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for my bff on her birthday
My best friend and I don’t exchange birthday gifts or cards, and I don’t know why, because in the areas of gift-giving and card-selection, we are masters. I take her for granted, and I don’t thank her enough for being the friend that she is, so in lieu of a card or a gift, I’m sending out a thank you or two on her special day: Dear Amanda, For wading through all the bullshit with me since 2003 and for relishing in all the joy, thank you. For cooking all those healthy meals for Ken after his surgeries and for going to the house and finding him because I knew, I just knew…
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Awesome Women, Breast Cancer Advocacy, Breast Cancer Awareness, Cancer Language, Culture of breast cancer, Diagnosis, Early Detection, Facebook, Family, Health, Language of Cancer, Mammograms, Memoir, Mother Daughter Relationship, Pink Ribbon Culture, Pink Ribbons, Social Media, Twitter, Wilfred Owen, World Cancer Day, Writing
world cancer day & the real warrior in my house
My breast cancer is not just about me as I discovered when my then fourteen year old daughter decided to break her silence about it. In her own way, on her Facebook wall, and on World Cancer Day 2012. Thus, on this day designated for speaking up and out, from 2016 -2018 focusing on how everyone – as a collective or individually – can do their part to reduce the global burden of cancer – I share with you her words and mine from February 4, 2012 . . . The Real Warrior in our House I didn’t know about a World Cancer Day. Until today, I’d known only about Breast Cancer Awareness October…
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Assessment, Testing, Transfer Test Northern Ireland, Brian Baird, Dispatch from the Diaspora, Education, Great Teachers, Brian Baird, Mr. Jones, Northern Ireland, Rites of passage, Seamus Heaney, Soundtracks of our Lives, Teaching, Themes of Childhood
The kids matter ~ right?
Today is Transfer Test result day in Northern Ireland, and thousands of 11-year old children will know by now if they got the scores they need to “get in” to the next level of their education. It is a process of “academic selection” that seems to fly in the face of ensuring access, equity, and excellence for all children – all children – yet still it continues. Why? I know I have been away from Northern Ireland for a long time, but having spent the better part of 30 years as a teacher, professor, and school principal, I have learned what matters and what doesn’t. It’s very simple: the kids matter, good teachers matter,…
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American Dream, Being young, Belfast, Dispatch from the Diaspora, Glenn Frey, Take It Easy, The Eagles
On becoming an American Girl – on the Corner of Winslow, Arizona
When I was young, I wanted to be Linda Ronstadt. I knew by heart the lyrics of every song she covered, and in my teenage bedroom, I sang along with her, having deluded myself that I was within her range. Bored and adolescent, I just wanted to be far away from grey skies and Margaret Thatcher and from Northern Ireland – its politics and parades, its flags and fighting. I wanted to be an American girl. I wanted to hang out with long-haired rockers who sometimes sounded a little too country. I wanted to drive down an American highway with the top down and the radio up. Forever. I loved everything about Linda Ronstadt.…
