Wonderful Women Of The World
Posted by Michelle Moquin on July 17th, 2010
While flipping through Vogue Magazine a few weeks ago, a bright-smiled young girl and the catchy title “Brainiac Rising’ caught my eye. I read the article and thought, ‘This girl needs to be the subject of my Saturday’s blog write.”
The young lady I’m speaking of is Sarah Lewis.
(Oops photo just added. I forgot:)
“I’ve always done too much,” Sarah Lewis says in a tone that falls somewhere between self-mockery and pride.
Hmm…Well let’s see….
At thirty years old, with honors degrees from Harvard and Oxford under her belt and on the verge of a Ph.D. from Yale, she has two books nearing completion, and co-curated the SITE Santa Fe biennial, the closely watched art show, this past June.
Okay, this girl can definitely back her words. In fact people are so impressed with her that Rocco Landesman, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, wants to create a special initiative for her at the NEA in Washington, D.C. She has become a young woman to watch. As her friend Agnes Gund, MoMA’s president emerita, said the other day, “You don’t know what she’ll end up doing—there are so many possibilities.”
As I read I found some interesting things in this article. First let me preface with this:
Awhile ago, and I blogged about it briefly, Doug and I watched a documentary, “Journey of Man”, a special on PBS. – A geneticist, Spencer Wells followed a DNA trail back 2000 generations, 50,000 years and proved that man, the very first man on earth a descendant of the Cromagnum man, started out in Africa. Then, a group of around 10-20 people from Africa traversed their way through India, Australia, and then to the America’s, (Branching off into separate groups all within a span of 35,000 years) proving from the DNA tracing, that we all originally descended from Africa! We are all related – one big happy family. This should be world news on every headline but you know that once again, people’s religious beliefs and racial prejudices will prevent them from even looking at the evidence.
We know people with the likes of George would never accept this discovery. Whites are descendants from blacks? “No way,” he would say.
Lewis made a similar type of discovery while in the Beineke Library at Yale:
Targeting fresh aesthetic territory comes naturally to Lewis. In her first week at Yale, she found, in the Beineke Library, a photograph of a white woman with “an Afro larger than Angela Davis’s.” Intrigued, she researched it and discovered the now mostly forgotten phenomenon of the “Circassian beauties”: women from the Caucasus Mountain region—where Noah’s Ark supposedly came to rest—with tightly curled blonde or brown hair extending a foot or more from their heads in every direction. P. T. Barnum exhibited a group of purported Circassians in 1864 at his museum on Broadway as the “purest example of the white race.” (An eighteenth-century German physiologist coined the term Caucasian as a synonym for “white in colour,” and he claimed that Circassians were the purest Caucasians of all.)
This was an electrifying discovery for Lewis, who recalls being the only African-American in class during her first six years at the Brearley School, and she made it the subject of her dissertation and first book. “It’s about this ironic arc from white racial purity to what we now associate with black authenticity,” she says. “It’s an opportunity to ask the fundamental question, one we’re still grappling with: Are we really separate from one another? And it offers a resounding no.” Says the legendary Robert Farris Thompson, Lewis’s adviser at Yale and one of the pioneers in charting the African influence on visual arts in the Americas, “Her thesis, as we say in the vernacular, is going to blow hair on the walls of academe—it’s partially about coiffure.”
Interesting huh? I also found this paragraph interesting too:
Born and raised in midtown Manhattan, Lewis says, “I got my interest in art from my mother’s father, Shadrack Emmanuel Lee. When he was in the eleventh grade, he asked where the African-Americans were in the history books and was told that none of them had accomplished enough to merit being there. His pride was so wounded that he quit school and never graduated. He spent his life as a jazz musician and a painter, deliberately putting African-Americans into genre paintings.” His story, she says, “reminds me that art is foundational for life, not just something that enriches or embellishes it.”
