You've seen the videos all over Facebook and other social media: People participating in The Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money and awareness for ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig's Disease). A vast array of my Facebook friends participated, too.
A few have mentioned making a monetary donation. Fewer still have made an attempt to educate people about ALS in their videos. Most only mention money as a penalty. Most opt for the ice water dousing, though some also donate dollars and get doused.
It took some time for me to figure out why I felt so uncomfortable when viewing these videos. Then it hit me: This challenge isn't really about ALS at all...
The blogosphere is a pretty amazing place, filled with some pretty amazing people.
Some are bloggers. Some are readers. Some are commenters. Some are all three; some are two; others, one.
In our burgeoning breast cancer blogging community, we have a special woman who is a faithful reader and commenter on so many of our blogs. She always signs her name "Karen, TC." I never knew what the "TC" stood for; I never asked.
Turns out it means "The Commenter." How perfect. How clever.
I always looked forward to Karen, TC's comments...
DAY 17 — Wordless Wednesday! As part of #HAWMC, we're creating word clouds via Wordle.net.
To come up with the words and terms I used in the cloud below, I perused many of the breast cancer blogs I follow and then selected a word or phrase from the title of a recent posting of three dozen of them. I love this wordle because it showcases what's on the minds of many breast cancer bloggers the past few weeks:
Day 11 of the Wego Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge asks us to write about our favorite social network.
I'm crazy for Twitter! Which is completely crazy, because until two weeks ago I was a Twitter holdout. But I folded up my fear and finally completed my account. My impetus? To participate in the Monday night #BCSM Tweetchat (yes, I'm impressed I even knew what #BCSM meant too!).
On Twitter, #BCSM stands for "The Intersection of Breast Cancer and Social Media." This online community was founded in 2011 by Jody Schoger and Alicia Staley (both breast cancer survivors), along with Dr. Deanna J. Attai, a board-certified breast surgeon. In April of 2013, they created a BCSM blog,
and posted a terrific article entitled, "Respect the Hashtag." Check it out to learn more about the proper ways to post on Twitter and #BCSM.
The #BCSM’s mission: "To help support, empower and inform women about issues related to breast cancer." #BCSM is an awesome group of women and men who have cancer, had cancer or have an interest in cancer. However, #BCSM Twitterchats are not for the faint of heart! They move quickly, and I am slowly getting the hang of thinking of short but relevant things to tweet. Join us every Monday night at 9 PM Eastern Time, 8 PM Central Time and 6 PM Pacific Time.
I know now why I was afraid of Twitter: I didn't understand it. I thought it was something I could only access from my smart phone. (Which I didn't even own until last Christmas. Silly me.) My world has been widened: I've since figured out how to "follow" folks (475 and counting!), and it's been great fun to watch as people "follow" me (150 and counting).
To follow me on Twitter, click here. See you Monday night!
DAY 10 of the Wego Health Activist Writer's Month Challenge: It's Wordless Wednesday (YAY!) and I'm to post my favorite picture of myself. I chose this photo for five reasons:
- It's a self-portrait
- It was taken post-cancer and represents my "new" life
- It was shot at the beach (one of my favorite places!)
- It was taken on a day I was hanging out with my friend R., who has metastatic breast cancer. When I see this image, it reminds me of her. (R. is doing remarkably well despite having mets for many years. She is feeling terrific. BIG shout-out to R.!)
- It represents the mystery in me. You may have noticed that I'm rather shy about revealing who I am on my blog. That may seem strange since I'm certainly not shy about writing about breast cancer! But I find it more liberating to write from behind the shadows. Of course, this could change at any time. But that day is not today.
