"Happy Obama Day"--January 20

Last week after the inauguration of President Obama, I heard someone greet a friend on the street, "Happy Obama Day!" What a way to begin a fresh start.

For me, the historic inauguration was summed up with this story from NPR's Morning Edition about a 105-year-old woman who was on the national Mall for the event. Ella Mae Johnson said, "We were all there; we were there waiting. It didn't matter what my color was. It didn't matter what your color was. And I could not ask for anything better."

Also on the topic of President Obama, check out this story from Smithsonian magazine about the graphic artist, Shepard Fairey, who created the now iconic images of Barack Obama.

An angle on Chinese New Year in America

Happy Year of the Ox!

A recent L. A. Times story tells of families with adopted children from Asia celebrating the New Year:

For the Larsons and thousands of U.S. families who have adopted children from Asia, the Lunar New Year is a moment to help their children reconnect with their homeland and for parents to discover a culture that would otherwise be foreign to them. Lunar New Year, which occurs today, is regarded as the most important cultural holiday among Chinese, Vietnamese and some Koreans.

(Photo by dbking; used by permission.)

Reasons for paying attention to the healthcare system

If you don't have your own personal reasons for considering the immediate and long-term concerns of the American healthcare system, consider these from an interview in the New York Times. A notable and accomplished physician discusses the current medical culture, the President's proposals for change, and aspects of our healthcare that all of us should think about. A prominent topic of the interview is the discussion of advance directives for medical treatment at the end of life.

If you missed the Dallas Morning News series on end of life issues, check out my post on it here.

(Photo by Erica Marshall; used by permission.)

Taking the battle against cancer to a new front

Wired magazine recently offered this interesting piece on how the efforts spent on the usual approach to cancer treatment and research--cure--may be better spent on an often secondary approach--early detection.

The article explores the elusiveness of successful prevention and early detection, in the face of this stark statistic: "If we find cancer early, 90 percent survive, if we find cancer late, 10 percent survive."

As detection and treatments advance, many cancer patients and their families share stories of strength and commitment. For example, see the L. A. Times column by Al Martinez, who shares the story of his adult daughter Cindy:

I'm putting her name in print today so that you can tell me stories of your own fight against cancer; so you can help our family find the strength and courage to defeat the enemy within. We're all family in a way, you and I and Cinelli and Cindy and the rest. We share a mutual village. Cindy was handed to me a long time ago and occupies a special place in my life and in my heart, and I'm not about to hand her back.

(Photo by Mataparda; used by permission.)