How sad that her grandfather never went to school because he believed, because of what he was told, that there were no African-Americans in history books because none of them had accomplished enough to merit being there? I wouldn’t doubt that it was probably a while teacher that told him that. And I’m sure there ere many more teachers who said the same thing. How many other blacks decided to quit school because their pride was wounded? How much potential have we lost in blacks today because of the same reason?
But Back to Lewis:
It was Lewis’s good luck to come of age when history was on her side. Barack Obama was the first presidential candidate to form an arts-policy committee during his campaign, and in 2008, Lewis, then a doctoral candidate and faculty member at Yale, was invited to serve on it. She had impressed a lot of people by then, including Rob Storr, the dean of Yale School of Art. (He taught her at Harvard, and she also worked for him at MoMA.) Being on the Obama committee opened up the whole field of public arts policy to her. Landesman, whom Obama named chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts last year, got in touch with Lewis before he took office, and has been trying to get funding to bring her to the NEA. “I’d love to work with her on a new initiative called Our Town,” he says, “which will focus on showing that the arts can be an important part of neighborhood revitalization, urban renewal, and economic development. She’s so smart and so charismatic, and she has a great way with people—she’ll be a leader.”
I can’t wait to see what this girl is going to do next! If you want to read the rest of Vogue’s article on Lewis, click here.
And now…
…The votes are in on “The Best Of Zen Lill.” Here are the results.…And the number 1 winner is….with a score of 163 votes….
Number 6!
ZL: No surprise there. Your fave got the most votes. :)
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Hi Kelly: Welcome to my blog. You are now in the know. :)
Anonymous: Do your research and spread the word on your findings.
Guill: A very quirky poem. I like it.
Harold: Thank you for the kind words. I’m so sorry about your wife. From what little you said, you said a lot – it sounds like you had a wonderful partnership.
Sharon: And we should do it a lot more than we probably do.
Have a beautiful Sunday! Oops Saturday!
(my brain just returned to me)
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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July 17th, 2010 at 11:40 am
Hi Mischa, no no surprise, I actually dig it just as much for it’s composition as it’s softness of the cleavage capture, I managed to get just a titch of flying hair in there and I love the way my name in Chinese characters just fits in Li-Li-Ahn nice touch I thought.
I’m intrigued by this article…she’s something and is onto something big (not just hair size either) though the Georges of the world will no doubt negate it. I’m digging the one happy family thing, though some (no not all) males in this current world could be vetted for obvious reasons.
I’m outta here – have a few busy weeks ahead…! But, I always find time to be here : )
Luv, Zen Lill
July 18th, 2010 at 8:25 am
I couldn’t get in to say Yeaa! Great now, Zen Lill the tease is over. Let’s see more.
July 18th, 2010 at 8:28 am
Miichelle
You are right about expressing our thank yous to the men in our lives that make our unions so special. I will make an effort from now on to tell Sam hope much I appreciate all he has done for me.
Jenny
July 18th, 2010 at 8:45 am
THRIVE AFTER TESTICULAR CANCER
When it comes to testicular cancer, you might say the glass is more than half full — but not exactly spilling over. It’s inspiring to witness superstar athletes like Lance Armstrong and Scott Hamilton show that the disease is not only survivable, but that men can thrive after treatment.
However, that’s not quite the whole story… as with other forms of cancer, having had testicular cancer has implications for your future health, some from the disease and others that result from its treatment.
To better understand the long-term picture, researchers at The Norwegian Radium Hospital at the University of Oslo, Norway, conducted a review of 40 studies published between 1990 and 2008, cataloguing the health challenges many survivors face.
The Oslo researchers concluded that though survival rates are very high (95%), the long-term effects of testicular cancer have been underestimated.
Though they’re not typically life-threatening and many don’t even require medical intervention, they can affect the quality of your life. It is helpful to know about the common challenges men with testicular cancer are likely to face in the years ahead so you can do all you can to prevent them.
