Janet's Blog

Janet's Blog store is open for business. I currently have shirts in honor of my favorite month of the year: October. I love October because it's my birthday month, and not because it's a pink-washed span of time for people to give lip service to the fight against breast cancer. I'm already quite "aware" and don't need pink ribbons to remind me how terrible this disease is. So I offer an alternative sentiment:


http://www.cafepress.com/jellykins

I personally think any of this stuff would make a delightful gift for loved ones, although perhaps it's not entirely child-friendly. Your teen would think you're a total bad-ass if you got him or her something with the F-word on it.

Addendum

I'd like to add that whereas the prices seem high, I do not plan on making vast sums of money on the items for sale. Cafepress is kinda pricey and there is very little markup on my merchandise. I'll earn a penny if you buy a "Boobeyes Clock."

Labels: awareness, cafepress, f-ck awareness, pink ribbon

1 comments

What do you think? Is there a market for something like this? Do you think they'd sell 'em at Hot Topic?

I want one just because the idea of alluding to the F-word amuses me. I also find the notion of conceptually flipping the bird to "awareness" on my already-mutilated bosom to be somehow just and appropriate. I've got plenty of awareness. I've got more than I need. I don't need to be made aware; I need a bloody cure already.

Just in case anyone is worried about this, let me state for the record that I don't personally mind pink ribbons. I had one on my car; I have pink ribbon beanie babies both at home and the office, and I am happy to have not one, but THREE pink-ribbon motorcycle-riding teddy bear figurines (multiple family members and friends independently concluded it would be the perfect gift for me). I prefer seeing pink ribbon magnets on people's cars to those of other colors; it makes me feel pretty good to know that there are people pulling for me.

Unfortunately, the pervasiveness of the pink ribbon (you can buy pink kitchen mixers, for crying out loud) has disguised the fact that the job isn't done yet. People think that because the pink ribbon campaign is so successful, breast cancer research doesn't need any more money or attention.

"Awareness" often goes hand-in-hand with "early detection" or "prevention," neither of which does me a damn bit of good. I'm sure those things will help other people, but I find I am growing steadily more self-centered and don't care as much about other people and their "prevention" as I do about the fact that my medications are keeping me alive, but brutalizing my body and self-esteem.

I am very aware of how to detect cancer. I am very aware of what can happen if it goes undetected for a stupidly long time. I am aware of the scars on my chest, belly, arm, psyche, and memory.

I'll be waiting for my cure.

Labels: chemo, motorcycle, pink ribbon

2 comments

I saw an ad for Pink Ribbon Barbie for the first time at the University of Michigan Cancer Center at my infusion appointment.

I was resuming chemotherapy after a two month break, and decided to read a women's magazine promising me fashion advice and information on how to have the best butt ever. It was an older magazine from October, and had a feature on breast cancer prevention (I'd like to point out to people writing breast cancer awareness month articles that whereas regular self-exams and mammograms are key in early detection, they don't do SQUAT to prevent breast cancer...nobody knows how to prevent it, so call your article something else).

In flipping through the magazine, I turned the page and beheld Barbie's smiling face. Her impossible figure is bedecked in a dazzling gown; her hair is flawless. Sales of Pink Ribbon Barbie promise to help support the Komen Foundation.

That's great, and I certainly don't object to Pink Ribbon merchandise, but Barbie as an embassador for breast cancer is a little bit ridiculous. I sat in my infusion chair, bloated, eyebrowless, expecting that my nasty, scraggly hair would begin again to fall out, and praying that chemo wouldn't give me awful fatigue and nausea.

As an alternative to Mattel's Pink Ribbon Barbie (which was perhaps well-meant but not exactly on the mark), you might consider Breast Cancer Barbie.

"While Pink Ribbon™ Barbie® is dressed up for a charity ball in a gorgeous gown and has her flowing blonde hair up in a bouffant hair-do, Real Breast Cancer Barbie is spending the evening alone with her bald head in the toilet."

Breast Cancer Barbie more accurately reflects the experience of breast cancer. She has lost her hair, gained weight from the steroids given to prevent nausea, and has an IV for her regular infusions. She needs a pill case because the chemotherapy makes it difficult for her to remember if she's taken her medications or not.

Bidding is open now! This item is one-of-a-kind. Proceeds will help send the creator of Breast Cancer Barbie, Linnea Johnston, to the 7th Annual Conference for Young Women Affected by Breast Cancer, which is certainly a worthy cause.

Labels: baldness, chemo, eyebrows, infusion, nausea, pink ribbon

2 comments

I've been wanting some graphics on the website for a while now, and was dissatisfied with the notion of going with the ubiquitous pink ribbon. I wanted something a little more unique.

I may be working on a new favicon--fashioned after the logo--soon. I tried to download a plugin that would let me use photoshop to "save as" windows icons, but the PC I have at work is set up for security, and not for installing software. What a pain in the butt. I can't complain, because it's what we (the Systems Department) make everyone else go through, but I long for the days of running in admin mode willy-nilly instead of having to change logins to install stuff.

So what do you think? Too much? I'm rather taken with the googly pink eyes and happy smile.

Labels: blog, favicon, graphics, logo, photoshop, pink ribbon, smile

3 comments

I want to say first that I do not personally object to the use of pink to represent breast cancer awareness. I don't mind pink ribbons. I've got a pink ribbon Beanie Baby sitting on top of my computer monitor, and am eating special edition pink M&Ms which Brian bought yesterday. It makes me feel good when I realize the ribbon on the car in front of me isn't one of those red white and blue "Support our troops" ribbons (no offense, troops...y'all need to come home), but a pink one in support of ME.

However, not all breast cancer survivors are thrilled with the pink, or with the pink ribbons, and it might be a good idea to ponder why.

Think Before You Pink is one organization which raises some serious questions about the history of the pink ribbon campaign, where the funds go, what actually gets supported, and whether or not it's all just a marketing gimmick designed to make people shell out big money while feeling warm fuzzies.

I've been reading messages on the Young Survivor's Coalition bulletin boards posted by women who've had their love for pink (if, indeed, they ever had it to begin with) utterly destroyed by its association with breast cancer. One woman even wrote to comment that seeing little girls dressed in pink is now very weird and creepy. Another wrote to say that her husband had black shirts made with "cancer sucks" printed on them in teal for her family.

Try to be sensitive, and don't assume that the pink bracelet or pink ribbon ribbon pins will be welcomed by those dealing with breast cancer. The pink campaign isn't really meant for us, you see. Survivors, especially those actively battling the disease, are already perfectly aware of breast cancer.

Aren't we all already aware that cancer is bad? Can we hope for action, instead of just awareness? Can we hope for prevention or a cure, instead of old hormonal medications (I'm talking about YOU, Tamoxifen) that cause other cancers, or highly toxic treatments that destroy healthy cells in addition to cancer cells? More on that later. Right now I've got pink chocolate candies to eat.

Labels: awareness, cure, pink ribbon, prevention, tamoxifen, Think Before You Pink, YSC

2 comments