Misty McCormick Chisum

Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy

admin — Wed, 09 May 2007 20:04:00 +0000

Who hasn’t done it? Who hasn’t bought that extra cup of yogurt or that pink scarf that matches nothing in the closet just to show support for the breast cancer cause? Most women have seen what breast cancer can do in the lives of real women, whether we have endured it first-hand or watched a loved one struggle to survive. I have always felt that sweet inner glow after making a purchase if I knew that a small percentage of the proceeds would go to support breast cancer research. As a consumer, I felt that I was doing my part. I never questioned why my philanthropy needed to be tied directly to my consumerism. I never questioned it, that is, until I read Pink Ribbons, Inc.

What do big corporations and politicians have in common? According to Samantha King, an Associate Professor of Women’s Studies and Physical and Health Education, both groups have profited from our society’s fascination with breast cancer. King offers a searing discussion of the push toward “strategic philanthropy” in the last two decades of the 20th Century. With the current stress on cause-related marketing, corporations exploit the public’s civic goodwill as they fight “to gain ownership over the issue.”

According to King, politicians have not failed to cash in on the moral authority of the breast cancer cause. Many “women’s issues” are viewed as political landmines for legislators. Breast cancer, however, has proven to be a safe issue, allowing legislators to present themselves as “pro-woman” without the danger of being associated with the “F” word—Feminism.

King also focuses on the effect of the recent “tyranny of cheerfulness” surrounding the issue of breast cancer. Because society desires to see the results of its philanthropy, women are perhaps not allowed to acknowledge the flood of emotions that accompanies the diagnosis and the struggle against the disease. Our focus has shifted to the “survivor.” Anything less is unacceptable. In this struggle to find the cure, we have lost sight of the importance of prevention. Reading King’s analysis of the issue made me for the first time question who really benefits when I “think pink” at the cash register. Who really wins in what the_ New York Times_ termed “the battle for the breast?”

Written by: Misty McCormick Chisum, May 9th 2007

Black Lily Perfume Oil

admin — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 19:15:00 +0000

By Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab

Holding the tiny brown bottle in my hand, I felt like an adulteress. After all, I had remained faithful to my own “signature fragrance” for the past five years. As I twisted the cap on Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s “Black Lily” perfume oil, I could still smell the hint of my own perfume on my skin. How could this nondescript bottle compare to the perfume I had already grown to love?

Almost two weeks have passed since I tried the “Black Lily” perfume oil. Although I have not broken off my relationship with my signature fragrance, I am no longer a one-perfume woman. In fact, more frequently than I care to admit, I have found myself slinking to my medicine cabinet in search of my new fragrance.

I have, you see, something of an unresolved love affair with “Black Lily.” After all, temptation was inevitable since this fragrance is one of Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab’s Rappaccini’s Garden line. Every time I hold the little brown bottle in my hand, I can’t resist the fragrance’s edge of sweetness and irresistible undercurrent of danger.

Written by: Misty McCormick Chisum, February 21st 2007

The Complete Being: Finding and Living the Real You

admin — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:02:00 +0000

By Tami Brady

Loving Healing Press

The Dalai Lama once said, “Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” In her book, The Complete Being, Tami Brady echoes this mantra. Approaching the subject from an anthropological perspective, Brady adeptly ties our present identity crisis to the gradual loss of a cultural identity. In her examination, she discusses four aspects required to become a “complete being”: mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical. Delving more deeply into these individual components of the human condition is, according to Brady, necessary because “the game of life has been modified to a point where the rules of the past can no longer adequately tell you how to play the game.”

Brady shares the simple wisdom of this text through a tightly focused, succinct examination of what it takes to become a fulfilled individual. A cursory glance at the table of contents reinforces this tight and unfortunately sometimes rigid organization. While such a structured approach allows for flexibility of reading—one can easily put the book down and pick it up again without worrying about losing one’s place—the repetition of main ideas sometimes feels forced. Much of each chapter is repeated from previous chapters even at the most basic sentence level. However, our tendency to repeat patterns within the framework of our own lives (whether positive or negative) may be seen as analogous to the structure within this text.

In the conclusion, Brady discusses the intention of this book as a means for the reader’s “personal and individualized introspective assessment” of his/her life. The question that spurned the author into changing her own life, why not?, is relevant to the reader as well. Why not give this book a chance to help you know yourself better and perhaps even assist you in changing your life?

Written by: Misty McCormick Chisum, February 21st 2007