It's MS Awareness Week, and I've nearly succeeded in proudly donning our signature color every single day. Funny how orange, which I once associated with the MS prison I felt locked up in, now has a different connotation. I see the color as one of power, strength, resilience, solidarity. I wasn't able to make it… Continue reading Orange crush
Category: Advocacy
Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated
When we last left off, our heroine was fumbling over her myriad passwords and tolerating the brutal Arkansas summer with aplomb, whatever that is. As the months ticked by, she bravely trudged on, juggling her jobs and home life and health. On the MS front, things are pretty OK. Not perfect, no. That would require… Continue reading Rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated
21st PPC is in the books!
What a whirlwind week it has been. I was honored to take part in the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Public Policy Conference in Washington, D.C., these past few days. Activists from around the country met for two days of rigorous training and discussions, and then the society let us loose on the Hill to talk… Continue reading 21st PPC is in the books!
People power
You ask any organization what its biggest resource is, and the obvious answer will be people. Not just staff, although they are the lynchpins to a nonprofit's cause, but volunteers. How to educate, motivate and mobilize those volunteers takes a Herculean effort. Some would say it's Sisyphean. But I'm not listening to those naysayers. Maybe… Continue reading People power
This one thing
My friends, do this one thing for me. Take a camera. Take your hands, put them in a low V, as if you were going to play Red Rover and hold hands with two others. Or go ahead and grab two friends. Or four. Or six. All hold hands in a big chain. Have someone… Continue reading This one thing
You down with PPC?
As mentioned before, I got involved with the MS Society fairly early after my diagnosis. It's a way to connect with others who share this terrible disease (which somehow makes it not-so terrible), and meet advocates who offer support and expertise. I got to meet with the marketing team for the South Central region to… Continue reading You down with PPC?
Competing advocacies
There are hundreds of worthy causes out there all vying for your attention and dollars. I am but one voice in the chorus beseeching you to donate your time, effort and money. Not content to just live in shame with this disease, I became an MS advocate fairly early on in my diagnosis. I blogged… Continue reading Competing advocacies
Meeting of the marketing minds
I'm not a PR/marketing person by any stretch of the imagination. When I visualize such people, they are always the polished, perfect, witty, savvy girls with way too white of teeth and outfits that look right out of the magazine. Again, I am not one of them. I'm pretty disheveled, even on a good day. And… Continue reading Meeting of the marketing minds
Nobelists were cell searchers
The three men who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine worked to figure out why cells act (and react) as they do. Sadly, one of the scientists, Ralph Steinman, died just three days ago of pancreatic cancer. His research has been crucial in understanding why the immune system sometimes goes on the attack, even… Continue reading Nobelists were cell searchers
Ms. MS blogger goes to Washington
Well, not quite. Washington came to me. OK, we met halfway. Sort of. Lawmakers are back in their home states this month, doing the usual business tours and town halls and baby-forehead kissing. They are also hearing from their constituents. Which is how I found myself in Rep. Tim Griffin's conference room Wednesday afternoon. Politics… Continue reading Ms. MS blogger goes to Washington
One, Wild & Precious 