According to the report, testicular cancer survivors were almost twice as likely as age-matched men in the general population to develop a secondary cancer. To varying degrees, they were also vulnerable to a range of long-term effects from their treatment, including cardiovascular disease… hypogonadism (in which the testes produce little or no sex hormone) and reduced fertility… chronic fatigue… mental distress… and neurological problems such as peripheral neuropathy, impaired hearing and tinnitus.
On a more positive note, most of those who’d had a single testicle removed and wanted to were able to conceive children, and reports on frequency and quality of sexual activity found little difference between survivors and men who never had testicular cancer. The study was published in the journal BJU International.
THE DANGERS OF TESTICULAR CANCER TREATMENTS
Testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer in men between ages 15 and 34, though overall it accounts for only 1% of male cancers.
Early symptoms include swelling, pain or a lump in a testicle or the scrotum, or back or abdominal pain. Treatment usually involves some combination of surgery, radiation and/or chemotherapy.
I called J. Stephen Jones, MD, chairman of the Department of Regional Urology at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and professor of urologic surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, to see what he thought about the Oslo study.
He agreed that some testicular cancer treatments (specifically radiation and cisplatin-based chemotherapy) can indeed cause long-term health problems but said that, in his view, it’s worth the tradeoff. Men who have these problems have, in fact, survived a disease that used to be lethal.
Dr. Jones provided insights on the top four health challenges identified by the research…
Men who had cancer in one testicle face an increased likelihood of developing cancer in the other testicle. A history of cancer of any kind raises your risk for other cancers, including recurrence.
According to Dr. Jones, testicular cancer patients have genetic traits or have faced environmental factors that put them at higher risk already, as is evidenced by their earlier cancer.
Testicular cancer survivors are nearly twice as likely to develop cancer in another part of the body, especially in the lower body. The radiation and chemo used to treat their testicular cancer are known carcinogens in their own right, increasing the risk that other cancers will develop.
Heart disease risk is increased. Several types of treatment for testicular cancers (and other types as well) have been linked to heart damage — specifically, mediastinal radiation, an out-moded type of treatment involving radiation beamed to the chest (even when the cancer is elsewhere) and cisplatin, a common chemotherapy drug known to harm the coronary arteries.
Peripheral neuropathy affects a high percentage of patients. This painful condition caused by nerve damage, particularly in the hands and feet, is another long-term effect of treatment with radiation and/or cisplatin. (For information on natural treatments helpful for neuropathy, see Daily Health News, April 13, 2009.)
REASON TO BE OPTIMISTIC
These problems can be managed with appropriate medical care, including regular screenings and preventive measures, said Dr. Jones, urging survivors to maintain good communication with their doctors so health issues can be addressed as they emerge. He urges testicular cancer survivors to be very focused on keeping the risk for many of these long-term health problems as low as possible by eating a nutritious diet, getting regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight — and not smoking.
Furthermore, Dr. Jones points out that monthly testicular self-examination is important to identify any new tumors in the earliest stages for all men — most especially those who have had one testis removed.
In the end, the news continues to get better for men with testicular cancer as more people survive this disease — and, in fact, many other types of cancer, too. Experts are working to find better ways to address the long-term effects as well as to identify early biomarkers that can flag degenerative changes known to be caused by cancer treatments… and it looks like the developments ahead will be “all good.”
Source(s):
J. Stephen Jones, MD, is chairman of the department of regional urology at the Cleveland Clinic Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute, and is professor of surgery (urology) at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. He is author of The Complete Prostate Book (Prometheus) and Overcoming Impotence (Prometheus).
July 18th, 2010 at 8:51 am
Ditto, Larry.
Well, Zen Lill the balls :) are in your court.
July 18th, 2010 at 8:55 am
I can listen to you all day long Zen Lill. You are an example of why men like me must continue to be vigilant. If we don’t the niggers and mud people will try to compromise that beauty.
Yes, change will come. But it will be in your attitude. Some big horny nigger will one day make a play for your beautiful child and then you will feel the same way I do.
George
July 18th, 2010 at 8:57 am
I thanked my sweet husband for doing the things that I usually take for granted this morning. He looked as if he was in shock.
