. DiMarco prevailed on Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink and Y.E. Yang to sign pin flags from the tournaments they won this year. That would be the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. With more than a few TOUR connections, DiMarco has ensured that the auction items available are a TOUR lover's dream. Throw in a bunch of celebrities (they receive no appearance fees, with the majority of them living in and around Orlando) who play with each group, and a Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup veteran who plays the 12th hole at Heathrow with each foursome, and it's a full day. "Yeah, I'm on the 12th hole for a long time back and forth between the tee and green. It is a bit like 'Groundhog Day,'" DiMarco said. "But I love being with everybody." "We want almost a carnival-like atmosphere where people will have fun, with the goal that they will be generous and we can generate these funds," Rich said. "What we want this to be is a fun time, a fun atmosphere," Chris said. "We tee off at 11 in the morning Monday because who wants to get up for an 8 o'clock tee time?" Another element of the tournament that Chris added is a de-emphasis on which foursome wins the scramble event. "Each member of the winning team does get a nice piece of crystal that they can take home and put in their office, but if the winning part of things becomes so important then I think everybody loses sight of why we're playing this tournament," he said. Chris immediately begins to again talk about Boggy Creek, and it's obvious he knows exactly why he puts so much time and effort into the event. Both DiMarcos like to recall the 2005 tournament. With Hurricane Wilma bearing down on Florida, the golf portion of the event had to be canceled because of the danger associated with the storm. Like any good golfer in the rough, DiMarco scrambled. He prevailed on World Golf Hall of Fame member Nancy Lopez to join him, and the duo put on a clinic for the attendees. Everybody still came to the pairings party even though there were no actual, well, pairings. Even as DiMarco ad libbed, people ate, bid on auction items, mingled with celebrities, played cards and went away happy. All the participants were then told the tournament would refund their money if requested. "Nobody asked for their money back," said Greg Warmoth, a member of the tournament committee. "Imagine the stress of telling all these people they're not going to be able to play golf, and nobody cares that they can't. That year the tournament netted $680,000, and everybody was just happy to be here supporting Chris." "I thought I knew a lot about cancer because of my family," DiMarco said. "I know a lot more now. And so do the people who support this tournament." This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| WTF! Who Died and Made You Kos? - DAILY KOS Posted: 02 Nov 2009 09:22 AM PST I am sick and tired of this kind of bullshit. If Jane is wrong on an issue, fine, call her out. But this "blogger paymaster" bullshit is such a low attack, droogie. So long as Kos welcomes Jane here, and I have no reason to think he does not, I'm fine with it. Jane may be wrong on her attack on some blogger recently. Kos has been wrong before also. But Jane's voice here (and Slink and Eve) are welcome to me and I plan to recommend their diaries just like any others. If I agree with the political content or think is is a good diary, I'll recommend it. I totally reject Droogie's boycott. Jane has been essential in fighting for progressive outcomes. Do I agree with all she says? No. But hellraisers are necessary. Without them, you have no change. And hellraisers do exactly that: they raise hell, they attack, sometimes they even make big mistakes. Jane's criticism of Richard Trumka was incorrect a month ago. But unless some people raise hell, the conservedems win and we compromise, compromise, compromise, until there is nothing. What Droogie wrote is fundamentally wrong, even if Jane is wrong on her criticisms of the Eschoo bill. This is consistent with the weird attacks here on Hiuffington Post as "right wing," when in fact it is to the left of some here and it sure is not right wing. I don't want Droogie's Daily Kos. I want Markos' Daily Kos. Markos may be too moderate at times, but he's a fighter. He lets many voices be heard. Sorry about the rant, but this shit pissed me off. I have not folowed completely the attacks over the weekend (I do have a life), but if Jane was wrong on the merits, call her out on it. This "paid blogger" attack is just bullshit. Bringing left and center together with Obama and most Democrats is a difficult task, but worthwhile. There is a place for both Droogie and those who believe like him and for Jane Harman here. And if people fail to see that, then the change President Obama seeks will not occur. So, go ahead and flame me for defending Jane, Eve, and Slink's right to be activists and blog here. I'm not going anywhere. Update I: Now I have calmed down a little, I should add that I still believe progressives/leftists and centrists/progressives (whatever you want to call the two main schools of thought here) need to work together as activists with President Obama. Anyway, Rich In Pa. had what I thought was a good comment:
I also hope Mahakali Overdrive comes back. I think people need to talk together. We're on the same side. I think this issue is very personal with Jane because of her breast cancer. I have talked with Mahakali Overdrive and I have no reason to think she is not a good Kossak. There is room for many points of view here. There is room for Jane and Mahakali Overdrive. There is room for Rep. Ecshoo and Rep. Kucinich. This content has passed through fivefilters.org.  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Add Images to any RSS Feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment