Zora Neale Hurston Quote

Folklorist, anthropologist, novelist, and short story writer Zora Neale Hurston was born in Alabama on this date in 1891. 

One of her quotes:

"If writers were too wise, perhaps no books would get written at all. It might be better to ask yourself "Why?" afterwards than before. Anyway, the force from somewhere in Space which commands you to write in the first place, gives you no choice. You take up the pen when you are told, and write what is commanded. There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you." 

Zora passed away from heart disease on January 28, 1960, and was buried in Fort Pierce, Florida, in an unmarked grave. In 1973, novelist Alice Walker and literary scholar Charlotte Hunt found the unmarked grave and marked it as hers. 

A Reflective Thanksgiving

For the folks affected by Hurricane Sandy, this Thanksgiving may be quite different. Tragically, lives were lost. For the families and friends of those victims, the absence of their loved ones on this holiday and the holidays to come will be even more painful. I pray for their strength to get through it. Many people lost their homes, cars, treasured possessions, and more. Out-of-state utility workers left their families to help us. Public Safety workers have put in exhaustive hours. I hope that the majority of them can be home with their families for Thanksgiving. There will be much to ponder this Thursday when reflecting upon what we are grateful for in our lives.

One of my neighbor's uprooted trees

My family, our relatives, and friends got through it relatively unscathed; we were extremely fortunate, compared to the devastation experienced by some of our neighbors and fellow Long Islanders.

For those who might need assistance, or if you are interested in helping the victims of Hurricane Sandy, visit the website of the American Red Cross (@RedCross on Twitter).

Yesterday, on a brisk yet sunny autumn day, I took a long drive to attend a guided walking tour of Northport. Along the way, I admired the colors of the leaves which still clung to the trees that were left standing. I listened to one of my "mix-tape" CDs, which included (get ready, I have an extremely eclectic love of music): "Moondance" by Van Morrison, "The Rising" by Bruce Springsteen, "Forever in Blue Jeans" by Neil Diamond, "You're My Home" by Billy Joel, "Peaceful Easy Feeling" by the Eagles, and "Song for You" by Leon Russell, and many, many more. But it was some of the sights on this journey that encouraged me; the clean-up, repair, and rebuilding that has already taken place in such a short period of time. However, from seeing the photographs on the news, in the paper, and online, there is devastation on this island and surrounding east coast communities that will take months, if not years, to recuperate and rebuild.

Several Robert Frost quotes went through my mind, including:

"Nothing gold can stay."

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."

"Hope is not found in a way out but a way through."

I enjoyed the informative guided walking tour of Northport's historic Main Street. The Northport Historical Society's guided tour ("Parading Down Main Street") is offered approximately one Sunday a month, starting at 1:30 p.m. The next scheduled tour is December 16, 2012. A ticket cost $5.00, and it is well worth it. (The museum also offers a self-guided tour, Tuesday through Sunday from 1 pm - 4:30 pm). The tour guide, Dan, was a wealth of information. I highly recommend it ~ get ready to learn a lot.
If you've never visited Northport, you will see "Gunther's Tap Room," a favorite hang-out of Jack Kerouac's, and you will discover where a speakeasy existed during Prohibition.

The museum, listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1914 with funds provided by Andrew Carnegie for a Village Library. It functioned as a library until 1967; it became the home to the Northport Historical Society Museum in 1974. The society was established in 1962, and this year marks the 50th Anniversary of the society.

Why the walking tour of Northport, you might ask?

My husband grew up in Northport; his parents were born and raised in Northport. My mother's family moved from Brooklyn to Northport in the early 1950s. My grandfather, Edward Welsh, ran the concession stand at Crab Meadow Beach; he installed a jukebox under the pavilion, and he filled it with records from some new singer named Elvis Presley. Tragically, a massive heart attack claimed his life at age 47, leaving my broken-hearted grandmother to raise six children (ages 4-16, my mom being 15) on her own.

Even more connections: I delivered mail one summer in Northport; I subbed as a music teacher in the Northport-East Northport School District shortly after graduating from LIU. When I became a Suffolk County Police Officer, I patrolled the East Northport and Northport areas outside of the Incorporated Village of Northport. Fate has been pointing me towards Northport my entire life.

My true crime memoir centers around the 1955 hatchet murder of a taxi driver on Scudder Avenue in Northport (today happens to mark the 57th anniversary); it was a case that my armchair-detective grandmother, who lived two miles from the scene of the crime, discussed with me regularly, among other unsolved cases. Sadly, she passed away at age 61 when I was 13. I often ache to have an "adult" conversation with her about the case and what I've uncovered over the past two decades.

Speaking of Northport, there's an unusual but fun event occurring on Saturday, November 24, 2012, at 7 p.m., in front of the Northport Hardware Company, 90 Main Street; the Annual Leg Lamp Lighting Ceremony (an homage to "A Christmas Story"). Check out this YouTube Video from last year's event.

Wishing you and yours a warm, relaxing, enjoyable Thanksgiving with your loved ones.

Here's one of my favorite Erma Bombeck quotes, sure to give you a chuckle:

"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence."

Craft of Writing Quote

I enjoy collecting quotes on the craft of writing. I'd like to share a couple of quotes from American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley  who passed away on this date in 1999.  

“There's no "magic secret"; writing is like everything else; ten percent inspiration or talent, and ninety percent hard work. Persistence; keeping at it till you get there. As Agnes de Mille said, it means working every day—bored, tired, weary, or with a fever of a hundred and two.” 

"Think of this: a thousand pages sounds like a lot. But write three pages a day and a year from now you'll have a book."

In "What Is A Short Story?" Marion offers advice on the elements of the short story. 

Clipart source: Book Dreaming, Home of MG Author Shannon O'Donnell

"The Fighter" by Gym Class Heroes

I fell in love with the song the first time I heard it...some songs may take time to grow on you, but this one hit me immediately. I think it will hit you, too! It's contagious ~ and very inspirational! It's no surprise that the featured singer, the super-talented Ryan Tedder, is the flavor added to this fantastic song. His life story is one big inspiration. You may recognize his voice ~ he's the lead singer of OneRepublic. He's also a songwriter and a producer.

I'm fairly new at Pinterest, and I've started a board called, "Cool Music" and this one fit the bill.
Let me know what you think ~ and if you have any other suggestions for my Cool Music board.

Mammogram Bill in NYS

I've just read some positive news: A bill approved by the NYS Legislature in hopes of increasing the early detection of breast cancer would require that women be given notice in mammography reports if they have dense breast tissue, which makes it difficult to detect cancer.

I just wrote a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo to urge him to sign the measure. Any fellow New Yorkers who wish to email the governor may do so here.

However, it's only one step in the right direction.

I am living proof that even a sonogram may not pick up existing tumors.

I had a baseline mammo at age 34, because of family history. I was vigilant about screening and health care exams. At age 40, during a SBE (self breast exam), I felt something hard, something different. I immediately went to my OB/GYN. Since I had a mammogram months earlier, he sent me for a sonogram. I was relieved, but puzzled, when I was told it was nothing. I did what no woman should ever do: I gave up on SBEs. I should have followed my gut, which was telling me something wasn't right. But the tests showed otherwise, right? Why should I keep checking, only to bother the doctor, to have tests that show nothing? In hindsight, of course, I should have insisted on a biopsy.

Here's the kicker: a biopsy wouldn't have revealed anything. Why? Because in order to do a biopsy, a sonogram must zero in on the questionable spot. If the sonogram isn't picking up on the questionable spot, how can a biopsy be properly performed? It can't!

When I had a mammogram at age 42, the day before Thanksgiving in 2003 (I was given this appointment three weeks after being told they wished to repeat the mammo and conduct a sonogram because of "dense breast tissue"), I was informed I had at least three tumors; at least one was "highly suspicious of a malignancy." I asked the doctor how she knew this already, without benefit of a biopsy; she said that most benign tumors were cylindrical; malignant ones had spidery veins.

It took three more weeks to get an appointment with a breast surgeon; two weeks after that, a needle-core biopsy. Two medical professionals labored for three hours to obtain fluid samples to perform the biopsy. They struck a vein, and blood poured down into my neck and hair as they attempted to stop the bleeding.

About three days later, while I was at work, a nurse called with the results. I held my breath. "Benign!" she said. Huh? Puzzled again.

I saw the breast cancer surgeon for a follow-up on my biopsy. He said whatever they removed during the biopsy may have come back benign, but it didn't match what he had seen in the other reports. He insisted on an excisional biopsy; this took about another month to schedule.

During my follow-up, I was told, "It's not good." He informed me and my husband that I had three malignant tumors that were 5.5, 3, and 2 centimeters in size. I had lobular cancer (something I had never heard of), and that lobular cancer is difficult to detect in mammograms and sonograms.
"Do the women of America know this?" I asked, since I consider myself fairly well-read, and I had NEVER heard of this (which is tough to hear for the first time when it applies to you).

My thoughts flooded back two years earlier, when I had complained of a lump, and the mammo & sonogram failed to pick up on it. I had given up on SBEs, assuming the tests would pick up on it. I was WRONG.

According to the University of Washington Department of Radiation, "Lobular tumors are notorious for hiding within breast tissue."

The only message I can tell women (or men with women in their lives, to pass this message along): you must be your own best advocate. You know your body better than anyone else. You must push forward if you feel that something foreign has developed in your body. The sad news is that at least three exams, the mammogram, sonogram, and biopsy may not even pick it up. The only test that will ultimately discover the tumors is an MRI, which is extremely expensive and not covered by most insurance.

Fortunately, exams are moving along a lot quicker for patients these days. When I think that I saw my OB/GYN for an annual visit in September 2003, and it took until Halloween to get a mammogram appointment, then the day before Thanksgiving to get a repeat mammo and a sonogram, several weeks to see the breast surgeon, two more weeks to schedule a needle core biopsy ~ only to hear the results were benign (meanwhile, I had cancer), and another month for an excisional biopsy ~ to be told on February 4, 2004, that I had lobular cancer, it makes me shudder. I am truly fortunate to be alive, eight years later. I endured multiple surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation.

Each day is such a gift, and I'm extremely grateful to my doctors for saving my life.

Check out: Breast Cancer Facts Every Woman Should Know.

Shakespeare's Pre-Globe Theatre Unearthed

Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaelogy (MOLA) have discovered the remains of The Curtain theater, built in 1577, an early playhouse used by William Shakespeare's company where "Romeo and Juliet" may have first been performed, before the Globe theater was built.

2012 Spilling Ink Short Story Prize

I just learned about a writing competition, and the deadline's around the corner. But if you've got an unpublished story that's no more than 1500 words, any genre, and are willing to spend $10 on the entry fee, you may want to consider entering it into the 2012 Spilling Ink Short Story Prize. Spilling Ink Review is a quarterly e-journal (@spillinginkling on Twitter).

The guest judge is Richard Beard (@BeardRichard on Twitter).

Deadline is May 31, 2012.

Check out all the rules ~ and good luck!