I smiled and made a mental promise to do it more.
Thanks for setting the example once again.
Chloe
July 18th, 2010 at 9:13 am
I’ve been told that this is a favorite spot for the boys in battle. So I’m adding a little something for them.
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Three soldiers were the sole survivors of a desert battle. The tried o flee in a staff car, but the vehicle broke down. “I’ll unhook the radiator and take it along,” said one soldier, “because we can drink the water.”
“I’ll remove the hub caps.” added another, “because we can use then as hats against the burning desert sun.”
“And I’ll unbolt a oor and carry it,” grunted the not-too-bright third fellow.
“Why in the world would you want to do that?” chorused his companions.
“Because if it gets too hot,” he regrunted. “we can roll down the window.”
July 18th, 2010 at 9:18 am
This is not meant for you mother. I know how wonderfully your mind works. But it is worth the mention.
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Slowing Alzheimer’s with magnets
Maybe you’ve heard that nothing can be done about Alzheimer’s disease.
Well, you’ve heard wrong… again.
While drugs have been a complete failure when it comes to this degenerative disease, natural treatments have shown terrific promise in preventing it, slowing it and even improving cognitive abilities after the diagnosis.
And now, a new study finds that Alzheimer’s patients may be able to boost their language skills with an electromagnetic treatment known as rTMS, or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. This drug-free, noninvasive technique involves a device placed over the head that sends magnetic pulses into the brain.
In the small study, 10 patients were given either four weeks of rTMS, or two weeks of a sham therapy followed by two weeks of the real thing. The researchers tested memory, language skills and executive function at the start of the study, at the two-week mark, after four weeks, and after eight weeks.
Those who got rTMS got an immediate pick-me-up in one key area: Their scores on a comprehension test shot up to 77 percent from 66 percent.
Those who got the sham treatment showed no changes after two weeks–but once they began receiving the real thing, they improved just as quickly and dramatically.
And two months later–a month after the treatments stopped –-the language comprehension improvements remained in both groups.
Since the patients didn’t show improvements in other areas, it’s not a perfect treatment. But it’s a promising field for more research–and a drug-free way for dementia patients to get a boost in a critical ability.
If you’ve never heard of magnetic therapy before, it may sound a little kooky. But the results speak for themselves –-because rTMS and the similar TMS therapies have shown incredible promise in beating a number of challenging conditions.
One recent study found that rTMS was at least as effective as meds for hard-to-beat cases of depression–and the longer the patient stuck with it, the better the results.
Another recent study found that TMS–which is like rTMS, but uses a single magnetic pulse instead of a repetitive one–can help beat migraine headaches.
The best part of all: rTMS and TMS are safe for most people and come with a very low risk of side effects (but talk to your doctor just to be sure–epileptics and stroke patients face a risk of seizures).
But let’s get back to Alzheimer’s for a moment, because magnetic therapy isn’t the only way you can prevent or even slow this life-wrecking condition.
Some research has linked Alzheimer’s to inflammation–and one of the best natural anti-inflammatories you’ll ever find is swimming in the oceans of the earth. I’m talking about fish oil, of course–so if you’re not eating fatty fish several times a week, be sure to take a supplement.
Other studies have linked obesity and low levels of vitamin D to an increased risk of cognitive decline, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease–so the first step in taking care of your brain is taking care of the rest of your body.
In addition, natural health pioneer Dr. Jonathan Wright recommends low-dose lithium for its brain-boosting powers as well as protection from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. You can learn more on his Web site.
Finally, studies have also found that brainpower is a “use it or lose it” proposition. If you find you have more free time on your hands, don’t waste it–keep yourself engaged, physically and mentally.
Not only will that help you lower your risk for dementia and other diseases, but you’ll enjoy life more, too.
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Michelle
You are so sweet, I’m sure Doug knows how lucky he is to have you. I’m looking for one like him myself.
Evelyn
July 18th, 2010 at 9:51 am
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