Yesterday morning, I watched the Edwards press conference where he announced that his wife, Elizabeth, had cancer again, and that they decided to keep campaigning. Later that day, we discussed that press conference in class. Some thought it was heartless of Edwards. One guy noticed that they weren’t standing next to each other during the press conference. Others thought it wouldn’t make any difference; Edwards had no chance against Obama and Hillary and would soon be forced to drop out.
Later, my intro students told me that they were rather happy the voting rate was only about 50%. They thought that voting should only be for smart people. But that’s neither here nor there.
I want to put up a link for donations to breast cancer research. What organization is the best?
Apt. 11d 
I don’t know which organization is best, sorry. But I am struck by the difference between your students’ responses and mine. I found the press conference pretty moving, actually, and they (John & Elizabeth, that is) seemed really genuine. I didn’t like him in 2004; now I do. But I also find I’m much more sentimental these days than my students are–or less ironic, maybe?
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It’s cute how your students assume that the 50% of the population that votes is also the smarter half (and do they mean smarter or better-informed?). Ah, kids! Oh, wait, they’re voters too. Where do they count themselves in the smart/non-voting dichotomy?
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Despite the fact that my own wife seems to have been saved (knock on wood) from her breast cancer, and by good and aggressive treatment based on research that’s been done in the last fifteen years, I’m not convinced that breast cancer research is particularly held back by not enough money.
The conservative writer Cathy Seipp just died of lung cancer, and before she died, wrote: “I’m beginning to feel a responsibility to point out that lung cancer, which kills more people annually (about 163,000) than the next four most common cancers (colon, breast, pancreatic and prostate) combined, is terribly underfunded compared to other diseases: $950 in research money per lung cancer death, compared to $8800 for breast cancer and $34,000 for AIDS.
“That’s because the vast majority of lung cancer (about 85 percent) is still caused by smoking, even though the rate for lifelong nonsmoking women like me (and Christopher Reeve’s widow) has been going up for some mysterious reason, and the general attitude is that smokers deserve whatever they get.
“But half of all lung cancer patients have been nonsmokers by the time of diagnosis, sometimes for decades, like Warren Zevon. If they deserve to get sick, then I suppose so do people who are overweight or don’t exercise or who have promiscuous sex with strangers, all of which are contributing factors for various illnesses that get much more sympathy in the form of research dollars. Maybe the amount of attention we pay to a disease should have less to do with how many celebrities, magazine editors and junk bond kings carry its banner, and more with how many people actually die of it.”
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It seems to be the conventional wisdom in my household that Elizabeth is the one who encouraged John to keep running. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s at least as plausible as his being heartless.
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That’s a very good point, dave s. I remember hearing a while back that while women are very conscious of “women’s” cancers, heart disease is a much bigger killer for women.
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Is American Cancer Association the right one? They can sort of the heirarchy of cancers. I just want people to cough up some money for a good cause.
Ianqui, I’m sure it was a family decision. I was reporting my students’ reactions. I’m not sure if they are represenative or not, but I thought I would share.
Rachel, they assume that they are in the smart side of the 50%. They are very proud of themselves for being in school and for watching the Daily Show. Now, if they could only sort out the their-there-they’re puzzle.
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it’s amazing how influential the candidates spouses’ lives are in terms of public politics these days. obama seems to be keeping his family life relatively private.
american cancer society.
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I’ve been successfully recommending via my health practice MC-S to a number of breast cancer patients.
A very dear friend of mine died recently, and she was quite young, only 33. If you know someone who is affected by breast cancer or yourself you might like to read some of the details on http://www.mc-s.com.au
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