Born and raised in Suffern, NY, pretty much everyone I knew was touched somehow by breast cancer. If it didn’t affect you personally, either your friend or aunt or mother or sister or grandmother seemed to be struggling with the disease. There was the routine of chemotherapy, hair loss, mastectomy, and on… it almost seemed as common as dealing with the removal of wisdom teeth. Just take a look at the incidence in Rockland County over 4 years (click here for the expanded list):
Later in Maine, the wife of a professor in my department was diagnosed with the same condition. Many peers had not encountered breast cancer personally until then and I realized my county was unusual. I also learned the couple coincidentally used to live on the street where I grew up.
So what’s going on in Rockland? Some local doctors wonder about environmental toxins and others suggest that the particular genetic make-up of residents may make the population more susceptible than average. Speculation abounds, but there are no answers.
This afternoon I’m concerned about yet another friend having a biopsy. Meanwhile CNN reports on the troubling new trend of younger women getting the disease. The incidence is still quite low, but we ought to be paying close attention. As National Breast Cancer Awareness month draws to a close, the American Cancer Society (ACS) estimates there were 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer in women and 1,910 in men last year in the United States. Rates in this country are among the highest in the world. (Statistics are available to download here).
I was delighted for the opportunity to deliver a talk about Unscientific America at my local bookstore in Durham, North Carolina. There’s something extra special when you recognize so many familiar faces in the audience. They didn’t even mind my cold and I was particularly touched when one sweet gentleman in the front row gave me his handkerchief before the Q&A. Gosh I love this town, its bookstore, newspapers (The Herald Sun and The Independent), and so much more.
Thanks to everyone who came out and participated in a terrific discussion about science, education, the Internet, politics, and literacy in America. I left re-energized to finish the final edits on my next book and even managed to turn in the manuscript on time today.
I keep a series of ‘notes’ in my iPhone about when to pay bills, new ideas, and general things to remember. Today as I entered a new item, the entire page vanished and a single line appeared at the top:
“What do you think of that?“
Can anyone explain what happened? I am working in a coffeeshop, but the phone isn’t connected to the internet. This is mostly irritating because my long list is gone now, but what’s with the question? Has anyone else’s iPhone behaved so strangely in the past?
Last night I had the pleasure of listening to Nicholas Kristof speak to a packed auditorium here at Duke about ‘the cause of our century‘: The plight of women around the world.
In one of the most moving and inspirational public lectures I’ve heard, Kristof shared stories from the new book he composed with his wife Sheryl WuDunn called Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Copies were already sold out before I could purchase one, but based on his words, I cannot wait to read what sounds like an extraordinary book. I’m sure I’ll have more to say once I get started, but in the mean time, here’s a glimpse of the review from The Washington Post:
“Half the Sky” is a call to arms, a call for help, a call for contributions, but also a call for volunteers. It asks us to open our eyes to this enormous humanitarian issue. It does so with exquisitely crafted prose and sensationally interesting material. It provides us with a list of individual hospitals, schools and small charities so that we can contribute to, or at least inform ourselves about, this largely unknown world. I really do think this is one of the most important books I have ever reviewed. I may be wrong, but I don’t think so.
I’ve just learned that ROME may continue on the big screen!
As I former Classics major, I can wax poetic over everything I love about my all-time favorite series (and everything wrong with films like Troy and Alexander). Looks like IMDb has slated the feature film for 2011 and it’s listed ‘in development‘ on writer Bruno Heller’s page. There’s also a facebook group and this interview with Kevin McKidd (Lucius Vorenus) talking about the possibility…
If true, I’ll be incredibly excited! Can any of our readers confirm?
Sheril Kirshenbaum is a research associate at Duke University and co-author of Unscientific America. Sometimes she's a classicist, radio jock, or congressional staffer. For more information, visit her website.
I was delighted for the opportunity to deliver a talk about 
