I’ll never to get used to hearing about the ‘new normal,’ which is a pretty common topic after cancer treatment. “How is your new normal?” I’ve heard. “Do you miss the things you can’t do anymore?” I’ve heard. What’s the right answer? There is no right answer, but the questions ought to serve […]
PORTLAND STORY THEATER TELLS THE TALE AT WILLAMETTE WRITERS
January 3, 2018 by
Lawrence Howard and Lynne Duddy ran the first Willamette Writers meeting of 2018. For all the wishes for a Happy New Year still echoing, their presentation confirmed the idea. I came in right as they started and found a seat in the back, the last seat open. I start every meeting with high […]
WRITER TRAINING: PACK HEAVY FOR #writertraining
December 24, 2017 by
Writer training is more than a classroom, more than paper and pencil, fingers and keyboard, more than listening. It is sweating and struggling and wishing you’d made a different choice. Not about being a writer, but about those damn books. The importance of jamming writing books into a heavy duty backpack, heavy […]
CANCER TREATMENT: 5 THINGS I KNEW BEFORE STARTING
December 21, 2017 by
I will submit to the cancer treatment sequence of events that may or may not do what is predicted. Like a lamb to slaughter, I would submit to whatever it took to kill the shit out of hpv16 throat cancer. In the writing world we all dream of that one ‘YES’ that […]
CANCER MEMOIR FROM SMART GUY WITH HPV CANCER, AND IT’S NOT ME
December 3, 2017 by
Michael D. Becker wrote his cancer memoir titled ‘A Walk With Purpose.’ By all accounts he’s lived a life with purpose, so the walking with purpose stuff is expected. He walks with purpose, so do you. So do I. We all walk with purpose. If not we’re just wandering around aimless, without […]
CANCER VIEW: WEED FROM THE OTHER SIDE
November 26, 2017 by
My cancer view had more weed hope later than sooner with DAG approved brownies. It started with a look for an alternate route for a cure instead of chemo road. What I found was a log of death in men who’d gone the alternate route instead of chemo, then switched to the hard stuff […]
Neck Cancer And Alcohol Consumption: U.S. vs Belarus
November 9, 2017 by
Neck cancer? In Belarus? Bela-where? Either check a map or be satisfied that Belarus is an eastern european country that used to be part of the Soviet Union. And they drink. A lot. Belarus scores #1 on Market Watch’s survey of ten drunkest nations on earth. #2 is Republic of Moldova, #3 Lithuania, […]
HPV16 Cancer Side Effects Include Blogs And Memoirs
October 4, 2017 by
If you chose to be ‘The Face’ of anything, few would choose cancer of any kind. Be the face of something grand, something happy, something exciting. But cancer? Add ‘The Face’ of an STD that leads to cancer and you’ve got HPV16 cancer. The same culprit for cervical cancer in women leads […]
Stomp Out Cancer: When Not If
September 10, 2017 by
Stomp out cancer is a campaign with the hashtag #stompoutcancer. Cancer survivors from OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital joined Nike and UofO to help create the uniforms the Ducks wore for Stomp Out Cancer. Their efforts are a ray or hope for everyone crossing the line from cancer treatment to cancer survivor. […]
