Pulling out another post from my ‘rough draft bin’ seems fitting for this 200th post. I can’t believe I have been blogging for 6.5 years! Wow!!! March 24, 2013 About a year ago, my brain started to realize that I wasn’t in active treatment any longer for breast cancer. After my outpatient mastectomy on December […]
Monthly Archives: April 2019
So, my writing challenge this year has been a spring cleaning from A to Z in my Searching for EMWA world. One of the things I’m trying to do is clean out my old drafts with some revisions and post them. This post was started in March 2015 when winter was wrapping up here in Chicago. I […]
I love movies. Movies are very intertwined with my memories. Of growing up in the ’70s and ’80s, of college and of Peace Corps, as well as beyond. I remember going to see Pete’s Dragon for my 10th birthday with my parents, sister and 5 or 6 girlfriends. My sister and I only had a […]
For the majority of the past 20 years, I have worked in extremely challenging positions within educational institutions. Many of the students I have worked with have been ‘at-risk’, growing up in environments that are economically challenged and that poverty which they are born into places special demands on each of them. Their needs are […]
My parents were elementary school teachers in the most formative years of their careers, years that happened to coincide with raising their children, and so they channeled that knowledge and understanding into how they raised us. One of the things they always said, is that if a child doesn’t get enough positive attention, they will […]
Back in the late 1970s, my Grandpa Cooper was able to take retirement from his work with the City of Detroit on the early side and planned to spend it living year-round at the newly winterized Cottage on Lake Charlevoix with Grams. He swore that he never wanted to visit Florida and he definitely didn’t […]
A couple of weeks ago, I met up with friends for brunch at a fun, popular restaurant in Chicago’s South Loop. 20 years ago, grabbing brunch with friends on a Saturday wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary; however, between marriage, friends moving away from Chicago, my living away from Chicago, tight funds, and different […]
I remember my NOLA oncologist, Dr. Gurtler, being very opinionated, forceful, and persuasive about a number of things in regards to my diagnosis and treatment: She thought I should have reconstruction. She considered exercise as being extremely important and I was truly impressed with her personal exercise regimen–she walked her talk. Alcohol is really, really […]
In 2012, Public Radio International/PRI’s The World did a very thorough presentation of the status of cancer in the world, Cancer’s Global Footprint. This website is still relevant and the data collected is extremely insightful. Definitely worth checking out. So is investigating Oxford University’s Our World In Data for more recent information on cancer–as well […]
One of the most brilliant pieces of advice I have ever received was given to me as a newly sworn in PCV by our Associate Peace Corps Director, Ms. Elnora Lake. Her advice? “Find Your Bridges.” The 1992-3 school year had started and while I lived in the Antiguan village of Willikies, I taught at […]
Searching for EMWA 